tot school - letter s

Noah is 21 months old.

Well..here we are again! We're all moved and settled back in pretty well now, but still decided to keep tot school kind of light this past week. Given Noah's recent attitude changes, I think we'll be keeping the activities light for a while until I can get a better control of his behavior. It certainly it improving, but slowly. I have to remind myself that this is a completely normal stage and that I have to choose my battles wisely. Overall, I can't complain...even at his worst behavior moments, Noah is the best little guy I could ever ask for:)

Letter Ss

Ss is for snake, spider, silly, sort....

Noah LOVED making his Ss is for snake picture this week. He did great connecting the glue dots.

He also really enjoyed making the snake colorful with paint. Apparently this kind has purple eyes..

I also made Noah an Ss is for spider picture after seeing it on No Time for Flashcards. I say I made it because I did make it..the whole thing:( Noah absolutely refused to help with it, but I thought it was too cute not to finish.

We pulled out the playdough and made snakes, spiders, and more.

We also got a little silly with the playdough and made snot. Yes I just typed snot....hey, it went with the Ss theme!

Noah worked on sorting pasta. Actually, he enjoyed pouring practice much more than the actual sorting, but at least he was happy:)

We also spent lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine! On Wednesday, our life group (bible study) at church finished up for the summer with a pool party and potluck. Jimmy had to work, but Noah had an absolute ball playing the pool with the other kids (there were 9 kids there, from Noah at 21 months up to the two teenage girls). I didn't get any pictures at the party since I had to be in the pool the WHOLE time with Noah, but he sure was worn out! He didn't even wake up for me to put on his pjs!

Otherwise this week, we pulled out some old favorite activities found in the move...like pipe cleaners into a spice container.

Another fun thing we've been doing lately is working on learning the beat with music. Noah LOVES the Seeds Family Worship music, so we've been using that to pat the beat on our bellies, dance, and praise God all at the same time:)

Noah has a new-found love of coloring since we've set up an art table in his room. He especially enjoyed making Father's Day cards for Daddy and Papa:)

That's it for out week! See what others are up to in tot school and share your own ideas at 1+1+1=1!

tot school - letter x & random

Noah is 20 months old.

I will apologize upfront for my lack of pictures this week. Despite me never seeming to have the camera around, we finally really had a great week of tot school:)

Xx is for x-ray

For Noah's letter page, I tried to tape off a negative space painting to look kind of like an x-ray of a hand. We painted the whole black construction sheet with white paint using a pipe cleaner...

Certainly not the prettiest page in our letter book, but Noah enjoyed making it:)

I printed off x-ray cards from Chasing Marcus and Noah enjoyed going over those all week. He has known his body parts for a while, but seeing just the x-ray pictures was a new challenge for him!

I also made a face "puzzle" for Noah to review the parts of the face. **Please don't laugh at my VERY lacking artistic skills!!** It was also a good opportunity to review that we have two of some things. Noah put this picture together without any help..I was proud of his placement!

Sorry this picture is sideways..can't get it fixed.

Noah also worked on a more difficult puzzle to review body parts. (Sorry I forgot a picture!) I think it has 6 or 8 pieces and they are not the chunky-style he usually works with. Those were getting really easy for him, so a $1 Target find was a perfect way to test his readiness to move up. He did really well with the new puzzle by the end of the week, though he is still having trouble fitting the pieces together exactly.

Finally, we made Xx's out of bones:) Not real bones...I cut different sized bone shapes out of cardstock and Noah had to match up their lengths, then make Xx's. This was a big hit, so I hate I didn't get a picture:(

Other fun things Noah did this week included:

*Coloring a birthday card for his Papa (my dad)

*Play outside...A LOT! He worked on learning how to peddle his tricycle, splashed in his water table, and helped his Granny pull weeds in her flower beds.

*Read LOTS of like-new books (I switched around his book basket)

A couple of other things around here...

*Thanks a million for the behavior advice last week! As you can see, Noah was much happier this week, although the twos are here to stay:) I'm really working on choosing my battles and keeping his routine as predictable as possible...the latter especially seems to do wonders with his attitude.

*We're moving again! Actually we'll be moving back to my great-grandmothers old house that we lived in last year. I'm SUPER excited...while the move out was necessary at the time, we just aren't happy in our current place. We are beyond thankful that we have the opportunity to move back to such a wonderful (albeit small!) place. Hopefully things will go smoothly and we'll be settled in completely by the end of the week.

That being said, who knows what our tot school will look like next week. If I have anything to share, I'll be here, but if not, we'll be back asap when we get settled back in. Hope you all are having a fabulous summer so far, and we'll see ya when we see ya!

See what others have been up to in Tot School and share you own ideas at 1+1+1=1!

tot school & help needed!

Noah is 20 months old.

I debated not to even worry with posting this week for Tot School. We've adjusted back to our regular routine after our Disney vacation just fine, but we haven't really gotten back into the groove with Tot School just yet. I'm hoping to get back to our usual routine starting tomorrow.

We didn't do anything specifically planned, but there was lots of fun with playdough! We reviewed colors & matching and worked on shapes with it, and had some imaginative play making foods too.

