Swimming Lessons

In the parking lot at the swimming pool.  I told the kids it was diving board day and got quite the reaction.  Look at how excited they are!

Brielle loves swimming.  She is doing a great job.  It is hard to keep her out of the water, especially with her new goggles.  Even when she is taking baths now she lays down to practice swimming.

Ethan loved the pool toys.

And the jumping.

He had motor legs that kicked like crazy.

This has nothing to do with swimming lessons, but I love this picture.  Papa gave the kids all sunglasses and these stress reliever busses.  They were really excited about it.  What I also love in this picture is the fact that our family should be an advertisement for the Keen brand shoes.

Shapes

I originally scheduled a week about shapes, thinking it would be more for the younger kids, but then I realized there was still a lot for the big kids to learn.

Shapes That Roll, Shapes That Stack 

We read this book called Shapes That Roll, and then played along with some of the things we read.  

  We got out all our shape toys and tried rolling blocks and stacking spheres to figure out which worked the best.

3D Shapes

I've seen this idea before and have always wanted to try it.  The kids loved building shapes out of toothpicks.

Roll A Shape

The kids loved playing with the shape dice.  They designed some very creative pictures using the shapes they rolled.

Pattern Blocks

 Shape Shake

Ellie helped me draw the shapes

We then put them on the string to have the kids shake their shape and see who kid get it to touch the door knob first.

Shape Matching

Brielle can't yet read, but I still had her try out this matching game.  You had to match the shape to the word of the shape.  I made it easier by coloring it so that it limited the choices to two (once she matched to colors.) She then sounded out the word and did a great job figuring it out.

I had this heart matching game out at Valentine's, but it was too hard for Ethan then, this time it was much easier and he loved it.

Zoo

Zoo animals.  Ethan was a little disappointed at first and kept asking for the train books, but by the end of the week he decided he likes animals too.  Last week during train week Brielle kept wanting the zoo books, so she was excited for this week.  I try to alternate our themes to focus on kids interests while also introducing new ideas.

Learning Activities

printables from 2teachingmommies

counting animals and identifying the numbers

first letter sounds (we used this idea last week with trains)

We talked about carnivores and herbivores, it was still a bit hard for the kids to grasp the concept of what ate what and that plant eaters didn't just eat leaves but the fruit and vegetables could be plants.

And also a lot of zoo worksheets.  (Brielle requests them)

Games

Zebra Dominoes. A fun way to review colors. Because it was so easy to throw in an envelope and take with us, it kept us entertained while out and about this week.  It was a great distraction at the Doctor's office.

We also played a lot of Hungry, Hungry Hippos and a new favorite game that Ellie got for her birthday Where is Sock Monkey.  Ethan of course hides the monkey in the same place every time and LOVES to find it.

Pretend Play

a lot of time was spent playing zoo keeper and feeding all the animals.  My backyard was filled with zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers and bears. Oh My!

We acted out being different animals and guessing what they were.  Ethan loves pounding on his chest like a Gorilla.

Playing with Food

Animal cookies were the top snack of the week.  We spread peanut butter on graham crackers and trapped the animals in their cages.

We also played a lot of 'don't feed the animals!' (played like Don't Eat Pete, for those that know that game.)  You are supposed to shout out when they pick up the food item from the square that you had decided on.  Brielle however asked me not to shout because it scared her, so we had to just ask politely to not eat that animal's food.

Paper Plate Masks

my idea was for the kids to make something like this elephant or monkey mask, but I let them use their own ideas to create.  They didn't look quite how I envisioned, but the kids enjoyed it more than if I made them do it my way.  

We looked at some of our zoo books and the kids decided which animal they were trying to make.  Ethan wanted a crocodile (because it was green), Lissy a blue peacock (although sometimes her favorite color is yellow, so she wanted both), Brielle an elephant, and Gavin was still focused on the 'ghost snake' idea that he kept creating two weeks ago when we were talking about insects.

Books

Brielle loved Never EVER Shout at the Zoo by Karma Wilson.  Because of the way the story ends, it has sparked an interest in Dinosaurs (which we will learn about later this summer).

A Trip to the Zoo by Alison Jay was another favorite.  It is a wordless story, but has pictures of stories to follow (i.e. what happens to this hat through the book)  I love that you can look at it over and over focusing on something different each time.

LA ZOO

And of course, what would a week of learning about zoo animals be without a trip to the zoo?  We went on Saturday so that James could join us, which allowed Papa Finlay to come as well.

It was a fabulous day.

Preschool Packs (for printable worksheets/games)

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/03/zoo.html

http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2011/03/z-is-for-zoo.html

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-z.html

Brielle 4-Year-Old Stats

My name is: Brielle (aka Ellie, Bo, Bo-Bellie, Biscuit)

Height: 42.5 inches

Weight: 38 pounds

Sleeping: Night-about 10 1/2 hours (8:30pm-7:00am), Nap about 2 hours (1pm-3pm)

Words: Not yet reading, but knows letters and sounds.  Sight reads some words (i.e. Daddy, Mommy, Brielle, Ethan, Zoo, Go, Dog, Cat etc.)  Working on memorizing primary scriptures and Articles of Faith. (has first 6 Articles of Faith memorized and 4 other scripture-of-the-month for Primary memorized) 

Movement: just starting to swim on own, riding scooter, peddles tricycle easily, jumps, climbs, attempts jumping jacks.

