tot school - 18 months

Let's hear it for YELLOW WEEK! After a disastrous purple week last week, I was relieved and excited when yellow week proved to be much, much better. Ethan and I had a blast getting back into our little tot school groove, though the week was a rather busy one and I don't think we got to spend nearly as much time doing tot school activities as we would have liked. Still, what a great week it was!

THIS WEEK IN TOT SCHOOL:

FROM TOP:
1. Yellow Star Size Matching - Ethan is really into the moon, stars and sky right now so I thought using some bright, yellow stars would be a fun activity. There were three size stars taped down onto the tray: small, medium and large. There was another set of identical stars printed and Ethan's job was to match each size together. He did this with ease the first few times and then just had fun decorating the tray and table with the stars.
2. Lemonade Size Matching - This activity was another opportunity to introduce Ethan to size, which apparently he didn't need much help with. There were three different sized glasses taped to the tray (small, medium and large) and Ethan's job was to match the yellow "lemonade" to the correct sized cup. He did great with this one but it wasn't his favorite and he quickly lost interest when he learned he couldn't drink out of the cups. ;)
3. Cheerio Stringing - This was, hands down, the favorite of the week! I stuck two yellow pipecleaners in what began as yellow Play-Doh but dried somewhat orange (oops!) and placed a little cup of Cheerios in the center. Ethan got to string the Cheerios along the pipe cleaner to really practice his fine motor skills. He realized it wasn't as easy as it looked on his first try, especially when the pipecleaners would wobble a little bit or he had to get the hole lined up properly. It was my personal favorite to watch him do as he figured out his own problem solving skills to determine how to get this one done. He learned soon that he could hold the pipecleaner to steady it while adding the Cheerios -- but he also learned how good the Cheerios tasted, so this one was done with a lot of snacking involved.
4. Yellow Sensory Bin - I thought the yellow sensory bin was all kinds of lame, but Ethan truly loved it. I collected most of the yellow items by rummaging through my parent's house, which is apparently the way I do most things these days. As it turns out, my sister had a lot of neon yellow things when she was a pre-teen (bracelets, rings, watches, etc.) so I hit the jackpot there. One of the items was a little yellow hat that belonged to a stuffed animal my sister had when she was little. Ethan loved putting the hat on everyone and everything, and soon learned it looked extra silly on the plastic ball pit balls. He enjoyed seeing what other items and stuffed animals he could place the hat on, too.
5. Yellow Magnet Board - The yellow magnet board was my least favorite this week. The magnet board is usually Ethan's favorite but I messed up big time this week -- first by making the pictures way, way too small, then by laminating them poorly so the magnets had trouble sticking and then by forgetting really obvious items, like Big Bird. Hello, self.
6. Gumball Color Matching - I thought I'd include a comprehensive color matching activity each week so he doesn't start to forget the colors he already has learned in the past. This gumball machine activity was for Ethan to match up the gumballs to the ones in the machine. I made the gumballs using dot paint and unfortunately the purple came out more pink than I intended, but it didn't throw Ethan off too much. He wasn't able to identify it was purple, but he still matched it correctly each time!

IN THE KITCHEN

We made some very yummy yellow goodies this week! First, we made banana chips:

They didn't really come out but Ethan seemed to enjoy the experience without worrying about the outcome. We also made some homemade corn tortilla chips, which thankfully were much tastier!

What a helper, that guy is!

ARTS & CRAFTS

Ethan had a blast making arts and crafts this week. He asked to use his glue this week (he got a bottle of Clementine Art's natural glue for Hanukkah this year) so we did some gluing of feathers and beads. We also colored a little bit with a marker but for the most part, Ethan still requested EZPaint (have you entered to win a set of EZPaint, yet?! Follow that link to enter!) as his preferred method of art this week. He made some beautiful masterpieces!

READING LOG:

We were still reading through the same books as last week because we were a little (okay, a lot) behind on our weekly library trip!

1. A Color Of His Own by Leo Lionni
2. What Puppies Do Best by Laura Numeroff*
3. Clifford Goes To Hollywood by Normal Bridwell
4. Elmo Loves You by Dalmatian Press*
5. Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells
6. Boats For Bedtime by Olga Litowinsky
7. Bunny Party by Rosemary Wells
8. Rhinos Who Skateboard by Julie Mammano*
9. The Frogs And Toads All Sang by Arnold Lobel*
10. Katie Loves The Kittens by John Himmelman
11. Spot Bakes A Cake by Eric Hill*
12. Race You To Bed by Bob Shea*
13. First Tomato by Rosemary Wells
14. Truman's Aunt Farm by Kim Rattigan
15. Froggy Goes To Hawaii by Johnathon London
16. My Mom Is My Show and Tell by Dolores Johnson
17. Bee and Bird by Craig Frazier
18. Curious George Vists The Library by HA Rey*
19. Curious George Visits The Zoo by HA Rey*
20. Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys by HA Rey*
21. Llama Llama Zippity Zoom by Anna Dewdney*
22. Llama Llama Hoppity Hop by Anna Dewdney*

* = Titles that Ethan favored over the others and wanted to be read again and again and again!

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