ABC Bunny

I have to admit-when we started rowing ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag I had a moment of panic.  William had finished his ABC book up a few weeks ago so I was unsure of what activities we were going to do with this book.  I mean, really, he knows his ABCs and the sounds they make. However when I tried putting a consonant with a vowel together (ie. ba, be, bi, bo, bu) he simply got too frustrated.  So I got as creative as one can get in hot, humid (yes, humid!) weather and pulled together a fun week of activities for this book.

I had high hopes for these foam letters...you know, using them as stamps with paint, tracing, you name it.  However in the end, they were used the old fashioned way - in the tub!  And what fun they had (and are still having!) with them.  Not only did the kids pick out familiar letters and "post" them on the tub wall, but William did a pretty good job of putting all the letters in order, lined around the entire tub. 

Abby, I must say, made a delicious alphabet "soup" with hers! 

A few weeks ago, when I was getting ready to start "rowing", I made some foam letter pieces.  It took a bit of practice for him to understand the point of them, and to understand that due to the fact that they are, indeed, foam, the letters will not look perfect.  He did eventually catch on, and made an "i" and and "E".

And of course we had to play our alphabet bingo game...many times!  The cards also served as a memory aid in making the foam letters.  I have a train letter banner across the entire back wall of our school room, but due to the fact that there is not yet a table in there we do most of our work on the glass table in the dining room.  (Any good suggestions on a kids table?  Something that would grow with the kids?)

This alphabet bead board I picked up at Michael's a bit ago.  I haven't gotten it out because the beads are small, and I didn't want to frustrate him with them.  Well, he has been wanting to test it out, and this was the perfect week for that.  He had a lot of fun making the letters out of the beads, and Abby got to use the jumbo beads on her board...all by herself!  No sharing involved!

I love the concentrated look on his face!

Here is Abby with her beads.  I post this picture mainly to show her red face.  She came down with this strange rash on July 4, and has had it almost a week now.  No fever, well, nothing above 99ish, and now it is spreading to her arms and trunk.  I have a good idea of what it is, but am not sure.  (Update: A quick visit to the doctor confirmed Fifth Disease, a highly contagious virus that causes the victim's face to appear slapped.)

This week I incorporated a suggested read-along - Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells.  It was such a fun book!  Max, one of the bunnies in the book, wants to decorate his worm cake with red-hot marshmallow squirters.  However, since he can't spell "red-hot marshmallow squirters" on the shopping list he has a hard time obtaining them from the grocer.  (William wanted to know why he just didn't ask for them!  HA!  So much for my emphasis on learning to read and write words!)

After doing some Do-A-Dot letters I gave the kids free reign to the markers, paint, and crayons, to draw whatever they wanted.  William promptly drew a picture of "Daddy the Ghost".  I was so impressed of his drawing AND title that I had to take a picture of it.  (I probably won't save the original, so a picture was in order!)

We did an alphabet matching game, where he had to match various words in the book with his alphabet grid.  I read the book slowly, and as he heard the sounds of various letters he pasted them on the grid.

Another time during the reading of the book I had him find the magnetic letter that corresponded to the letter in the book.  He thought placing the letters on a cookie sheet was very cool!  (And don't you just love the forced smile!)

This was the first time I have tried cutting with him.  I mean, he's used the scissors before and all, but never to cut with a purpose.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did with this!

Abby never wants to do anything else but what William is doing, so the other day I picked up another pair of kid scissors (in pink, of course, as that is her current fav!).

I'm not sure what she is doing here, other than using up all our glue.  Yes, we go through tons over here!  (The red all over her body is still there...just now it's all over her arms and chest.)

I printed out another abc game, this time on a palm tree.  I read the book and he found the letters on the tree as I came to them. 

 He worked in his Kumon book, tracing various paths.  He started this book several months ago, and because he just didn't seem to hold the pencil correctly, I put it away for awhile.  In just those few months he's holding his pencil much better and doesn't get frustrated with these workbook activities.

Abby worked on shape matching.  Since the last shuttle launching was that morning, I thought it appropriate to work on a shuttle!

William is getting much better at patterns.  I've found that I need to stick to all of one shape if I'm looking for him to do a color pattern!

Lest you think it's all work and no play over here, rest assured that we are outside every, single day playing and eating snacks!  It's the highlight of our day...even if it is pushing 100 degrees.  

Up next week : The Red Carpet.  I wasn't able to order this book with all the rest of the books because it's out of print.  I was able to get a copy of it at the library, and since it's in now, that is what I'm planning on doing.  I think it's going to be a fun week!