Tot School (Week 5: Jan.10th-Jan.17th)

Alyssa will be 26 months old soon!

All activities are done under VERY CLOSE supervision (small items). 

Please do not use photos of my child on any website, blog, etc. Thank you!

I had so much planned and we didn't do hardly any tot school this week.  I know that we did more than I posted, but we only did tot school for a couple of days.  I haven't been able to sleep well this week and I am so tired during the day. Anyways, take a look at what we did accomplish this week.  Enjoy your visit!!! 

The Letter S and Snow Theme

MATH

Snowflake Counting Game

I found the snowman printable at Childcareland.  I cut and glued it on a larger piece of construction paper.  I bought ten painted, wooden snowflakes at Hobby Lobby.  Alyssa would roll the die, identify the number or count the dots, find the number puzzle piece and put it on the snowman's belly, and then she would count out that number of snowflakes.  This game was VERY POPULAR with her ... when daddy came home from the fire station she had to show him how to play.    

Snowball Counting Game

Alyssa flipped a number card over, identified the number, counted the circles, and put that number of cotton balls or "snowballs" on the game board.  The game was found at Making Learning Fun.

Snowman Grid Game

Alyssa would roll the die, count the dots, identify the number, and count out that number of "snowballs" or cotton balls to place on the grid.  The grid game was found here at Prekinders.

Snowflake and Snowman Pattern Block Mats

She correctly placed pattern blocks on each mat provided.  She identified the colors and we discussed the shapes.  She knew the square, triangle, diamond, and hexagon.  She is working on learning trapezoid, parallelogram, and rhombus. The mats were found at Prekinders.

Snowball Size Sequencing

Alyssa used white pom poms to sequence by size (smallest to largest and largest to smallest).  I asked her to point to the largest one and the smallest one.

Snowball Slide Counting

She enjoyed rolling and counting the number of "SNOWBALLS" OR SOCKS pushed down the SLIDE into a basket.

Stop and Go Snowball Toss

She also participated in a game called STOP and GO SNOWBALL toss.  I would say, "Go."  She would run to the basket full of socks and I would yell, "STOP" when she got to the basket.  She would grab a SOCK and I would yell "go" again.  Then, I would tell her to STOP at the other basket so that she could toss the SOCK into it.  We counted the number of "snowballs" or socks at the end of the game (ten).

Snowman Numerical Order

Alyssa placed the snowmen in numerical order and then counted them (1-10) while pointing to each number.  The snowmen were found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Snowman Sizes

I found the snowmen at Confessions of a Homeschooler and the size cards were from an Itty Bitty Bookworm January download (Bo Year 1) I bought.  Alyssa placed the sized snowmen under the correct cards.

READING

Snowman Letter Ss Search

Alyssa was given 6 cotton balls or blue translucent bingo chips to find and cover all of the uppercase or lowercase S's on the mat.  The letter mat was found at Prekinders.  She wanted to use the bingo chips instead of the cotton balls.

Snowman Letter Ss Beginning Sound Mats

The purpose of this mat was for her to identify pictures that begin with the letter "s."  I gave her 5 translucent bingo chips to cover the pictures.  You could also use cotton balls, snowflake punches, stickers, or anything else white to represent "snowballs" for the winter theme.  The beginning sound mats were also found at Prekinders.  She had a little trouble with this activity, so now I know to concentrate more on beginning sounds.

Snowman Beginning Sound Picture

The inspiration for this idea was found at Early Learning at Home (Scroll down to the activity titled Sounding With Pictures 05).  The activity she did was for ending sounds.  I made one for Alyssa using beginning sounds.  I decided to use a snowman printable from Childcareland.  I wrote the uppercase and lowercase S at the top left and a word that begins with "s" on the top right.  I underlined the "s" in snow.  If I had done this on the computer ... I would have highlighted the beginning sound of the word a different color.  I used foam circle shapes to represent the snowman's buttons and I wrote three "s" and three "h" words on them.  The "s" words were also written on the snowman.  Alyssa looked at each piece to see whether it started with s or not and she set the "h" words aside.  Then, she matched the "s" words to the snowman.  She could have just looked for the "s" words that were written on the snowman  (matching).  I would like to make more of these and add additional pieces slowly to make it harder for Alyssa.  We'll see!  Please check out the above mentioned website - she has some GREAT ideas for both toddlers and preschoolers for all subjects including bible related activities.

