Fables and Folktales - The Birth of Paul Bunyan

Last Wednesday, we read the story of The Birth of Paul Bunyan.

I read the story out loud for Miss M and encouraged her to hold up the certain story pieces when we came across them in the story.

 

She just wanted to place them on top of our story sheet.

After our story, we talked about babies. We talked about where she slept when she was a baby – first 2 months in the NICU at the hospital before mommy and daddy could bring her home and then in a bassinette next to mommy when she came home. And then we talked about where she sleeps now – in her own room. We sat down and got a blanket and a rattle for our baby and then I let her take care of her baby.

 

Then we got out a big blanket and pillow to make our own bed with and then I placed our letter Bb flag on the blanket. Then I handed Miss M the upper or lowercase Bb and had her places it on our flag. She wanted to put them next to it.

 

Next, we got to make a growth chart! We were provided pieces for our growth chart and we just had to put them together and attach it to the wall.

We talked about how Miss M is growing and we tried measuring ourselves against other objects in the room. Then I wrote Miss M’s name on one of our leaves and then measured her and placed her leaf on the wall.

We also measured other items like a teddy bear and Miss M’s car and marked them on the wall too. I got these pictures just in time because right after this, she took all the leaves down lol.

Our last activity for the day was supposed to be us building a raft. I tried to get Miss M to help build a raft but she just wanted to make a tower…oh well. She still had fun.

Our book for today was Love You Forever. This is one of my favorite books. My mommy used to read it to me when I was little so I love reading this to Miss M as well.  

Fables and Folktales - The Bell on the Cat

Last Monday, we read the story of The Bell on the Cat.

We read our story and talked about how it’s one thing to say something, but something different to actually do it. I don’t think she really understood this concept (she’s still pretty young), but it was still nice to sit and talk.

After our story, we played a game called Cat Chase.

 

We talked about who runs faster – a cat or a mouse. Then we tried making new words using our cube and the cutout. We’d roll our little cube and put the cube in front of the “–at” on our little kitty cutout. We’d say the new word followed by “cat” over and over. Miss M just wanted to say cat and not any of our other new words.

Next, we got to make mouse ears! We used a grey headband, some cutouts for the ears, and two sticker eyes. I helped Miss M with the nose and whiskers. I wish I could have gotten some better pics but I didn’t get a chance to before she totally destroyed this. I’ve gotta be quick with this kid!

After making our mouse ears, we got to make a mouse house. We used a big blanket and some pillows to make it. We talked about the different places that a mouse can live and then we made a cozy little place where a mouse could hide from a cat.

 

Our book for the day was The Three Little Kittens.   

Miss M also wanted to read her Peppa Pig book all by herself. 

Fables and Folktales - The Boys and the Frogs

Wednesday, we read the story of The Boys and the Frogs.

We read the story and then talked a little bit about how we need to stop and think whether our fun might be the cause of someone else’s unhappiness.

After our story, we talked about how a frog’s skin feels. We looked at some pictures of frogs and talked about how a frog’s skin is smooth and moist, but a toad’s skin is usually bumpy and rough.

We sat down and got to put gem stickers on our Hands-On Numbers we were provided with. We started out with me helping her try to put the same amount of stickers on the number (i.e. number 1 – 1 gem sticker, etc.) Miss M just wanted to put them on the part where we punched the numbers out with though. I gave her the little sheet of stickers and let her go nuts. Which she did…she put them all over herself too! It was pretty funny.

Next, we played Leap to Safety. We were provided with a little game board and a little plastic flip frog that Miss M just loved!

We tried flipping our frog onto the pond game board and then we’d name the color lily pad it would land on.

Our book for today was At The Pond. Miss M really enjoyed this book.    

Fables and Folktales - The Dog and His Reflection

Monday, we read the story of The Dog and His Reflection.

We read the story and then talked a little bit about what it means to be greedy.

After our story, we played a game called Feed the Dog. I cut 5 dog bowls out of colored paper and we took turns hiding our little dog bone. Miss M seemed more interested in the dog bowls than the bone.

Next, we got to make dog mask!

Here’s our finished mask. I tried to get Miss M to wear the mask and look for a place to bury the bone, but she wouldn’t wear it. So instead, we pretended to be doggies and hide the bone in different places.
 

Our book for today was An Extraordinary Egg.   

Fables and Folktales - The Hare and the Tortoise

Last Friday, we read the story of The Hare and the Tortoise.

I got out a little toy turtle and bunny for our Hare and Tortoise. Miss M really liked using these when telling the story.

After our story, we played a game called Finish Line. We took turns rolling the cube and moving our game pieces.  

Miss M had a lot of fun with this but every time I moved my piece or showed her to move hers, she’d move them right back to the start to their pictures on the game board. She made it into her own little game.

Next, I got out our My Little Journal and put on a slow song on the Circle Time CD. I sat down with Miss M and traced her hand on the cover. We talked about how it’s good to be kind and helpful.

We tried coloring slowly and then we turned to the back cover and tried to trace the dotted paths to the finish lines.

Miss M decided she wanted to try to trace her hand again by herself.

I got out some painter’s tape and made an oval path on the floor (well sort of an oval path lol). I grabbed a ball and tried to get Miss M to kick the ball along the path. She tried a couple times but didn’t really stay along the tape path.

She thought it was hilarious when I was showing her how to kick the ball along the oval path and sat there cracking up laughing.

Our book for today was The Little Engine That Could.   

Fables and Folktales - The Bundle of Sticks

Wednesday we learned about the story of The Bundle of Sticks.

Our first activity for the day was reading the story of The Bundle of Sticks. Just like on Monday, I read it aloud and encouraged Miss M to help act out the fable when we were prompted to.

The moral of this story is in unity is strength.

Our next activity was Counting Sticks. Mother Goose Time provided us with both a bunch of little colored sticks and some number cards that have the numeral on one side and a colored dot on the other. We took turns touching one stick at a time and counting them. Then we’d pull out a card and try to count that many sticks and put it on the card.

After a little bit, Miss M wasn’t interested in counting and wanted to just play with the sticks. As she was playing, she kept counting to ten all by herself. She’s been doing this lately and I’m so proud! Even though I don’t think she is really counting but just saying the words (if that makes sense), I’m still excited that she’s doing it :)

Our last activity for the day was making a Community Unity Chain. We sat down and talked about all the people who make us happy. We were provided with a bunch of paper strips. I set them out and we played with them for a little while making them into letters and shapes. Then we wrote Miss M’s name on one strip and all the names of our family members. Little missy was still wanting to play with the little sticks so she played with them while I put together our chain.

Here’s our finished chain.

After I put together the chain, she got excited and wanted to play with it.

Our book that we read today was called “The Little Red Hen”.