We're still doing about a lesson a day in Funnix 2. Abby completed up to lesson 19 this week.
ABCs:
Emmett and I discussed the letter T this week. I think Emmett's got all the letter sounds down if I ask him what such-and-such letter says. Now I'm starting to spin the question to, "What letter says XYZ?" He still needs letter review, though, because I can tell his sounds are very much rote repetition from the Letter Factory. I want him to know the letters and their sounds inside and out before I even look at jumping ahead to other things. There's no point in rushing it...he's only 3.5. He has no grasp of beginning sounds at this point, so even if I tried to push him, it would only result in frustration because developmentally, he is not there.
This is our T is for Tornado sheet we did this week. He loved doing the spiral shape. He also likes to try and attempt writing the word, though you can tell he is still all of 3.5 and has the fine motor skills to go with it. He just thinks he's bigger! :)
Unit Study:
We took a break from FIAR this week to work on a unit on the weather. We talked about rain and snow and tornadoes and flooding, etc. We observed weather and the clouds. It was a great week to take off and talk about those things because we had quite the varied weather: windy, sunny, rainy, cloudy!
Doing our weather observation chart was a perfect way to practice our scissor skills. Emmett's fascination with scissors and all-things-cutting have really helped him to figure out what is the best way to hold them and how to work it. Abby still gets confused on how to hold the scissors.
We discussed how the weather influences how we play and what we wear. We talked about how if it's sunny we don't typically wear a winter jacket, and we don't go normally swimming outdoors when it's snowing outside. And then we engaged in some weather appropriate play!
We played Mother May I.
We also played Simon Says.
We watched a video on the weather with a snack.
I also took a moment with Abby to talk about the tornadoes that ravaged the south this past week. We discussed how we live in an area where tornadoes happen. We talked about tornado sirens and ways we can protect ourselves from tornadoes. And then we watched a video of lots of severe storms (tornadoes, floods, blizzards, etc).
As a topping to our week, I thought we'd head to our local science museum where I remember them having a section on weather and tornadoes especially. Unfortunately, they are in the process of re-making that area. Which is neat because it was a bit run-down, but a bummer because we didn't get to see what I was planning. We did check out the newly painted wall with all kinds of different weather phenomenon.
We still have a tornado to make out of some two-liter bottles. I'm waiting until we finish the soda inside them, though! (That'll probably happen early next week.)
Swim:
The kids' swim lessons have been very busy. The coming summer season makes everyone want to teach their kids to swim, I guess. Our kids' class is traditionally for children 6 and up, and yet our 3-year-old and nearly-5-year-old are in the top of their class. This session the head guy has pulled Abby aside a few times to encourage her to swim more than she does. She tends to overthink and freak out that she can't do it. He also worked on diving with the kids and commented that Abby really can dive. He said, if he had to put a number on it, that she goes at least 6 feet down. They still love their class more than ever. We all can't wait for summer to hurry and get here so they can have more pool exposure.
Read-Aloud:
We only have three chapters of The Littles left! I guess I should start deciding on another chapter book. Emmett doesn't have much attention span for a chapter book, so I have him pick his own picture book for read-alouds too. My goal is to get him to be interested and paying more attention to the actual story in a book...not just the pictures.
(Yes, this is what storytime looks like sometimes...nose-picking and all!)
Life:
On Friday, Abby started showing symptoms of strep. Since then, everyone has been sick. We have all three kids on antibiotics and are waiting for everything to clear up so we can start sleeping again.
We also noticed that our blackberry bushes are blossoming! All that rain has been helping!
Next week? The water cycle!
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