Monday, September 26, 2011

A New Challenge and a Project

This school year I have a new challenge to deal with.  Here he is:
Last year he was always napping during school time, but he doesn't take two naps anymore.  If the rest of us didn't benefit so much from quiet/nap time I'd think about moving school to then.  I don't think it's worth it though.  I have found that I either have to involve him somehow, or I have to distract him some other way.  Otherwise, he is on top of everything we are doing.  I've definitely had some moments of frustration with this little guy who wants to do everything his brother and sister do.  We're all getting used to it, though, and it's definitely getting better.  For example, I've put my foot down about having him on my lap during story time because he always pulls at the book we're reading.  So now he's getting used to sitting next to us during story time.  He did do well with this project, though.  I put an art shirt on him just in case, but he obeyed about keeping his hands out of it.  

This project was/is a solar system.  Logan is particularly fascinated with space, so we've started making our own model.  So far we've created all eight planets, plus Pluto and our moon.  I'm waiting for a day where I'm in a really patient mood to create the sun which will be the size of a large bouncy ball.  Maybe that will be this week.  Then I'll need some more very patient days to pull out the paint.  This has been a fun project so far, and the kids are really excited about it.  We're constantly reading books about space, and I'm excited to have a model that we can manipulate. 

As I typed this, Logan was actually making a solar system out of balloons and balls, and orbiting them along with his space shuttle.  He makes me smile.  Since the camera was handy, here's a picture.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Treasure Hunt: A Reading Activity

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but we were on vacation once again.  There'll be no more breaks for a while.  :)

Anyway, I love the inspiration I get while we're having school.  I always have new ideas when we're reading and learning together.  This idea popped into my head one day before our trip, and I've been excited to do it with the kids.  So, today being the first day we're back into our normal routines, I did it.  It was simple.  I made a few short clues, put a treat in a box, and hid it all.  The catch was that Logan had to read all of the clues.  Annie was very attentive while he sounded out the words, and she even got mad at one point because she wanted to be the reader!  I made an attempt with her, but it was really too difficult.  Poor girl, she really wanted to read the clues!  She was consoled whenever Logan finally read the clue and she could go hunting again.  This was really fun and Logan was excited to work on his reading.  We'll definitely do it again!