Ask Mr. Bear

Today we started week 2 of school and we read "Ask Mr. Bear" by Marjorie Flack. We also read a few books about bears as well. This is such a simple and sweet book about a boy looking for a perfect gift for his mother for her birthday. I thought it would be perfect since Isabel's birthday is in 2 weeks. I really like how the book focuses on gifts that one can give that don't have to be bought.

We first played a homemade version of "Blue's Clues" to find what Mommy wanted to drink (milk) which I will hopefully touch more on later this week. Then A colored the animal and product cards from this page at Homeschool Share. I really had to help her with the matching and explain how a sheep could give a blanket, etc. We also practiced some of the animal gaits in the book and made cupcake birthday cards for Isabel:

It really turned out cute, and I just punched holes for the sprinkles. A is on a HUGE cupcake kick these days. And now for our new trays this week...

Animal Mommy and Babies Puzzle:

This was the only activity she completed more than once! She loved it. I think it was 25 cents at the thrift store.

Marble Spooning:
The spooning part was easy enough, but placing it in the holes of the anti-slip butterfly was more difficult. I let her do it by hand instead to complete the task. I will set up a better marble spooning activity in the future I think.

Tonging Pom-Poms:

I finally found some tiny tongs at a kitchen store! Pom-poms are really easy to tong too. She sorted the pom-poms with the tongs into the proper colored bowls. It wasn't too easy but not difficult either.

Stringing Beads Snake:

I picked this Ryan's Room snake up at the thrift store for $1. The needle is broken so I had to duct tape it... a little ghetto but really fun! She spent a long time making this snake "just so".

Tan Gram Puzzle:

This is a little Melissa and Doug shape puzzle that has been sitting on her toy and puzzle shelf since Christmas and she has never played with it more than a couple times. I decided to break it down into one puzzle and all the pieces for that one puzzle. She concentrated really hard, and actually did it.

So that was our day. We usually do our Montessori trays during I's nap because otherwise I is in the middle of everything, and frustrates A, ruining any hope of concentration. I also purchased the little basket-trays at Walmart for $1 for 2 I think. I like the high sides because they contain things well for small hands and I also like that they are so uniform. Happy Monday!