Gavin and Wyatt's 'Lessons' - Week One

As I mentioned in my ’11 months’ post, Gavin and Wyatt are 100% toddlers. Part of this ‘100% Toddler’ we see is their sponge like absorption of everything. It’s a well known fact that young children are hungry to learn and enjoy doing so. The past few weeks, I’ve realized that the boys’ learning curve has taken on a whole new dimension, and I want to take complete advantage of this.

The Past 11 Months

Ever since the boys were a week old, I’ve spent our entire days teaching them as we snuggle, love, eat, clean and play. Learning sounds, colors, objects, signing, etc were all part of our daily routine. There was no ‘system’ to our learning, but rather taught as ‘life happened’. If we were playing with balls, I’d talk about balls, shapes and colors of the balls. I’d explain how they roll and other similar objects. If the dogs would be in the room, I’d say and sign ‘Dog’, which would eventually be Gavin’s first and Wyatt’s second word. So our days were filled will great learning opportunities, but nothing ‘prepared’ so to speak.

This Past Week

Now each week I ‘prepare’ lessons for the boys. These are not ridged lessons by all means, but rather provide them opportunities to explore ‘subjects’ on a whole new level. Typically on Sunday night or Monday I’ll get things ready for the next week’s lessons. Each week I hope to focus on a color, shape, letter/phonics, object, number and body part.

Last Week’s Color: RED

I have colored buckets for each week. Last week I pulled out the red bucket. In it I pulled out many red toys the boys have around the house and placed them in the bucket; a red block, ball, car, hand towel, wheel, star, etc. During the day, we’ll put all the other toys to the side, and we’ll spend time talking about and playing with the color RED. The boys think this is a great treat! I use my easel too during the week for these purposes. I have cute ‘color’ cut outs to be used on bulletin boards that I put magnetics on. I use red markers that week too. I try to point out the color of the week during any opportunity I see the boys minds are receptive to it (not distracted with other fun).

Last Week’s Shape: CIRCLES

I had a circle strainer from the kitchen filled with all circle or round objects. I had balls, wheels, lids, bowls etc. I did the same thing with these toys as I do with the ‘color’ toys above, but at different times. I drew circles on the easel too. I’ve been pulling up YouTube videos on my iPad about circles for the boys. They love these short clips and often dance along to the music. I try to point out all things ‘circles’ during the week as well.

Last Week’s Object: COWS

The ‘object’ of the week can be an animal, something in nature such as trees, flowers, sun, etc, or it can be cars, books, house, etc. I chose ‘cows’ last week because we were supposed to go to the farm that weekend and they would be able to see cows up close and personal (but it was raining, so we will try another weekend soon). I had a box full of ‘cows’ and did the same thing as I did for the shape and color of the week. In our box last week we had a lot of ‘Little People’ cows that we lined up in rows, we had a flashcard with a cow, a puzzle piece and a photo I printed out of cows from the farm. We also watched YouTube videos of cows and listened to their mooing. The boys giggle every time they moo! We talk about the ‘sound the cows make’ and when I say, ‘moo’, the boys say, ‘moomoo’ too! I’m no artist, but I drew cows on the easel too ;)

Last Week’s Letter/Phonics: A

We sing songs I make up about the letter A and the sounds it makes. The boys love to say one of the sounds along with me, and are working on the other 2. They’ll sit there with their mouths open trying to get the other sounds coming out correctly, but we make a big deal of the ‘a’ sound they make! We also talk about things that start with the letter; airplanes, ants, apples, ape, alligator, etc. I have A magnetics of different sorts on the easel, flash cards with the letter A, and I draw letters upper and lower case too. I’ve even found a few Youtube videos about the letter. We also have the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics on the easel that I can press and we can sing along about the sounds of the letters.

Number:1

I was going to focus on the number one, but this being our first week, I’ve really never got around to finding the right time to focus on ‘1’. So I’ll incorporate this into next week’s ‘lessons’.

Body Part: Feet

As I mentioned in my 11 Month Post, the boys know where their head is as well as their hands. This past week we have learned feet! Gavin points to his feet or lifts them up about 80% of the time I ask him, and Wyatt about 50%. So, we'll keep focusing on feet this week until it's 100% like head and hands.

More About Last Week

One day I focused on just the shapes and colors; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Another day we spent our time on cows, and then just lots of fun playing. Then it might be cows, shapes and color the next day. Each day we talk about our phonics of the week. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we are very flexible each day about when we have our ‘lesson times’. I go off of cues the boys give about when they are most receptive. Sometimes they are just having so much fun running around the house or exploring other toys or just playing with each other or snuggling mama. It’s important to me that all of this be a fun experience and not ridged.

Week Two Plans

This week we've started to explore the color BLUE and the letter B. We'll also look at SQUARES and I'm thinking TREES might be a fun object. I'd also like to talk about the NUMBER ONE and FEET. Happy Learning!!