Week 1: Thursday and Friday (...and a Wrap Up)

THURSDAY:

Playing With Others:

I had a check-up Thursday morning. My sister babysat Scout for me, and we ended up spending the rest of the day over at her house. So we didn't do any of our bins or "official" school. She did enjoy some socializing with her cousin and interaction with new toys/environment.

Putting together a shape puzzle.

Vocabulary:

• Cousin
• Aunt
• Play Nice
• No Pushing

Skills:

• sharing
• taking turns speaking

FRIDAY:

Flash Cards, Pom Poms, and Colored Pencils:

She went right over to her bins to check everything out this morning. After an incident on Wednesday afternoon where she thought it was hilarious to put the rocks and pompoms in her mouth so I would tell her "No" and chase her, we ended up hiding those for a while. Without her favorites in sight she went for the flash cards. I shouldn't have been surprised that all she wanted to do was crinkle them up, since that's what she does with most pieces of paper, but it made me a little sad.

I tried showing her different things she could do with them, like matching or counting, but she just wanted to scatter them all around the table. So I decided to try a limited amount of pompoms again, but I did warn her any funny business would result in them being taken away again.

This is what I showed her and what I hoped would happen.

Scout didn't like the pompoms sitting on the cards. She got upset and put them in the bowl. So I had another idea. I had washed one of our ice cube trays earlier and I brought it down to our little table. Then I demonstrated putting one pom in each cube (pocket? slot? whatever they're called). She took to this idea right away.

I didn't emphasize matching or sorting this time. We will work our way up to that. This was just the first exposure for her, and she seemed to like it. I gave her a high-five and a little cheer after she completed it.

After three times though she was bored and ready to move on to something else.

The colored pencils, (my "I need one more bin and have no idea what to put in it so I just throw these in" item), have also been popular. She liked carrying them around. Sometimes she got out the paper too and drew random lines. Sometimes she handed me a pencil and wanted me to draw or write something, then took it back and handed me another color.

Vocabulary:

• numbers 1, 2, and 3
• colors
• same/different
• draw
• write

Skills:

• separating
• transferring
• comparing
• fine-motor skills
• drawing only on paper, not furniture or walls

WRAP UP:
A good start. I definitely need to implement a clean-up time/strategy. I didn't expect her to bounce around quite so much. I love the theme week ideas and suggestions. I think we may start that next week. I also plan on going to the library after her nap today to pick up books for our theme next week (Zoo Animals), and I might make that a weekly outing, to prep for the week ahead. I also want to make a post or a page with my theme ideas so I can remember them. I started a list in a notebook, but I am sure that will get lost. I should also start a schedule and list of things we have and things we'll need. The zoo one should be simple, she loves zoo animals and we have a lot of stuff for it already.

-Jes