Friday, May 14, 2010

Preschool Corner / Weekly Wrap-Up – 5/14/10

M is 3.5 years old

We had a fun week, with no particular theme.  I am trying to have 1 to 2 weeks of theme-based activities, followed by at least 1 week of non-themed activities while I prepare for the next theme.  I’m hoping to get in a bug unit, then we will be DONE.  The plan is to enjoy a nice long break, get some much-needed things done around the house and just spend time having fun as a family.  :)

We started our week with a scavenger hunt.   This was so much fun.  M and his cousin, S, had a blast with this.  In fact, we had to do the whole thing again one evening with Daddy. :)  I created a chart for the kids, with pictures of 12 things for them to find in our backyard.  They took their little charts, a couple of crayons, and some plastic containers outside and began hunting: may 008
My niece was the first to find everything pictured, and was quite proud of herself:
may 009
A close up of her treasures, which she insisted on bringing home with her (much to my brother’s delight, heh):may 010I uploaded our scavenger hunt chart and you can find it here, if you think you’d like to use the same one.  It was a big hit!

The weather was awful, so we did a lot of indoor activities the rest of the week…

Fine Motor Skills:
A little fishing game where you try to catch the fish as they go in a circle and open and close their mouths:blog pictures 019   
M’s Lite Brite made its way onto his shelves, and he really had fun with it – all closed up in his room with the shades drawn. :)blog pictures 043
His little wooden dress-the-bear puzzle was out for him also; he played with it once and never bothered with it again:blog pictures 048
Literacy Skills:
I made a little name train for M, and he connected the train cars in order to spell his name.  I used velcro dots so they could stick to each other:blog pictures 054
He did his Bob the Builder Name puzzles (For these I use large flat marbles and write the letters on them with a sharpie):blog pictures 045
Colors / Sorting:
We’ve had this file folder game forever, and M always enjoys it.  I used Jolanthe’s color cards, and created pockets with the color name cards.  M goes through the stack and places each picture in the correct pocket.  He just loves pockets. :)may 001
Math Skills:
I found these at a thrift store and at first glance I thought they were Cuisenaire rods.  However, once I got them home and took a look at them… well, I’m not sure what they are or what to do with them.  Each single block unit is 1/2 inch.  The rods go from 1 unit up to 12 units, and apparently we don’t have a full set.  There’s only 2 8-unit rods, and only 1 10-unit rod.  Sigh.  Any ideas how we can use these?  Or, does anyone know what they are?  They are not the traditional Cuisenaire rod colors either.  I let M just play with them and explore them the first time I set them out.  I showed him how to create some designs, like a house and a stair (the stair was useful for showing the relation between the rods from shortest to longest).blog pictures 049
I hope everyone had great weeks!  I’m linking this up to Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up.  Be sure to go check them out!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Book Review – Hunter’s Moon

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To be honest, I had some difficulty really getting into this book.  The beginning is set against a very promising backdrop - a grandfather dying and a family with too many secrets reuniting at the old family home as he passes away.  However, it's pretty slow-moving through the entire first half of the book, and I was often left wondering where, if anywhere, the story was going.

It seemed to me that the author tried to set up too many mysteries among the family members, without bringing half of them to any sort of resolution.  

The last few chapters were satisfyingly action-packed and I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough, but truthfully getting there was painful and there were several times I was tempted to not bother finishing it at all.  I have read my share of complicated and detailed novels that take some time to get into, but are well worth the wait; unfortunately I can't include Hunter's Moon in that group.   

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book to review.

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