Bunny Monday (week 2)

Well we're starting week 2 of tot school.  We took some fun pictures when we got going...at 7 PM!  Yeah that's right.  We had THAT kind of a day.  As I type I'm on hold trying to get Monkey in to the doctor for yet another "rash" (not really a rash...) that looks like a chemical burn in his diaper area.  He was napping until well after 6:30.  We still read books and watched Signing Time while I got our dinner ready. 

 

Monkey just woke up and is enjoying a sippy while mommy gets ready to read!

 

Bunny with the letter C.  Monkey got Bunny for his 1st birthday from his grandparents

We read:
Alphatales Cc: Copycats while Monkey played with his foam letter C (you can read about these materials here)
Clifford's Animal Sounds-a really cute board book we got from the library.  Perfect for a 17 month old!  Monkey looked through this one for quite a while.
My Very First Book of Animal Sounds by Eric Carle-another board book from the library.  This one is split in half when you open the cover.  It's basically a game to match the animal picture and name with the sound they make.  I don't think we'll check it out again but it inspired me to make an animal themed tot book.  I will make a game that you match the animal to the sound and an animal ABC book.
Five Little Bunnies-this was a First Little Golden Book that I was given by one of my elementary school teachers.  It is great to teach about everyone being an individual, how everyone in a family has a certain role, the 5 senses, the number 5 or 4 or 1.  I used my fingers to show how many bunnies were being talked about throughout the story.  I wiggled my fingers in Monkey's face when we read.  He thought this was quite amusing and drew him in to the story even more.
The Bunny Book by Richard Scarry mine however looks like the second picture.  This was one of my favorite books as a child.  It's really cute and teaches toddlers about different types of bunnies as well as their features (long ears or short ears, etc).  Monkey loves looking at this book but I have to keep a VERY close eye on him since he likes to tear.
The Friendly Duck-Another one of my favorites from my childhood.  This is a story about a little boy that lives on a farm that visits a duck (he passes other animals on his way).  The little boy doesn't come one day so the duck follows his path and finds him.  This book would be great to just read or to learn about farm animals or to learn about a series of events.  The duck is the cutest part of the book!
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter-Another book from my childhood.  We also wanted to read about Peter Rabbit but didn't have time to get to that one too.  MUST have books for every child!
Bunnies ABCs- This is a fun book that has a different animal for each letter.  There are some funny ones I haven't heard of outside of this book but it inspired me to make an animal ABC book in a lapbook for Monkey.  I hope to work on this in the next few weeks.
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown-Honestly not my favorite book of hers.  It was cute because it had the message that no matter what the baby bunny did to run away the mom would change herself to make the baby come back.  I personally like Guess How Much I Love You better.
And we started reading The Velveteen Rabbit before bed (we'll finish tomorrow).

We watched Baby Signing Time volume 4: Let's Be Friends (friend signs including share, feelings, opposites, food, etc)

We went to the baby gym today and Monkey learned how to say "apple".  He enjoyed playing with his letter C while we read and also played with his bead maze.  He's getting really good at moving the beads on some of the wires.

Monkey "reading" the Clifford Animal Sounds book

I came up with another good idea that we will start implementing tomorrow.  We are going to start putting together "letter boxes".  We have a shoe box from my husband's new shoes that Monkey LOVES to open and close (it's attached on one long side) so we are going to put objects or pictures of objects that begin with the letter we're going to work on that day.  It's a fairly big shoe box so we can fit a variety of objects.  I will be posting what we put in each box if you decide you want to do this with your family too.

Q is for Quiet Quail

The Quiet Quail by Heather Feldman (Another Scholastic AlphaTales)
Such a fun book! We are totally getting this series! My son started yelling "Quack" with the book. All the Q sounds make this a really fun book. Like the others in the series it's complete with an activity to find everything that starts with q in the final picture, a cheer, and suggestions to help you teach the letter q to your child.

Ducks and Dragons (and a Cow and Pig too)

It's been a while so I'm reading A LOT this week so we can catch up before our trip. We picked up a bunch of books from the library last week and plan to pick some more up today. When I was getting books I browsed a bit and found a cute book about a cow and a pig that are confused. I will talk about the dragon and duck books first.

There's a Dragon in my Sleeping Bag by James Howe
This is a book about imaginary friends (a dragon and a camel). The dragon was made up by the older brother to keep his little brother from sleeping in his room, eating at his place at the table, playing on the swingset, etc. The little brother "meets" a camel and the camel keeps the big brother from doing the same things. The camel and dragon become friends and later move to Boston and the brothers realize what it is to be brothers. This would be a great book for brothers (or sisters) that are having sibling rivalry issues but it's also a fun book for anyone.

The Ugly Duckling (we read the one I linked but the story is by Hans Christian Andersen and all of them are similar)
This is a story EVERY child should hear. It's about a duckling who was rejected by everyone because he was ugly. After many trials he grew up to be the kind of bird he loved the most-a swan. He loved himself at that point. This book is great for self-esteem. It teaches children they should love themselves no matter what others say.

The Cow that Went Oink by Bernard Most
We found this one by browsing at the library. I liked the title. It's about a cow that says "oink" and a pig that says "moo". All of the animals in the barnyard laugh at them because they're different (they laugh with their own animal sounds which my son thought was fun). They teach each other to say the opposite thing and have the last laugh. They ended up being bilingual. We thought this book was fun.