Letter C-VERY short week: Caterpillar, diamond, number 3, and green

Monkey is 2 +5 months

SO because life sometimes happens we're a bit behind so our week is really only a couple of days this time around. 

Wednesday

We decided to have a day off of Tot School because Monkey didn't really want to do it and I needed to work all morning so instead he watched some Blues Clues, Curious George, and




 which he refers to as "froggy movie" (yes just like Letter Factory).  He enjoyed counting with parts of the movie and it kept him quiet so I could get work done.  Did I mention he woke US up in the morning (which is extremely rare as I normally get up around 6:30 with my husband and Monkey normally sleeps past 8 AM).  We woke up at 7:15 to jabbers because his room got too cold from having the window cracked open.  I miss our air conditioner on hot 80+ degree days!




We went to the Post Office and he pointed out letters.  Because of our homeschool mentality everything is school but we didn't officially "do" school today.

Thursday (will add pictures of our poster this weekend)

We did our Learning Poster early this afternoon (after lunch) because I was busy getting the grocery list done and working again this morning.  We introduced our letter C and it's sound (the hard C like Caterpillar), number 3, the shape diamond (one that Monkey doesn't know usually), and our poem.  I got our poem of the week from Can Teach:


Caterpillar Song
I started as a tiny egg
Upon a leaf of green
And now I stay upon the leaf
So I will not be seen
Soon I'll build a chrysalis
Upon a limb up high
I'll stay a while and then come out
And be a butterfly

 I figured out that this can be sung to the tune of Eensy Weensy Spider and Monkey really enjoyed it.  I made up actions as I went.

After we introduced the poster we started reading because it was already almost nap time and I really wanted to get our reading in!

 My "C" Sound Box (New Sound Box Books)-out of the two C books we read today I would recommend this one over the next one-we're saving our Alphatales for tomorrow and I will ALWAYS recommend the Alphatales books first.

 Celine and Cedric Go to the Circus: The Sound of Soft C (Phonics Friends)-we didn't like this one too much.  I couldn't get the hard c book from the library (Carrie's Surprise: The Sound of Hard C (Phonics Friends))-maybe I didn't search hard enough?  Anyways, I didn't like this one as much as the other Phonics Friends books we've read.

What Do You Hear When Cows Sing?: And Other Silly Riddles (I Can Read Book 1)-I tried to find a simple book about cows and was unsuccessful and this one didn't really fit in with a letter c theme though it was still fun to read.

I'm Going to Read (Level 1): Clown Games (I'm Going to Read Series)-This was a cute book but wasn't REALLY about clowns-it was mainly about the articles of clothing we all wear.  It was still a fun and simple book and Monkey enjoyed it.






This was certainly our favorite of the day.  Monkey really enjoyed it and wanted to count the caps on top of the man's head (probably because of Ten Apples Up On Top! (Beginner Books(R))).  He thought it was funny that there were monkeys in it.  We both enjoyed it and it was a simple read with simple pictures-perfect for a kiddo Monkey's age.




 My Grandmother's Clock-this was a sweet story about a child visiting grandparents and the clock that doesn't work at Grandmother's house.  Grandmother tells why they don't need a working clock because they can tell time because of events and things that happen each day, each week, each year (seasons).







 This was our second favorite book.  Very simple and perfect for teaching beginning counting and just reading to a toddler or baby.  We really enjoyed reading it.





 Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile-we've borrowed this one from the library before but we really enjoyed reading it again because it's been a while.  In the book the chicken outsmarts the crocodile and tries to make the crocodile believe they are sisters to avoid being the crocodile's dinner.  You'll have to read it to see if the chicken or the crocodile wins though!

Friday

We finished our week by reading about Letter C, Cars, and Caterpillars.  We're going to do our letter C learning box next week because I just haven't had time to put it together so watch for that.

 Alpha Tales (Letter C: Copycats) (Grades PreK-1)

Letter C/D Book from My First Bob Books (Alphabet Book 2)





Monkey LOVES the Cars movie so when I saw a book relating to the movie at the library I HAD to get it for him so we could read it with letter C.  He really enjoyed it.  It's basically a simplified version of the movie in writing so it was a quick read and was fun.











This was an awesome book for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.  It's written with a rhyming pattern so it's fun to listen to and talks about the things you need to do to take care of cars as well as different types of cars.  I highly recommend it.






