Tot School- m is for monkey (31 months)

Jonathan is 31 Months

We spent a week looking at monkeys and we had a lot of fun. But before I begin I need some mommy-advice. I don't know if we're hitting "terrible" twos or what- but lately all it seems I do is discipline! Some of it may be a little sibling jealousy-- Grace is more mobile and gets more attention than she used to. So if I correct Grace, Jonathan will turn around and do the same thing I told Grace not to do. {Sigh}. It makes for one weary momma at times. I know this will pass... right?

Bible 


This week we talked about the call of Moses and started to talk about the Exodus. We made a burning bush to go along with our Bible story. I'll summarize in a future Weds post.

Stories, Nursery Rhymes & Read Alouds

Our Bookshelf

We read lots of books about monkeys this week. To see our reviews of what we read, see this post.

Each morning we have a little "calendar" time. I write Jonathan a little message on our morning board and he enjoys finding his name in the message:

We've also been working on name recognition. I pulled out our alphabet magnets and had him match the letters in his name. He did a great job!

Gross Motor 


We had beautiful weather this week- so we spent a lot of time outside!

Riding his tricycle-- still can't pedal though

Golf-- his favorite game!

Sensory Play 


We played a lot with our monkey sensory bin:

Art 


We colored a bit this week, using our Kumon Let's Color workbook. Jonathan's getting better fine motor control and trying to stay in the lines:

We also did a "M is for Monkey" do-a-dot page from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I didn't get to any more elaborate crafts this week!

And here's a peek at our burning bush craft:

Games : 

We played 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. I got this free through Freecycle. We didn't have the instructions, but we just had fun putting the monkeys on the bed and popping them off. We counted the monkeys and tried to make patterns. Jonathan had a lot of fun:

Practical Life: 


Jonathan learned how to help me with the laundry this week. He helps throw the clothes into the washer and pull the clothes out of the dryer.

We also attempted potty training. He will almost always go if I put him on the potty, but he hasn't told me when he needed to go. So, I put him in underwear for the first time. The good part is, he became very aware of when he was wet and when he was dry. He's started to tell me more after he's gone in his pull up and he did tell me once when he needed to go. I wrestle with whether or not he's truly ready... any advice?

So, that's been our week! It was a good week, and I saw some progress, but it's easy to get tired & discouraged sometimes. Maybe I just need a nap. :)

I link up to these parties! Thanks for visiting!

M is for Monkey: Books for Toddlers & Preschoolers

As usual, we are reading a lot of books this week as we learn about monkeys. Here are some highlights of what Jonathan and I have been reading:

The Original Curious George by H.A. Rey

We've enjoyed George before, but I pulled some of our books out again for our "monkey" unit. We read the first book  in the series which tells how George meets the Man in the Yellow Hat and comes to live in the city. We also read Curious George takes a Job, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, and Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Jonathan loved them all-- he loves reading about this silly monkey! (The original books, in my opinion, are the best-- even if some of the illustrations, such as in the hospital, are a little "dated").

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina

This is an another fun and classic story from 1940. It's about a cap peddler who falls asleep and wakes up to find that some monkeys have stolen his caps! He tries different tactics to get his caps back-- until the solution ends up being something unexpected! Jonathan engaged with this story. We had fun acting it out and playing "monkey see, monkey do".

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

This is another classic book that I remember from my childhood. If you aren't familiar with it, it is about monkeys beating on drums- dum ditty, dum ditty, dum dum dum. It's  very rhythmic and lends itself well to acting out the story. We beat on our Leap Frog drum, our knees, the floor, etc. in time with the story.  Jonathan had so much fun he even wanted to take the book to bed with him!

Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow

This is a modern-day classic based on the children's song. The five little monkeys are jumping on the bed. One by one, the little monkeys fall off of the bed and bump their heads. This is a very toddler-friendly book. Jonathan loves pretending to be a little monkey. Another book that we read (in honor of Grace's birthday) was Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake.

Counting Coconuts/Contando Cocos by Wendi Silvano

This is a fun, bilingual counting book that aims to teach skip counting. The monkey is hungry, but he wants to count his coconuts. The various rainforest animals suggest counting by twos, threes, fours, fives, and tens to help monkey count his coconuts. The Spanish numbers for one, two, three, four, five, and ten are taught as part of the book. It's a fun concept, but was still a little over Jonathan's head. Older preschoolers may enjoy this fun book even more.



I'm linking up to:

Read Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word
Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books
What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns
Book Sharing Monday @ Smiling Like Sunshine


Happy Reading!

Pinterest Tuesday: Fabulous Monkey Ideas!

Our Country Road hosts a weekly link-up party revolving around Pinterest. Pinterest is a great way to find some visual inspiration! Be warned- it can also be very addicting! I love seeing what other people are "pinning".

So I thought I'd share some of my favorite monkey-related Pinterest finds in a special board .  Here are some of my favorite finds. Hopefully the kids and I can fit some of them in this week!


Monkey Paper Plate Art:

Source: superheroesandprincesses.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Lots of Monkey Ideas:

Source: familyfunnotebook.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Monkey Footprint Art:

Source: funhandprintart.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Go over to Our Country Road and get more inspiration for playing with your little ones!

Tot School Preview: Monkey Sensory Bin

We're back! We spent a little over a week down in central Illinois celebrating Grace's birthday and visiting my husband's family. Now we're settling back in at home and ready to start looking at monkeys this week.

I haven't shown this to Jonathan yet, but here's the monkey sensory bin I created:

It has brown aquarium rock, green and yellow pompoms, some fake trees, and pipe cleaner "vines" for the monkeys from our monkey toob to hang on. I'll give him the usual spoons, cups, and tweezers to practice transferring and pouring. He's been loving these sensory bins, so I think he'll have fun with this one. :)

I'm linking this post up to:

Tot School @ 1+1+1=1
Link & Learn @ No Time for Flash Cards
The Sunday Showcase @ Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Montessori Mondays @ One Hook Wonder
Pinterest Tuesday @ Our Country Road
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars