Tot School- e is for elephant, earth, eggs, elves, & engines

Jonathan is 28 Months

I haven't posted a Tot School post for the several weeks. We were busy with Easter and traveling. But we did continue our alphabet adventures and studied the letter "e" the past couple weeks. We've focused on eggs, elephants, the earth, elves, and engines. 

Easter 2011

Bible 


We reviewed our new memory verse this week from the Songs for Saplings CD:

"The Word of the Lord Endures Forever" 1 Peter 1:25. 

We printed out the memory verse from the Totally Tots printable. This is really hit or miss at this point. Sometimes Jonathan will sing along with the song, and sometimes not. I don't know that he's really capable of memorizing verses at this point. But it's still something I want to attempt with him. Have any other moms had success with memory work at this age?

We also read through a little devotional in the morning, Everything a Child Should Know about God by Kenneth Taylor. We do one page each day and talk about the pictures.

What has been the biggest hit was an idea my husband came up with. We had been trying to read Jonathan from a toddler Bible, but found that the stories are often truncated with one story per page. He wasn't paying attention well or engaging in the story. Brian thought maybe if we had a separate children's book for each Bible story, he would engage more. We bought a few books from the Beginner's Bible I Can Read and Jonathan loves these books. Each night he asks for one or more stories and he remembers the basic plot of the stories. He's started telling me that Noah was happy because he loved God and that the mean king of Egypt said "No! No! No!". It's really quite cute.

The stories in this series are retellings of the Bible stories, so they are not the actual text of Scripture itself. Our hope is that by reading these at night, we'll be able to transition more easily into an actual children's Bible.

Books 


We read lots and lots of books the past couple weeks about all of our "e" words. Here were some of Jonathan's favorites- click on the links to see our full reviews and lots more books!

• Eddie The Elephant's Exciting Egg Sitting  by Barbara deRubertis - a cute book about an elephant who "egg-sits" for an emu. It introduces several "e" words.
  
• Our Big Home: An Earth Poem by Linda Glasser A beautiful book that celebrates the earth that all people and creatures share. The detailed illustrations provide plenty of fun!
  
• Round Like a Ball by Lisa Campbell Ernst  A fun guessing game about what is round like a ball. Beautiful die-cut pages get larger and larger with each clue until the object (the earth) is revealed.
  
• Guess What is Growing Inside of this Egg by Mia Posada- another guessing game showing that not just chickens hatch from eggs.
  
• The Little Engine That Could by Wally Piper - the classic children's tale!

And those are just the highlights of the books we read the past couple of weeks! We also read books by Gene Baer and Keith Baker as part of our Reading Our Library project.

And we also read some books about the letter "e":

My "e" Sound Box by Jane Monclure

Jonathan has really been enjoying this series. Each letter is represented by a little boy or girl who finds objects that begin with his letter sound and put them into a box. He requested this book several times and it gave us chances to talk about words that we aren't covering as part of our "e" unit such as envelope, Eskimo, and eggplant.

Alphabet Bob Books 

We were reading the "E F Book" this week. Jonathan has liked this series as well, but not as much as the sound box books. 





Motor Skills 


We did some work on lacing using cards (eggs and elephants) I printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler and 1+1+1=1's Tot School Printables. Jonathan wasn't so interested in the lacing this time though.

He has been really focused on gross motor skills. Lately he's becoming quite the little boy- very, very active. Everything is a baseball bat or a hammer to him. We've been trying to set boundaries over kicking balls in the house. It's a little of a struggle for me because I don't want to squash the little boy in him, but yet the constant activity drives me nuts sometimes! Anyone else deal with this?

Fortunately, we've been able to play outside a lot more. Spring (or Summer) has officially arrived to Chicago. We've spent a lot of time playing in the yard where it's perfectly acceptable to kick or throw balls (as long as he doesn't throw them at Grace!). He seems to really enjoy soccer and he tries to "golf" with his baseball bat and golf clubs:

Letters  & Writing



We did some pre-writing exercises from our Tot School Printables pack. Jonathan's getting better at making lines and circles on a page. However, he gets so excited that then he wants to scribble all over the page!