Letter S Snowman Sort

The snowman sorting sheets were found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Alyssa sorted the uppercase and lowercase S's onto a snowman themed mat.

Snowman Spelling

Alyssa spelled the word "snowman" by matching uppercase alphabet circles found at Michaels or Hobby Lobby to lowercase letters.  The snowman sheet was found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  

          

We also read many snow and snowman themed books this week!  I'll try to remember to post titles next week.

SCIENCE

Making Insta Snow

I found Insta Snow at Hobby Lobby for 3 dollars during the Christmas sale.  I measured out the water and Alyssa poured it into the cup.  Check out her reaction when it turned into snow.  I think that she was a little amazed or scared.  She also poured the cup into the bowl and enjoyed feeling the snow.  I gave her a measuring cup and spoon to use during play.  We did this two or three times in a row.

        

FINE MOTOR

Snowman Do-a-Dot

I finally bought Alyssa some DO-A-DOT daubers.  She loves being able to choose other colors besides the one purple bingo dauber I had at home.  Funny thing ... the first color she picked to use was purple and then she started exploring the rest.  Great eye hand coordination activity! The snowman sheet was found at Childcareland.

Snow Tong Transferring

Alyssa transferred "snowballs" from the large container to the ice cube tray one at a time using small tongs.  Then, using the larger tongs she transferred a bunch of "snowballs" into a smaller container.

SIGN LANGUAGE OR SPANISH

LETTER Ss and SNOW hand sign

Spanish word: Snow

COOKING/BAKING/SNACKING

Snowman Sandwich

I used a Press and Seal Sandwich Maker from Pampered Chef for the bottom snowball.  I should have used it for both snowballs.  This snowman has raisin eyes, a carrot nose, and a cucumber mouth.  We used dried blueberries for his buttons and spinach  for his boots. 

Snowman Pancakes

I made Alyssa three different-sized pancakes.  My after thought was why didn't I use my three circle biscuit cutters, then she could have helped make it.  My daughter has had all but four of her teeth since she was 13 months old (she has more now ... I stopped keeping track) and she hasn't had any allergic reactions to nuts or nut products, so we used walnuts for the snowman's curly hair and peanuts for his boots.  We used fresh blueberrries for his eyes, a carrot for his nose, a strawberry slice for his mouth, and banana slices for the buttons.  My daughter actually ate MOST of this meal in addition to extra fruit and some yogurt.  She ate his nose first!

Snow Cream

My daughter LOVES plain grits, so we acted like we were eating snow.

SENSORY TUBS
I wanted to use STYROFOAM peanuts so that I could hide Artic animals in the container, but my luck this week was not so good.  I couldn't find peanuts or Artic animals at any of the stores.

SNOW SEARCH

We did a cotton ball or "SNOWBALL" sensory tub instead with hidden alphabet puzzle pieces.  I threw in a snowman and two penguin dolls we had at the house.  Alyssa used tongs and an ice cream scoop to find and remove the letters.  After removing a piece, she would put it in the correct spot on the puzzle and review letter sounds.  The puzzle was bought at Ross - it is made by Learning Journey.

MUSIC, SONGS, and DANCING

10 Little Snowmen (10 Little Snowmen Glove at Childcareland).

5 Little Snowmen

Ss THEME

GROSS MOTOR

Sliding

Alyssa went outside to play on her SLIDE.

She went SKATING on the concrete behind the house.

She was SWINGING.

SPORTS: Kickball and SOCCER (no pic)
I found a mini soccer ball at Target for one dollar.  I used two gallon water jugs for the goal area.  She practiced kicking the ball (gently since we were inside due to rainy weather) in the goal.

SENSORY TUB

Spider Sandbox Search

Alyssa searched for SPIDERS in her SANDBOX with a shovel and SIFTER.

BIBLE

Song: Be careful little eyes (SENSES)
I am not sure what the name of the real song is, but I will look it up later for ya'll.

MUSIC 

Kinderbach (SOUNDS: High Low Listening Game Week 1) 

The first two weeks are free. We were just checking it out since my daughter loves playing her piano.

