What we did this week...

Here are some of the things we did this week:  played with Play-Doh, gave animals figurines and our dollhouse dolls "baths" in the bathroom sink, had pretend tea and cookies together, played with baby dolls, danced to music, tried out our new tutus, made funny faces in the mirror, made shape pictures with glue sticks and cut-outs (see left), played pretend clothing store, played hide-and-seek, emptied my piggy-bank and then refilled it twice, looked at different pennies, played My Little Ponies, had an indoor picnic lunch, picked and ate up the last of the sugar snap peas, and so much more!

Favorite books we read this week included Baby Dear by Eloise Wilkins (which I must have read nearly 20 times), A Tree Named Steve, and An Earthworm's Life.

We also received our state culture exchange package from California.  The kids were really excited about opening it and tore through it, but then the Sees chocolates distracted them from paying much attention to anything else.  So, I plan on going through it again with them in more detail on Monday.

Week review...

We took advantage of the nice weather on Wednesday and Thursday with trips to Washington Park and Jacobus Park.  All the kids love going to a park but getting out of the door is always a challenge for me.  Sometimes it takes a good 20 minutes or more for us to get ready.  By the time we get out the door, I'm already exhausted.  Everyone needs a change before we can go and then I have to get everyone's shoes, coats, and hats on too.  By the time I get the last person ready, the first person has removed their shoes and socks and I have to start over.  But still it's worth it because they have a blast once we get there and it's great exercise.

Other things we did include decorating little pumpkin gourds, making halloween sticker pictures, playing dollhouse, ponies, baby dolls, little legos, pretending to be a variety of different animals, having play-food picnics, coloring with crayons, and much more.

Here are some of the books we read this week.

"A Good Day" and "The Salamander Room" continue to be favorites.  L really enjoyed "A Log's Life".  And S seemed to like "Happy to be Nappy" and "Sing-Along Song".  V is oddly particular.  She did not like "The Watcher" and refused to listen to it after the 4th page, but she was content to be read "Harry The Dirty Dog".

China

This month, D is supposed to learn about China.  Here are some of the books and DVDs we got from the library to find out more about China.

At the end of the month there will be a quiz and she will have to get all the questions correct if she wants to open the Barbie Doll of the World that represents China.  L is rooting for her and he already has his eye on the panda that comes with the doll.

The quiz this time looks like it's going to be even more difficult than last month's about Argentina.  And there are more questions this time too.  I'm sure if D applies herself like she did last month, she shouldn't have any problems!

Fall Theme

These are some of the books we've been reading over the last couple of weeks.  Our theme is FALL, but we always read a variety of other books too.

Earlier this week, we took a walk to Jacobus Park.  It's a pretty long walk, but there's a lot along the way for the kids to see from the stroller.  They were really interested in the surroundings when we went over a bridge and they could look down as we went over the train tracks and across a river.

L & V enjoyed playing on the playground and the swings, in particular.  After we were done playing we took a little walk and collected some fall nature:  colorful leaves, seeds, nuts, twigs, etc.  L also collected a beetle along with his other nature items.

Learning about Argentina

D and I have a deal that she will spend a month learning about a country and if she passes a quiz at the end of that month, she gets to open a Barbie Doll of the World for that country.

The first country we've been working on is Argentina.  In a few days D will have a 13 question quiz to determine if she can open this doll or if she needs to spend another month on Argentina.

She needs to be able to locate Argentina on the globe, tell me what continent it is on, what the main language they speak, know the capital city, the most popular sport, about the tango, Eva Peron, the Andes, and more.

I really hope she gets them all right!

D's School Homework Store

This is D's school homework store.  When she arrives at daycare after school, D's first job is to bring in the mail and sort it.  Then she has an after school snack.  Then she must work on her homework.  If she gets it all done, then she earns a star.  Each star equals $0.25.  She saves up her stars and then can use them to buy items from her homework store.  On Fridays, she gets a choice of whether she wants to do her homework or not.

This is not bribery, it is reward and it also incorporates some learning objectives.

D is great at adding pennies, nickels, and dimes - but needs some practice at adding quarters.  All the items in her homework store are priced in multiples of $0.25.  The items range from $0.50 to $6.  So one of our goals is to get her to memorize some facts like:  4 quarters equal a dollar and how to count by 25's.

Other learning goals include learning about delayed gratification and the value of a dollar.  D can only earn one star each day, so she has to save them up before she can buy anything.  She could start trading her stars for items that only cost 2 or 3 stars, but she'll never save up to buy the higher priced items that way.  In addition, there are a few snack food items which I suspect may turn out to be regrettable purchases but probably good learning experiences.

Plus it's just a good habit to get into, doing her homework right away each day.  I thought it would take a month or 2 before D would opt to do her homework on Fridays but today she surprised me and got out her homework folder right away after getting here.  She even delayed her after school snack until after she finished her homework.  I'm so proud of her!

All the items in her homework store were chosen specifically for D.  There is a Barbie Wedding coloring book, a Jewelry & Nails sticker book, a pink rhythmic gymnastics ribbon, a Sweets & Treats sticker book, nail polish, glitter crayons, a Lego Friends kit, lip gloss, hair accessories, jewelry, sugar free gum, hot chips, and more.

This week...

It's been a bit of an adjustment for me going from a school-age child mindset to toddlers.  Art projects, aren't so much projects as they are sensory experiences.  Painting is about what the paint feels like between their fingers and about how various colors blend together.  Play-doh is about how it squishes in their hands.  L is more interested in sorting crayons than coloring with them.

