Sunday, July 12, 2009

"E" Adventures

Tot School
Hey everyone! We are finally enlightening you about our exciting "E" adventures! Though it seemed we would be everlastingly stuck on this letter, we've decided it's time to write it all up and move on, now that I'm 27 months old and all....

Review: Eyes & Ears.

Song.
Book.
  • The Ear Book by Al Perkins.
Food.
  • Ears and Eyes. Mommy made a salad with all the face parts on it. We talked about making a baked potato head, but didn't get to it. Sides, I don't eat tatos, anyways... (unless they are in chip form)
Computer Time.
  • Monkey Faces at PBS Kids. I LOVE Curious George! Here I got to put all the parts of his face on!
Science.
  • Life without ears and eyes - I put on an eye mask to check out what it would be like without eyes. I drew the line at ear plugs, though. I HATE stuff in my ears...
Physical Activity.
  • Blind man's bluff - only I cheated a little!
Adventures...
In addition to our alphabet and number reviews, we focused on "eyes" and "ears." First I colored all the face parts to "Elizabeth" - and then I stuck them onto her face.
But some of those parts stuck better onto my own face!
Then we made BIG ears by printing out clipout ears and pasting them onto paper plates and cutting them out. We used a pipe cleaner to join the ears together. But I didn't wan't to wear them, so guess who we got to do the honors?! (Don't show him this photo...)

Lapbook: Esmé.

Song.
  • Who Am I? - I couldn't find this online, but it goes like this: "Who am I? Who am I? Someone special to Jesus! I am Esmé. I am Esmé. I am special to Jesus!"
Book.
  • All By Myself by Mercer Mayer.
  • And we watched a couple of Eloise DVDs. My hero! Give me a few years, and I'll be just like her! (Note to moms: you probably don't want Eloise as a hero for your daughter. Seriously...)
Food.
  • Eat the alphabet. We had alphabet macaroni in spaghetti sauce...
Computer Time.
Science.
Physical Activity.
  • Exercise of all kinds! I'm on tumbling class break, so we make up our own tumbling routine - with LOTS of somersaults and splits.
Adventures...
I LOVE drawing eyes! I drew lots of them - some right onto a big "E" and others we cut and glued on the "E" for the first page of our "E" lapbook.
On the inside of the front page was stapled the ziploc bag for our miscellaneous "E" stuff.
On the second page, my "E" book was the one from First School this time.
There was also my Bible verse card about Elijah - it flipped up to show birds underneath.
We put in the What Hatches book above, as well as an Elephant book that we did for Elephant adventures below.
We also taped in our sign language flash cards so they would flip up - "E", "Eat", and "Eight."
And for counting, we put a slit in a nest picture and taped it in. Then we made a bunch of clip art eggs with numbers on them to put in the nest.
We pasted an elephant coloring page on the back of the lapbook.
As well as the lapbook stuff, I did some things with my name... Mommy wrote my name on a paper, and then I did Do-a-Dot art on it.
Here's a fun one: stamp a bunch of baby e's on a piece of paper, and then cover the e's with Do-a-Dot markers!
We also talked about writing my name with masking tape and then doing watercolor paints over it - taking the tape off after it dried. But we never got to it...
Excursion #1: Elephant Car Wash.

Adventures...
This excursion didn't take us from home... We washed Mommy's car with a hose (like an elephant) and a bucket and cloths!
(Note to moms: Don't plan on doing a detailed cleaning, or you'll end up with half a clean car or worse when kiddo insists on taking a nap or some other such thing.)
No photos - sorry! Too much water going on here...
Bible Story: Elijah & Mt. Carmel.

Song.
Book.
Food.
  • Bread sticks - like the ravens must have brought for Elijah!
  • We talked about making an altar from candy rocks, but we're trying to cut down on sugar, you know...
Computer Time.
  • Just the online book mentioned above...
Science.
  • Mommy showed me how easy dry paper goes up in flames, and how difficult it is to get wet paper to burn.
Physical Activity.
  • Piled up rocks outside.
Adventures...
First we colored a page with wood and stones (I told Mommy how to color it). Then we put it on a baking tray and I helped Mommy pour some yellow and red paint on it. We put a marble in the paint, rolled it around a bit, and that page exploded in flames!
Science: Elephants.

Song.
Book.
  • Peanut Butter and Jelly by Nadine Bernard Westcott.
  • Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss.
  • Jumbo's Lullaby by Laura Krauss Melmed. One of my favorites!
  • Nellie's Knot by Ken Brown.
  • The Trouble With Elephants by Chris Riddell.
  • Just a Little Bit by Ann Tompert.
  • Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. This goes with our Egg adventures, too!
  • Elympics by X J Kennedy.
  • Ella the Elegant Elephant by Carmela & Steven D'Amico.
  • Ella Sets the Stage by Carmela & Steven D'Amico.
Food.
  • Elephant ears. Mommy thought these were yummy! Me - not so much. Even though they had the necessary ingredients of sugar and flour in them. The dough would've been better!
  • Peanut butter & jelly sandwich.
Computer Time.
Science.
Physical Activity.
  • Elephant walk - put your hands in front of your face like a trunk and pretend to be an elephant!
  • Plus we acted out some of the "Elympics" activities out of the Elympics book.
Adventures...
We made another paper bag puppet from Mommy's WalMart clearance stash! I love those things - especially taking them apart afterwards...
And we made handprint elephants. Of course! Handprints look exactly like elephants if you strategically place the eyes...
And we put up our African animal wall stickers (that Grandma gave me) in the bedroom! So now I can look at elephants whenever I want...
Social Studies: Earth.

