The "School" Corner

You won't find that many photos in these "School" posts most weeks.  I want to do these recaps for me, so I remember what I did with Bear.  I'll be posting "new" activities as single posts during the week.  Those will be laden with photos :)

Practical Life and Fine Motor Skills

• Bear has been helping me prepare food a lot lately - cutting fruit for fruit salad, setting the table, placing the toasts in the toaster oven, pouring her drinks, and even helping make grilled cheese on the stove!  She has a prepared environment where she has access to all her own dishes, wipes for wiping her hands, step stool for easy access to counter tops.  I am thinking of placing all dishes at her height after we move so that setting the table can become a regular task.
• We did a lot of playdough.   Bear is on a playdough kick right now.  It's about all she wants to do even though I keep trying to steer her toward the play kitchen.  Then it hit me, why would she want to pretend cook when she is already doing so much real cooking.  

Language

• salt tray letter n (kind of)
• Bear helped me make sandpaper letters and numbers this week.  

• She wrote narrated a few stories (but actually, she did write some on her own in her "scribble writing").
• We played an awesome game (the idea came from The Activity Mom) in which she had to jump over paper flames and when she reached the end she had to pair an object to its beginning sound. 

• We also played this game looking for the names of the people in our family (too easy!) and matching words (a little challenging - she would pick cat and rat and say they were the same - she may have been thinking about rhymes since we had talked a lot about rhyming prior to this game).
• Sensory tub with phonics items hidden inside.
• Beginning Sound Sorts

Math

• We played a lot of counting games (scheduled to post in the next two days). 
• We are counting down the days to our move using a paper chain and a number card that is changed daily.  
• We continued to do the calendar songs and days.  

Geography

• While reading Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible No Good Very Bad Day, a book we're read thousands of time, Bear announced as I read "I think I'll move to Australia,"  "Kangaroos live in Australia, Mommy.  Kwolos (koalas) too and possums."  It was a proud Mommy moment.  Love that she remembered all the Australian animals from another book.
• We talked about the Arctic and how there are icebergs there.  
• Bear played with her landforms (lake, island, gulf and peninsula) (Post on these to come)

When we get back to the States in a few weeks, I'll be starting to compile some geography continent boxes for her.  I'm so excited about this. :)  

Science

• We looked at how polar bear fat insulates their bodies and how icebergs float in salt water. 
• Bear also experimented with sink or float and played with making ice melt in different ways.