Tot School: Just Hanging Out

We had somewhat of a laid back week in our house. Last week we had some promising weather, and as always in true Michigan style it got cold and started snowing again. I'm pretty sure it does this every year, and every year I fall for it. lol

TUESDAY
Working on the last of the Valentine trays that I put together. This one was matching hearts by design.
I saw this button activity at Hart 2 Hart and knew that my kiddos would have a great time with it. I saw this button/shape border at the Dollar Tree and put it together first thing when I cam home.
Having fun!
Another Valentine Tray. This one was a big hit! Sorting buttons into the same shape box.
WEDNESDAY
We talked about Jacob and Esau in our Bible lessons this week. This lesson talked about how Jacob and Esau were different. I discussed with the kids how God makes us each special and unique and gives us all different abilities and talents. With this activity Asa colored deer and sheep and then pasted them next to the correct brother. Asa's worksheet is on the left. This worksheet (and all other Bible lesson worksheets in this post) can be found at Henny Penny's.
Sorting Nn's. This is from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
Having a little meltdown/timeout. I think he was mad that Silas was playing with something that he wanted to do.
Working on colored nest puzzles from the same Confessions link I posted above.
Teamwork! I really love it when Annabelle and Asa can work together to complete something. This afternoon they worked really well together on this puzzle. I was very impressed with them and had to do little refereeing.
The completed project. Good job you two. Then they did it 10 more times. :)
THURSDAY
This day was pajama day for all of us. I thought that it was high time that we had a day of school in our pj's (aka I was feeling too lazy to get them all dressed until after we were done with lunch).

Today's Bible lesson was about how Jacob tricked Esau and lied to Isaac. We talked about how important it is to always be honest and tell the truth. I was also able to tie it back into our love lessons and show them that love delights in the truth. We made kind of a funny craft to go with this story, but Asa loved it. We made 'hairy arms' just like Jacob did. Asa thought it was so funny. Apparently the 'hair' tickled so much that he couldn't stop cheesin' and laughing. :)
Working on decorating the letter Nn with number stickers.
Finished.
Asa also sorted nuts into two paper bags. One with uppercase N on it and the other with lowercase n on it.
Love his little leg up on the table. Silly boy.
FRIDAY
Working on his Jacob's ladder activity. During this lesson we talked about how Jesus is our way (our ladder) to God. We can only get there through Him. This worksheet consisted of coloring and pasting angels and gluing on toothpicks to form a ladder.


SILAS
TUESDAY
I quick whipped up this little game for Silas. This cardboard with all the little holes in it came as packaging with another toy we got and I knew I would eventually be able to figure out something to use it for. I taped it to a box and set out our marker caps for Silas to stick in the holes.
He did play with this a couple of days, but he was more interested in other things. This really surprised me because normally he loves things like this.
Really happy that he has a pocket chart to play with. I don't usually let him play with the other one too much.
WEDNESDAY
This is the other said toy that took up his time this week. He has such a fascination with these silly little Toy Story 3 dominoes. He took this container out of his sensory bin and put the dominoes in the little slit at the top.....
when all dominoes were in the container you shake it, shake it, shake it.....
then you dump.....and repeat about 20 times. :)
THURSDAY
Silas wasn't much into anything this day. He colored on the numbers I wrote for one of Annabelle's activities.
Read bunch of books. Here he is studying all about using the potty.
AND left a huge mess for mommy to clean up. Thanks son!
FRIDAY
Again not too interested in anything I had planned for him today. That's alright though. I'm happy to just sit and hang out with him. He was really into these coasters though. He played with them for quite some time. Taking them out....
Putting them back in.....
...and of course chauffeuring them around to all the special places they needed to go (I'm still missing two).

Tuesday night I made grilled cheese and tomato soup (happens to be one of my favorites). Apparently Silas thought that the tomato soup was a new shampoo/body wash combination.
Seriously can't be upset with that little face. Especially since he was belly laughing the entire time he was washing himself. :)

That's it for me for now. I need to go do something about this snow that is piling up in my driveway. Because we needed more snow....seriously. :) Happy blogging.

jess_hak

I'm linking up to 1+1+1=1 Tot School. Go visit for more fantastic ideas from amazing parents!

