Just Monkeying Around. . .
In case you are Curious what we are learning about this week, we are learning about MONKEYS!
I am still getting the hang of the whole table set up but we are having fun with it and the girls do get so excited! The hard part for me is keeping the theme and books a secret until they see it on the table! I hope to add in more fun games or crafts and make it look a little prettier in the future, but for now this is really going well!
The books we are reading this week include: Hand Hand Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins, Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina, Curious George by H.A. Rey, Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car by Eileen Christelow, and Monkey See, Monkey Do: An Animal Exercise Book for You! by Anita Holsonback with rhymes by Deb Adamson.
Supplemental videos are: Curious George (the movie with Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore), Curious George cartoons on PBS mornings, The Jungle Book (King Louie), Aladdin (Abu), Dora the Explorer video (Boots lol), The Sky Above from It's A Big Big World (we actually have this one for another unit but there is a monkey in it, so there you go), Blues Clues: Blue Wants to Play a Song Game (in this episode they sing the "five little monkeys jumping on a bed" song), The Proud Family: Monkey Bidness, Jackie Chan Adventures: Monkey a Go Go, My Gym Partner is a Monkey (short Toon Disney cartoon), Bindi the Jungle Girl:Monkeys in the Jungle, and a REALLY funny episode of America's Funniest Home Videos that featured monkeys! We might not watch all of these but it is summer and we are having fun with supplemental videos and Gregg has been finding AWESOME videos on TIVO for us!
So far we have just been having fun reading the books and acting them out a bit (eating bananas while reading, obviously lol). We have talked about the stories as we read them and discuss things like what a cap and peddler are (Caps for Sale), predicting what will happen in the story, and singing the "Five little monkeys jumping in a bed song" repeatedly. We will be making monkey masks later this week and do a few more lessons from BFIAR and HSS (see above for the links to the units on HSS).
The rest of our time has been spent reading a lot of other books because I am gearing up to teach a Preschool Co-op for my Homeschool Association.. Yikes! :-) I am working on the format but since I am leading it, I get to make it the way I want -- which would mean great stories from FIAR and HSS and fun activities! The hard part is picking the best books! I will be posting about all of those plans soon, but if you are in a co-op and have any tips or ideas, or if you wish you were and want to tell me what you think would be great to include, please leave me a comment!
I hope to have some more pictures soon to post from this week and a few that I need to catch up on from the last few months that I have been promising family! :-)
Blessings!
6 comments:
Rachel,
Thank you for visiting my blog and your sweet comments. You know Papa (my special name for God) has just been restructuring me in ways that leave me clueless and wondering if where I am is OK.
I WAS the busy, striving, performance driven, rule following woman... I would have made a good Pharisee. But then Papa got ahold of me and started taking me to the wilderness where He could speak tenderly to me. He spoke Hosea 2:14-16 to me and told me that He was taking me from knowing Him as Master to knowing Him as Husband.
He has rocked my world. I have changed so much that sometimes I don't know who I am anymore.
I was a workaholic....driven to be accepted for working hard and doing a good job. Now I rest...all the time.... I only volunteer for the things He puts in my heart. I read when He draws me in. I am with Him all day, instead of a disciplined quiet time every morning. And I know I am loved more than I ever was while "working" for Him. There is this settledness, this rest...this peace... that I cannot describe.
I love Him with my whole being...I want to be His image bearer on this earth. But I have been learning it is not about what I do. It's about who I am. HIS.
I could write more paragraphs, but then I will have the longest post EVER. It has been a journey.
Sometimes I have wondered if where I was was OK.
I have often felt disobedient and rebellious since I wasn't 'DOING'... but then He comes to me and tells me I am right where I am supposed to be...resting in Him and His work.
It's amazing.
Hugs,
Julie
Hi Rachel,
No problem about the faves list, I didn't notice. Actually, the same thing happened to me recently. I still don't have everyone back up there.
As far potty training goes. I thought it would be easier with a girl, but so far it's not. She sits on the potty a lot, but she rarely goes. But today we were very excited because she went twice!
Blessings!
I have a blogging question for you. How did you get the dividing lines between your post section and the sidebars? I'm feeling like my new template is too crowded and I don't know much about html. thanks!
I have to share! Today my daughter went pee on the potty 3 times! Twice she told me she had to go! This is a big step, like I said, she sits on the toilet often, but rarely goes. We have a Dora Potty sticker chart that I printed off the internet. She gets a star sticker every times she sits, and a sticker AND a candy (usually a few M&Ms) if she goes. Today she forget about the candy because she is so excited that did it.
Love it! Is this your homeschool room? I love that table. I'd love to see how your room is set up!
Girl, that is a good problem to have-- trying to keep something so FUN a secret from two excited little ones!
I hope you are enjoying Austin and that you come back with even more fun things to do with your girls-- although I kinda think that's impossible... you are already one of the funnest teacher momma's I know!
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