Week 2 in Review

It's been busy again - exhausting in parts and bitty in others, but overall I am pleased with what we are achieving. I find we are all running out of impetus by Thursday and tbh today has not been as good as I had it in my head to be, with only about half the work being completed, but it still felt like a reasonably good day all the same.

The pictures tell the story in a much less boring way than all my words, so enjoy - and I'll add tit-bits here and there :D

MONDAY

Art - painting the bas-relief creations from last week

even for Stitch !

Typing - (everyone does this at some point in the week)

Maths - all at different levels, but Lilo's is most photo-worthy :D

Minnie is doing English is this shot too.

Nature study - this is the view from the school room window and provides many moments of Tot-School conversations about cows and birds :D

Creative Play (Playdoh) - for all the smalls (what school would be complete without the stuff - and ours is all brand spanking new this week - first new stuff we've had in years!!). Here they are all making in Monsters :D

here's Lilo's;

(which of course then led to some pretend play for a little while :D)

TUESDAY.

Craft - Lilo chose to make this little keyring, from a kit she earned at conference this year that had been waiting for the right moment :D With only a little help, she did a great job

Sports / team play - of a sort!!

DT - bridge building (DD was doing this too, but missed the photo)

PE - the walk to Drama takes about 20 minutes :D -

currently the highlight of the week for the middle four.

followed up with races in the park...

and Lilo FINALLY learning how to swing herself -

and then not knowing how to stop again (lol)!

some more nature study/photography (for me this time) -

there seems to be lots of these about atm.

and then for them as we discussed the changing seasons on the way home.

and looked at seeds...

...and berries.

WEDNESDAY

Group play & DT- the day got off to a pretty late start due to some elaborate games with this track that Bugs was sent to 'quickly' build to keep DD & Stitch happy! In the end everyone played for quite some time!!

Craft/DT- Later on Taz spent too much time making this, but I was impressed with his patience and effort, so I left him too it - plenty of hours in his life to do boring school work, not so many to play with Airfix model kits!! :D He took the photo too - so he could use just a little more time!

Problem solving/Thinking skills - DD got busy with his Tweenie puzzles, loved doing them and didn't argue with me that they were "too hard!" - he just did them - so that's progress! Look how pleased he was with himself - he even asked me to take a picture of him with them all done :D

Lilo was on the floor doing her alphabet initial-sounds-match frieze activity, with the 'help' of Stitch!

We did do other 'stuff' on Wednesday too, I just didn't take pictures! When Paul came home DD & Stitch disappeared into the kitchen with him and I think he let them 'help' cook tea - which was taco's, chile and salad - yum!

THURSDAY.

Maths - I gave these home-made pattern strips to Lilo together with some wooden blocks...

.... she understood it no trouble :D

Lilo is a very visual person and it was no surprise to me that she easily converted 2D to 3D and understood the patterning. Looks like I need to think of some more of these - she really enjoyed them. Next thing is to get her to show DD how they work :D

Another of the major achievements I sadly have not photographed this week, is that Lilo learnt to write her full length christian name completely independently - quite an achievement seeing as this time last year she only knew her shortened name and didn't believe her full one actually was her name! Next target is to get her to write all her names - she often doesn't even remember what her middle name is most of the time!!

DD too has been working hard on his name and is beginning to understand pencil grip and letter direction already. He is doing really well with it and I reckon might manage it solo (i.e. not traced) in about another week or so :D Currently he is writing on a sheet of laminate over a lined dry-wipe board on which I have written his name. I give him a 'blob' on each letter from which he knows he has to start and then verbally tell him which way to go ; "around, up, down to the line and flick - that's 'a' ", "start at the top, on the blob, go all the way down to the line, then back up a little, JUST to the dotty line, around and close - good - that's 'b' " - etc... This verbal method is the way I have taught them all to write and they all have very legible handwriting - so far :D The closed laminate tracing is a new idea and it seems to be working well atm. DD is the first child I have had to come out of playgroup still unable to write his name though. It's not that he doesn't have the pencil control, or that he's not bright, I just think everyone's focus has been more on getting him talking clearly than on reading & writing - still is really, but I think he will be so proud when he can write his own name! :D

On the reading front with Lilo I have put her back to the start with Headsprout ( I remember I had to do that for TweetiePie too) as she just was not remembering anything, but meanwhile I have shown her the Starfall 'learn to read' program - and printed out the worksheets - and it is really working for her!! She is getting it AND she is enjoying it. So, I'll go with her flow while it's fun and see where we end up :D I think it will suddenly click (I think I can already see the penny beginning to drop) and she will fly - she's that kind of kid. And when she has it sorted, I will be redundant - she will read and read and read and I will never be able to get her to come and do anything else! She will loose herself so completely in her stories that all else will be a nuisance to her - I can see it coming because that's how she is already, only the stories at the moment come from a conglomerate of sources; her head, things we've read and things she watches. When it's books they will take over her world - I just feel it in my bones!! :D

Other activities have played a role in our week - like Ed City and Moshi Monsters (which I highly recommend as an educational tool!), reading, writing - all the normal, boring stuff. Even when the children play trains for large portions of the day I still feel like we are achieving more than ever before! Bugs is learning a Shakespear sonnet (wow) to recite to the 'class' next week, we have done astronomy, Taz & Bugs played Jenga this morning too, which then morphed into an elaborate game of armies at DD's choosing and lasted some time (missed getting a shot of that one though); there's photography happening here, there and everywhere and Bugs' photo-blog is beginning to look significantly less neglected :D. They are playing together with the littler ones much better than they used to too, probably due to it being an expectation that they do so at various points in each day - to get down to a younger level and play whatever that child wishes is a challenge that it so good for them all, but especially Taz.

Other things of note this week: Minnie and Tweetie-Pie both passed to the next level in swimming - AT LAST! - and Tweetie also found out she did well and got a B for her Primary Ballet exam. I think the examiner might have been quite hard this time though, as none of the class got an A, which is quite unusual at this level, and Tweetie got a lower mark than when Minnie did the same exam, although I know she is much more graceful and co-ordinated than Minnie was at that time.

That's about it for now I think..!