Monday, November 30, 2009

I Adventures

Tot School
We had lots of interesting "I" adventures, though we didn't incorporate as much as we've done in the past. But we are moving on to "J" and Jesus for the month of December! So here's "I"!

Paper Mache Igloo. Here's how you make a paper mache igloo. First you get ready to get messy! Then you prepare your igloo structure.

Then you mix up 3 cups water and 1 cup flour. You stir and stir and get messy.

Then you tear up 12 sheets of newspaper into whatever kinds of pieces you feel like tearing it into. You put these into the bowl with the flour mixture. (Mommy's note - if we did this again, I would make it in smaller batches instead of putting all the sheets in at once - they got soggy and clumped.)

Then you get to squish up the newspaper into the mixture to get ALL the newspaper wet - what fun!

Then you take out the newspaper pieces and start patting them onto your igloo structure. Keep patting and patting and patting until it's smooth. And keep going until Mommy tells you you're all done.

Then you admire what you've done and stick it in front of the heater to dry.

And you wait, and you wait, and you wait for it to dry. Several days later, you get to paint it. First, you paint it white, because Mommy says that's the natural color for igloos.

Then, you insist that you need to paint it pink, because pink is much prettier! So you drip a few drops of red into your white paint, and you stir and stir and stir until it's pink, and you paint the igloo all over again!

Edible Igloo. While you're on the subject of igloos, you've got to make an edible one! You can make them out of marshmallows, but we shaped ours out of a rice krispie treat mix. First I got to stir the marshmallows while they were melting...

...and then I had to clean up the pot afterwards. Both equally fun.

And we got to eat this igloo!

Paper Igloo. I also got to cut strips of blue paper into rectangles and then paste them onto this picture of an igloo.

Writing Practice. And I got to practice writing my "I"s. "I"s are very easy to write! And I am getting very good at coloring in the lines.

Inuits. I pasted cotton around the hood of an Inuit boy, and we talked about how they lived in igloos!

Itch. We scratched each others' backs, and read some books about itching!

  • Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup (an absolute favorite!)
  • The Itch Book by Crescent Dragonwagon

Indian Food. One day we ate curried sweet potato patties. I didn't even pick out the peas!

And then we had curry with rice. I just ate the rice...

Indian Dress. I got to put on Mommy's sari! Of course, I decided to mix up the Indian theme by wearing my thanksgiving Indian headdress, too.

India Books.

  • Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young (based on an Indian fable, and one of my favorites!)
  • One Grain of Rice by Demi (an Indian mathematical folktale)
  • Culture in India by Melanie Guile (we looked at pictures)
Inside. We talked about "inside" versus "outside" and read this book:

  • Inside and Outside by Henry Pluckrose
Ice Painting. Mommy froze some water in a popsicle tray so I could do some ice painting! We didn't have dry tempera paint, so I painted on a "paint with water" book instead.

Ice Shapes. I also played with some ice shapes we made from an interesting ice tray. Stars, and flowers, and all kinds of things.

Ice Books.

  • Elizabeth Imagined an Iceberg by Chris Raschka
Ice Cream. Of course, no "I" study would be complete without ice cream! First I tried eating it in a cone. Yummy! It's kind of messy, though.

Then we MADE ice cream in an ice cream maker! I had to turn and turn and turn the handle. I kept saying it was done.

Finally I got to eat it. VERY yummy!
Here's the book we read:
  • Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons (it was a little long for me, but Mommy learned a lot!)
Iron Books. Here are the books we read about iron and iron horses:
  • Iron Horses by Verla Kay
  • The Elements: Iron by Giles Sparrow (we looked at pictures)
Icicles. Yesterday I got to put icicles up on our Jesse tree! Mommy says I mustn't clump them, but I don't see why not. And that I don't have to use the whole package, but I don't see why not...

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7 comments:

dani said...

my favorite part of reading about "I" adventures is getting to catch up with "U"!!! i have missed you, my little esme; but haven't wanted to stop by until i had ample time to visit:)
i cannot believe how much you've grown... both taller and prettier!
much love,
aunt dani xxx

Genny said...

What an awesome post filled with great ideas!

Hope you are well!

Genny

Pamela said...

well.. I'm worn out. ha ha ha.
what a busy busy girl.

Anonymous said...

What fun you've been having, sweet Esme! You and your mommy are so creative! Love seeing you wearing clothes we recognize. Missing you lots!!! Hugs & love,
Auntie Susan

Unknown said...

You and your mommy always come up with the best crafts! I'm going to try the first igloo with my kids - gasp!

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

Prasti said...

oh i love the rice krispie igloo...wow! very impressive :). we'll be doing j for Jesus in december too!

ShEiLa said...

You always cover everything... not sure how you do it but you do.

ToOdLeS.