Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day

I enjoy Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day, so was prepared for a lot of fun this week.  We enjoyed books about Ireland, math, rainbow and shamrock activities, and lots of other fun.

We read Celtic Myths by Sam McBratney and three books by Tomie dePaola - Fin M'coul, Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka, and Patrick Patron Saint of Ireland.  We read a couple books on Ireland, enjoying especially one by Koponen.  We cut a bell pepper in half, and used it to stamp some shamrock shapes.  A friend came over and we decorated some ceramic pots, planting sunflowers inside to create our own pots of gold.  We also decorated some treasure chests to store our treasures.  We had fun playing with a prism, to create our own rainbows.  We decided to play with light a bit, so also used our camera on our phone to see the infrared light from our remote.  Our black light is sadly broken, so we weren't able to use that.  But Genevieve has been playing with flashlights to create shadows, and as such, was using The Game of Light.  Genevieve also created a rainbow windchime.

For Pi day and other math activities, we read Creature Numbers, Three Little Kittens, Triangle, I Knew Two Who Said Moo, Little Hands 123, Over in the Jungle, and Mouse Count.  We measured weight with our bear scale, comparing the sizes.  We practiced dividing pizza.  We reviewed our shapes, coloring a picture using simple shapes.  We practiced counting money and Genevieve was able to use money to buy some things in the store, noting how money works.  We also practiced measuring distance, using some unconventional means like blocks and books.  We also talked of measuring time, and Genevieve created her own clock.

Genevieve has continued her fun with dress up, dressing up as a witch and making fairy wings this week.  She's also been playing ice skating and dancing.  Genevieve has planned a family trip to the moon, so she made a map of our landing area.  We had fun with Play-Doh and balloons, experimenting with static.  We also read some silly books that didn't fit with our theme, but that Genevieve really enjoyed - The Mouse Who Ate the Moon and Spike the Mixed up Monster.

Purim, Holi, and More Math

We started off our week with some great pretending.  We went sledding down to an ice skating pond and skated around.  We had a dance party and we made pirate hats, shaped like triangles.  We pretended to be pirates, with our hats and a flag.  She used a tube to create a larger version of her finger puppet, the black ghost Bob.  She's been busy turning boxes into rocket ships, building tents for camping, and making polka-dot princess hats.

Purim is a Jewish holiday, relating the story of Esther.  I thought it particularly appropriate for Genevieve as she is going through the princess phase.  We read Purim Superhero and Cakes and Miracles for Purim.  Genevieve dressed as a superhero, Tobias was a cowboy, and I was a witch.  We put on a puppet show acting out the story of Esther.  We also read the story of Esther in Tomie dePaola's Bible Stories.

Holi is an Indian holiday.  The night before, there is a large bonfire held to represent the story of Prahlad.  He was the son of an evil king, who thought everyone should worship him.  Prahlad refused, and his father sentenced him to death in a fire.  He survived a walk through the flames.  The next day celebrates Krishna, who would spray Radha and her maids with colored water.  When they went to clean themselves, he often stole their clothes, teasing them.  To celebrate, we related these stories and compared the story of Prahlad to that of Shadrach, Meshach and Obendigo.  We read stories about life in India, like The Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and Chanda and the Mirror of Moonlight.  They are all longer picture books, but Chanda had Hindi print as well.  We used powder paint, spray bottles and stamp pads to create art.  We mixed in finger and handprints, because of some of our other reading.

We read 10 Pigs, Little Goblins Ten, A Triangle for Adaora, Alpha prints 123, and Zin Zin Zin a Violin.  Many of these are favorites.  A Triangle for Adaora has great pictures of life in Africa and inspired our own shape hunt in the neighborhood.  It was cracking Genevieve up that Tobias has a circle head.  We talked about big and small, using stacking cups to identify which was biggest and smallest.  We used our cake to divide big and little, and split the cake evenly.  We played some Hide and Seek, practicing counting to 10.  Tobias has been working on building towers, so we counted blocks as we built and noted which tower was tallest or which had the most blocks.  Tobias also asked for some puzzle time, so we had an afternoon of puzzles and board games.

