D Week

          This was a very busy week for us.  Since we had so much going on (especially towards the end of the week), I just tried to squeeze as much school time in as possible and not worry about doing every single activity I had planned for the week.  For some extra fun, Brooklyn and I worked on a dollhouse (for her little people) which we made out of cardboard boxes.  Each morning during our play time together, Brooklyn would think of something new that she wanted to add to her house.  I enjoyed thinking of new ways to create the things she wanted.  By the end of the week, she had a 3 story, 6 room house complete with a closet, stairs, kitchen table, chairs, couches, bathtub, and even a sidewalk!  This was a fun (and free) project that I’m sure will provide many hours of entertainment in the future! 

 

          We had a late start to our Monday school time (since we were busy building the dollhouse).  I introduced D and our songs, poem, and verse and then we read The Mine-O-Saur – a book about a dinosaur that doesn’t like to share.  Brooklyn glued on her D and the rectangles, oval, and triangles to make her Dinosaur D, then we went back to building the dollhouse!    

          Tuesday was all about ducks.  We had fun singing “Six Little Ducks” over and over then reading The Fuzzy Little Duckling.  We used our drums (empty oatmeal containers which I ripped the label off of and then we decorated) to make different rhythms while singing and even played a little “repeat the beat” game.  We made duck footprints for our craft.  I let Brooklyn paint green grass at the bottom of a piece of paper and a blue sky at the top.  I then painted one of her feet yellow, and we stamped it twice to make 2 ducks (I later added on beaks, eyes, and feet). 

          Wednesday one of my brothers was visiting from college, and he joined us for school time.  Brooklyn loved having someone to show off for – it may her sit still, pay attention, and participate so much better than usual.  Our theme for the day was dots.  We played a math game that involved dice, a game board, and candy.  I made my own game board up by drawing 6 boxes and numbered them 1-6.  I placed an M&M in each box then told Brooklyn to roll the die.  Once she rolled it, she had to count the dots then she could eat the M&M from that number box.  If she had already eaten that M&M, she would have to roll again and try to get one of the numbers she hadn’t gotten yet.  I found a link to a cute fall themed game board here that you could print if you don’t want to make your own.  It includes numbers 1-12 (so you would have to roll 2 dice).  Brooklyn really enjoyed this game, and I was impressed that she followed directions, waited to eat the candy until she got the right number, and was able to count the tiny dots accurately.  This game not only helped her counting skills, it also worked on number recognition. 

          For our craft, we painted a picture using dots.  I printed out this picture, gave Brooklyn several q tips and some paint, and let her choose her colors for each part of the picture.  She did so good choosing the correct colors for each thing (except she kept saying the sun is white, but finally decided to use yellow since we didn’t have any white paint). 

          On Thursday we went out with my brother and his girlfriend so we skipped school time.  Later in the day, we did spend some time dancing together and playing Follow the Leader with dance moves.  We had such a good time spinning, jumping, twirling, and giggling together!!

          On Friday, Brooklyn’s friend Ally came over to play and joined us for school time.  We read about David as a shepherd boy and talked about how he took care of the sheep and played songs to God with his harp.  I printed a couple of pictures of David that Brooklyn and Ally colored, and then they glued cotton onto the sheep.  I cut a harp shape out of cardboard and added rubber bands to make a harp that Brooklyn enjoyed playing to make beautiful music for God too! 

          At the beginning of the week, we made up a little song to go with our verse.  The lyrics are: “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.  For God is with you wherever you may go.  Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.”  Brooklyn absolutely loved this song and made me sing it many many times throughout the week.  She quickly learned it herself, and I loved hearing her sing it.  We talked about how God is with us even when we might feel alone and scared sometimes.  I’m glad that even during the busy weeks, we are still able to make at least a little time for learning.  It was fun having people join us for school a couple of days this week, and it’s nice having a day off sometimes too.      

          For details and instructions on these crafts and activities, please click to see my lesson plans.  If you have more ideas for the letter D, please comment and share - I would love to hear them!!