Week 5 - Creation Day 5

After a two-week surgery break (not two weeks of surgery, just surgery and recovery), we are getting back into the swing of things again.  I had had all these grand plans of getting to do things with Isaiah in the hospital like read books and learn songs and all manner of fun.  The poor little guy however could barely muster a "No" whenever I offered him all my wonderful ideas.

So I let it slide.  We cranked it up this week, and there's a double meaning in that, unfortunately.

For the full lesson plan and other great ideas, visit ABC Jesus Loves Me.

This week's goals:

Bible Story:  Creation Day 5

Bible Verse:  I Thessalonians 2:13

Books:  Five Little Speckled Frogs

Color:  Red, Blue

Letters: H-K

Number: 1-2

Shapes:  Line

Information:  First Name and last name

Self-Care and Manners:  Use a fork and spoon

Fine Motor Skill:  Tear Paper

Gross Motor Skill:  Throw a bean bag into a circle

What we accomplished:

Creation Day 5 - God Made the Birds and the Fish

We continued to read the "Very Good Beginning" section from our copy of The Big Picture Story Bible. Isaiah can now tell me what God created on each day, including Day 5!  He can also complete some of the sentences of the story as I read, and he knows the name of the first man and woman created by God!  This is HUGE!  I am so excited that he is able to retain this information!

We did two crafts for Day 5:  

Getting the proper hold on his scissors is trickier than it looks!

We (and yes, I mean WE!) cut out two fish together!  Isaiah then half-heartedly colored a few random lines on both of the fish.  Rather than stapling the fish and stuffing with paper towel as suggested, I taped them up 3/4 of the way, and followed Isaiah's lead as he began tearing the scraps of paper left over from our cutting.  We then stuffed the fish with the scraps of paper as the fish said, "More paper, please!" in a very fishy kind of voice.  He also asked Isaiah what Isaiah's last name is, as well as the last name of all the members of the family.  Yeah, we love multi-tasking, and apparently Isaiah enjoys talking to a fish.

That was one hungry fish!

The crankiness occurred when we attempted our second Day 5 craft.  Isaiah enjoyed glueing the "water" to our paper, but he was "ALL DONE!" when it came time for finger painting the fish and the birds in the appropriate places.

I Thessalonians 2:13

"Give thanks to God."  (to the tune of It's Raining, from the curriculum)  We sang this over and over and over and over again, and this time "we" means "mama" while Isaiah kept saying "Again! Again! Again!"

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Didn't make it to the library, but I do know a song along the same lines, so we sang "Five Fat Freckled Frogs" instead.  Perhaps not as politically correct, but lots of fun!  As we sang the song, we pulled the frogs off the log and made them jump into the water.  And now we have laminated frogs that we can use again and again!

First and Last Name

See the story about the fish. :)  Isaiah definitely knows his last name now!

Using a Fork and Spoon

Isaiah loves to play with spoons, pretending that he's making cakes in a bowl.  We have been working on his utensil skills for, oh, 3 years or so.  This week we actually began to see significant improvement!   He intentionally tried to stick his food with his fork by himself.  He has been able to eat with a fork, if the food was already there, so this is great improvement.  I think little sister is inspiring him as he sees her try these skills, too.  It's always good to have a partner in crime.

Tear Paper

Again, see the fish story.  Isaiah LOVES to tear paper.  He sees Daddy shredding things the old fashioned way and his eyes light up as he scoots himself closer and closer.  Keep strengthening those hands, buddy!

Isaiah never gets cranky when asked to tear paper.

While we didn't work specifically on letters, numbers, colors or lines, there was lots of unstructured learning going on in that area throughout every day.  We worked on circles while waiting for the doctor one day:  Nadia and I twirled around while Isaiah twirled around in his wheelchair; he was pretty amazing! We are constantly counting things and naming colors.  I want to be more intentional about letters next week.

If you'd like to see more ways to use the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum for 2-4 year olds, visit ABC Jesus Loves Me or Our Out-Of-Sync Life where the developer of the curriculum has a blog roll of people who use the curriculum regularly.  Thanks, Heidi!