Noah played LOTS with his MegaBlocks and Duplos this week too. He loves to build "BIG uns" and then "cash it":)

He has also reunited his love affair with our old Guitar Hero controller. John Mayer and Elvis concerts must be played daily so Noah can jam:)

Sorry all of those pictures were from the same day, but we have seriously and officially reached the terrible twos! Noah has been fiercely defiant the past four or five days, totally disobeying even the simplest things and throwing MAJOR fits when he doesn't get his way. While I know this is to be expected at this age, his independent streak has started to worry me because he is rebelling against safety precautions (like holding hands in public, staying out of the street, etc). I've prayed and prayed for God's guidance, and I'm hoping someone out there can offer some seasoned parenting wisdom on how to not suppress Noah's needs for independence while helping him learn obedience and keeping him safe. Thanks in advance for the help:)

My apologizes for such a poor Tot School post, but we'll be back to our regular activities next week...Lord willing Noah behaves!

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tot school - letter o

Noah is 19 months old.

Letter Oo

Oo is for octopus & ocean!

We've had a fun week learning about the ocean & the animals that live in it...especially the octopus:)

Noah really enjoyed all of the printables this week! He even asked to do some on his own, so you know they were a real hit. They came from Confessions of a Homeschooler and the Ocean Tot Book from 1+1+1=1.

I continue to be impressed with his patterning skills...I think I need to move onto something harder for him.

He did really well with all of them, though. I think his favorite was the number cards. He loves playing with the mini paperclips:)

Our books for the week were:

Squishy Turtle & Friends

Rainbow Fish

We made just two art projects this week because we ran out of glue and I kept forgetting to get more...oops!

We made his letter page and a toilet paper roll octopus (not my original idea, but I've seen it several places). He was SUPER proud of both of these projects!

Noah enjoyed playing with his ocean puzzles, especially the magnetic "fishing" puzzle:)

It was also VERY warm here this week, so we spent several days outside and playing in the water.

While he played a bit with the ocean animals I put in his play sink, he most liked dumping the water over his head:)

This was my favorite picture from the week!

That's about all for this week...I kept it light because I've been finishing up my nursing finals and (more importantly!) packing for Disney! We won't be here next week for tot school, but we'll have LOTS of pictures from our trip when we return. Enjoy your next couple of weeks, and a (late) happy mother's day to you all:)

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tot school - letter f

Noah is 19 months old.

Ff is for Farm

We kept it kind of light again this week since my semester in nursing school is winding down, but we still had fun learning about farms and farm animals!

First, Noah made his letter page. He did the gluing, and it was a good opportunity to talk about shapes as well with the barn. He loved making the fingerprint animals, and even though they don't really look like their supposed to, it was good to talk about their colors and what sounds they made.

I made a bingo board of farm animals for Noah to work with. We didn't really play the actual game, but it was great reinforcement on what the real animals look like and what sounds they make. I knew Noah knew all of his animal sounds, but I didn't realize he didn't know what many of the animals actually looked like! He knows all of the animals on the board now though:)

Otherwise, Noah played with his many farm-themed toys throughout the week. The megabloks farm set has long been a favorite..

He also loves the leapfrog fridge magnet set...especially the songs it sings:)

We also worked some more with his Kumon sticker/gluing workbook. He has moved onto the gluing exercises now...

We did a couple of vegetable pages, and the horse page. He did so well with the horse!

Other activities Noah did that I didn't get pictures of were:

*Read our many farm books...including Barnyard Dance, Moo Baa LaLaLa!, Farm Babies (no link...it is by Charles Reasoner), John Deere Farm 123, Touch & Feel Tractor, and Old MacDonald Had a Farm

*Watched our Brainy Baby Animals dvd

*Did Starfall letter Ff

That's all for our week! My exams start next week, but I'm planning on a regular week of tot school. And if you haven't noticed our Disney countdown...its down to 10 day!!! Woohoo! I'm hoping to do a short tot school week with all Disney themed activities the week we leave (just fyi).

Share your own ideas and see what others are doing for tot school at 1+1+1=1!

tot school - letter I (better late than never!)

Noah is 19 months old.

Geeze...sorry this is so late. We are just not with it around here lately...I'm in my last two weeks of the semester for my nursing classes (2 clinical days, 3 tests, and a research paper this week alone!) and Noah just hasn't been himself lately. I think it must be all the pollen and such, but he isn't sleeping well, isn't eating as well, and just isn't his happy self all the time. Thankfully there are only 16 more days until we head to Disney, so that's my saving grace at this point:) I think a vacation will do us all a lot of good!

Anyway..onto our pitiful excuse for tot school this week. Ha! I tried...I really did. Noah just wasn't into things this week. But that's okay. It happens, so we'll just keep on keepin' on until next time:)

Letter Ii

Ii is for ice cream!

I was excited for this week because let's be honest..who doesn't love ice cream?! Apparently Noah! We tried ice cream field trips twice and even tried a little at home one night, but he just doesn't like the temperature. Silly boy:) Maybe that's why he wasn't too into these activities?

