Winter in the Woods - Deer & Hedgehogs

So far we have done some fun things with the first 2 days of curriculum.  On day 1 we started by learning about deer.  We first made Reindeer Headbands, which were pretty cute.  We are learning about the color white and red this month.  My kids get mixed up between white and black.  So I have been pointing out a lot of white things through out the last few days.  Now today, it snowed!  It doesn't snow very often in the NW, so this is a special treat.  But it sure does make white, easy to point out.

Mother Goose Time posted an idea from one of their subscribers on their Facebook page.  The idea was to write the children's names with a highlighter on the name tags.  Then laminate them and give them a dry erase marker to trace their names.  Leave them out through out the month along with an eraser to write and erase, write and erase.  Great practice.  I loved the idea and got straight to work making them for my kids, and since I had a few extra, I made some for other kids I know as a Christmas present.

So for lunch on this day I gave each of the children a chance to write their names.  Lucy and Lachlan have both done this successfully before.  Peter has just started to follow the lines on the practice sheets.  But this was one of the first times I can think of, that he focused and wrote his name.  I am so proud of him.

I love to see the determination in his eyes.

I am now 28 weeks pregnant.  It seems the nesting part of pregnancy has kicked in.  I think it's been about 3 years since I have rearranged the house (when I was pregnant with Peter). I am trying to figure out how I can format my house to allow the big boys to still play with their big boy toys with out posing a risk to the new little one who may want to eat the small parts to their toys.  They have just recently started playing with Legos and Playmobil.  So I moved the small table to the front bedroom to play with these small items on and I was finally able to figure out a way to bring out our school desk.  I now have all of our school displays in one area, near the dining room table, which seems to be the other popular place for school to take place.  The desk tucked nicely in the corner.  I can easily block the dining room off if I need to keep little hands away from our projects.  So I am super excited with my nesting results!

On Day 2, we started learning all about hedgehogs.  At breakfast I worked on the Pokey Surprise lesson.  I actually skipped the first part and went right to the hedgehog story.  Mother Goose Time provided us with a sheet of paper that said My Hedgehog Story on it.  I first told them a little bit about a hedgehog and described their spikes on their back. Then I asked them each to tell me a story about a hedgehog.  Here are their stories.

I have to say, if you have never asked your child to tell you a story, I highly recommend it!  Oh, and write it down.  I love these little glimpses into the clockwork in their mind.

This morning as we sat down for breakfast, they all asked to tell another story.  Today's topic is bears, so I asked them to tell me a story about a bear.  I wasn't prepared with a pen and paper so I didn't get them written down.  But they were great stories!

After breakfast we hopped down and I put the Theme poster as well as the look and find glasses on the little desk.  I had Lachlan sit and start the search.  Peter and Lucy gathered around as well.

What a cute little school corner we have!  I am so excited for more pictures like this.

On the back of the hedgehog Look and Find Glass it asked if they could roll like a hedgehog.  This is Lachlan's hedgehog impression.