T and U!

For letter Tt, we read books about tigers, turtles, trees and of course, trains.

Sam and Anna's tiger handprints.

 

They made dot marker T and t.

I brought home colorful tape to make tape art.

 

We also made trains by painting paper tubes and attaching them together with paper clips.

 Sam and Anna decorated paper plates and then I put them together to make a tambourine.  They had fun shaking them after I put rice inside!

 (Sam made Thomas and Percy on red railroad tracks on his plate- can you tell?)

We practiced fine motor skills by putting toothpicks into a cheese container.

We explored painted towel tubes and made some shapes with them.

Sam and Anna practiced tracing Tts and coloring objects that begin with t.

They also sorted turtles by size: large, medium, and small.

 

Of course, we had to play with trains a lot (but that's what usually happens on a daily basis around here regardless of what letter we're on).

We had fun wearing tutus (yes, even Sam). In fact, Sam was even more happy as a clam  than Anna to be prancing around in his tutu.  It was super cute seeing them dance together, holding hands.

We ate trains for lunch (the corn is smoke from the smokestack).

We also had to visit two trains near us.  This yellow train car is within walking distance of our house.

When grandma came to visit we took her to the black steam engine Sam and Anna love to climb up on.

 
No train visit is complete without going up on the red caboose!

 

 

For letter u, we didn't do as much because I was back working long hours setting up my classroom.

 

Sam and Anna made umbrella handprints, with thumbprint raindrops.

We matched shapes on umbrellas.

And also put umbrellas in size order.

Sam and Anna traced Uus and colored U objects.

They colored umbrellas by matching the color words.

We did dot marker Uus of course.

Sam and Anna also made underwater scenes with sea animal foam stickers.

They made umbrellas with muffin wrappers, pipe cleaners and dot markers too.

 

Finally, we ate a underground snack: dirt and worms!  This was definitely a special treat for us because we almost always have a healthy snack.

Anna wasn't so sure about the dirt and worms.

 
But my sweet-toothed Sam loved it- especially the gummy worms!

 

L and M!

For letter L we read lots of books about love, books about lions and letters, as well as books about leaves and ladybugs.

Making dot marker L and l.

Lacing beads... Sam and Anna are still getting the hang of pulling the lace through the hole once it is in, but they are becoming more successful than they used to be!

Sam and Anna's lion handprints... these might just be my favorite handprint letter so far. 

We tasted limes and ate lettuce.  These lollipops left were over from the 4th of July parade.

We went to the library.

We also brought Daddy lunch at work.

Tracing Lls.

Tracing dotted lines left to right.

Coloring practice- practing identifying and matching colors as well as coloring itself.

Making ladybugs out of circles and half circles.

We went on a leaf scavenger hunt outside.  We compared size, shape and texture of the leaves we found.

Then after trying to match leaves from the same kind of plant/tree, we made a leaf collage with the ones we collected.

We did lots of general letter activities... one of the faves was hunting for magnetic letters buried in our water bead bin.

Number order, naming, and matching.

On to letter M!  We read books about monkeys, mice, the moon and monsters.

Making dot marker M and m.

Drawing with markers on our art easel.  (Using markers is rare for us... I really hate how the marker gets everywhere, how frustrated Sam and Anna get when they can't always snap the cap easily, and how awkward they are for their little hands.  Broken chubby crayons are sooo much better for encouraging a better grip for writing and drawing.)

Matching monkey shapes and practicing their names.

Tracing Mms and coloring things that start with m.

Tracing lines left to right.

After reading several books about moons, we made our own moons with shaving cream plus glue.  We talked about the texture of the moon and how it isn't smooth and flat.  Anna LOVES sensory experiences with her hands... Sam not so much.  I don't push him, but still try to provide opportunities for him to make his comfortability level larger with this kind of stuff.  He put one finger in it, and proclaimed he was done.  I had to tear Anna away.  Notice the cute dog watching in the background too. :)

(I should have written their names on the front, but Anna's is the one on the bottom)

Eating mini marshmallows using toothpicks.  We usually have much healthier snacks, and so this was the first time we had mini marshmallows ever.  I threw in a fine motor skill practice spin with the toothpick.  Sam and Anna liked capturing them on the end of the toothpick... although I'm sure our dog Bella would have wished they dropped some!

Painting with marbles- one of Sam and Anna's favorite ways to paint.

Sam and Anna's monkey handprints.

I brought out a map of Minnesota to show where we are going next weekend (where Sam is pointing).  We also found where all of our grandparents live and where we spent time at the cabin in June.

We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Playing with magnets.

We ate mushrooms and macaroni and cheese. We also made muffins together- then ate them!