Noah did actually seem to enjoy making his letter page. He helped with all of the gluing and did the pink and red paint...I painted the cone. I'm really proud of how far his gluing has come!

I saw this ice cream I on The Poe Family a while back and thought it was too cute:) I painted the cone part again, but he did the purple (with some help/coaxing), red, blue, and brown paint, and even put the cherry on top:)

I made a sorting game using this coloring sheet (found through Google). Noah has suddenly developed a love of coloring with crayons, so he enjoyed helping color the ice cream. He did really well with the sorting too (when he would actually participate)...

I printed these out from here. We did color identification with just the papers, and using playdough. I didn't get a picture, but we played ice cream shop...

I would "order" using the papers and he would match my order with the playdough. He liked this game early on, but not later in the week...

Noah also color sorted his pompoms using the ice cream papers from above using this tray. He was NOT into this though...he just wanted to throw them around the room..

I also thought we could get creative with ice this week for the letter Ii. Noah has enjoyed "painting" with ice in the past, so I had the brilliant idea to add food coloring to the ice cube tray. Well duh...of course the ice totally stained our hands for three days. Not my shining moment in planning...I guess that's what I get for trying to plan stuff while totally stressed out. Noah did make a pretty picture that day though...it is shown below.

Because I was a slacker in planning, I didn't have anything ready for Earth Day either. Ugh...so I pulled out some coffee filters and water and Noah made coffee filter earths at the last minute that day. I actually got a picture of him!

He actually had fun with this one...he LOVES the rare times we use markers, and he thoroughly enjoyed dumping the water bowl on the table even though the dropper was right there:) He also wanted to keep going after the coffee filters were gone, so we used construction paper too.

On the left is the colored ice picture. Then, all the marker/water pictures & earths. I think they turned out quite pretty:)

So yeah...my apologies for a less-than-stellar week here. I'm really going to try and get it together for the rest of this week, but no promises:) If I'm not here next week, look for me the week after to be back to normal. If I don't end up on a psych ward by the end of my week of tests and papers that is! Say a prayer for me please:)

See what others are up to in tot school and share your own ideas at 1+1+1=1!

tot school - no school

We decided to take the week off from any organized tot school activities this week. I spent most of the week catching up on nursing assignments for my own school, so we didn't do anything really planned. Mostly Noah played with some of his learning toys (puzzles, blocks, nesting toys, etc) and we reviewed the letters we've learned so far, but nothing else special.

We'll be back next week with our regular stuff! Enjoy your week...lucky me, I get to be home with Noah all day 5 out of the 7 days this next week:)

tot school - letter k

Noah is 18 months old.

Letter Kk

Kk is for kite!

Well...Noah has been sick AGAIN, so this was a short (but fun!) week. He seems to have inherited both my terrible seasonal allergies, and affinity towards croup. Ugh! Thankfully, he's much better now after another round of meds. But anyway, these activities were definitely done in spurts when Noah was feeling up to it. Still, we had a great week of learning fun:)

Noah really, really enjoyed making his Kk is for Kite picture for his alphabet book. He marked on the kite with a black marker while running around the room for about 30 minutes before I could coax him into gluing the pieces down. He loved that too:) So this was an all around hit!

Noah also made a tissue paper kite using some leftover tissue paper from Easter. Gluing the tissue paper was a new challenge for him since it is so thin and sticks to your fingers, but he still enjoyed it!

Not sure why this came out sideways, but anyway...he also helped to lace the "string" for the kite's tail.

Another lacing activity...I homemade this one:) We worked on numbers, lacing the correct number of bows on to the kite tails. Noah LOVED this one! He has gotten very good at lacing after this week too.

Kite patterns from here. Noah did really great with this set..even the three colors one! I was very proud:)

Big/little Kk matching from here. Noah did great with this one too...

Finally from here, color matching kites. Noah really did great with all of the printables I had for him this week, which was a rare and happy treat:)

We also did a few kitchen-type activities for the letter K, including playing in the pots and pans, making yummy "treats" in his play kitchen, and washing dishes in his outdoor sink.

This was a great opportunity for pouring practice...

And practice drinking from a regular cup. He did great for a while, until he got silly and poured water everywhere!

Some other random activities we did this week included an alphabet review tray. I separated all of the parts of his alphabet eggs I made last week (and added Kk) and he had to match everything up.

This was WAY hard for him, but he did well with help. I'll probably continue to use it too as review for all of the letters we've learned.

Noah LOVED this spring window clings from the Target dollar section. He played with these forever!

Noah also did the flower shape sorting activity I shared last week for more spring activities. I didn't do any of the other things I had planned because he wasn't feeling well, but I'm hoping to use them later.

Finally, Noah got some new, harder puzzles from Target as well ($3 for a 3-pack!). He amazed me with these! His favorite by far is the body parts puzzle, but the weather one is a close second:)

That's all for our week....sorry I was a bit late on getting it up. With all of the sickness (I had a sinus infection over the weekend too), we've been dragging our behinds around here!

See what others are doing for Tot School and share your own ideas at 1+1+1=1!