Tot School- c is for carrots, cows & caterpillars

Jonathan is 26 Months

This week we didn't do "tot school" as heavily. We had family in town at the beginning of the week, but at the end of the week we finished up learning about the lowercase letter c. We're focusing on the hard c sound such as in "caterpillar" and "cow".

Bible 


We continued to review our memory verse this week from the Songs for Saplings CD:

"We will be changed into his likeness" 2 Corinthians 3:18. 

We printed out the memory verse from the Totally Tots printable. Right now, all we personally do is sing the song together and look at the memory verse page.


Books 


We read several books this week about carrots, cows, and caterpillars. Here were some of our favorites- click on the links to see our reviews!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sherdain Cain
Arabella Miller's Tiny Caterpillar by Clare Jarrett
The Cow that Went Oink by Bernard Most
Little Calf by Kim Lewis
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin




Motor Skills 


We're still waiting for Spring to hit Chicago. Towards the end of the week, we had a couple days of almost nice weather (40s), so we played outside a little bit. Jonathan got a new tricycle from his Gram, and he was pretty excited about his "bike". He can do the pedals while we push him, but otherwise he just scoots with his feet:

On one of the colder days the kids found a more creative way to get their energy out. I had put on some '80s music and put Gracie in her bouncer. Jonathan had decided to join her by bouncing on his horse:



(I love that he's trying to boss her around already!)

For fine motor skills, we played with puzzles. Jonathan got a puzzle with the letters of his name for his 1st birthday and I pulled that one out again. He really enjoyed it and told me all the letters as well as their sounds.

Math


We attempted a couple math activities this week, but they didn't go over very well.  Jonathan really didn't want to sit still to do activities this week:

We played the How Many Spots? game from 2 Teaching Mommy's farm unit. In this game, we used black pom poms (they also recommend black beans) and would put the appropriate number of spots on the cow. Jonathan  mostly wanted to throw the pom poms though-- but at least he had fun, right? 


We also did a vegetable pattern file folder game from homeschool share. Overall, this wasn't a hit. Jonathan isn't interested in patterns yet. He did match the vegetable cards with the pictures on the pattern, but that only lasted five minutes.


We talked about sizes, comparing big and small seeds and big and small carrots. 


We also tried to put a caterpillar together in numerical order using a printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler. He really didn't sit still for this at all, though. We may try it again in another unit. 

Art



Jonathan was so not into any projects this week. We attempted a "C is for Caterpillar" do a dot page from Confessions of a Homeschooler, which he did for a couple minutes before moving on to another activity.

We also tried to color a "c is for carrot" coloring page I found over at Twisty Noodle. He wasn't as interested in coloring either.

We also used glue to glue down pictures of produce that begin with the hard C (/k/) sound- cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, and corn. I found that activity at Homeschool Share as well. But even glue sticks didn't hold their allure this week-- oh well! 

Music


We sang the children's song "Arabella Miller" to go along with the book Arabella Miller's Tiny Caterpillar. 

We played with a cowbell and mallet and experimented with tapping the cowbell softly, loudly, quickly and slowly. This was a huge success-- I had to take the cowbell away during Grace's naptime! (You can see the rhyme we did this to over on our C is for Cow post)

Pretend Play


We used puppets to retell the story of The Cow that Went Oink:

and we also used felt board pieces to re-enact The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Food

We had a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" lunch with everything the caterpillar ate from Monday-Friday: apples, pears, plums, strawberries and oranges. (We also did have cheese for some protein). Jonathan loves fruit so even my picky eater enjoyed this lunch!

Practical Life 


Potty training is about the same as last week. Jonathan will use the potty pretty much every time I put him on it. He still won't initiate. But, at least it's something. Less diapers for mommy!


We also planted carrot seeds along with pumpkin, basil and oregano. Jonathan's getting very funny about sensory experiences-- he didn't want to touch the dirt at all. So he helped Nana plant the seeds:

Looking back on the week, we did a lot more than I thought we did. I think both Jonathan and I were feeling a little burnt out by the end of the week. I'm not super mom! I'm still trying to find a way to balance planning activities/spending time with the kiddos/spending time with my husband/taking care of the house/hobbies such as blogging or reading a good book. How do other moms prioritize their time?

Anyways, this upcoming week we're starting on the letter "d" for dinosaurs, dogs, ducks. At least, I hope to. Jonathan's starting to sound like he might be coming down with croup again...

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

c is for cow

Sign Language & Vocabulary


We reviewed the sign for cow. We also talked about how baby cows are called calves.


Books & Poetry 

The Cow that Went Oink by Bernard Most


This is a simple story about a cow that cannot say "moo" but says "oink" instead. The cow is laughed at by other cows and feels sad until she meets a pig that cannot say "oink" but says "moo". The two animals help each other learn how to say the proper sound. It is such a silly story, that Jonathan picked up on the humor of a cow saying oink right away. He also liked the sounds the other animals would make in laughing- such as "baa-ha". We used the story to talk about being nice to those who are different from us.

Little Calf by Kim Lewis

This is a sweet story about a little girl who lives on a farm. Together with her daddy, she watches a little calf be born and take its first steps. It's a short quick read with beautiful realistic pictures. We talked about "calves" being baby cows. Jonathan seemed to enjoy this simple story, although it wasn't one he wanted to return to.


The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson


Pretend Play 


We acted out the story The Cow that Went Oink with our puppets. Here's Jonathan showing off his puppets-- this is the first time he really engaged with our puppets:

Math


We played the How Many Spots? game from 2 Teaching Mommy's farm unit. In this game, we used black pom poms (they also recommend black beans) and would put the appropriate number of spots on the cow. Jonathan didn't get too into this activity- he wanted to throw around the pom poms. Oh well! He had fun, I guess. :)


Music 


We played with a cowbell and mallet and experimented with tapping the cowbell softly, loudly, quickly and slowly. This was part of a musical literacy kit that we got from the library.

My old cow is singing loudly
Moo, Moo, moo-ing all day long.
Then she moos so very softly
Moo-ing 'til the day is done. 


Moo-ing loudly, moo-ing loudly,
Moo-ing loudly all day long.
Moo-ing softly, moo-ing softly,
Softly 'til the day is done. 


In the kit it said to tap the cowbell loudly and softly as indicated in the song. Then, you can substitute hitting the cowbell quickly and slowly. Jonathan loved experimenting with the cowbell.

Library Links 


Little Calf
The Cow that Went Oink 




Web Resources 


C is for Cow @ First School
Cow Progressive Printable Puzzle @ First School
Cows Lesson @ Letter of the Week Preparatory Page