T is for Tent

Coming from the downs of last week have kept me down again this week.  Monday was a good day but Tuesday was a very bleh day and today I was really anxious all day.

Good news is Jerry did get to see Athena again but I, again, did not get to see  her.  She cried on the phone last night begging to come over and said she is never going to be allowed over here again. We of course told her she is always welcome here, this is her home.  This is just an emotional situation for all involved.

I have finished what is in my lesson plans but the lesson plan does start to get easier at this week.  The first few weeks were really full of stuff.  I have things to add but am having a hard time adding.  I want to take the easy way out and when I finish my plan just lay down and shut down.

The new focus this week is on the letter t and Abraham.  We have done some fun things with this.

Crafts-Bible
The story we are reading is the story of Abraham.  There a few stories involving Abraham but so far we have only read the first story in our bible.  Abraham and Lot splitting and children as numerous as the stars.

On Tuesday-the second day of Abraham-Little Dragon and I packed up two backpacks with some fake food and Little Dragons favorite toys.  I explained to him that we were going to pretend we were Abraham in a tent and following and trusting God.

When we first walked outside Little Dragon picked a place to set up camp.  We unloaded our backpacks and read some of the story of Abraham again.  When the story mentioned "God instructed Abraham to move" we packed up our bags again and picked a new camp site.

While walking to our campsite we gathered sticks for a campfire.  (This was not part of the Bible but when we had nothing left to read we decided to make a fire.)

Constellation Cups
Materials

• Styrofoam cups
• Something with a small point
• Flashlight

We made these cups after reading our bible story about Abraham.  In the story God promises that the world will be full of Abraham's kids, as many as the stars. 

To make the stars you poke holes in the bottom of the Styrofoam cup.  We used little sword pokers, like you would eat an appetizer with.  

Before we started I did have to lay down some rules.  Such as no sword fighting and the sword was only to poke the cups.  Both boys followed the directions well.  

I poked a letter t in my cup and didn't give instructions on what to make for the boys.  

When they were finished we took them in the tent and shined a flashlight through them to see our constellations.  We did this a couple days in a row while talking about the story of Abraham and God creating the stars. 

Of course they boys had to explore their cups before we began the craft :).

Star Prints

Materials

• Black construction paper
• Apple cores or marshmallows
• Toothpick
• White paint

Cut the apple in half so you can see the star.  Cut out the middle.  Stick a toothpick on top of the piece you cut to make it easier to paint with.  You can also use a small marshmallow on the end of the toothpick to paint with.  

Dip the apple piece in the paint and use it to stamp stars on the black paper. 

Stations

I haven't presented stations this year and noticed continually the kids wanting to go outside of the classroom and play.  When I provide stations it gives the kids the opportunity to play and explore with things they don't usually play with and things that go along with the theme.  I am always pleased to see how they create and pretend with what I give them.  Imaginations at work is awesome! 

We have concluded our sections (in the lesson plan) about shapes so this week I am doing a review.  There are shapes we didn't go over but we will see what comes in the coming weeks. 

I set out all the shapes sorted by shape in a circular divider, set out the shape box, and the shape file folder game.  

There were also T toys set out.  Such as trains, train tracks, trucks, and a tent. 

The tent

Circle time

We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Monday and are going to be doing activities that go along with the book for the next two weeks.  We started by putting up our own coconut tree on the white board Monday, added a, b, & c Tuesday, then d, e, f, and g Wednesday.  We add the letters as they are listed in the book.  

The boys also did a maze and made a book mark. 

I sent the extra pages for this week home with both boys so they had activities for the rest of the week.  

A new motion was introduced for the letter t. 

The idea is to make a tent with your hands while you say 't-t-t tent'.  

On Wednesday we talked about Oscar the Grouch and his trash.  I wanted to go over this because sometimes it is hard for kids to realize what is trash and what we keep.  I, myself am not a hoarder.  I do not like to keep things that I don't need.  

When I planned this lesson I had Doll Dragon (Athena) in mind.  She loves to save everything.  When she finishes a snack with a wrapper she asks to keep it to draw on.  Now she has plenty of paper that's not the problem, she just doesn't like to throw things away.

 Even though Doll Dragon was not with us I went along with the lesson anyway.  Little Dragon has been obsessed with monsters.  Thinks they are everywhere and isn't sleeping well because of it.  

Oscar the Grouch is a monster and I grabbed a couple monster books from the library to try and help him see monsters in a new light. 

As part of this lesson Little Dragon created his own monster.  

He wrote a small story about it as well.  He enjoyed this creative process so much he created a second monster.  

We snuck in some handwriting too. :)  Little Dragon wrote 't's all over his dragon creation too! 

Today Little Dragon asked for hot dogs for dinner.  I couldn't think of anything to have for dinner that started with the letter t.  We had tostadas on Monday.  That is pretty  much my list.  So I made a letter t with the hot dog. 

I posted about our apple picking and said I would post the things we ate with apples. 

We made apple crisp for a treat this week.  I don't have a recipe to post. I kinda just threw stuff together.  It worked out though because Little Dragon loved it! 

I made apples as a side dish for dinner one night.  It ended up being better then I originally thought. I found the idea on Pintrest. It is bacon, onion, and apples.  Little Dragon approved too :)