Wednesday week 3

We did a lot on Wednesday and the rest of the week was crazy-that's why I'm posting now instead of then!

We watched Signing Time #3: Everyday signs (boy, girl, various foods, etc)

We read:
Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward (like Over in the Ocean-different words, more ocean animals)
Baby Beluga
Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?-not really about whales but talks about their size in comparison to other things and the Universe.
Senses at the Seashore-fun way to learn about senses-especially if you want to take a trip to the seashore!
Curious George Goes to the Beach
The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson-Cute story about a snail that rides around the world on a whale and eventually saves his life
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean-Another really cute story about a giant squid that thinks he's the biggest thing in the ocean until...you'll just have to read and see!
Alphatales letter E book again (see materials post for info)

We tried to make an aquarium but Monkey was more interested in pulling crayons out of the box and putting them back in.  He helped me color on a piece of paper.  I drew on the back of it and cut out several fish and an octopus.  I glued them to a piece of blue construction paper and put it on the fridge!

 While doing our art work we listened to a CD we checked out.  It was a Nemo c.d. called Ocean Favorites.

Tuesday Week 3

Introducing...LETTER BOXES!  Here's some action shots of our E letter box:

 

We watched Signing Time volume 4: Family, Feelings, Fun in the morning.  We also went to the library's story time where we learned about the letter "J" and jungles.

After naptime I brought Monkey upstairs and let him explore his "E" letter box.  I need to get upper and lower case letters done and laminated so I can put them in so he can have exposure to both.  I also wanted to add a few more things to it but didn't have the time to get stuff printed and laminated (or sewn-I want to make a felt eggplant).  So now for a break down of what's in the E box!

-Alphatales E book: The Enormous Elephant Show

-The eel picture found here (ocean animals ABCs)

-Excited (the one from the matching and from the feelings book)

-Exhausted  (the one from the feelings book)
-Ear (we're using it for our senses folder)
-Eye (we're using it for our senses folder)
-Foam E (see materials-it's from the mat)
-Eight (one is from the LDS file folder book I found from the "Noah's Numbers" game and the other is from here see the counting one)
-Monkey's "Green Elephant" that my cousins gave him when he was born (it's a Carter's brand)

We read:
Alphatales E book (right after we opened our box)
Over in the Ocean-this book was really fun, it was like the Jungle one we read before it's supposed to be sung/read to the tune of Over in the Meadow.  It was really fun.
Ocean Babies-this one was really fun to introduce the babies in the ocean
Octopus, Oyster, Hermit Crab, Snail: A poem About the Sea (we read this before)

And not related to our theme:
Diary of a Worm (we requested this one when we talked about worms but it FINALLY came through)-this one is great to learn about the lives of worms and what they do-written in diary form. Fun for kids!
Spot Loves His Grandma
Spot Loves His Daddy
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

We also looked at the tot book we made (for details see this post)

Before bed we read Plenty of Penguins (we got this one from the thrift store).  It's a beginning reader to teach about penguins.

Week 3! Ocean!

Monkey is 17 months this week.

We've got a fun week planned this week learning about the Ocean!  If you're new to the blog check out the links on the side column so you can learn about our tot school, our materials, etc.

We made a tot book out of a combination of books found here (we used the whale vocab and the link with the pictures of the 32 whales) and here (we used all of them).  We assembled it in a blue folder (sorry I need to take pictures!) after laminating everything including the folder.  We used the loose binder rings to "bind" the books.  On the left side of the folder (top) we put the "How Many Animals" book (we used sticky-backed velcro so we can take it off to look at it alone if we want) and below we put the "Match the Animals" and the "Whale Vocabulary".  On the right side of the folder I made a pocket for the 32 types of dolphin pictures and then we attached the Ocean Animal ABCs (again with sticky-back velcro).  I glued a couple of paragraphs abot the 32 types of dolphins on the folder before laminating.

Here are the links for our daily activities (to be added throughout the week)
Monday (Labor Day so we didn't do a lot of Ocean activites)
Tuesday: Octopus and various ocean animals
Wednesday: Whales, making an aquarium, listening to an ocean CD from the library
Thursday: Fish
Friday: Various ocean animals and creatures
Saturday: Trip to the aquarium (will make a post and add picts later-need to get some from my cell phone uploaded-forgot the camera)

For Thursday and Friday see Monday of Week 4-week 3 was a LONG week and we ended up skipping tot school on Thursday and Friday.