Read Across America and March Math Madness

I love Dr. Seuss books and so do Genevieve and Tobias, so we are using the whole week to celebrate Read Across America.  The rhymes are fun.  Illustrations are friendly.  Some words are ridiculously silly.  And there are great lessons, like conservation, humanitarianism, and being willing to try something new.

On Sunday, we read The Lorax.  We decorated some ceramic planters.  Genevieve made her own, Tobias helped me make one, and we had to make one for the cat.  We started a science experiment, testing whether seeds would sprout better on top of the soil or in wet paper without dirt.

On Monday, we read Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches an Egg, Yertle the Turtle, and And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  We chose these books because they all feature animals you might see at the zoo.  Genevieve made a map of the zoo and also made some charts to fill in at the zoo.  We were scientists studying animal behavior and counting animals by classification.  She kept noting the animals that had hair like her, and were therefore mammals. We also had fun marching in our own parade in honor of Mulberry Street.

On Tuesday, we were going to explore rhyming words.  Oddly enough, Mr. Dan chose to point out rhyming words in the books he read in story time.  We played with our rhyming fish.  Genevieve also enjoyed finding rhyming words to finish my sentences.  She played a game with Wonder Red from Super Why on the PBS Kids app.  We also read some of Dr. Seuss's sillier, tongue-twisting rhymes like Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks, Oh Say Can You Say, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.  Genevieve relived the fun of yesterday, painting a giraffe.

Wednesday is busy with two gymnastics classes, park time, and dance but we found some time for Seuss.  We read Bartholomew and the Oobleck, which is one of the few non-rhyming Seuss books.  We also celebrated the beginning of March Math Madness by reading Hoot which counts to 5 and names colors.  We made our own oobleck, using math and measurement skills.  We used cornstarch and water in a 1:1, 2:1, and 1:2 ratio.  Each had a different color.  Then we played with our non-Newtonian fluid, watching it turn from solid to liquid and back again.  Since Bartholomew helps the king with the weather, we observed the weather outside.  Then we made cloud paintings with cotton balls, and shaving cream mixed with a little glue.

Thursday, we read Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat.  We used this as a prompt to try new food so we tried some dragon fruit, which they loved, and star fruit.  We read Pumpkin Countdown, which is a rhyming book which counts down from 20.  We played with our spatial reasoning skills, playing the Three Little Pigs game and with tangrams.

Friday, we went to a rainbow sign class, where we learned color signs.  We read The Butter Battle Book and her favorite, How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  After enjoying all these different books, Genevieve created a book on her own.  She drew pictures and used stickers, and then told me what happened on each page.  It was about the weather.  She also made a bookmark.  We read The Chicken Problem.  She recently discovered Peg +Cat games on PBS Kids, and enjoys the chicken dance game.  So we had a dance party, practicing patterns and she repeated my movement patterns.

Presidents day

For Presidents day, we started by reading the second article of the Constitution describing the duties of the President including serving as Commander-in-Chief of the military and appointing officials to serve as ambassadors and judges.  We talked about how it is the Executive Branch's job to enforce the laws created by the Legislative Branch, like police officers enforce the laws locally.  We saw some police officers and EMTs in action this week, so she reminded me of what they do.  She's also very proud to identify some of her friends' parents with these jobs.

We read books about several past Presidents.  Her favorite was President Taft is Stuck in the Bath.  The pictures make him look adequately angry and it is a great lesson in problem solving, as well as silliness.  It offers some historical context at the end of the book, as many of these stories do.  Dear Mr. Washington was the humorous tale of some children witnessing George Washington getting his portrait painted, and behaving as children often do in an attempt to make him smile.  It includes some rules for polite behavior Washington was said to have copied as a child.  I first picked up John, Paul, George and Ben because I had to do a double-take, as I thought at first it was about the Beetles, but realized the fourth name was incorrect.  Lane Smith worked on some other books I'd enjoyed as a child, like the Stinky Cheese Man, so I thought I would give it a try.  It gives a great little story for John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and talks about their role in the Revolutionary War, with some true and false questions at the end.  I like the idea of Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, about how a small act you perform as a child may have greater consequences than you could ever guess, but the storytelling wasn't great.