Song.
Book.
  • You're Aboard Spaceship Earth by Patricia Lauber.
  • Earthsong by Sally Rogers.
  • The Whole Green World by Tony Johnston.
Food.
  • English muffin "earth" pizzas - if you squint really hard, you can see the continents!
Computer Time.
Science.
  • Pretend to be an earthquake - got that one downpat!
  • Energy bag - put something heavy in a plastic grocery bag and twist the handle lots of times. Then watch the energy as it unwinds!
Physical Activity.
  • Diggin' a hole to China! We still got a long ways to go, though... That's why we're NEVER gonna get done with "E" school at this rate.
Adventures...
Mommy and I put together a new planets puzzle that included Earth. It was tough, but that's why you have mommies to help.
We made a paper doll chain to represent children all around the earth. There are hearts between each doll! I drew one eye on each of the dolls. (Why does Mommy call them Cyclops dolls?)
Mommy gave me a map of the earth and showed me where Ouma and Oupa live, and where we used to live, and where my Aunties and Uncles live. I drew lines from all those places to where I live!
We made earthworms from foam beads and pipe cleaners, with google eyes. Cept I think they look more like caterpillars!
And we made earth ornaments. First we dipped the shatterproof ornaments into white, green, and blue paint.
Aren't they pretty?
Then I decided they needed some touchup painting.
Here I am smudging the paint all over - ready to sing He's Got the Whole World In His Hands!
Excursion #2: Entertainment & Eating.
Adventures...
We went to Music on the Half Shell - free every Tuesday night in Roseburg! Great entertainment, especially while eating. Plus there are swings and slides close by!
As far as eating out - this is all I got to show for it... Maybe another time...
Speaking of eating - we also stopped by my Mozambican cousins' place when they were here - and look what I got! A whole kitchen set for myself! Lots of eatin's gonna be happening here...
Kitchen: Eggs.

Song.
Book.
  • The Egg by M P Robertson. Mommy wasn't too fond of this book about a dragon, but it was one of my absolute favorites!
  • Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Check out the online video, too!
  • Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller.
  • An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston & Sylvia Long.
  • Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg by Mia Posada.
  • Good Morning, Chick by Mira Ginsburg.
  • Tillie Lays an Egg by Terry Golson. One of my favorites!
  • First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Of all the "E" books, this is the first one I picked out - I read it to MYSELF lots of times.
  • The Most Wonderful Egg in the World by Helme Heine.
  • The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci.
  • A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins.
Food.
  • Egg bread - cut a hole in a slice of bread with a cup, then fry an egg inside the hole. This looks like an EYE!
Computer Time.
Science.
  • Egg in a bottle - we tried this experiment several times, but the egg never went inside the bottle. We tried burning paper towels, and we tried boiling water, but nothing worked. If we ever get a bigger bottle - like a Snapple bottle, we'll try it again...
Physical Activity.
  • Egg toss - OK, not really. But here I am challenging Pappa to a game. He made me put the eggs back in the fridge. Bummer - it would have been great fun!
Adventures...
We dyed boiled eggs, of course! First we colored them, and then we dipped them in food coloring dye.
I also got to poke toothpicks into a styrofoam egg. We talked about doing fancier things with these styrofoam eggs, but nothing quite clicked...
I mixed paint in a used egg carton - Mommy showed me what the different color combinations made. Here I am using my grand pallette!
And we made some egg carton critters, using pipe cleaners and google eyes...
Miscellaneous
Books.
  • The Story of the Exodus by Alice Joyce Davidson.
  • The Empty Pot by Demi. A lovely story...
  • "Eat!" Cried Little Pig by Jonathan London.
  • The Eagle & the Wren by Jane Goodall.
  • Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles. One of my favorites!
  • Edwina the Emu by Sheena Knowles. So of course this was another favorite!
  • Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems.
  • The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm, Bernadette Watts.
So that's it for our EXCELLENT adventures!
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8 comments:

Cassie said...

I love that salad! Awesome idea!

Michelle Gibson said...

Wow! Lots of "E"xcellent ideas! You out did your self this time!

Sarah said...

Too much fun! Can I come over and learn with you too?

Hugs from Costa Rica,
Sarah Dawn

Terry Golson said...

Thanks for including my book, "Tillie Lays an Egg." I've heard from numerous home schoolers that they're using the book, and also my web site, hencam.com. Did you know I've added a livestreaming web cam on my new baby goats? Maybe file that under "G?"

Preschool Playbook said...

You have such wonderful activities and cover so many bases!

Annette W. said...

For the egg in the bottle I have used an orange juice glass bottle...probably half gallon size. It does work!!

Anonymous said...

Great work.Really appreciable!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

My favorite trap sheet. Thank you(Charlxtz)