February 2013

As I was looking for this month's pictures, I realized that I never pulled out my camera.  Luckily, I at least got some shots on my phone.  It doesn't help that we had an extended stomach bug that had us out of commission for awhile.  We did valentines, but the boys wanted store bought Kung Fu Panda and Angry Bird ones so no cute little Valentine Day crafts.

I have started having Ryan and Justin each make their own calendar each month.  This is Ryan's.  He traces the numbers and draws a picture to go with the month.  It gives good practice writing numerals, gaining a sense for days, weeks, and months, and gives us the chance to talk about upcoming events.  I make a monthly calendar each month as well and they can refer to it to know what happens on what day.

Justin is quite the reader.  Ryan would rather play on the wii.  We are working on some basic sight words.  He loves making simple sentences when Mario, Luigi, and some of his other favorites are involved.

The boys both did golf ball painting.  It's like marble painting, but with a golf ball.

Painting on shapes.  Some of them became targets for various games.

Balloons from the Dollar Store!  Each balloon was weighted down by a toy.  Beanbag toys were thrown at the balloons and points awarded for each one hit.

Justin's 100 Days of School necklace.  Each group of 10 Fruit Loops is divided by a tab labeling the count.

The boys cut and pasted to make Koopas.  Yay, Mario!  I found the template at chicaandjo.com. 

Obviously we had to make Marios.  I had to put both boys' on the blog too.  I found a Mario coloring picture, printed it out enlarged, and then used it to help me make a template so the boys could cut and paste.

They also made the goomba mushrooms.  The templates for them is also from chicaandjo.com.  I wish the site had more templates because I don't have an artistic bone in my body.

Justin made this dinosaur.  It is quite different from Ryan's dinosaur below.  They both had fun though.  They also enjoyed using stencils to trace various shapes.

Paper Chain Countdown!

Since Rob was going to be gone for two weeks, I thought it might be a nice idea to make a paper chain and use it as a visual countdown.  Ryan is too young to understand, but I thought Justin would like it and it might help me see that time was indeed passing as well.  We cut the paper and made a pattern with the links.   There were some extra pieces, so I made Ryan a little chain so he would leave the real one alone.  Justin told me that he wanted another one too.  I took the remainder of the pieces and made him a short chain. 
We counted the days that Daddy would be gone.  Justin, always thinking, had an idea.  He wanted to use HIS chain instead of the long one.  That way Daddy could come home sooner.  Maybe we should have just stuck with marking it on the calendar.  We have been using calendars with Justin for some time now.  He seems to get that concept and views it as the authority as to what will happen and when.  Oh well.  I am enjoying watching the chain get shorter and shorter, though it is not happening fast enough!
This isn't the best picture, but here is the chain hanging along side of Justin's current reading chart.  We color in every 5th book a different color so we can practice counting by 5s.  He got 10s down easily, but 5s are a bit harder.  We have a song that goes with it and that seems to help make it easier.  I like the visual on the bookchart as a subtle reinforcer.  It is his reading chart, with an extra little teaching moment snuck in there.  My poor child.