Ten Apples Up On Top!

One apple, up on top.




I must admit that I am quite impressed with them and with myself, that all of them were able to get a real apple to stay on their heads long enough for a picture.

Two was a bit more tricky, but Lilo managed to do it


and Stitch gave it a valiant effort.


After that, nobody could do three. We tried real apples, pretend apples from the kitchen area, beanbags, and peek-a-blocks. We talked about how it was hard to be still so things didn't slide off, and Lilo made the connection that her hair is "fuzzy" enough that things stayed on a little longer. She said her hair was curly and fuzzy so it wasn't as slippery as some of the other kids. She sat with Bianca and tried to talk about it, but B is a little too young to make it work yet. :) It was fun though- I like watching how they try to figure things out.

So we skipped to the next fun part of the book:

LOOK! A MOP! A MOP! A MOP!

Which I didn't actually have handy, but a broom is just as good.



And after that we all sat down to color our favorite page, in an attempt to make a book we might be able to put together. I don't think that part is going to happen, but they all had a good time.

Bianca and Stitch are VERY interested in coloring right now and always cry when I say it's time to put up the crayons.

O'Malley's "apples" up on top, and Stitch's interpretation of the story.

Luckily, I don't charge extra for the fine privilege of sharing my artistic talents with the kids. :) They could tell it was a lion and they were happy. That's all that matters. What can I say? I'm a trained English teacher. I love reading books and making connections with them. That does not, however, mean I am any good at art! Bianca's is just as good, I think!


Lilo was very pleased with hers- it actually has apples that she counted, and a person, and the beginnings of writing her name. She's ready to move on too- this is her last week with us. Then she's home for the summer and off to preschool.

Suitcase Surprise

I love the curriculum we order. Over the last few months they've revamped it and integrated a bunch of new things to make it better. My favorite is the Writer's Workshop, as a former English teacher and lover of creative writing for kids. Today we made our first class book. Our theme for April is Around the World, which I think is my favorite by far in the last 2 years I've been ordering. I love maps and geography and landmarks and I do a lot of that with the kids anyway, so it is awesome to have all this stuff to back me up.

We talked about the seven continents today. Most of the big kids already can list them, since we sing a song about them every morning. We're working on identifying them by shape and being able to list them out of order instead of only singing the song. I gave them a few facts about each one, and then their book page was to tell me a story about which continent they'd like to visit, what they would do there, and what they ought to pack in their suitcase to go. Then they illustrated their page and wrote their name on it and I'm going to bind it and keep it here for them to read.

Duchess: "I want to visit Asia so I can play in the sand and water and see all the panda bears. I want to visit J and G in China. {her friends who moved there.} Next I would go to that very chilly place to visit the penguins, oh, that is called Antarctica. In my suitcase I have a bunch of clothes and hairbrushes- two at least!"

Ariel: "I'd like to visit the penguins in Antarctica. It's cold there. The penguins like me because they like to laugh at me when I make funny faces at them. In my suitcase I have my Ariels {what she calls her barbie dolls} and then some Dora panties and then... my mommy will pack the rest for me."

Buzz: "I want to visit Grandma- she lives in Texas. I don't fly on the airplane! I ride in my car. I have a fast racecar. Then I look at toys with {my cousin}. In my suitcase I have my backpack and a little dog. I not take clothes! just toys. I will wear underwear."

Snow White: "I want to go to the Eiffel Tower SuperFast! It is in France. I going to play at the top. My mommy comes too. In my suitcase I have toys- a new bouncy bouncy ball. Red shirts and blue pants and kittycat shoes."

Sebastian was at the doctor this morning and Marie and O'Malley just colored and grinned at me. We have a marvelous book.