Back to Basics: ABCs and 1,2,3s

It's review week in the curriculum, so I decided to spend some time going over the basics this week.

All of us have been dealing with various degrees of illness, kids and moms alike. So instead of my usual sugar-laced snack the kids ate fruit and veggies while we read a book. Apple slices and carrot sticks DO NOT incite the same level of joy as hot chocolate and candy do, but the kids didn't complain.

Serving ourselves from the snack plate

Politely reaching for more...

We read a great book called "I Did It, I'm Sorry" by Caralyn and Mark Buehner. On each page is a scenario with a series of multiple choice answers, e.g. Rudy Racoon came across a radio while riding his bike. Should he a) run it over with his bike tires? b) sell it on the black market? c) Return it to lost and found? The kids had fun hearing some of the crazy options. It also inspired some admissions of wrong-doing: one kid had lied that day; another had pushed his baby brother over (JACK!).

The kids all wrote their names this week. What an accomplishment. When we started this in the fall I don't think anyone could write their names. Now they can identify their names among other words and pick out individual sounds in their names. I'm starting to see how reading will be coming soon...

After we wrote our names I showed the kids flash cards and asked them to name the letter, the sound, and a word that starts with the letter. Then I asked them to write the letter on their paper. The free-style letter writing was tough, but it was interesting to see how their brains are working. In terms of the letter identification, the kids are all spot-on. So cool to watch.

Next we did a upper-case and lower-case letter matching game with old Easter eggs. Each egg half had either an upper or lower case letter and the kids had to find the pairs. This was tricky for most of the kids, but I think it was a good challenge. I've brought the activity out a few times this week for Jack to play with and he's getting much better.

The kids always love some free drawing time, so this week we drew pictures of our families. It will be fun to do this again at the end of the year to see how much more detailed pictures become...and of course to see the new additions! (See the bottom of this post for the finished products.)

The kids were pretty well done with sitting, but I tried a team activity this week that involved working in pairs to put the correct number of items into the corresponding buckets. FYI: working together is not something three- and four-year olds do naturally. Eisley and Jack were pretty into it, but the backyard was calling by this time, so we kind of rushed through it and headed outside. This could be one to bring back in a few months.

On day two, the weather was beautiful and the teacher had run out of ideas. So we went (faux) camping! I set up the old tent in the grassy area outside our house (it's really a dog pooping station...quite disgusting, but in Vegas you take what you can get when it comes to green grass). Before we headed out we talked about what we needed to pack (blankets, food, water, candy) and then hit the road.

The kids were having a great time. And then the sprinklers came on and ruined our fun. It was all very Pacific Northwest to have an outdoor activity interrupted by showers.