 My Car-I love the Byron Barton books.  This one was really fun like the board book we were given when Monkey was born by our local library (I can't remember which one it was right now!).  A must to read to babies and young toddlers.

Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming!  This was a fun book to read too.  It had simple pictures and fun sounds so it was fun for Monkey to listen to.






 This is a classic that every home should own!  Monkey loves it and loves to count the food with me.  Great book to teach about caterpillars becoming butterflies.













Another book I would highly recommend.  This book was really fun and can be applied/read to a child that is struggling with bullying or not fitting in with other kids.  It was a really fun book to read.






Caterpillar Caterpillar: Read & Wonder (Read and Wonder)-this was a nice book but I would recommend it more for a Kindergarten age to learn the more scientific things about caterpillars becoming butterflies.  It was a little bit dry for Monkey.

 The Caterpillar (Reader's Clubhouse Level 1 Reader)-this was a very easy read book.  We liked Very Hungry Caterpillar more but it would be fun for a beginning reader to be able to read.







 We've checked this one out before but Monkey enjoyed it a lot more this time.  It would be great to use for a Science lesson in how things change.









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Tot school themes for the year 16 m-2yr

I decided I should post my themes in case anyone else wants to do Tot School with us. As I have more time I'll update this thread to link to the lap books and folder games that we will do. I'll also post links to the threads for those weeks so you can see the activities we did. I'll include the link of where I got the idea for the theme. This might give you some good ideas of things your child/ren might like.

Week 1 Colors. Letters A and B. Making own lapbook with shapes in 11 colors (ten colors, one white) with pockets to sort the colors and pockets to sort the shapes. I'll make the pockets removable so we can start with sorting 2 colors or shapes at first. I'm also including the color book from here. I'll post pictures when everything is laminated. Intro, M, Tu, W, Th, F.

Week 2 Animals. Letters C and D. Making a lap book out of these books. Week 2 (find each individual day in that post).

Week 3 Ocean. Letters E and F. Lap book made from these two books: 1 and 2 hopefully ending the week with a trip to the aquarium. Week 3

Week 4 Feelings. Letters G and H. Lap book (this one is awesome!)

Week 5 Senses. Letters I and J.

Week 6 Water. Letters K and L.

Week 7 Farm. Letters M and N

Week 8 Shapes. Letters O and P. Lapbook with colors.

Week 9 Fall. Letters Q and R.

Week 10 Halloween. Letters S and T. Halloween on Saturday

Week 11 Animals (zoo animals). Letters U and V.

Week 12 Weather. Letters W and X.

Week 13 Winter. Letters Y and Z.

Week 14 Thanksgiving. Alphabet (week of Thanksgiving so we'll only work M-W)

Week 15 Christmas and Gingerbread Men. This is the end of November-beginning of December. We'll extend our activities for Christmas through the Christmas break.

Week 16 January.

Week 17 Snow

Week 18 We are all the same inside and Pirates (Martin Luther King Day + day after we'll do the first)

Week 19 Noah's Ark (as an alternate you can look at animals or something else-Monkey loves animals that's why we're doing so many animal themes)

Week 20 February

Week 21 Big Machines

Week 22 America (President's Day this week)

Week 23 Butterflies and caterpillars

Week 24 March

Week 25 St. Patrick's (the 17th is during Spring Break)

Week 26 Trains, Planes, Cars (after Spring Break)

Week 27 April and flowers and plants

Week 28 Easter

Week 29 Counting

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Today we lumped caterpillars and butterflies together. We read 3 books:

The Caterpillar and the Polliwog by Jack Kent

This is a cute story about a caterpillar who brags to all the creatures around the pond about how she'll become a butterfly when she grows up. A fish tells a polliwog that he'll change into something else too. The polliwog thinks he'll become a butterfly too so he watches closely as the caterpillar goes about her transition and doesn't notice he's changing too. Great for little ones to learn about changing and loving who they are.

I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe

This is a little bit longer of a read but it is about a cricket who doesn't like himself and thinks he is ugly. He has to learn to love himself instead of wishing he was a butterfly.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
A classic that just turned 40! This is an excellent board book that talks about the journey of a caterpillar starting out as an egg, eating everything in sight, and then becoming a butterfly. It's my son's favorite because it's fun to flip through.