Week of May 9
Bible
“Paul preached the Word of the Lord.” Acts 15:35
Olivia continued with her 3rd, but final, week of Awana. It was a “Special Day” where we got to talk about missions. We talked about the Apostle Paul and then I told her about some friends of ours who were missionaries overseas. I’m really sad we got into Awana so late in the year…she didn’t even get the chance to earn a patch for her vest, which disappointed her a little. But she did get a gold ribbon of achievement at the final awards ceremony, and she was pretty excited about that. We’ll work toward completing the book over the summer.
Reading
Spelling her sight words: the, and, a, and see; and Color by number. These from the You Can Read Set 1 pack.
This is the best job she has ever done coloring! I was so impressed! She typically scribbles far more and with far less attention to detail.
Writing
Pre-writing skills also from the You Can Read pack. Again I was impressed with her attention on this activity. I only had to remind her once to slow down, which she did, and then she really tried hard to stay on the lines. This was a first!
Math
These are pattern snowflakes from Nick Jr. It is based on the show Team Umizoomi. It was a great challenge for her, and I had to help out quite a bit. Once the paper was folded it was quite thick to cut, especially with safety scissors…but she did great giving it a good solid effort.
We used Rightstart math all week, and we both got introduced to the Abacus, which is a staple of the program. I like how it is moving forward in a logical sequence with each day building upon the previous days. It has been a little bit of a challenge just because she is supposed to see “groups” without counting. I do really like the program, but I felt like she was getting bored. I think if we stick with it we might have to implement a “game” day where we step away from it…or it could just be at this point it’s just too easy. We are moving at a quick pace and should finish the first book this summer.
I was surprised at how well Olivia enjoyed this sorting activity. She had to sort the strips of paper by size. She decided to use her arm to measure the length to determine which order they should go in.
PE
Our “gym” time has consisted of our almost daily jaunts across the street to the park, as well as walking to McDonald’s one day for a smoothie and another day for lunch (maybe close to a mile round trip…though I am planning some sneaky detours to make it a little longer). Fortunately the weather here is pretty cool…once it reaches about 75 and sunny Olivia starts to melt. And we even pulled her bike out for her best bike practice ever thanks to sidewalks that are level!!! In KY we didn’t have sidewalks and the most level spot was on the busiest road, so it was never very easy.
From inside our apartment looking across the street to the park…
…from outside our apartment looking across the street to the park…
…from the park looking back at our apartment (lower right corner)…
…the playground (Olivia was a little disappointed there aren’t any swings)…
Playing Rapunzel with her new Rapunzel doll she bought out of her hard earned allowance. And yes, she asked me to “climb” up Rapunzel’s hair to get to the top of the tower…and yes, I did.
Other
We baked yummy apple pie…I can’t remember now what the inspiration was behind it…oh, I know, from an episode of Max & Ruby where Ruby and her friend sing a little rhyme about baking apple pie…
First time I ever let her use a knife, and she handled it like an expert. I would like to say she chopped all the apples, but we would probably still be chopping (o: She did great with the few I gave her.
Stirring it all together…
….and pouring it into the crust…and voila a very yummy apple pie.
This was another first this week…her first 48 piece puzzle. I helped her get about 2/3 of the way through and then she was able to complete it by herself…she’s always loved puzzles.
And what’s up with that tail? Not exactly sure other than that one morning she woke up asking for a monkey tail with flowers on it…so I glued two pieces of paper together, grabbed some crayons, and she wore it proudly. Not really a “school” moment, but definitely a “cute” moment.
I think of all our activities this week this was probably the best. We were still doing our princess theme and this was just a felt board I had picked up at Michael’s. The first time, I told her a story and she had to place the pieces on the board. then she got to tell the story while I placed the pieces on it. Then she just sat and played for a while whispering stories to herself. She loves made-up stories, so this activity was perfect!
Some other fun things we did was have a picnic of cheese, crackers, and apple pie at the park; did school one day at one of the local Children’s Museum (she played gardener where she grew the plants and then sold them to the store); and took a couple of walks to the library. It's so great living in this small community that is totally setup for walking!!! And with the library being about a 15 minute walk away, it's great exercise and since we brought only a few books with us we now have a fully established at home library to choose from for our reading times.
Tiny Tot
Oh, I just love those sweet baby feet!!!
I have to admit, it took all my self control to not just “push” him on over.
We had a very silly Tiny Tot on our hands this week, rolling all over the place, throwing everything in the air, and trying to do somersaults.
So, I didn’t capture every single activity we did, but this is a glimpse into our fun week.
And just so no one thinks that everything goes completely smooth with a perfectly behaved child, I'll give a small glimpse into some of our challenges this week: refusing to do some activities, getting easily distracted, and wanting to run the show. This week I worked very hard on emphasizing that she follows my lead (and I try to build in activities that she gets to "run"); that once an activity is started it must be completed; and that while some activities can be refused, the math curriculum at this point cannot.
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