The Kittens Week

THE KITTENS WEEK I followed the plan of our homeschool lesson 3. The link is http://www.letteroftheweek.com/preparatory_lesson_3.html and I changed the shape of the week from diamond to triangle because Noarai was more familiar with this one because of her toys and I wanted to take advantage of this motivation. I also changed some activities to adjust to her, for example I looked for a nursery rhyme with a cat, video, that could be sang in an easy way. I haven’t started yet with the letters. This week was full of doctor visits and we tried to do our best with the week plan. This is our learning poster finished by Friday, but each day we were filling it with something.

Monday: The Kittens day

1º ACTIVITY: Videos. We started with this activity everyday of the week and of course with our stuffed kitten. a) First video: Kittens and cats meowing. I wanted her to learn to make the meowing sound and to see different types of cats. The first day it was too long for her, but the other days as she started to make the sound she also wanted to repeat it. Here you’ve got the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX1YzS_CYIw&feature=fvw b) Second video: Kittens at lunch¡¡. I wanted her to see the position for eating and the way they roll for a gross motor activity later imitating the same movements on the rug. Here you’ve got the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNv74rvkAw8&feature=related c) Third video: Happy Kitten. It’s very short but you can see the kittens paws and is a perfect way of introducing the vocabulary word of the week. I used to repeat it four or five times. Here you’ve got the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB3ub4mkkmk&feature=related d) Fourth video: Nursery Rhymes Little Kitty. She just loved this video from the first view. I usually had to repeat it four or five times. At the end of the week she could say: Kitty, coat, sign No (for hurt and pull the tail), play. It was funny because when the nursery rhyme says “but kitty and I” She signs cat and say kitty but for “I” she pointed her eyesJ. Here you’ve got the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SbAQ8s1zgo&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=47B7DD1EA34527F7

2º ACTIVITY: We put on the learning poster the pictures of the kittens (http://ourpreschoolhomeschool.blogspot.com/2007/09/jungle-kittens-eyeslighthouse.html )and the paws (http://www.rescueeverydog.org/picture_library/kitty%20toes.JPG )with it’s words.

3º ACTIVITY: I printed the kitty from http://www.coloring.ws/cats5.htm . We cut cotton in small pieces (that is one of her favorites activities) and then stuck them to the kitty. As you can see in the picture. 4º ACTIVITY: Gross motor activity. We imitated the rolling of the cat, and the cat eating her food in her bedrooms carpet practicing the meowing sound all the time. I had to do it several times before she started doing it, but the other days of the week she was doing it over and over, also in her independent time. Tuesday: The triangle’s day

1º ACTIVITY: Videos

2º ACTIVITY: We used the same kitty image bellow and we filled it with green triangles stickers.

3º ACTIVITY: Triangle hunting. We searched the house looking for triangles with our cookie triangle mold she just loves. Wednesday: Review green’s day (We did this waiting at the doctor hall and read books as well)

1º ACTIVITY: I printed another Kitty and she painted with green color.

2º ACTIVITY: I gave to her green tissue paper and she made a great cutting.

Thursday: Number three’s day 1º ACTIVITY: Video

2º ACTIVITY: Number on the poster. I presented the number and we went to the poster to stick it. I discovered that this was easier to stick it if you have the sticky tape prepare on the poster before starting learning time.

3º ACTIVITY: Cards. We reviewed our cards for one and two. We also were counting the sticks and then pointing the number. Then we introduced the new cards. I used different sticks for this one and she wanted to talk me about each one it was so funny!

4º ACTIVITY: Drawers counting. I used three small cups, and filled the drawers with three stones of different colors each one. I tried to use yellow and green ones and this way I reviewed the colors, but I also mixed other colors. Each time she pulled a drawer, she put each stone inside of one cup. As we had been doing this activity the weeks before she was just doing it all alone, I only helped in counting.

5º ACTIVITY: Balloon dancing. We sang a song of one-two-three (sorry It’s a material from Noarai’s English class and they sell them only for the students) and shake each balloon while saying 1-2-3. This are the lirics: One, Two, Three, Shake¡ One, Two, Three, Shake¡ and (X4) One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. For verse two and three you sing the same but changing shake for clap or stamp. The good thing of this song is that she learnt to say three very good, the tricky thing is that when we started counting she always said three. Ok, she will learn them all little by little J. The use of the balloons was funny for her and it’s a motivation to sing it as well as a visual account of this number.

6º ACTIVITY: The kitten rolling on the rug and eating food. She loved this activity on Monday and kept doing it all week. Friday: Review day (we did all of this waiting at the doctor hall and read books as well)

1º ACTIVITY: Small spaces for kittens. I used a shoe box, and cut a tiny hole on it. Then I prepared lots of kittens (the same kitten I used on Monday but lots of copies and very small) I printed them on cardboard and cut them. This way she could fill the box with Kittens, see them fall, have fun and also worked fine motor skills. You can make the hole as big as your toddler can manage, only remind that if it is too hard for them they will probably stop the activity as well as if it is too easy, so try to challenge your toddler but not so much.

2º ACTIVITY: Review green color. I printed the photo with all the objects we gathered last week and prepared in a bag all the objects, this way we were grabbing an object and looking for it on the picture.

3º ACTIVITY: I made the same image to insert in small spaces on a sticky paper. I Drew a big triangle and she had to fill the triangle with these kittens. In this activity we had a little problem because instead of filling the triangle she wanted to put the sticks on the kitten, so I would tip you to only draw a triangle and don’t try to make it pretty because it can be a problem.

4º ACTIVITY: Green cutting. It’s a good resource for working colors and for been sitting down as I needed her to be. I knew that we did this on Wednesday but she was still motivated to cut.

This way we finished our week. We wanted to visit a friend cat with kittens but Noarai got sick so we will do it in the future.