Since we were reading history books this week, we stayed on a Social Studies track with our activities.  We explored a map, identifying the state we live in, the states grandmas and grandpas live in, and some of the places mommy and daddy have visited.  She painted her own map, and then created one out of clay, to show mountains and lakes.  We read another book she really loves, The Scrambled States of America.  We looked through family photos and discussed past events in our lives.  We also created a new activity calendar, as our felt one was getting old.  We used a pocket calendar like many schools use, and used index cards to create pictures of the things we might do every day.  Then she helps to decide what to do and sets them in order in the pockets. We had a lot of fun exploring different denominations of money, looking at the Presidents and others on each one.

Love bugs

Genevieve has suddenly developed a fear of bugs so this week we talked about love bugs.

In Music Makers, we've been practicing a rhyme about a Love Bug and "Won't You Bee my Valentine.". She's also been listening to some bug songs on ABC mouse.

We read a lot of bug books this week.  The Eric Carle collection includes The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Busy Spider, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle.  We read The Ant and the Grasshopper from Jerry Pinkney's collection of Aesop's fables.  Denise Fleming's Beetle Bop was fun and had a nice couple of sentences about beetles. We also read a counting favorite, Miss Spider's Tea Party.

We read a few Valentine's day books, like Heart to Heart about friendship and Crankenstein Valentine which is nice if your little one isn't interested in Valentine's Day.  Genevieve also enjoys the Pout Pout Fish about a fish that discovers his face is actually for kissing.

Genevieve made love bugs with paper hearts, pom poms and clothes pins.  She used her magnifying glass while searching for bugs.  We also matched different animals to their homes, including bees, spiders and other bugs.  For Valentine's day, she made heart pizza with her dad and heart necklaces with friends.  She went to a friend's house where they used canvases and stamps to create their own Valentine's day art.

As a side note, she found a robot canvas at Target and painted that too.

Using Your Heart

This week we've been learning about how we use our heart and keep it healthy.  My Body  introduced different systems in the body and offered reminders throughout about exercise and healthy eating.  It suggested different activities, some of which we tried looked listening to our heart beat, doing 20 jumping jacks, then listening to our heart again and observing the difference.  National Geographic also has some fun books to cover this topic.  Both their Little Kids First Big Book of How and of Why have chapters on the human body talking about healthy eating, exercise, tooth care and more.  There were a few simple activities as well.  I've always enjoyed the original Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole, so we read Inside the Human Body.  The kids start in the digestive system and learn how nutrients are extracted and travel through the blood to the heart, lungs, brain, and muscles.  It suggested a method to examine your cells, but we are waiting till we are older to try that.  Finally, we read Miss Fox's Class Shapes Up.  Genevieve loves Miss Fox and it's a simple story of a teacher finding ways to help her class be healthy including eating healthy, fun exercise, and getting plenty of sleep.

We added some extra exercises to our weekly routine.  We usually walk daily when weather allows, march at music class, play soccer, and participate in gymnastics.  The weather wouldn't allow us much park time, but we did walk to the park one day to play and kick the ball with Grandpa.  We also did some yoga and a dance party.  We tried to observe our heart and breathing with some of our exercise.

Since we were stuck inside much of the week, we also played a lot in our puppet theatre.  We worked on some workbooks from DK and Brain quest and cutting activities.  Genevieve made and directed me in creating some scratch art. She's also enjoyed ABC mouse and PBS Kids activities. We read We Came to America and How I Learned Geography to help understand some of the words going around like immigration and refugee.  They are beautiful books with personal, simple explanations.

Valentine's and Groundhogs Day

We started getting ready for Valentine's day so we can mail the ones we need to.  We started by creating some heart puzzles for friends.  Then we used different sizes and colors of paper hearts to create some animals.  We made a flamingo, ladybug, fox, fish, owl, panda, and chicken.  We talked of making a mouse or a beaver, but she decided these were enough.  Genevieve also tried her hand at being a flamingo.

We read a book about Valentine's Day, but it was a little wordy for Genevieve.  It was interesting though to consider the history, both of the different Valentine's it could have been named after and Lupercalia.  We also read What is Love, Biscuit? and The Quilt Story while talking about love.

