Teaching My Tots

About a month ago, I started on this 26 week lesson plan with The Deuce. I figured with the winter months almost upon us {and subsequent countless days at home!} there was no better time to begin! I came across Brightly Beaming Resources under the recommendation of my friend and fellow momma to four, Sydni. It's  a fabulous website that offers weekly lesson plans for children of all ages that will help you, the parent, to teach them from ABC's all the way to reading independently. Being that the boys are not able to recognize every  letter of the alphabet yet; we started with the Preparatory Curriculum. Basically what that entails is that each day of the week {M-F} we learn about one or two of the following categories: Theme/Vocab Word/Shape/Color/Number/Letter/Rhyme/Memory Verse. We then also spend time reviewing the four previous days on our learning board. On most days, it only takes about 45 minutes of our day and usually fills up the time perfectly between the end of breakfast and the end of Judah's morning nap. And for those of you who currently have/or have had toddlers in the house, then you know how precious those quieter activities are with a napping baby under the same roof!

So with all of the above said, I must now say this...this is fun, people! I promise! We are learning about jungles and  coloring cows, not doing Latin excercises! The lesson plans have helped me to be more consistent and organized in teaching the boys and they have helped The Deuce by providing  a bit more routine to their day. And above all else, it's time purposed to spend together and what could be better than that, right?!

So while it's nearly four weeks late a wee bit late, here is the rundown on our first week...

Week 1: This week our theme was, "cow" and our vocab word, was, "calf." We learned about squares, the letter "A," the number, "1," and the rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle." 

Highlights: Seeing B&A crawl around on the floor acting like cows and moo'ing it up, all the while! Hearing them both recite "Hey Diddle Diddle" completely from memory but with a 2 year old twist. Think, "Dish wan ah-way wif da' foon!"

Lowlights: Ben calling the square a triangle approximately 487 times before he finally got it. 

Favorite Activities: Making square shaped cows and gluing squares to the letter, "A." Both involved The Deuce getting to use glue and scissors so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

  Above all else though, our absolute favorite part of the lesson plans was the library trip. In keeping with our cow theme, we checked out the following books {Our recommendations are marked with an asterisk}.

{Mrs. O'Leary's Cow*, Market Day*,  Thump, Quack, Moo: A Wacky Adventure, Click, Clack,  Moo: Cows that Type*, The Cow That Laid an Egg, Boo-Hoo Moo, Clorinda Takes Flight}

Fridge Art

This weekend, while Baby J napped, The Deuce and I tried our hand at an actual arts-n-crafts project. To date, we've yet to venture out much past coloring or finger painting; although we did try glue sticks once. Curious taste buds quickly brought that little endeavor to a close though! Two and half is tricky age! Just old enough to be eager to try. Just young enough to have the attention span of a gnat. With daddy home to help bail us out should the need arise, we forged ahead though. The end result? A wonderful mess, a beautiful batch of fridge magnets, and simply too much fun.

Refrigerator Magnets 
Original dough recipe found here:  
* 1 pound box of baking soda
* 1 cup cornstarch
* 1 1/4 cups water

In a saucepan, combine baking soda and cornstarch. Gradually add 1 1/4 cups water and stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and dough-like. Knead the clay and flatten. Let your child use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Allow the shapes to dry overnight. Help your child decorate the shapes with {WASHABLE!}paint, or glue and glitter. Glue small magnets to the back of each shape with super glue! Save or if you can part with them, share em' someone ya' love!