Lesson Planning for Weeks 5 and 6

In the past few weeks, I've realized two things:
1) There are a lot of things that interrupted our scheduled "class" activities.
2) I keep pushing activities into the following week.

With a new baby, errands, impromptu play dates and visits, our preschool schedule needs to be more fluid.  In order to accommodate this, I've decided to let my normal one-week plan morph into a two-week plan (which, it really has been all along thanks to all of the interruptions.).

Sooooooooo . . . for the next two weeks, the final weeks of October, we will be learning about the Letter P, the Number 4, and PUMPKINS!!!!

I found a ton of great resources for all that the Little Lady will be doing.  I want to give credit where it is due, so here is my list of resources.

Music
Jitterbug.tv (Sesame Street Video "1,2,3,4")
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Art Projects
1+1+1=One
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Math Activities
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "October for 2's")

Letter Recognition Activities
Hubbard's Cubbard (from "3's Curriculum")

Self-Portrait Template
First School Templates - girl

Muffin Tin Monday (our first!)

I'm desperate for anything that gets the Little Lady to eat.  To eat more than two bites.  To eat more than JUST her veggies (yes, I have an anti-meat kid).

At her last weight check, her doctor still wasn't 100% satisfied with the amount of weight she is gaining in between appointments (sigh), so I have until December to get the Little Lady a little chubbier.

Our first muffin-tin meal was a hit!  Did she eat every single thing?  No.  Did she eat most of it?  Pretty much.  Was she excited about her lunch?  DEFINITELY.


Being a quisitive little girl, she pushed a dining chair up to the counter where I was preparing her tin.  "What's dat?" she asked, pointing to the shiny metal tray.

As I filled each container with honey roasted peanuts, sliced cucumbers, italian meatballs, apples, oranges, and bagel bits, she became more and more excited . . nearly jumping off of the chair by the time I finished.

"I. WANT. TO. EAT. THAT!"

I loved hearing that sentence -- even if it was loud enough to wake the baby!!!!

Tot School -- 2 Weeks for the Price of 1

(The Little Lady is 28 months old)

Thanks to a family trip last week and the Baby's recent (iNsAnE) growth spurt, my Week Four plans were divided over the course of the past two weeks.

We worked on the Letter L with a a few ladybug and leaf activities.  The Little Lady had so much fun with everything we did, as each craft and project involved going outside in some way; thankfully, a cool front came through this past weekend, so we (and by "we" I really mean "Mommy") were able to really enjoy being outdoors.


Our primary book for the week was "The Grouchy Ladybug," a book she received for her birthday.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this wasn't her favorite book ever -- which surprised me since "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" is still at the top of her "favs" list AND she loves, loves, loves ladybugs.

After reading the book, we did a stART project and made our own grouchy ladybug, learning about the color black and bug antennae as we made the bug.

Using ladybug stickers, my Little Lady made a sticker counting book.  We're still working on counting; she has 1-3 down, so the sticker book added the numbers 4 and 5.  She loves stickers and insisted, after carefully positioning each sticker, decorating her ladybug pages with a red marker.

 

To work on her colors, I downloaded a cute set of ladybug cards.  We're using them as flash-cards right now, but they can also (and will be) used as a color matching game.  This picture only shows a few of the cards; there are twelve color sets in all.

We went outside to gather leaves for our "Letter L" page.  She loved jumping up in front of each tree, trying (so hard) to reach the leaves.  We also found a few on the ground, but they weren't NEARLY as much fun to gather as the ones on the trees.

 

With the remaining leaves, we made a bird-feeder.  This was definitely the hit of the two weeks -- she excitedly looks for her bird feeder each time we go outside.  It was so easy to make (painted OJ carton, double sided tape, bird seed, leaves).

 

The other highlight of our time spent with Leaves and Ladybugs occurred this past Friday, when the Little Lady discovered her first REAL ladybug. I wish I'd had my camera with me!!! She was a little intimidated by it a first, until I picked it up and showed her how gentle it was. After examining it, looking at its dots and legs, she picked out a grassy home for it in the flower-bed. It was the PERFECT way to end our adventure with the Letter L!

The Quest for Seasonal Activities

Now that a "cold front" (and, I use the term loosely) has hit Houston, I'm in the mood for the Little Lady to experience fall.  Since it will be months before it looks like fall around here, thanks to our humid, semi-tropical climate, her foray into autumn will be through books, projects, and various activities.

We started this past weekend with a trip to a very fun-filled Pumpkin Patch.  The Little Lady LOVES pumpkins, and enjoyed learning about apple picking, baby chicks, and goats.

I'm on the hunt for more ideas as to how to bring Fall into the Little Lady's world.  I came across this post today, which gives a cute activity display option in addition to a link to her fall activities.

If you have any great ideas or books (ESPECIALLY BOOKS), please share them with me!  Feel free to share the link back to your blog; I'll make sure to give you credit when I use your idea.   :)