Art

We made an elephant out of shapes. This was good for shape recognition as well as practice gluing:

We finger-painted the earth:

Painted pictures of eggs and dot painted upper and lowercase "e" to practice letter recognition:

And used markers to color an "e is for elf" page:

Pretend Play/Music/Games


We played with Jonathan's Thomas the Tank Engines a lot. He loves these!

Jonathan got a new game this week, the Bambino Luk

Math

We practiced number recognition by using our elephant floor numbers from Confessions of a Homeschooler and practiced running from one number to another. (Great rainy day activity!) 

We practiced number matching/counting by using an Easter egg printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler. This one was hard because the eggs were printed on the page and Jonathan had a hard time knowing which eggs he counted already. 

We practiced more counting using another printable from Love My Life x 4. This one was easier for him because he had to move eggs into a basket. So he knew which eggs he had counted already. 

We practiced counting and matching by pulling Grace's shoes out of a bag (a tie in to the elves and the shoemaker story). This was another great way to count because he could touch and manipulate the shoes to see if he counted them already:

So that's what we've been up to the past few weeks! Now it's on to letter f. :)

I'm linking up to:

Link & Learn @ No Time for Flashcards

Tot School @ 1+1+1=1

What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Learns, Mouse Grows
Feed Me Books Friday @ Little Sprout Books

e is for engine

The final letter "e" word that we talked about was engine. My little boy just loves "choo choo trains". He really, really enjoys Thomas the Tank Engine. He got a train set for Christmas along with several Thomas engines and he plays with them every day. So, it was a fun way to talk about the short letter "e" and he got pretty engaged in the activities. 

Books 

We read all the Thomas the Train books we own and checked a couple out of others from the library. These books are pretty simple stories about the adventures of the different trains on the island of Sodor. Each of the trains has its own personality. The original stories were written by a Reverend for his son and emphasized friendship, honesty, and hard work. These are good character traits for children and I want to find the original Thomas the Tank Engine series for Jonathan. 

The Little Engine That Could by Wally Piper

This is a classic story about a train of toys that breaks down and needs another engine to help them reach their destination. Several bigger or more important engines come by but are too busy to help. Finally a small engine comes by and although she's uncertain if she can help she says "I think I can, I think I can" and is able to climb the mountain to help them deliver the toys to the waiting children. Jonathan loved this story-- I guess there's a reason it's a classic! He's asked to read it several times. I think we'll be adding it to our home library soon!

 

Math 

We printed out numbers and shapes printables from Carisa's Tot Pack over at 1+1+1=1. Jonathan identified the shapes easily and we sat and practiced counting the number of trains on each card. As I learned with our elves unit, Jonathan does better counting when he can actually manipulate the objects he's counting. So we pulled out some of our trains and counted how many we had. 

The major Thomas engines have numbers attached to them. We don't have very many of them, but if he continues to enjoy these trains I could see purchasing the trains numbered 1-10 and having him practice putting the trains in numerical order. 

There's a great article about how these wooden train sets help children build early math skills at Sensible Math Education. 

Web Resources 

The Little Engine That Could Story Lesson @ Mother Hubbard's Cupboard

Thomas the Train Tot Pack @ 1+1+1=1

e is for elf

image source

It's so hard to find words with the short e sound. I don't know what I'll do when I get some of the more difficult letters, like X. Anyways, we tried to focus on elves for the short e sound. The books weren't much of interest to Jonathan, but he did like the activities...

Books

Elfabet: An ABC of Elves by Jane Yolen

This book features adorable multicultural elves on each page. Each letter has its own page with a busy elf engaged in an activity which corresponds with that letter of the alphabet. As an added bonus, each elf is surrounded by objects which begin with the same letter. For example, the E page says "E is for Egg Elf endlessly eating". The elf is sitting in an elder tree surrounded by an elephant, an eagle, elderberries, and evening primroses.Lauren Mills' illustrations are fun and full of detail. As a two year old, however, Jonathan wasn't impressed. I think the book is too detailed for him at this age. As he gets older, however, I think he'll have more fun finding the items in the pictures. We'll probably save this one for when he's in preschool or kindergarten. It's definitely worth checking out if you have children a little older than mine.

