Birds by Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes writes amazing books. We own so many of his books and never tire of reading them. Birds is no exception. The more we read it, the more I enjoy it.

There are so many opportunities for learning in this book. Birds come in many different colors and we named all of the colors in the book. Birds can be big or little and we compared all of the birds. Seven birds on a telephone wire were waiting to be counted. We pretended to fly and sing like birds. We also purchased a bird feeder that attaches to a window with suction cups and we have been observing the birds in our yard.

C and R's favorite page in the book has the reader imagine what the sky would look like if birds made marks with their tail feathers when they flew. This gave me an idea for an art project. C and R painted with feathers and made these beautiful works of art.

This book will be on our favorites shelf for a long time!

Tot school

R is 37 months old

I was thrilled when R asked to do puzzles this week because she never wants to do puzzles unless they have the pictures in the background to match the pieces. She completed this on her own. I taped together two pieces of posterboard that I bought at the dollar store (2 for $1) and traced R's outline. She loved filling in the details and it was a great opportunity to talk about parts of the body.

R worked on spelling her name.

She loves her Melissa and Doug lacing beads.

R is a fan of Dora and enjoyed these Slide & Learn interactive flash cards.

She also worked on numbers with this magnetic counting play and learn book.

I gave R a pile of toothpicks and a pile of miniature marshmallows on a tray and she worked for a long time counting and building. We will definitely do this again.

Happy Mother's Day!

A bit under the weather

I have some wonderful awards to pass on and a few things to post but today I can barely lift my head off the pillow. I promise that I will pass those awards along as soon as I feel better. Thank you so much for thinking of me and for reading my blog.

Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

We love Eric Carle and have many of his books in our collection. In this fact-based book, Mr. Seahorse meets other kinds of fish fathers caring for their eggs and babies in different ways. The book is wonderful in so many ways. My only complaint is that Mr. Bullhead tells Mr. Seahorse that he is babysitting his babies. I have always been bothered by the term "babysitting" when it is applied to fathers; fathers do not babysit their own children! So, I just replace the word "babysitting" with "caring for my babies". I still recommend the book. It is nice to read about fathers taking care of their babies and the book is beautiful.

C and R love Eric Carle's collage illustrations and the acetate pages that camouflage different sea creatures. They were very excited to make their own ocean pictures. I drew the seahorse on the back of a cereal box. C used dot markers to color his and R used Rollit paints to color hers. They then looked through the book and decorated the background based on what they saw.

They both liked one of the acetate pages that had reeds hiding some fish. C and R used some of our leftover Easter grass for the reeds. They drew fish behind the reeds. They had a lot of fun making these pictures.

Tot school

R spotted this set of Guidecraft individual puzzles (I'm not sure what they are called because I was unable to find them online) at a local consignment shop and they have been well worth the $2.00 we spent on them. She has spent a lot of time matching the pieces, lining them up, and sorting the colors. R loves pop beads and they are great for fine motor skill work.

We were lucky to have some warm weather this week and R played in the water table. She spent a lot of time pouring water from one container to another and then watering the trees in our yard.

R also poured, scooped, spooned, and transferred beans a few times this week.

We also enjoyed reading Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson and making springtime pictures. In case you can't tell, this is a few trees and the beautiful pink and white blossoms that are falling from the trees. I'm sure you knew that though.

We have also been talking about traffic safety all week. I don't have any photos but we talked about and role played how to cross the street, riding safely in a car, and why we have traffic signs and lights. I plan on borrowing some books on the subject from the library to continue our discussion/learning so let me know if you have any recommendations!

See you next week.

Teeth

My precious little princess bumped her front teeth on a table a week ago. There was a lot of blood but her teeth seemed fine. Last night, however, I was brushing her teeth and noticed the teeth that were bumped had turned gray. I will call the dentist on Monday but I am wondering if anyone has had this experience? Will the dentist pull her teeth? She just turned three. She'll be toothless for years!

Mother Goose Day

Today is Mother Goose Day, and in her honor we are snuggling up on the couch and having a Mother Goose readathon. We are enjoying the following books:

Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose Favorites

Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose by Leo and Diane Dillon

The Daddy Goose