Learning Together at Travelers' Academy: Tot School--B Week II

Isaiah is 49 months old

B is for...

Body

We have already worked on the letter B several times, so I was trying to do something new with Isaiah this week. We focused on his body. I drew an outline of his body with the hopes of him drawing in some of the parts. He did great while I was outlining him! When I showed him the outline, though, he kind of freaked out. It was a little weird, but we pressed on.

Isaiah's drawing currently consists of practicing vertical and horizontal lines and circles; so for his drawing I tried to keep things simple for him to give him as much success as possible. I think he did great! He did the most work on the head, where apparently he has one long sideburn on his left side. And I suppose he drew the face as his "funny face" because that's how he wanted to pose with the picture.

The body activity took most of our time with a lot of hand-over-hand help from mama in holding the marker or the crayon. He did the movements himself, but he seems to be having a hard time holding on to things, perhaps because he doesn't always really want to be doing what we're doing.

Board

Thomas and I were excited to finally get Isaiah a new chalk/white/drawing board. Now that he can stand so well, he needed something to stand by! This has really helped him with balance, too, I think. While he draws he can't hold on to the walker as much, forcing him to have increased balance control. We had wanted to get this for him for his birthday, but needed to finish saving up some first--you know how it is!

Books and Bears

We of course read books, focusing on the letter B. I Love You, Daddy; I Love You, Mommy (both about bears) and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter. The Potter books tend to be a little long for Isaiah for some reason, but he seems to be tolerating them better.

Building with Blocks

We worked on color recognition and hand coordination with lego blocks. Together we built a few towers. After some fussing, of course; but that quickly turned to fun.

Balancing

He enjoyed moving his toys from one box to another while sitting on his little toy car--this was great upper body balancing practice!

Beating

In the kitchen he enjoyed helping me tenderize some chicken by beating it with the meat mallet. He then continued to want to beat everything he could with the mallet, so I let him. Again, he needs some increased hand control.

Boys

We looked through magazines for pictures of boys. Isaiah is also beginning to answer the question What are you? with I'm a boy.

Not related to the letter B, but still very exciting, Isaiah identified two letters and their sounds completely on his own this week! I've mentioned before that we really like Letter Factory by LeapFrog. This week Isaiah identified L and S, and I think largely in part to watching that video! Woohoo!

Bible

Isaiah loves to read his Bible! I think it's pretty amazing that he can identify a Bible from any other book, even if it's hardback and not the typical looking Bible. Often if I haven't finished my Bible reading before Isaiah gets up, he will sit with me while I read, and this is one of his favorite spots and things to do during that time.