Esau, Jacob, and the letter Nn

We had a really laid back week here in our household. i didn't have nearly enough activities planned for the letter Nn so we did a lot of reviewing and working on numbers (Annabelle's favorite....not really).

TUESDAY
Yes, we took Monday off to just hang out. I was watching my nephew Jude and it always had to concentrate when there is a little friend here to play.

In Bible this week we've been talking a lot about Jacob and Esau. The first lesson was about God answering Isaac and Rebekah's prayers and giving them not one but two sons. It is important to me that my little ones to know that God hears our prayers and cares about us. The worksheets that I used throughout this week can be found at Henny Penny's. I really love this site for supplemental resources. Here is Annabelle working really hard on her coloring.
This is her finished worksheet. We added the tears and the praying hands to Isaac. Annabelle colored the babies and stuck them in the 'blanket' pockets I made for them.
Working on one of the counting games that I put together for her. This one can be found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.
We ended the day playing with the sensory bin. I changed it up a little and threw in 1+1+1=1 Lovebug Match cards and had her find them and match them to the sheet. She really enjoys this type of activity!

WEDNESDAY
Today we talked about how Esau and Jacob were very different from each other, and that God makes each one of us unique with our own special talents and abilities. This worksheet (Annabelle's is on the right) consisted of coloring deer and sheep and pasting them by the correct brother. Esau liked to hunt and Jacob stayed close to home. Notice Annabelle's upside down pink deer....she said that Esau caught one. lol
Sorting N from n. Printout found at Confessions of a Homeshcooler.
I drew the numbers 1-10 on a piece of paper and Annabelle counted the eggs in the nest and stuck it onto the correct number. After this we flipped to a blank sheet of paper and she put the nests in numerical order all by herself. These can be found at the same Confessions link from above.
This is an activity that I made up a while ago. She fed the correct number of worms (pieces of yarn) to the little chicks in the nests. I wish that I had made 11-20. This is something that I may have to go back and do. She is pretty solid with the numbers 1-10.
Annabelle really appreciates any hands on activity like this. It makes math much more fun for her. Is Math U See the only hands on math curriculum out there?
I couldn't get a good picture of her playing this game. I just wrote the numbers 10-15 in an egg carton container. In this picture I have bingo chips in there, but pony beads worked better. Annabelle would close up the lid, shake the egg carton, open the lid, and tell me which numbers the beads landed on. She is starting to get better at recognizing some of these numbers, but still needs help about 60% of the time. I hoping that repetitive playing of fun games like this will help tremendously (and me not get frustrated with her probably helps too).
Teamwork. I really like when Annabelle and Asa can complete an activity together without fighting. I was really proud of them for working together and finishing this puzzle with barely any bickering.
The finished masterpiece.....and then they did it about 10 more times.
THURSDAY
Today our Bible lesson was about how Jacob tricked Esau into giving away his birthright, and then tricked (lied) to Isaac about who he was. We talked about how wrong it is to lie and that we should always tell the truth. It was also nice to tie it back into our 'love lessons' that we've been doing. Love delights in truth. We did a funny little craft with this lesson and made hairy arm bands, similar to what Jacob did....minus the goat hair. lol
She thought it was funny that anyone would want to have hairy arms in the first place.
Decorating our letter Nn with number stickers.

We also had fun with nuts. I had two bags, one with N and the other with n. Her and Asa sorted them out.
Annabelle thought that the nuts were dirty and disgusting (those were her exact words). Notice the dainty way she is picking them up as to not get her fingers gross. The peanuts were clean I tell you....and they tasted good too! I didn't dare mention that these little guys are used to make peanut butter. :)
FRIDAY
We talked about Jacob's dream of a ladder going up into heaven. We talked about how Jesus is our direct way to Heaven and that we can come to God because of Him. A little over her head, but just got to keep planting those seeds in her heart. This is the worksheet we did with it. The ladder is made out of toothpicks.
Lowercase n worksheet.
Well, that's pretty much it for this week. I do have one more Jacob and Esau lesson. The one about how Esau forgives Jacob for what had transpired between them. I'm hoping to do that with her tomorrow between church services. Happy blogging.

jess_hak

Linking up to Preschool Corner. There are some really creative ideas floating around over there!