June's theme from
Mother Goose Time is about homes. It's called Alphabet house. So while reinforcing the alphabet through activities, we are also talking about homes.
We talked about our home and what makes it special to us. Mr Z said, "I love our house because it's so fun." Mr A said, "I like our house because it's just the right size." ... such great answers. hehe.
I tried to get the boys to understand that different families have different needs and wants and things that make their home special. Its always a trick to get the boys to be empathetic or to put themselves in someone else's shoes. I tried to get them to know that what we think is amazing in a home, other people do not. Mr A is a bit more sensitive to others and was able to get it. Mr Z on the other hand is a bit more hard-headed.
After talking about our home and what makes up a house, the boys headed outside for some free play time. They were playing nicely together, with no arguing. Every parent knows that you don't interupt happy playing between boys! So, I left them be. I was grateful for their cooperative playtime since this was a day was full of extra fights and yelling most of the time.
Mr A ran to find me after awhile and wanted me to see what they had done. He showed me this... a Fairy House.
They made an entrance in the fortress walls. Several hideouts, caves or homes were sprinkled around and lots of flower clippings were added.
Since attitudes seemed to simmer down after making the fairy house, we were able to get a few more things done. We tackled the Invitation to Create... painting a house.
Mr Z mixed all of his paint colors together to make one color.. for the most part. He was intrigued that as he mixed the paint, all of the colors seemed to lightly show through the brown color.
Mr A had more detail... a door and a window.
Little Miss painted slightly on the paper house cutout and ended up covering her body instead. She is my little artist that loves exploring different art mediums.
While the houses dried, and after Little Miss had a bath, we focused on the letter Aa for a bit. The boys practiced upper and lower case on the white board while Little Miss scribbled and erased.
I also wrote down words that had the \a\ sound in them. Mr Z made sure that I underlined the \a\ in every word. Mr Z copied a few of them too. I am rather impressed with him lately. He has been trying to copy letters because he wants to and has also been taking more time in his drawing and adding more detail than he has in the past.
Since Mr A is doing well with his reading, he was quick to think of words that started with an A or had an A in them.
And here is how the houses turned out with the inspiration photo. We loved these colorful houses in the photo.
I've never had a use for these MGT art notes since I only have my kids. They are meant to explain the art project of the day if this is done in a daycare type setting. I do like the concept of a simple note to help reinforce the child's day after they get home. It is a great way to connect with each other.