The Elves and the Shoemaker retold and illustrated by Bernadette Watts

This is a retelling of the classic fairy tale story by the Brothers Grimm. A poor shoemaker has only enough leather left to make one pair of shoes. He sets out the leather at night and finds a beautifully made pair of shoes the next morning. The shoes continue to be made each night as the shoemaker and his wife sleep. Eventually, the shoemaker and his wife watch to see who was helping them and find two tiny elves. The shoemaker and his wife come up with a gift for the elves to show their gratitude. This is a beautifully illustrated retelling and Watt's colorful drawings breathe new life into a well known story.  The text is short enough that toddlers ought to be able to sit through the story. Jonathan, however, didn't show much interest in this one either. 

Art 


We colored a picture of an elf with the shoemaker as well as an "e is for elf" page that I found at Making Learning Fun.  I pulled out his markers and in addition to coloring, he had fun practicing pulling the caps off and putting them on again.

Math


To tie in to the Elves and the Shoemaker story, I had Jonathan count and match Grace's shoes. I printed out a clip art of an elf and taped it to a paper bag. Then I put 5 pairs of Grace's shoes inside the bag. He really got interested in this activity. He really did a great job matching the shoes and was so proud when he found a match.

 Then he lined up all the shoes and counted them. Jonathan can count 1-10 but sometimes he'll count an object twice. This was a great activity because he could manipulate each shoe to know whether he counted it or not.

So that was what we did for elves. Next, we turned our focus to engines... more about that to come.

Web Resources 


E is for Elf @ First School

e is for egg

Image source

Sign Language 


We reviewed the sign for egg.

Books 

An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni


This is a cute story about three frogs. One of the frogs named Jessica finds what the others think is a chicken egg. When the egg hatches, a baby alligator emerges and they befriend the baby "chicken". Jessica and the chicken are inseparable and the chicken even saves Jessica's life. When their baby is reunited with its mother, the silly frogs still think the alligator is a chicken. Lionni's pictures are very beautiful (as always) and appealing to little ones. Jonathan easily sat through this book. He didn't totally get the humor until I pointed out that the alligator wasn't a chicken and then he laughed at the silly frogs. It's a great story about friendship and differences.

Guess What is Growing Inside of this Egg by Mia Posada

This book was a hit with Jonathan. It's a nonfiction book about eggs. Each page has a picture of an egg (and a little of an animal) with a poem/riddle. Then the reader is invited to guess which animal the egg belongs to. The next page reveals the animal and gives more facts about the egg. Jonathan really got involved with the story and had fun naming the different animals. I don't know if he fully grasped the point that all the animals laid eggs- but he still enjoyed the story a lot.

The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett


Emily Gravett is an award winning British author/illustrator. This book features several birds, each of whom have an egg that they are waiting to hatch. Duck, however, does not have an egg of his own. One day he comes across a big egg and adopts it as his own. The pages are cut with graduated sizes so that children can watch as the eggs hatch and see the excitement of the mama birds. The other birds make fun of him until his own egg hatches and an alligator is born! Jonathan liked turning the pages and seeing the baby birds and laughed at the alligator thinking the duck was its Mama. It was a cute story with clever and engaging illustrations.




Video 


We watched a YouTube video of baby chickens hatching:




Art 


We used several pages from Carisa's Tot School Printables. We painted a picture of eggs and Dot-Painted the letter Es on another page. We also played with a lowercase "e" stamp that I found in the dollar section at Michaels.

Most of our other egg activities were Easter-tie ins. There are some great Easter printables out there!

Math 


We practiced number matching using an Easter egg printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Jonathan knows the sequence of 1-10, but he has trouble remembering which dots he's counted.

