stART - A Good Night Walk

A story + Art = a great stART!!

For this week's stART project, we read A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper. In it, they take a walk before bed and as they go around the neighborhood they see things (like the clothes on the line, the mail truck, a pie cooling, etc.) and on the way back home they see the same houses (but with the clothes off the line, the mail truck gone, the pie eaten and the lights out)...

We took our own walk and Ryleigh pointed out some of the things that she saw (a red car, a railroad track, a bank, a mailbox, etc.).... I then tried to find some of the same things in some old magazines. We cut them out and Ryleigh glued them on as a collage...

After we were done with the collage, we "relived" our walk...
as we talked about seeing each item on the collage

Our Materials....

Ryleigh gluing....
The finished collage....

For more great stART projects check out A Mommy's Adventures

TOT SCHOOL WEEK EIGHT- 30 MONTHS

This week was super busy between Music Class, Tot School, Dance and.....starting to get the basement ready for our new classroom!!!! We are moving Music Class and Tot School downstairs hopefully by the beginning of December....with a completion date of January 1...as far as painting and everything else....so excited...this means a lot more room for the kids...the living room is getting kinda cramped for Music...

For Music this week, the kids started working on chords for the handbells. (Which also helps with color recognition). After passing out the handbells and doing our regular exercises with them, I then held up a card and if they had the color they rang it....we will work on it again :)

Ryleigh (and friends) working on Pom Pom transfers... I need to get smaller pom poms... they are transferring onto the suction cup side of fish...that I think go in the tub... from the $1 store...thank you Michelle...

Working on the stART project...to see the completed project go HERE.

This week, the Letter of the Week was E. I had the girls incorporate an Envelope into the letter E. Then we had them put Ee's inside.

Braeden with Juliette....just chillin....waiting for the girls to finish the projects...hoping not to be trampled when they do....

My grandmother usually comes over once a week...which is a huge help for me...this week she brought Ryleigh magnetic wooden letters that connect and make a train...out of her name...Ryleigh LOVES them!!!! She plays with them all the time and I highly recommend getting them if you need a gift for a little one!

Ryleigh with Braeden

Ryleigh playing with her name train...

To continue with our E letter...and to practice a fine motor skill...Ryleigh glued beans in the shape of an E...she really liked this activity...

Working on her colors from our activity pack from last week

We made some holiday presents....that I will NOT be posting on here... but afterwards...since her hands were already messy...Ryleigh really wanted to paint...

You know Elmo had to make an appearance...here Ryleigh is showing a dressed up Elmo how to string pasta onto a pipe cleaner....this activity has gotten way too easy for her so I switched her to string...apparently Elmo likes the pipe cleaner better...FYI...

Braeden...watching Ryleigh...and Elmo...

Marc...drinking coffee...carrying around one of Ryleigh's babies...who looks a lot like curious george...never a dull moment in this house...

Marc working with Ryleigh over breakfast on letters and names.... made out of beans...

Check out what others are doing for Tot School at 1+1+1=1.

stART- Corduroy's Thanksgiving

A story + Art = A great stART!!!

For this week's stART project I had Ryleigh (and Friends) do Thanksgiving Hand- prints to go with Corduroy's Thanksgiving. The book is about Corduroy preparing for and then enjoying Thanksgiving with his friends.

First I had them glue "leaves" around the edge of the paper...then we did the classic hand print turkeys... I have seen this project on many blogs over the last couple of weeks....must be the season ;) Anyway.... here is our interpretation of it....

Ryleigh gluing the leaves around the edge of the paper...I put the glue in an egg carton and let them use popsicle sticks to spread it around...worked out pretty well...

My friend Michelle painting Ryleigh's hands...while I took pictures...she got the messier end of the deal for sure. We used brown for the body and head (palm and thumb) and different colors for the feathers (fingers)... After the hands were painted, they were printed...

Braeden and Juliette waiting for their sisters to finish their projects...they are so good...and how cute are Juliette's "ears" ?

The projects drying...(tot school continued)....

The finished project...

For more great stART projects check out A Mommy's Adventures

TOT SCHOOL- WEEK TWO 29 MONTHS

This week was very busy, but so much fun!! Ryleigh used her new trays- which she really loves. And we are now using our Little Tikes picnic table, that gives her a lot more room to work. We started our week with Musical Mondays and stART and ended our week with Dance.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Ryleigh had friends over (one each day) for "Tot School"....or playing with projects- if you ask her :) In dance, Ryleigh, along with one of her friends, got promoted to the class for 3-4 yr olds- even though they are both not even 2 1/2 yet. Here is what happened the rest of the week during "school" hours:

Ryleigh working on her stART project

Ryleigh practicing lacing with pasta and string

Braeden had a friend over too...both were super excited to see their big sisters hard at "work".

Ryleigh concentrating....

I made a farm activity pack that I found on the 1+1+1=1 blog. Here Ryleigh is practicing sequencing with tractors. She did really well.

Playdough....always a favorite...

Using glue to make a Halloween collage....I think the pumpkin only ended up with one eye....

Braeden watching so patiently.... waiting for snack time :)












Ryleigh working on bean transferring....one of her new favorite "projects"...







With her friends also working on "projects", Ryleigh is learning to concentrate on what she is doing.....in theory :) At the least, by the end of the week, she was less distracted by what they were doing.














More glue.... :) Working on a shape collage...










Ryleigh dressed for her first day in her new class.... total success !!! She loved being in the older class with more dancing.