just want to Do SOMEfing!

We have been ill. Very ill. Well, the Punk was ill first, then shared his illyness with us (how thoughtful). Now the Punk is on the mend and the grown ups feel terrible. Bronchitis to be exact. Meh. The Punk is done with all this "stay at home and get better" business. He "just wants to DO SOMEfing!". And that makes us feel even worse. 7+ days of being house bound (except for the occasional store trip for more Nyquil) isn't the wonderful Spring Time a 3 year old looks forward to. So we have been going outside to play in the sandbox for a few days, and today I managed to bust out the paints. The Punk was overjoyed to be getting messy and creative again. We really need to get back in the swing of things and do a little school time each morning. Sick or not, the Punk craves learning. After the craft we had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch (and talked about how much Elephants love Peanuts). Then before rest time we read The Saggy Baggy Elephant.

This post linked to: Tot School and Preschool Corner

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

Today we finished the work we had left on our If you give a Mouse a Cookie lapbook. Some of the items were taken from this resource, but others were things I made to supplement the lesson. For instance - I made the tracing line work showing the mouse how to get to the cookie. The more we work on these the better he will be at tracing letters and shapes one day.

Match the Cookie Game

Lapbook Cover

Inside: Nursery Rhymes that include mice, cookie matching game, drawing of a mouse, I Spy Circles (in the book), tracing lines, tracking his name, If you give a Boy a Cookie story, and mouse facts (they have tails, ears, etc.).

My favorite part of the lapbook was the If you Give a Boy a Cookie portion. I let the Punk tell me a story while I took dictation - starting with the line

"If you Give a Boy a cookie"...

If you give a Boy a cookie he will want some milk. After that he will want another cookie. Then he will want a napkin to wipe up the milk he spilled, and the crumbs. Then, he will want to go for a walk. They will go to Art Class. If the cars come in the neighborhood they will get smashed so they walk on the sidewalk. They make chalk in Art Class. Then they go home and have a snack and draw on the porch with the chalk.

The End.

Linking this post to Preschool Corner & No Time For Flash Cards

Mouse Wheel

Today we (The Punk, the Mouse and I) started our If you give a Mouse a Cookie lapbook lesson. We finished our story wheel, and the Punk really enjoyed it. He was able to tell me the story using the wheel, and then again to Daddy hours later when he came home. What a great tool for story time! I am going to have to see if we can find more of these - it really helps trigger his memory.

If you give a Mouse a Cookie

Wild Thing

B is for Bedhead.

I changed out the Punk's table pictures last night while he was sleeping. He now has "B" words to look at while he eats/plays/draws/crafts. I couldn't get over the sight of his hair - it was WILD! Very appropriate for this morning's book and story board...

Where the Wild things Are! We read through the book, and placed each piece on as we told the story. I love my little nightstand/table. On one side he has no supper, then you turn it over to find his supper waiting for him (and it was still hot).

We then did a little cutting up. I printed out some Google images of Max, and had the Punk cut them apart. He flips back and forth from hand to hand, so he's having a hard time learning to cut. Once he decides which hand he wants to use it will get easier, I'm sure.

Then we did a little tracing. He goes over it with his finger a few times and says things like "up, down, over" then draws the line. He repeats the "up, down, over" stuff and draws what he says instead of what is on the paper. It cracks me up!

Very Hungry Caterpillar

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar this morning for the 7,254th time. I brought out the story board and felt objects I had made some time ago for this book. We placed them on the board as we read the story, and the Punk (in his usual fashion) chastised me a bit because I (in my usual fashion) hadn't gotten around to completing the felt pieces for the story.

So that night I made the cocoon, one nice green leaf (not pictured?) and the beautiful butterfly.