G week: Wednesday & Thursday

{G is for goose}

Wednesday:

We only got as far as computer time. Never made it to chart time or to learning the Golden Rule. But we did sit on the potty and clean up lots of pee. FUN!


Thursday:

A great preschool day to make up for the previous two days. (I forgot to say that on Tuesday we made green salt dough. Technically not "'preschool" but it was a fun learning/playing experience together).

We decided to abort Mission:Underwear for now and it made us both so much happier. We had a fun time finding deals at Old Navy and getting milk and cereal at Trader Joe's. (Would you believe that the little shopping carts they have there have been stolen? That's right. Stolen. There is only one left, so Connor didn't get to push one today. Sad!)

We walked to and around the duck/goose pond today with our friends. Connor had a great time running and playing and got very muddy splashing in puddles left from yesterday's crazy rainstorm.

Tonight after Abby went to bed we did computer and chart time. Then we played a new game that Connor got from his friends who were cleaning out their toy closet. We were laughing and talking and having fun. Connor is a great kid! And when he's wearing pull-ups I can focus on how great he is and not on the pee that is about to be all over the floor.

We had a few M&Ms for dessert tonight and Connor said, "Look, Mom. A lowercase M on those because they're called M&Ms so they start with M."

G week: Tuesday

No preschool today. We could only focus on one thing and that thing is

POTTY TRAINING!

G week: Monday

Today was our busy day. Connor went to his friend Colin's house (thanks, Erin!) and Abby and I went to feed the missionaries lunch. When we got back we had some serious grocery shopping to do. I'm actually planning meals and shopping for them this week. That's big for me. But I figure that since I'll be home ALL DAY, EVERYDAY this week I will have time to cook. And it'll be fun to cook with Connor if I'm not rushed. Plus it'll keep him in the kitchen where any possible potty training accidents will be much easier to clean up than on the living room carpet.

Alan got home at 6 tonight!!! So we did preschool with him. Connor showed him what we do on the computer and on our chart. Then we read a book called Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert and talked about gardens. We did the file folder game called "Grandpa's Garden" and Connor had to tell us whether he thought each food was a fruit or a vegetable. He got most of them correct.

Tomorrow's the big day. Wish us luck!

G week: plans

Here are the plans for G week:

word cards: green, goodnight, goose, gorilla, garden
poem:

GOOLOO
By Shel Silverstein

The Gooloo bird
She has no feet,
She cannot walk
Upon the street.
She cannot build
Herself a nest,
She cannot land
And take a rest.
Through rain and snow
And thunderous skies,
She weeps forever
As she flies,
And lays her eggs
High over town,
And prays that they
Fall safely down.

Monday (social studies): gardens. It's quite possible that Connor doesn't know what a garden is because I don't have one and I don't think I've ever taught him about gardens. He has referred to our yard as a garden before and he's heard of the Botanical Gardens. We'll talk about what a garden is, read a story, and play the Grandpa's Garden file folder game I have. (For some cute and fun file folder games, not including Grandpa's Garden, to print and put together click here.)

Tuesday (math): greater than/less than. Just the concept, not the signs. The signs still confuse me and I have to think about Pacman to figure out which sign is which.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): The Golden Rule. I have basically taught this concept to Connor, but I think it will be good to have a formal-ish lesson on the principle of treating others the way we would like to be treated.

Thursday (movement/activity): Geese at the pond. Since we are starting potty training on Tuesday, Thursday will be the day we see if we can leave the house. We'll just drive down, walk around the pond, and drive back home. I hope we can make it!

Friday (art project): Green (of course!) Crazy Crayons. We'll use different shades of green (and possibly other colors) to make these fun crayons.

Other G words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: grocery store, goodnight stories, good luck.

Note: This week is all about the hard sound of the letter G, as in good. Of course, it's fine to point out that words like giraffe start with G too and to explain that the G makes two sounds, /g/ and /j/, but the focus of this week is the /g/ sound.

F week: Friday...oops

We didn't do preschool officially today. Oops.

But we did run about 6 or 7 errands on the way to play at a friend's house. And then came home in time to pick up a couple of other friends to come to our house to play. By the time they went home Connor was pooped so we had dinner, got jammies on and went to bed.

Connor was my BIG helper today. He helped me through all of our errands–returning things to friends, Buy Buy Baby for a gift and a non-slip bath mat, Staples for RS stuff, gas station, Post Office to mail back Nike's and the gift purchased at Buy Buy Baby, and Michael's for another gift item. It was a busy morning and I couldn't have done it (happily) without my great helper. Connor was especially cute at the Post Office. He carried in the bag with the big box of shoes in it and dragged it all the way through the long line (is it a rule that Post Offices must be understaffed?) and talked cheerfully to me the whole time. He's such a great kid. A good boy and a fun buddy to have with me on my errands.

We did teach Annika how to make the sign for the letter F and sang the letter F song, so that can count for our preschool on this busy Friday.

F week: Thursday

Today preschool was short and sweet. We did our usual computer time and chart time and then we painted with fall colors. The paintings will be turned into thank you cards for Connor's grandparents who sent him fun Halloween greetings this week. Connor had fun painting and wanted to mix red and brown and yellow together, so it turned out kind of a pukey color. He's really into what colors will be made when two colors are mixed, so he loves playing with paint.

F week: Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday:

Halloween was a fun preschool day. We didn't officially do the daily preschool routine, but we did do our frog activity as planned. Thanks to Tania for letting us borrow her frog counters, we had a great time sorting and lining up frogs. Very educational too.

But we also celebrated Halloween, which is just as important to Connor's development as learning to differentiate and sort, in my opinion. We had an impromptu Halloween celebration at our house in the morning. Several friends (and their moms and siblings) came over for our usual Singing Time time and we did Halloween activities. Connor had fun sharing his game Pin-the-nose-on-the-Jack-o-lantern that he got in a birthday package from his cousins. He also really got into the books that we shared. They're just little ditto-paper books that Grandma Rama gave him (she was a teacher) but he's loved reading them and loved even more sharing them with his friends.

Wednesday:

A great preschool day. I was a good mom on Wednesday. Despite my really busy day (doctors visits and flu shots for the kids, watching a friend's son, planning a lesson and tutoring a first grader, and meeting with the RS presidency at the church), I spent a lot of time really playing with my kids. That always feels good. I am making an effort to do that more and not always be trying to get something else done or thinking about what I need to be doing when I'm playing with them.

Connor and I spent almost an hour together while Abby was sleeping. We did our computer time and our chart time (making a new calendar for November and talking about events coming up this month). We talked about the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, using his flannel board book. He got so into it that he wanted to do all of the miracles in the book. It was great to just sit with my boy and talk about Jesus and teach Connor about the miracles Jesus performed when He was on earth.