This week was much better than last week.  There was only one bad day, which looking back, was totally because I tried to delay a nap.  I should have known that when someone needs a nap, they need to nap right then - even if it means that they will be woken in the middle of it by people arriving at the door.

These are some of the books we read this week.  Many of these were read multiple times.  There was one day where I was asked to read "Can I Just Take A Nap?" about 10 times before I finally hid the book.  I also read "At The Zoo" and "Ernie's Cheerful Smile" at least 4 times each. "Shark VS. Train" was also read more than once.

I've been letting the kids pick the books, for the most part.  We're still getting to know and be comfortable with each other, but soon I'll start creating weekly lesson plans for them with books to accompany each week's theme.  And of course I'll continue to read the books they choose too.

Books we read this week

These are most of the books that we read this week (plus Keeley who decided to lay on them right as I was taking this picture).

D and I were planning on learning about South Africa, but we only got around to reading 2 books about it and watching one travel DVD.  There was just too much going on now with more kids.


But Friday was just me and D and it was our last full day together for a while.  We did all of D's favorite things.  We played ball outside, we played Barbies, we had tacos for lunch, we baked a cake and decorated it, we played some games, we talked about the meanings of different words, we looked for Halloween costume ideas, we drew with window crayons, and we discussed how things would be next week with school starting.  It was a rough week for her with the new little kids so I hope she had a good day.

The United Kingdom

These were some of the books we read or looked at this week.  We were trying to learn about the United Kingdom, but it didn't really go too well.

I think part of the problem was that I didn't find any good DVDs for us to watch.  I did get a few "Travel With Kids" DVDs from the library, but they are a bit annoying.  D hates the little history lesson that is included in each episode and says the pop-ups go off the screen too fast for her to read.  Plus the couple in the videos put their 7 year old in a stroller and I just don't agree with that.  Our other problem was that I didn't find that many storybook type books to go with the theme.

Oh well, we'll try again next week with South Africa!

Books we read this past week...

These are some of the books we read or looked at this week.

D really seems to like the gymnastics books that I've been getting from the library for her.

We took a break from foreign countries this week so that we could focus more on just the United States.

We signed up to do a culture exchange with 4 other US States at Worldwide Culture Swap.

So this week, I told D about the exchange and we began gathering up info about our state of Wisconsin and about Milwaukee too.

Brazil

These are some of the books we read or looked at this week while learning about Brazil.

We also watched a few DVDs, including:

• Families of the World:  Families of Brazil
• Rio
• Let's Explore... The Rainforest

We choose Brazil this week at D's request.  I think it's really cool that she's choosing the countries that we are learning about now.

These are a few other books we read or looked at this week.

D loves to do physical activities.  She's going to take a gymnastics class in the fall, so I purchased a few books about it and they were a big hit with her.

We also checked out a few yoga books from the library since a lot of the skills are the same; such as balance, flexibility, and strength.

Learning about Germany

We've been learning about Germany and these are some of the books we read or looked at this week.

It's been fun going through a bunch of the classic fairy tales from Germany.  D's favorite one was Rumpelstiltskin.  Before this week, she only knew the ones which there are Disney versions of.

We also watched a couple of DVDs:  The Little Travelers Germany and Families of the World:  Families of Germany.

Learning about India

These were some of the books we read this past week while we were learning about India.

D didn't appear too impressed with any of the book selections this week, but I really enjoyed Monsoon, Sacred River, and Look What Came From India.

We also watched a few DVDs including:

• Going to School in India
• Families of the World:  Families of India
• Global Wonders:  India

This week was about FRANCE!

These are some of the books we read and looked at this week while we were learning about France.

We also viewed the following DVDs:

• Families of the World:  Families of France
• Ratatouilli
• Madeline
• Travel With Kids: Paris

(I would have liked for us to watch "Le Petit Nicolas" but the library didn't have it.)

The things that D seemed to like best were:  learning about Coco Chanel, Madeline (the film),  and watching the cancan dancers at Bastille Days.

We did lots of activities like trying to draw with scissors like Matisse, listening to some french pop, pretending we were eating at an outdoor Paris Cafe at lunchtime so we could do some people watching, and coloring pages of the French flag, Marie Antoinette, the Eiffel Tower, and more!

This past week was all about Japan

These are some of the books and DVDs we read or looked at this week.  We were learning about Japan!

The books that D seemed to like best were:  Suki's Kimono, The Way We Do It In Japan, and All About Japan.

The DVDs we watched were:

• Big Bird In Japan
• Families of the World:  Families of Japan
• The Little Travelers Japan
• Spirited Away

D enjoyed all of these.  Big Bird In Japan was probably her favorite and we watched certain segments of it over and over again.  Her favorite part was when Big Bird and Barkley go to a Japanese restaurant.  It starts around the 5:10 mark in the YouTube video below:

The books we read this week

These are some of the books we read this week!

Promoting Literacy & Community

The Grand Opening of my mom's Little Free Library is on Saturday, May 26th at 11AM in front of our house.  There will be free cookies and of course free books!

Having a free library in front of the daycare is just another way that we aim to create and support a language rich environment.

*UPDATE*
May 31, 2012
It's been just 5 days since the grand opening and things are going great!  People have taken over 2 dozen books already.  And there are new books everyday as people have been donating daily.  It's neat when I get to see people stop and check it out.

Books, Books, More Books...

At last count, I have 13 board books...

...and 183 other kid books - ranging from preschool beginning readers through to middle school young adult level.

I'm always adding books to the library!

I have a lot of art and ballet books and a huge amount of science and dog books.  My favorite science series is the "Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science" books.  And I have lots of future activities planned around many of these books.  I think it's going to be a fun summer filled with nature exploration!