Three. Two. Three.

Today in Math, Babe reviewed the number 9. Then she did her worksheets. Then Math was over.

We went right into Reading Comprehension, where I read her "Shoes from Grandpa" by Mem Fox. We both really liked that book, and Babe recalled each detail really well, from the order in which the man character received clothes, AND who gave her the clothes. When we were done, I turned it into an English lesson and had her practice more with singular and plural nouns.

We went through the story again and I had her write down each noun in the sentences. Then I told her we were going to either make them singular or plural, the opposite of what they were. Again, she was very good at this. The only one I did myself was "scarf." I showed her how it's supposed to be changed, and then wrote it myself. I think this is still a good idea - having me write it, because out of the blue yesterday, she told me that she remembered that the plural of mouse is mice, not mouses. How cool.

After Math and Reading, we did a physical activity that I think both Babe and Bubs would have done all day. I put dried oats in one bowl and dry rice in another and put each on two corners of the dining room table. Opposite of each bowl, I put an empty bowl. Then I gave each one a plastic spoon and told them to spoon out their ingredients, walk the length of the table, and empty their spoon into the other bowl. I told them it wasn't a race so there was no need to run. They both loved this activity so much, they asked to do it again, then they wanted to switch sides! Since it wasn't a race, they were encouraging each other. It was really cute.

After this activity, we were done for the morning.

After lunch and naps, we did Babe's Science lesson on conserving energy. We talked about leaving the lights and the TVs on when we leave the room, leaving the water on while brushing our teeth, leaving the doors wide open when the air is on, and how each of those things are a waste of energy. We discussed how saving energy is good for the planet and causes less pollution, which helps us all breathe better.

When she was done with her worksheets, I had Babe make and design signs for the light switches in the three most common rooms she visits - her bedroom, the bathroom, and the spare bedroom. The signs were to be big and to catch her attention so as she passes them, she can remember to turn the lights off! They turned out really cute.

And with the end of Science came the end of the day. We headed outside to enjoy the cooler weather and to play soccer for the next hour!

2nd Month, 17th Day

Today I did things a little bit differently and started the day off with Reading Comprehension. I knew the story for today was very cute and I wanted Bubs and Z in on it, so while they were freshly woken up and energized, I gathered everyone on the couch and read "How the Birds Got Their Colors".

When I introduced the wolf in the story, Babe immediately thought he was going to be the "bad guy", but when I continued reading, she was shocked that he was actually the good guy. Even Bubs understood the jyst.

"The wolf was nice! The raccoon was meeeeeeean."

After I read the story, I had them all sit at the table while Babe handed each of them bright colored crayons (since the birds in the story were colored brightly by the wolf). I thought this was the perfect opportunity to incorporate our color discussion from last week about bright, dull, dark, etc. Babe did a fantastic job and she couldn't believe how many bright colors there were! When they all had their crayons, I handed them a sheet with three birds for them to color.

I did not get a picture of Babe's. After I tied string at the top, she wanted to hang it from her fan immediately, and by the time the end of the day hit, I completely forgot about getting a picture.

After everyone was happy with the way their birds looked, Bubs and Z went to play and I had Babe start a chart and list some of the characters in the story. She was pretty upset when I wouldn't let her add "wolf" to the chart, but I told her I would explain why when we were done with the lesson. She added five characters, and so I asked her what we had to do to make each word mean more than one.

"I just write 'raccoon' two times."

Um. Genius. But obviously that's not what I was going for.

"If we were talking about one raccoon, we say 'the raccoon', but if we were talking a bunch of them we say, 'those...'"

"Raccoonsssss!"

"Yes! What do we add to each word to make it mean more than one?"

"An 's'!"

Yep. Incredibe.

So she completed her chart, adding an 's' to each word to make it mean more than one. When she was done, I wrote "wolf" under her words and asked her to make it mean more than one. Obviously she added an 's'. Then I showed her how to really do it and when I told her she had to change the 'f' to a 'v' and add an 'es', her face was contorted.

"Thanks for making me wait before I really did that on my work. Will I learn that when I'm 7?"

So cute.

With Reading Comp. done, we jumped into Math before lunch. I had her put the number cards in order again...

"You know this is really easy for me, right? Like, really easy."

So I had her do the numbers backwards. Didn't help much, but it got her mind thinking a different way. Then I handed her some Halloween manipulatives I got at the Dollar Tree. I had her put the same number of bugs on the corresponding cards.

She loved the bugs. Bubs did too! I was actually able to get her to do this same activity today! Awesome.

After we played with the bugs, she showed me that she remembered how to spell 'zero', then I handed her the same manuscript sheet from yesterday so she could add 'one' and '1'.

After her worksheets, Math was done.

We still had plenty of time before lunch, so I gave her another book to add to her reading log. The book, "Five Little Pumpkins", is also a song she loves, but I told her she could add it to her log only if she read it as a book, and read it slowly, and read every word. She agreed.

She caught herself a couple of times because a lyric or two was different from her song, but she read it with ease and added it with pride. She has already read more books this month than she did last month! Amazing. I love it.

And with that, Kindergarten was done for the day. Before lunch!