Tot School

Letter I

Lydia Joy ~ 2 years 5 months

We did some fun stuff for letter I this week.

First was I for Igloo.  We made an igloo out of mini marshmallows.   I did the glue and Lydia stacked the 'bricks'.  For some reason she was really really excited that the igloo had a door.  We watched a few videos on youtube about building igloos after we made our own so that she could understand what they really are.  I didn't realize how neat igloos really are!  Apparently they can be made very quickly (30-45 minutes) and as they stand they get stronger, due to the snow melting together and the bricks bonding with each other.  I also learned that the igloo is the only structure with an arch that can be built from the ground up with no other supports as it is being built.   I love it when I learn things in school!  I think that will be one of the most fun things as we continue on our home school journey- learning along with the kids!  

So, here is our igloo:  

The next day we did I for ice cream!  Yeah, you know I couldn't pass that up!  I was planning to just buy ice cream but then I found a great idea online about how to make ice cream using ziploc bags.  We gave it a try and it came out wonderful!!  We made vanilla. Next time I think I'm going to try chocolate.

We put ice and salt in a gallon bag then put milk, sugar and vanilla in a quart bag. Put the quart bag into the gallon bag, seal and shake.  Lydia helped with the shaking part.

It was cool.  Literally. :) 

We waiting to do this activity when Daddy was home so that he could enjoy this school lesson with us. We even at our ice cream BEFORE supper!!  It was a very special event. :) 

Lydia is getting much better at tracing her letters. If she is in the mood to really try she can trace very well but that doesn't actually happen very often.  This day she was concentrating and doing a good job:

We did I for insect the next morning.  I printed off these flashcards for counting because they had insects on them. She is getting pretty good at counting objects, up to 12, but often ends up counting the same one a few times and skipping others (the really strange thing is that she often comes up with the correct total number that way....hmmm?). I thought it would be good to use a marker to make a dot on each bug as we counted them so that she knew which ones had been counted and which ones hadn't.  But, she didn't grasp that concept and ended up playing 'connect the dots' with the bugs.  That was ok too. :) 

And in non-tot school related things....

On Saturday evening we went bowling with some friends, Jon and Kathryn.  Lydia had been a few times before but not at an age that she could understand what we were doing.  She had fun rolling the ball down the lane (with help) and even got two spares! 

And another very notable event of the week....Anna started crawling.   She does this strange, one foot and one knee crawl, but she definitely gets where she wants to go!  I've been trying desperately to get a video of it but she will not do it when I have the camera out!!  I'll keep trying.  :)