Brielle's Response to her 4-year-old Interview Questions 

(compare to 3-year-old answers)

What is your name? Brielle

When is your birthday? May 'Forf'

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite color? Purple and pink

What is your favorite song? I am a Child of God

What do you want to be when you are a grown up? Tinkerbell

What is your favorite food? Lasagna

What is your favorite animal? Horse

What is your favorite movie? Cats

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Chip

Who is your best friend? Gavin and Coco

What is your favorite book? Zoo

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to Aunt Megan's house

When do you go to bed? In 10 minutes

What do your Mommy and Daddy do when you go to bed? Work

What does your Daddy do? Work and pay money

What does your Mommy do? Stay home and play with me and Gavin and Coco and Ethan

Trains

The boys LOVE trains, the girls also like trains (not as much as the boys, but still quite a bit) so it was definitely one of the kids favorite theme weeks we have done.

We started Saturday by taking the train to Union Station for National Train Day.  It was crowded, but we picked up some kids materials that we were able to use for the week.  We went home to get kids back for nap time.  Gavin was very upset that he hadn't seen enough of the trains yet.

We ended the week by going to Travel Town on Friday.  There were a couple of new Engines open for climbing on.  Brielle and Gavin took over the controls and were pretending to drive the Steam Train all over the country!

And as for the week in between...we played with trains A LOT!

National Train Day Activities

(well, at least a few of them.  I have a lot of pictures of various coloring, crafts and worksheets, but I'll try to keep it shorter)

The Junior Conductor Hats were a big hit.  I love what simple prop can do to get the imaginations going.

I loved the idea of these edible markers.  The train picture was printed onto the cookie.  Of course it didn't taste great, but the idea was fun and the kids enjoyed it.  Brielle kept licking her colors off so she could re-color again.

These Jr. Conductor books had a lot of information about trains and activities to do.  I loved Gavin's design of a train.  His had a swimming pool inside of it, and lots of wheels so it could go really fast.

Building Tracks 

  set it all up, take it all down a new track is exciting all over again the next day, or the next hour

we had train tracks stretching all over our front room 

The trains and tracks were the only toys we had out all week long.  They were very well used and the kids still didn't want to put them away at the end of the week.

 Books

TrainStop by Barbara Lemman was the one that was chosen the most.  It is a wordless picture book.  The kids also loved Dinosaur Train by John Gurney

I love The Caboose who got Loose by Bill Peet.  The story is too long for the younger kids to sit through, but the older kids enjoy it.

Preschool Pack Activities (links below)

numerical order and introduction to odds/evens by homeschool creations

measuring trains by 2 teaching mommies

First letter sound clipcards by 2 teaching mommies

Ethan just likes to put the clothespins on the cards, which is good fine motor practice.  Brielle easily was able to identify the beginning letter for each word.

Word puzzles by 2 teaching mommies

Preschool Packs (will also be used later this summer for our boat and airplane themes)
http://homeschoolcreations.com/transportationpreschoolpack.html
http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/02/ways-we-get-around.html
http://misskindergartenlove.blogspot.com/2011/05/community-helpers-transportation.html

Brielle's Birthday(s)

Brielle's 4th Birthday was on Wednesday.  She has been so excited for May to arrive.  We couldn't fit everything into one day, so the whole week was a party in honor of Brielle.

The celebrations started on Monday with a trip to Disneyland.  Spring Break season is finally over, so the lines have died down, making the park much more enjoyable.  This was are first time exploring Tarzan's treehouse (we've boycotted since it was changed from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse).  The kids enjoyed it.  Every time I ask Brielle what she dreams about, the answer is Disneyland.  It was on the top of her list for things she wanted to do for her Birthday.

On Tuesday James had a meeting out in Culver City, so we dropped him off for work and spent the day at the LA Temple Vistors Center, the Natural History Museum (where we met up with Grandma and Aunt Alana) and the Beach.

I'd heard great things about the Visitor's center at the LA temple since it was redone, but hadn't taken the kids there yet.   I loved the setting for the Christus statue.

The kids were having so much fun at the beach, that I had random strangers ask if they could take pictures of them.

And I spied some people taking video of Ethan has he rolled around in the sand.  He has the potential to be a professional beach bum.

We concluded our celebrating on Wednesday with a family dinner party.  

After seeing the playable angry birds birthday cake a few months ago, Brielle decided that she wanted the same thing for her birthday.  I tried to change her mind to something easier, since I didn't think I could create those characters out of fondant (I've never worked with fondant and have no artistic ability.... it could have been a disaster.)  

My sister found this idea for angry birds cupcakes which looked much easier, so I convinced Ellie that she wanted cupcakes for her birthday instead.  I also loved the idea to turn balloons into the angry birds, which was an easy decoration.  Grandma Finlay got a slip n' slide which the kids had so much fun with.  

She loves all her presents.  And loves being 4!