A fill the basket printable from Love My Life x4 worked out much better in terms of counting since he had to physically move the eggs that he counted.

We also worked on simple A-B-A-B patterns using our plastic Easter eggs.

Food 


I would have attempted scrambled eggs, but my picky eater won't touch them right now. Maybe next year. :)

Anyways, we had a lot of fun exploring eggs!


Library Links 


An Extraordinary Egg
Guess What is Growing Inside of this Egg
The Odd Egg


Web Resources 


Chickens Aren't tOnes @ Totally Tots
E is for Egg @ First School
E is for Egg Printable @ Lightning Bug Literacy
E is for Egg Toddler Unit @ 1+1+1=1
E is for Egg @ Totally Tots
E is for Egg @ Walking by the Way
Easter Printables @ Love My Life x 4
Easter Printables @ Confessions of a Homeschooler

e is for earth

Image source

Books 

Our Big Home: An Earth Poem by Linda Glasser

This is such a beautiful book! It celebrates the earth that all people and creatures share. The free verse celebrates the water, sun, soil, sky, rain- all the aspects of nature that we often enjoy without thinking about. The illustrations by Elisa Kleven are bright, colorful and full of detail. Jonathan and I just enjoyed the pictures so much. Each time we read the book (yes, he asked for repeated readings), we would find new animals and details to talk about. It was a great platform for talking about God's beautiful creation and how we need to take good care of our home!

Round Like a Ball by Lisa Campbell Ernst

This book is laid out like a riddle or guessing game. The reader is invited to guess what is round like a ball along with a family. Each page gives another rhyming clue and the cut-out pictures get larger and larger until finally the object (the earth) is revealed. The illustrations are very striking. Jonathan had fun with the guessing game saying "nooooo" after each page.

The Earth and I by Frank Asch

This is a book celebrating a little boy's love for the earth his home. He talks about how the he helps the earth and how the earth helps him in return. The boy talks about how pollution makes him sad, but he helps to clean up the earth. Asch's illustrations are very colorful and calming. The book, however, failed to capture Jonathan's attention as much as other Frank Asch books.


Art 


We painted a picture of the earth. I gave Jonathan blue construction paper and green paint and let him paint as he desired. Then we cut the paper in the shape of a circle:

Library Links 


Our Big Home: An Earth Poem
Round Like a Ball
The Earth and I


Web Resources


Earth Day Activities @ No Time For Flash Cards
Earth Day Ideas @ Making Learning Fun
Earth Crafts @ Silly Eagle Books
Earth Day Printables @ DLTK-Kids

e is for elephant

Image source

Sign Language 


We reviewed the sign for elephant and watched our Signing Time Zoo Train DVD.


Books 

Eddie Elephant's Exciting Egg Sitting by Barbara DeRubertis

This is a newer series that I discovered recently. Each letter is represented by a particular animal. In this story, Eddie the Elephant is asked to "Egg-Sit" an egg for the Emu family. Eddie tells the egg imaginative stories about elephant explorers and emperors until the little emu (Emma Lou) is born. It's a cute story that Jonathan really enjoyed. He asked for repeat readings, which is always a good indicator. I think we'll be exploring more books in this series. I also like that the publisher has activities and worksheets that go along with each book. Check them out here! (We made the finger puppets and Jonathan had fun wiggling them along with the story)

Edna Elephant by Margaret Park Bridges

This is a collection of four stories about Edna the Elephant. In this book, Edna dances, gets a new coat, bakes cookies,and arranges flowers. The stories are very simple with a few words on each page. As such, there isn't much plot to them so I was fairly bored with the book. Jonathan, however, really liked the book and wanted it read again. The book gives suggestions for helping your child read on his or her own. Jonathan was too young for this, but he would fill in words for me when I would pause. It's not bad as a beginning reader, but I probably will choose other books over this one when the time comes.

