Weekly Wrap-Up

Here is what we've been up to this week, by category of our 10 learning boxes.

1.  Fun With Numbers (Math)

We have been working on an addition workbook (just a dollar store 1st grade one), and he loves it.  He has started being able to add numbers like 11+4 by counting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 (he's not ready to start at 11 yet) and then saying "12,13,14,15!" rather than by trying to count on his fingers or with objects.  Still, at the risk of sounding defensive, we are really just doing this for fun -- I know he's very young to be adding so I don't push it when his attention strays.

I also have been quizzing him a little to see if he can tell me which number is bigger among two 3-digit numbers, or asking him to tell me a number more than XXX.  I've been doing this because he kept playing monopoly on my iphone and getting an error message that he must bid higher than the highest bid.  After I asked him about 25 questions in a row, and he got every one right, I said, "do you just get it wrong on the phone on purpose?"  "Yes, Mama, I like when the little box pops up."

2. Science, Animals, and Nature

We picked up a pack of animal flashcards at Target last week, and he learned the word "diet" from looking at them.  We keep them at the dinner table, and as he eats, he picks an animal and looks up what the animal's diet is and what that animal's baby are called.  I could care less about him memorizing those facts (and he's not trying to), but I do like the idea of him learning to pick information out of a card full of facts. 

3. Arts and Crafts

We did a Five Little  Pumpkins craft at a playdate today.

We also did some handprint art (post here) and pumpkin-related fun (post here).

4. Let's Get Moving

Nothing to report here.

5. Word Games

We took advantage of the Bibliophile's growing fondness for knock knock jokes to teach about homophones (see our post here).

6. Games Box

We played a lot of Scrabble this week.  I don't keep score, but he gets very excited to use the colored squares, which he knows are worth more points.  I help him a lot with placement and word formation, so we're kind of mock playing the game while we practice spelling words together.

7. Reading and Storytelling

I'll post tomorrow about some books we've been reading.  I should do more on comprehension and sequencing.  I think he's ready for this and I've just been lazy about it.

8. "Play fun" (Miscellaneous)

We sewed together a quick quilt top for his bed, with some Disney cars, route 66, and tire print fabric.  I bought a backing fabric and have batting; now I just have to figure out how to baste a quilt while very pregnant.

9. Spanish

He enjoyed connecting English to Spanish words on a dry-erase placement from Target (yay $1 section).  I generally told him which words matched up and he drew the lines.

10. Countries/Places (Geography)

We didn't focus on any one country this week.  I remembered that I had bought him a world map poster awhile back and never hung it, so I pulled that out (still in plastic and packaged on a sturdy piece of cardboard), and we used it to tell stories about his cars traveling around the world (as they drove around on the map).  He also brought his toy bath boats in on the action, for ferrying the cars from continent to continent.  A perfect pretend play activity for car loving preschoolers.

Comment! What have you been up to this week?  Stop back on Monday and Tuesday next week for some fun give aways that we have scheduled to post!

I am linking this post up with Weekly Wrap Up, Preschool Corner, and Tot School.

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