Saturday, November 6, 2010

Tot School - Aa

What a great week! I came up with about 20 different activities involving 'Aa' so I could pick and choose what to do each day based how much time we had, whether or not Garrett was sleeping and the boys' interests. I focused on A is for Apple, Ant and Animals.

I started the week just showing them uppercase and lowercase A's. They used do-a-dots to fill in the letter outlines, we made A's out of playdoh snakes, used the LeapFrog alphabet magnets to stamp the letter A into playdoh and used this activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler. They weren't as into the apple matching as I would have hoped, but I think it was because they want the paper to 'click' into place like a puzzle piece and they get mad when it's just supposed to sit on top.

I cut out all the pieces needed to make the uppercase A and lowercase a to make the Letter of the Week from Totally Tots. We made them out of foam, which was a homerun because they couldn't rip it. They loved dipping the pieces in glue (which they kept calling paint) and were pretty excited at the end result. They kept asking for 'more teeth?' 'more eyes' to make the alligator and 'more seeds' to make the apple.


We did a lot of painting this week, which they loved! We make ants with their fingerprints and used paintbrushes to paint egg cartons black to make into ants. Going forward, I don't think they're ready for paintbrush painting. I made colored sugar for them to make an apple outline too. I would recommend letting one color dry completely before putting the glue on for the second color. They can help with the shaking to turn the sugar a different color and really liked dumping spoonfuls of sugar into the box to make the picture. This one was a hit! I cut an apple in half to use as a stamper too, but it was hard for them to pull it back off the paper since it was bigger than their palm. A little too messy for my taste.

For snacks, we made ants on a log and apple shakers (apple slices in a sandwich bag with cinnamon sugar).

We did all of our animal puzzles, played with Noah's Ark, and read all of our books about animals, their babies, and the sounds that they make.

The last thing we did this week was Starfall.com. I have read on so many blogs that kids really like it, but I had no idea they would like it this much! Since we were using a laptop, I had to position the mouse and they could press the button to move to the next screen, but I'm sure in no time they'll be pros with the mouse. The last picture is my favorite from this week!
To see what other Tot Schoolers are doing, head over to 1+1+1=1. Next week, Bb!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an awesome week you had planed out! I love the colored sugar apples :-)

Stefanie said...

Looks like they had lots of fun with A!! Such cuties!

Kate said...

What a great week! I am amazed that you had so much planned and got through it! That has been my weak point--- the follow through!

So many great activities for the letter A, thanks for sharing.

amy said...

you are such a good mama! how fun! fabulous A activities!!

melissa said...

Just stopped in from Totally Tots link. :) Love that you do so much with your little guys. great ideas!

Alison @ Educational Creations said...

What a wonderful post, I love the pictures. I am visiting from Totally Tots.

AlisonItsy Bitsy Learners

Anonymous said...

What a great blog. Please add my e-mail address to get yout blog. Susan steveac@bellsouth.net

Shannon said...

I just have to say I love the purpose statement you have on your sidebar - "My desire is that my kids will look back on their childhood with fond memories of their time at home and as a part of our family..."

Found you through Totally Tots :)

The Borrowed Nest said...

I'm a mom of 4 (from college age to 2 y/o) that works as a nurse 2 days a week - and love all these ideas! New follower - look forward to doing these projects with my toddler!

Anonymous said...

I've been interested in Tot school for several months and your approach is the most in line with the way I'm trying to do things. Thanks so much for sharing your ideas!