X Marks The Spot

After waiting a week to start preschool I was definitely ready to get the ball rolling this morning.  I was up and out of bed with coffee going as soon as the alarm went off.  No slouching on the couch trying to get another 10 minutes of sleep.

Jerry headed off to work and to pick up Athena giving me some time to set up a couple things.  I could have done it the night before, which was my original plan, but knowing I had a few hours of extra time in the morning I decided to wait.  Spencer really enjoyed setting up with me too.  He was so excited to start while we were prepping.
His favorite prep was the Forest Dramatic Play area int he playroom. 

When we were finished getting ready Spencer and I headed upstairs so I could quickly  make new behavior cards and check in with Jerry on his ETA.  There was no good news.  After the week of vacation we were excited to see Athena again.  Jerry contacted the mother and she said Athena would not be coming home today because she didn't want her here.  When asked why there was no response.  We called, no answer.

No Athena.

I told myself that I had to start preschool no matter what last week when I decided to put it off.  With out knowing when Athena will be home I didn't want to put it off longer.  I wish she could be here to join us in our activities.  I want to do all of them with her, I know she would enjoy it.  But Spencer is here and I am responsible for his learning too.

Therefore, I finished the behavior cards and Spencer and I ventured downstairs for preschool.

These are the new cards I made.  I refer to my kids as my little dragons often and when I found these I thought they were fitting.  I free handed them onto card stock off a picture on the internet. 

Circle Time

We did circle time first.  Today I did not pack too much into it because I thought it would be too much for just Spence.  He does okay with longer circle time when he is watching Athena, with just the two of us I had to pay more attention to his attention span.  

This is what we did: 

• Sang our circle time song you can find here
• Introduced and examined coins
• Introduced and examined a clock (found at the dollar tree.  It is paper and has digital on one side and analog on the other)
• Calendar
• Counting to 20
• ABC's
• Weather
• Wrote the letter X on the whiteboard
• Sang B-I-B-L-E found here

Well in a list like that it looks like a lot but it went fairly quickly. 

My little dragon decorated his alphabet notebook with numbers, letters, and some stars.

 I thought decorating the alphabet book would make Spencer excited to write in it, but I was wrong.  We agreed to do another activity first then he would practice writing 5 x's.
I could tell he was getting bored so I told him to grab his chair and grab his new folder from the wall.  This gave him new spunk to continue!
Before opening the folder I pointed out to him where to find the letter (which he recognized) and where to find his name (he also recognized).  Then he opened it up.
I let him go through the folder at his own pace checking out each page.  This is what it looks like...

Hehe you can see my pink slippers in the picture :D

 While I made lunch he colored a picture in the notebook.  Then he wrote his 5 x's we agreed on.  They looked nice. :)  I know they are super easy to write but I am a proud mommy.

Before nap we read Fox in Socks by Dr Seuss

We talked about the letter x and rhyming.  The little dragon laughed. 

Still no response from Athena's mom so I went ahead with the "X Marks The Spot" treasure hunt. 

 I used masking tape to place 'X's' around the house.  Where there was an X there was a school supplies gift.
I hid 7 items.

1. Microwave- glue sticks
2. Fridge- rulers
3. Pantry- magnifying glass
4. Dryer- watercolor paints
5. Bathtub- markers
6. Under my desk- crayons
7. Under Spencer's bed- the bible

I hid enough items for both little dragons but because Athena was not with us I carried her Explorers Box and Spencer put 1 item in is box and 1 in Athena's. 

We will decorate the boxes tomorrow. 

Spencer had been waiting for Athena to come home to play in our Explore-able forest downstairs.  Because that wasn't going to happen today I told him I would play with him after his nap.  

Before we could explore we needed some binoculars to explore with!  

Materials: 

• 2 toilet paper rolls
• yarn
• tape
• Whatever you choose to decorate them with

Spencer colored the tp rolls then stuck some stickers on them.  He didn't want to decorate them too much.  I taped the tp rolls together then taped some yarn to each side so they would hang around the neck.  Easy breezy! 

Both of us made a pair then headed down into the forest! 

I don't think Spencer completely understands the point of binoculars.  We haven't watched a movie involving them or played with them before.  The concept is new to him, therefore they didn't last long :).  

I did find that the binoculars were not necessary for the imagination and we ended up playing like we were fish in the pond.

Who knew?

Happy Exploring to you all on your adventures this week!