Sept wk 3, day 1: Food and water (human needs)

Argh. Aaaaargh.

We spent 45 minutes in the room, but Nugget only did about 10-15 minutes worth of work. She would do one small piece of something, then spend ages hanging over me asking questions and talking. I'd respond briefly, then after a while ask if she was done and wanted to leave the room. No! She wanted to work! So she'd do one or two small pieces of something. And then stop again.

Aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

Oh, and her little Hulk action figure joined us. He rode around on the trays as she carried them.

So. What did we do? Well, we read books about food. She traced two metal insets with her fingers (I saw her tracing the puzzle pieces last week and wanted to give her an outlet for that, since I don't have the geometric cabinet.... although I'm thinking about making some 2D shapes). She set a place setting (PL work).

Most of her time was spent doing -- or, really, not doing -- an alphabet book. I put together a blank book with a letter on each page, then cut out pictures of various types of food for her to glue on the appropriate page for the beginning sound. She was doing fine hearing the sounds, although she mixes up some letters (h and n, b and d). She would glue one.... then talk.... and talk.... and talk.... glue one.... talk.....

Anyway. She did that for a while. Then tried the trapdoor readers again. And lastly, counted Cheerios into the spindle box.

I'm not too disappointed with our day in there. Mondays are always hard, because we're getting back in the swing of things. So it wasn't unexpected. It was frustrating at the time, but she did get a little bit of decent work done. If I could do it over again, I'd probably try to engage her in a more physical work, like moving the Brown Stair, or a work that she could get into imaginatively (like the Cylinder Blocks). That might have kicked her into more of a concentration mode.

Topic overview: Human needs (Sept wk 3)

Monday: Food

• Books: "Bread Bread Bread", Ann Morris; "Eating the Alphabet", Lois Ehlert
  
• Topical activity: plant to food matching cards
• Practical life: place setting
• Language: initial sound book - foods
• Math: TBD

Tuesday: Clothing

• Book: "Clothes from Many Lands", Mike Jackson
  
• Topical: dress-up paper bear
• Practical life: dressing frames
• Language: initial sound book - clothing
• Math: TBD

Wednesday: Shelter

• Books: "Houses and Homes", Ann Morris; "How a House is Built", Gail Gibbons
• Topical: types of homes classification
• Practical life: TBD
• Language: initial sound book - household
• Math: counting around the house

Thursday or Friday: Communication or Family/Friends/Love (undecided)

• Books (communication): "Communication", Aliki; "What is Your Language", Debra Leventhal
• Book (family/friends/love): "Big Brother Little Brother", Penny Dale
• Topical (family/friends/love): family tree
• Practical life: TBD
• Language (family/friends/love): initial sound book - family members
• Math: TBD