It's a Baby African Elephant! by Kelly Doudna

This was our non-fiction selection. It's a basic introduction to elephants. Unlike other books I considered, this one has only one or two sentences per page. It held Jonathan's attention fairly well. It also has pictures of elephants in their natural habitat and we enjoyed just looking at the pictures and discussing them. This wasn't a book Jonathan requested after the initial reading, but it was interesting to him the first time we read it.

Meet Babar and His Family by Laurent de Brunhoff


I grew up reading the Babar series and I've been looking forward to introducing Jonathan to Babar. This is a good introduction to Babar and the other characters in the series. This particular book teaches about the seasons. There isn't much of a storyline beyond showing the fun things the elephants in Celesteville do year round. It includes all the major characters in the Babar series and is a nice short introduction to the popular French elephant. Jonathan picked up the story and asked me to read it to him. He sat through it well and enjoyed pointing out different things in the pictures.



Art 


We did an elephant craft using basic shapes. Jonathan did very well with this, he applied the glue himself and patted the pieces into place with minimal coaching from Momma.

Music 


We sang the children's song "One Elephant Went Out to Play" and used these visual aids.

Gross Motor Skills 


We also tried to walk like an elephant, using the song The Elephant by Hap Palmer. Here's a fun YouTube video featuring the song:



Math 


I printed out elephant floor numbers from Confessions of a Homeschooler. We put them on the floor and I would call out the number and he would run over to that number. We've been having a lot of rain lately, so it was a good way to get out some of his rambunctious energy.

Movie 


We tried to watch Dumbo, but Jonathan actually got very sad when Dumbo's Mommy got taken away. We had to stop the movie- it was too much for him at this age.

Anyways, we had fun learning about these big animals!



Library Links 


Eddie Elephant's Exciting Egg Sitting
Edna Elephant
It's a Baby African Elephant
Meet Babar and his Family


Web Resources 


E is for Elephant @ First School
E is for Elephant @ Confessions of a Homeschooler
E is for Elephant craft @ Homeschool Creations
E is for Elmer the Elephant @ Muck Monsters
E is for Elephant @ Totally Tots
Dumbo Tot Pack @ The Linton Academy
Elephants @ Making Learning Fun

Easter Day One

We started our Easter egg unit yesterday. Most of my ideas are coming from the Joyful Heart Learning program over at Hubbard's Cupboard.

Books 

We read The Best Thing About Easter by Christine Tangvald. This is a perfect introduction to Easter! The narrator (a little girl) shares her favorite things about Easter- Easter eggs, Easter candy, bunnies, ducks, and chicks, getting dressed up and going to church-- but none of those things are the best thing about Easter. She shares how the best thing about Easter is Jesus! The story shares how a very sad thing happened (Jesus died) but that Jesus is now alive and He loves us! It's a wonderful message for children and Jonathan picked up on it quite quickly. We read the book several times (at his request) and by the second or third reading, he knew that the best thing about Easter was Jesus! (Although when daddy quizzed him later he did say Easter eggs). This is such a sweet book-- the only thing that would have made it better would be if there was a little boy featured in the story as well as the girl.

Nursery Rhymes 


We read Humpty Dumpty. And we acted out the story using an Easter egg. We put the egg on a box and let it fall down and "crack". Then we put it back together.

Music


We listened to the Wiggles sing Humpty Dumpty:



Egg-tra Ordinary Sounds


I filled 12 plastic eggs with different materials (rice, beans, pasta, pennies, pom poms, and pumpkin seeds) and placed them in an Easter basket.

I encouraged him to try to match the eggs by shaking them and listening to the sound. He did this for a few minutes. However, he got much more interested in dumping out the contents of the eggs. I hadn't sealed them because I thought he might want to look inside to help match the eggs-- I'll know better next time!

I let Gracie play with some of the eggs too (supervised of course!) She loved it!

Art 

We colored a Humpty Dumpty coloring page as well as a letter "Ee" page from Carisa's Tot School Printables over at 1+1+1=1. He had a lot of fun using his Do-a-Dot markers again. 

We had a very fun day!