The Toy Box Years: Tot School

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

(Nudgie is 38 months old) (To see what others are doing at Tot School, click on the "Tot School" above!) **************************************

This week we focused on the letter "A" and apples. My camera was acting up a lot this week, so I don't have too many pictures! (Boo!)

We started off the week again with basic letter recognition. I was recently sent a DVD of Alphabet Songs from Have Fun Teaching.

I started off our lesson by putting on the Alphabet Song and then following it up with the Letter A song. Nudgie LOVED them and kept asking for them over and over. I think this will be a great way to start off our lessons now!

We then read "Chica Chica Boom Boom" and put our letter "A" on the coconut tree.

I gave her some large letter "A" pages and then had her stamp the letter A as well as glue letter A's all over. (This is when the camera decided to act up!)

We practiced our prewriting skills too. Nudgie is really loving this activity and is always asking for more. I found some great preschool workbooks at the Goodwill and ARC stores and have been using the prewriting exercises from those too.

We did more name recognition activities and I also added the word "apple" and had her find the letters in the craft gravel box.

We read lots of books this week, but a few of our favorites were "A Plump and Perky Turkey", "Disney's Sweet and Spooky Halloween", and "A - See It, Say It, Hear It".

We're also keeping track of our reading on our fall leaf tree. Nudgie has the yellow leaves and Nani has the red leaves.

We scooped:

We made a leaf book:

We finished up our letter A week with:

An apple shape match game

Our bible verse - "Keep me as the apple of Your eye"

"A is for Apple" Do-A-Dot

You can find the apple prewriting pages and the bible verse here at 1+1+1=1.

You can find the apple shape match here at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

You can find the "A is for Apple" do a dot here at Developing a Heart for Home.

Hope everyone has a great week!

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Linking up with: No Time for Flashcards - Link and Learn

The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom

5 comments:

MaryAnne October 16, 2011 at 11:16 AM: Wow, you had a busy week! What a fun selection of letter "A" activities!
Beth (www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com) October 19, 2011 at 4:53 AM: We are putting letters on the coconut tree too =-) Love all your ideas here! Thanks for sharing!

I am starting a Linky Party if you want to link up at http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-ever-linky-party.html
Deb Chitwood October 19, 2011 at 1:42 PM: It looks like you had a great week! I love your idea of searching for letters in the gravel box! Thanks so much for linking up with Montessori Monday! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow
meg @ Raising Genius Fish October 20, 2011 at 2:36 PM: Cute ideas!
Aimee October 21, 2011 at 11:26 AM: Great ideas and suggestions in this post! Thank you for linking up to the The Sunday Showcase