Sunday, January 10, 2010

TOT SCHOOL - WEEK TWELVE - 32 Months

Tot School

We were back on schedule this week. We had Music Class on Monday (Musical Mondays), the girls came over throughout the week to join in "tot school" and some baking, Art Class (Friday Art Group), Dance Class, a Birthday Party and Lots of fun in between!!

My Grandmother recently purchased some shelves to help me to organize...among other things...tot school... here Ryleigh is helping put the bins together. We are very excited about our new classroom...which should be ready...and by ready...I mean picture worthy...in the next couple of weeks!!!
Ryleigh at a Build A Bear Birthday Party for E. She loves her build- a- bear....named.....Bear. Bear is dressed in a shiny pink dance outfit .... of course!
Here the girls are making pumpkin muffins. I try and do at least one baking project a week during "tot school" time. Ryleigh and I do a lot of baking besides these projects, but I think she really enjoys baking with her friends as well...and I know the Mommies enjoy the outcome. Baking is such a good practice of pouring, transferring, listening and other skills at this age. When they get older, it will be great for math skills as well.
I decided to do an experiment with the girls...and since it is January...and soooo cold out...I thought we should do an ice experiment. After talking about how cold ice is, we put some ice cubes in both cold and hot water...to see which ones would melt first....
Stringing beads onto pipecleaners
Braeden watching the girls....
I love doing hand-print art.....so I tried to come up with a fun January/Winter Hand-print art project...and this is what I got....Hand-print snowflakes...not totally original...but I'm loving them none-the-less... First I had the girls make "snow" in the background...we did this by lightly (used loosely) sponging some white paint around the paper. Then we took hand-prints...and got Hand-Print snowflakes.... (look closely and let your mind wander....)

Playing with Ryleigh's doll house after class one day
At our playgroup Christmas Party, Ryleigh got this fantastic alphabet floor puzzle...I'm not sure which one of us likes it more...it is very neat and there are crayons to color the back side of it. We also got a great number floor puzzle that is also a game...Perfect for Tot School....Thank you Dawn!
Some of the girls made Apple Turnovers ....I had them mix the apple (pie) part in plastic bags and then they shook them. The turnovers were a hit.

They also worked on Melissa and Doug Spelling Puzzles
They also did a water transferring exercise...I added Blue Food Coloring to one cup of water and Red Food Coloring to the other...they liked making purple.
For Art Group the kids painted with frozen paint ice cubes...such a neat project. They also made snowmen- made up of white paint, salt and glue. Then Michelle had them glue misc. snowmen objects on.

Braeden...wedged...er stuffed....er sitting in Juliette's swing during Art.... his is slightly roomier...I think he was un-amused...
Ryleigh in her new leotard and tutu before Dance class....Thank you Aunt Laura!

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

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Baking with Ryleigh - Sugar Cookies

Ryleigh and I made Sugar Cookies (for Santa... I'm a little late posting this...). How cute are our matching aprons? And notice our stellar background...not in the first picture, but further down.... some fun crafts for the month of December...
Ryleigh was really good at cutting out the cookies...she really liked the star and tree shapes.

Ryleigh (with Daddy) putting sprinkles on the cookies...for whatever reason, I have no pictures of actually frosting them...but that's ok... we used white frosting that I made

Monday, January 4, 2010

Musical Mondays - Sea Sound Drum

For this music class I introduced the Sea Sound Wave Drum. I think it was a total hit. I really like them because there are so many different things you can have the kids do with them. They come with the mallet, but they can be played with or without them and the beads inside create a great sound.

Braeden with Aunt Laura sitting for his first class...he usually sleeps through the entire class in his swing....not even the cymbals wake him....(I think he is used to them since we play instruments pretty often)
Some of the kids with the Drums...


Braeden at the end of the class...

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Christmas Time 2009

I am back from my holiday blogging break...you know you missed me :) This holiday season we had so much to be thankful for. My sister came to stay with us for over a week...YAY!!!!!!!! (Try and figure out what her favorite activity was by browsing through the pics....)

Ryleigh bundled up for our huge snowfall....she was pretty excited about it... she went out with Aunt Laura....lets see if we can figure out who thought the snow was more fun....

Here Aunt Laura is doing a snow angel...Ryleigh kept saying "I'm moving my arms..I'm moving my arms..." She takes after her mommy a bit I think....no need to actually get IN the snow...

Ryleigh tasting Cocoa for the first time...with her chocolate chip cookie...it makes going out in the snow worth it... :)
Braeden having "solid" food for the first time... he had oatmeal... had no problem with it....
Here Marc is demonstrating that our Tot School table can in fact be worn as a backpack...
Ryleigh helping Daddy with our train set
Aunt Laura holding Braeden at our playgroup Christmas Party
Ryleigh working on the nativity scene at the party
Juliette trying to touch Braeden's eye....and Braeden not really minding at all...
The Party-goers...
Aunt Laura with Braeden...
Same idea...different day....
Mmmmm frosting...Ryleigh helped make Sugar Cookies
Christmas morning. Start time...10:30 AM.... We were out late the night before at the 11 o'clock church service, so we all slept in...
Aunt Laura and Braeden Christmas Morning...waiting for Ryleigh to get up and see what Santa left her...
Braeden in his Jumperoo...if you look carefully you will see the yule log burning on the TV in the background...
Mommy and Ryleigh taking a hug break...then more playing with the "dolly house"
My Grandparents came over for Christmas Dinner...Grandad playing dolly house with Ryleigh
Ryleigh with Granny
Braeden and Daddy in their matching snowmen....