This is another one of our favorite books. I can't help myself with ABC Books. When I see one, I usually like to check it out. They are all pretty much the same and re-use the same words for certain letters like"Q" and "X." So, when I saw this book, "G is for One Gzonk - an Alpha-number-bet Book" by Tony DiTerlizzi I knew we had to have it.
If you know my Kidamerink, then you know he has a very silly sense of humor. He LOVES to make up words and say things that sound very silly to him, so this book was right up his Alley. We have read it a bazillion times now and it still doesn't get old.
Check it out and have some fun getting to know what the "Krigglebink" is and the "Fly-Swatting Footzey-Foo." The "Xirzle" is a favorite along with the "Pink Peepee-Weepkins who sleeps soundly on the Loo..."
It's a twisted take on the Alphabet with great illustrations that will push your little Kidamerink's imagination even more!
These books have become our Favorites! Rhyming is so important when preparing your future reader for success. We play a rhyming game in the car all of the time. My Kidamerink loves it. We take turns picking a word and then finding rhymes to go with it until we can't think of any more.
Since reading these books, my Kidamerink thinks it is funny to play the roll of "Bob." He doesn't usually continue the rhyme in this book. He thinks he's pretty hilarious when he plays "Bob." It's fun. I think it is just as important to recognize a word that doesn't belong with the rhyme set. So it's ok to play "Bob!"
I'm glad to see that I'm getting some traffic, although I haven't posted in a while...
About that...
You see... I suffer from this syndrome called "The All-or-Nothing Syndrome."
It's not a real syndrome (I don't think anyways) but that is what I have decided to call it.
I get obsessed with something and that is ALL that I do for a while, then it becomes too much and instead of just scaling back, I just quit and don't do anything at all.
For instance, for Christmas this year I decided to TEACH myself how to crochet and then proceeded to crochet 14 (not just one) hats for people for Christmas, during the month of December. Why couldn't I just make one? Because of this syndrome... :)
And... I probably will never crochet again in my life.
I think I set unrealistic goals and then get overwhelmed and then I just stop completely and never touch it again.
That is sort of what happened to this blog.
You see, it takes a lot of time to blog. We have NOT stopped doing Kidamerinks... I just haven't felt like taking pictures of every little thing we do and editing them and coming up with something new to share every day here on this blog. I felt like the pressures of this blog was taking away the time I needed to spend with my Kidamerink and Instead of just posting when I could, I decided to not do anything. At ALL!!
I. got. too. overwhelmed.
I have files on my computer from before Halloween that I need to "catch" up on, but that would take forever. So, I'm going to start fresh. And, I'm going to post only when I can and when time allows. And, I'm not going to put unrealistic demands and schedules out there...
When I first started this blog, I had a plan to post something EVERY day.
Ummm... yeah.
Not realistic.
Sometimes I like to think that I am Superwoman... but I'm not!!
Hence, "the All or Nothing Syndrome!"
So there. That's my explanation.
We've had some great learning going on and some great things to share on here... I can't wait to get them up and get this blog going again...
So friends, my New Years Resolution this year is to NOT overschedule myself and to NOT put unrealistic demands on myself.
And, I'm trying to remedy my All or Nothing Personality flaw... :)
I hope you all had a great Holiday with your own Kidamerinks and a Happy New Year!
And yes, I've been slacking in the "posting" lately.
My apologies.
We've done some really fun stuff for our Letter E week and for our Halloween Week as well, I just have not had ANY time to sit and blog and edit pictures. I could stay up until the wee hours of the night, however... my kidamerinks have decided to turn into infants... they are up multiple times a night!! Both of them!! What to do?
So lately, I've been obeying the mantra, "Sleep when your kids sleep."
Seriously, I feel like I have two newborns!!
No bueno.
Posting to resume post haste!!
And, if you have any sleep solutions that have worked for you... please, feel free to comment!! :)
If you have missed the previous Letter Weeks, check them out Here.
We are taking a Kumon approach to writing letters, for more information take a look at The Kidamerink Method.
Next week, we will be working on the Letter "E," so stay tuned.
We did a lot of letter writing practice this week! Lowercase f was a hard one to master for my little Kidamerink! :) But, I think we got it by the end of the week.
We used these Letter F Worksheets and also did a few worksheets out of our Comprehensive Curriculum Book.
We love the book, "The Rainbow Fish," by Marcus Pfister. It is one of those books that is a must for your own personal library. We read it A LOT this week!
So, we made our own Rainbow Fish one day. I just drew a fish, cut out some "scales" and even cut some scales out of Tin Foil to make it a "real" rainbow fish.
My Kidamerink Loved glueing all of the scales on. We counted as we glued, for some counting practice as well.
He turned out pretty good too. But, in all seriousness... if you haven't read this book, it is a must. Go and check it out at the Library. It teaches a really good principle and the pictures are so great.
We also talked a lot this week about Feelings. F is for Feelings! I made these cards to help my Kidamerink recognize certain feelings and we talked a lot about what makes him angry, or sad, or happy or excited. It was really important for me to get him to recognize why he was feeling the way he felt etc. throughout the week. It has really helped with his attitude lately and I'm glad I decided to focus on feelings this week.
We read a lot of books about feelings this week too.
We spent a whole afternoon talking about Feet one day as well. That's what you get when you are married to a Foot Doctor!! Haha! My husband has a "bone" model of a Foot and my Kidamerink LOVES to play with it. So, we talked about how important feet are and had fun playing with the bones.
My Kidamerink may be the only 3-year-old in the world who knows where the Navicular Bone and Talus Bone are located on the foot, but it sure made his Dr. Daddy Proud!!
We also recently had an unfortunate event happen to my Kidamerink which required an X-Ray of his foot. Thankfully, nothing was broken... but don't let your kidamerink's jump off the couch like a superhero while making dinner!! :) Lesson learned.
Anyways, he LOVES too look at his bones. So, we printed them off so he could look at them and he played doctor all afternoon fixing up my feet and taking my X-Rays. It was a fun afternoon.
And, to top it all off... we made Foot-Print Ghosts to get into the Halloween Spirit!! :)
We talked a lot about making Friends and read the book, "Do You Want to be My Friend," By Eric Carle. Of course, I had to include this book in our "F" section - if you don't already know, I'm a huge Eric Carle fan!! :)
I LOVE this book because it is a book with very few words. It is great for your Kidamerink's to make up their own stories and to figure out the story for themselves. It is great to hear what my Kidamerink comes up with and the illustrations are amazing - which is to be expected of course. This book is Definitely a favorite of ours!!
We spent a LOT of time reading this week and I made sure to have our D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time every day, if not more. It really changed our week and it has been great!
Here is a list of all the books we read this week:
If you think Peanut Butter with Apples/Banana's are good, then I have the perfect dip for you!!
It's super easy, and super AMAZING!!
Confession: I basically ate this whole bowl and had to make another batch for my Kidamerink!!
And, It's Healthy Too!!
Here is the Recipe:
1 6oz. cup of Vanilla Yogurt (I used Dannon's Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt)
2 Tbs. Peanut Butter
1 Tbs. Dark Brown Sugar
That's it!
Throw it all in a blender. Then blend away, and you are left with a little piece of heaven to dip your fruit into!!
I have to admit, I was a little skeptical... yogurt and peanut butter don't exactly go together in my book. But, Oh. My. Word. It is amazing. It is a fluffy, yummy, peanutbuttery, fruity and delightful experience.
As I typed that last sentence I had the urge to say, "I love it so much, I might just marry it!"
"G" is for One Gzonk!