For Groundhogs Day, we read about light and groundhogs.  The light book included some fun activities, like noticing how a straw appears to break when in a glass of water when the light rays bend.  We were hoping to head outside and play with shadows and sun prints.  Sadly the weather didn't agree so we stayed inside and used a flashlight to create shadows.

Genevieve has also been enjoying some of the codes hidden within Enigma and The Jewel Fish of Karnak.  They are interesting stories on their own and have some hidden items to look for and codes to break.  Plus Graeme Base's rhyming, meter and illustrations have long entertained me.

Dragons and Dinosaurs

This week was Tobias's first birthday.  He's really interested in dinosaurs.  With Chinese New Year happening this week, we decided to celebrate the letter D for his birthday making dinosaurs and dragons.  I cut some paper plates in half and some shapes out of construction paper like triangle plates and horns, rectangle legs, heads and necks.  The kids could glue or tape whatever pieces they wanted to try to create dinosaurs.  I also provided feathers and eye stickers for their dinosaurs.  If it hadn't been a crowd, we might have painted, but instead they had markers to color.  On our own, we talked about different types of dinosaurs and their traits like the plates of a stegosaurus, the horns and crests of ceratopsians, and the armor and clubbed tail of ankylosaurus.  We mentioned raptors and other dinosaurs that have feathers.





We ordered some dragon blowers from Discount School Supply.  They don't require any additional supplies, which was nice but don't expect them to last long.  Of course, with toddler activities, we don't usually expect them to last long.  Genevieve thought they were great fun though.  The flames are entertaining.

We created some fireworks art with glitter glue and black paper.  We also used some new scratch boards that we got for Christmas.  This one had glitter behind the black so made a great shiny picture.

We read The Birthday Box, which was a great book for a first birthday about the fun that can be had with a box.  We enjoyed Rexerella, My Dinosaur ABC, and Dinosaur Parade, hearing about different types of dinosaurs.  Our copy of Rexerella hasn't held up great, but what does one expect with a pop up book around two young kids.  Our Family Reunion is the touching story of a young girl who's father is a migrant worker and is only able to come home for Chinese New Year.  My First Chinese New Year introduces some of the traditions of Chinese New Year.  Red is a Dragon doesn't particularly deal with Chinese New Year, but discusses color, dragons, and some of the other things that might be seen during Chinese New Year like firecrackers and incense.  I love The Last Dragon, which is a little more wordy than the other books.  Your little one might need a little more patience to make it through this book.  But it's the story of a boy who is forced to stay with a great aunt in Chinatown.  He doesn't think he'll have any fun, but discovers a broken down dragon in a store.  He takes on the project of repairing the dragon and becomes friends with many of the people in the neighborhood.

Genevieve and Tobias enjoyed some time with Grandma Mohr.  We read How to Babysit a Grandma and Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa.  These are some of our favorites for when grandparents visit.

The library had a visit from the California Raptor Center, so we got to see some owls and hawks, feathers and skulls.  Tobias had two sign classes this week.  The first was about things that go like cars and planes.  This was great timing as he got some cars he loves for his birthday.  The second was about bath time, which meant there was water to splash in and bubbles to watch.  Bubbles are great as they help with eye hand coordination, tracking, depth perception, and fine motor skills when popping.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

After recovering from our bout with the flu, we've returned to our regular routine.  The holidays are finished so the classes are back.  We've returned to our storytimes, Music Makers, and soccer.  Tobias has started his own gymnastics classes and Genevieve has graduated to the next level, where she's excited to learn cartwheel basics.  Tobias has started sign language again too.


At home, we've been reading Mouse Cookies and More.  Genevieve loves the books by Laura Numeroff, and this collection contains four of the stories as well as recipes, music, and activities.  Genevieve asked to make strawberry muffins.  We've sewn some buttons on colorful socks to turn them into puppets.  We also enjoyed some time playing Hi Ho Cherry-o and the Hungry Caterpillar Game, which fit both the theme of food and are fun games with some easy math.  We also read The Lion's Share, which dealt with baking and math.