READING
I kept telling myself to make sandpaper letters for Alyssa, but could never find the time to make them.  So, I broke down and bought some at Lakeshore Learning.  I am glad that I did.  She likes them a lot!  The uppercase letters are red and the lowercase are blue.  I would have liked to purchase sandpaper letters where the vowels are one color and the consonants are a different color.  She identified the upper and lowercase letter by pointing when I asked.  Then, after washing her hands in warm water she traced the letters.  This reminded her of the sand tray I had ... so she ran and got it.  I didn't take a pic of her, but here's a pic of our sand tray.  I used a bright yellow frisbee and blue sand (contrasting colors).  She decided that she didn't want to practice writing S's.  Lately, it seems like the only letters she wants to write our O and H unless of course she's building them with carrots or whatever else she gets her hands on.    

Tactile Letters and Sand Tray

SALT, SAND, or Shaving cream "SNOW" letter S.  I didn't have any shaving cream in the house so we used our sand frisbee.

Letter "S" Bag

The Letter "Ss" sheets were found at Confessions of a Homeschooler and the flashcard letters were found at Jan Brett's website.  She gets so excited when I pull out a letter bag.  We discuss what the items are, characteristics of each, and how each item is used.  The items included in her letter bag are a snake, stopwatch, sponge, square, stamp, spider stencil, scorpion, straw, stone, star, scrunchie, spoon, star bead, star sticker, star, flashcard, staples, and a stick and a spider (Alyssa was playing with them).  We also did a preposition activity.  She put the snake on top of the sponge, under the sponge, and beside (by) the sponge.     

WRITING

Alyssa used her Handwriting Without Tears Sticks, mat, and letter "S" card to practice building a "S."  She also practiced the letter sound for the letter "S."  She built the letter on the paper first, then on the blue mat.  Last of all, she traced the letter while saying the sound.

        

FINE MOTOR

Spooning Flat Marbles 

Alyssa used a SPOON to SCOOP UP and SORT flat marbles by colors into  cups.

Star Lacing (no pic)

PRACTICAL LIFE

Sweeping Squares

I taped off a square tile using painter's tape.  We scattered beans all around it.  Alyssa was supposed to gently sweep the pinto beans in a pile in the square.  I found the broom and dust pan at Target (dollar area).  Then, she dumped the beans into a bowl.  I didn't think that she would do this activity, but she surprised me again.  She even told her daddy to watch her.  I actually bought seeds for this activity, but I forgot I had them.  Maybe we'll use them next week.  I believe I found this activity on a Tot School blog, if it was your idea, then please let me know so that I can give proper credit.

COOKING/BAKING/SNACKING

Squash and Apple Soup

Alyssa ate four bites of this soup and decided that it wasn't for her.  We only took one bite.  It was a recipe found in the HealthMaster cookbook (not very good).  It might have been the fact that we haven't had butternut squash before, so the taste was a bit too much for us all.  But, hey ... we tried it!

We ate SPAGHETTI for dinner instead of SOUP that night.  Earlier that week I made us a Strawberry Soy Smoothie for breakfast (no pic).  We also made a Strawberry Spinach Salad.

SCIENCE

Balloon STATIC

Alyssa running after her balloon after learning about STATIC.  It was a little windy today.

Extra Stuff (No Theme)

We went to the library twice to check out books for February.

She played with many other learning toys shown in other posts.

Chores: She put her dirty clothes in her hamper, chose her outfit, got dressed, brushed her teeth, fed the dogs, put wet clothes in dryer, took laundry out of the dryer, cleaned up spilt messes, swept a square in the kitchen, and cleaned up her toys.  

She took out my old letter sticks and built a letter D.

Alyssa working on her large wooden alphabet puzzle.  We bought this at Ross about a year or so ago.  She asked me to play the alphabet song afterwards and she smacked the letters with a flyswatter she found in the garage.  Don't worry it was clean ... we used it for a game at her farm themed birthday party.

We will probably continue with winter-themed activities next week (snow, snowmen, snowflakes, mittens, and winter dressing).  I hope you enjoyed checking out what we did for tot school.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  Thanks a bunch!  For more Tot School ideas visit Carisa's blog 1+1+1=1 or Jolanthe's Preschool Corner blog.
Tracey