November 2011 Activities

 I was trying to figure out why I didn't have more pictures for this month.  Then I remembered that my camera got broken and I had to wait for a new one to arrive.

Ryan has been really into his name.  He has been practicing writing the letters.  Here he is with a slate and some letters from Handwriting Without Tears.  He doesn't have a good grasp yet, but he can build letters out of sticks and curves and has an idea of how to form capital letters.

Here is Ryan using a handwriting app that I like.  It is called Write Words.  I like that it requires you to form the letters using the correct formation AND it gives you some leeway, but not too much as to the boundaries.  He is getting good.  I wish Justin had had this when he was Ryan's age.

Lots of walking on our vacation over Thanksgiving weekend.

My boys love boxes.  They don't have any toys you know.

Packaging material is as much fun as the boxes.

Ryan is able to sort by color and size.

Justin's corn cob printing/painting.

Ryan's corn cob printing/painting.

Ryan really likes to get into his painting.  Why use other tools when you have hands available.

Justin doesn't make QUITE as much of a mess with paint as Ryan.

We colored turkeys and then cut them out and put them in order big to small and small to big.

I don't know what happened to the other turkey.  This one is Justin's.

November 15-19, 2010

We have dropped the structured school and are mostly playing and doing Thanksgiving activities.  The boys LOVE to color/draw and have been having a blast with their Lego DUPLO blocks.  Works for me!

Justin tried to write water bottle (WD BDL) for what he is thankful for.  Our thankful chain gets longer everyday!  I thought it was sweet the day he was thankful for MOM.  He said he thought that I needed a present and that would make me happy.  He then told me that he also wanted to write something that was short because he didn't want to write a lot and MOM is only three letters. 

Yep, he was saying cheese.  Adorable, huh?

Justin wearing his headband.

Two of this week's books.  I can't find the others.  The boys have gotten fast at running off with them.  They LOVE the Pigeon books.  I think a couple more might be coming their way this Christmas.

They loved making these.  Ryan loves any project that involves gluing.

Me with the alphabet.

November 8-12, 2010

This week we continued with our normal routine and our November thankful chain.  Rob got Veteran's Day off of work so we got to spend time together running errands and some time outdoors.  Here are some of this week's highlights, if that is what you would call them.

Justin told me he made me an umbrella.  It won't exactly keep me dry, but I was impressed.

We made these turkeys.  I did the cutting for this project, but the boys did their own painting and Justin folded his own turkey legs.  He thinks he is pretty clever to be able to do the "zig zag" paper.

Justin showed this to me and I said, "Ape-o?"  He said that it was an apple, but that I couldn't eat it.  I said, "Oh, you wrote apple for me."  He said," Mommy, when you say it, it has an "L' on the end!"

We are going to do a K-W-L chart about turkeys.  We took some pics of them this week when we were at the petting zoo.

Ryan and Justin made their pilgrim boys.  I think they are adorable.  Justin cut out his own black body and hat.  I cut out the other pieces because he tends to get frustrated or lose interest if there is too much.  He did the gluing all by himself. 

Evidently Justin thinks this will make a perfect birthday card for Papa.  He also thinks he needs a bigger paper so he can write his name.  There isn't enough space on the name line.

Completely independent.  Obviously still not great coloring, but he gets it.

Some of this week's books.

More books.  Ryan loves the ants book and Justin loves the pigeon book.

Justin working on the worksheet asking him to color the piece of pie with fewer pecans in each set of two.  He then decided to add some of his own pecans so they would be equal.