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April 21, 2013

Tot School: Letter J

Henry is 25 months old. 

This was one of those week's at tot school that makes all the hard work worth it! Henry had a total blast. He asked to do our tot school activities almost every single day. There was no fighting me or complaining. The only we had tears was when we had to clean up! It was truly wonderful. 

Prior to this week, Henry could identify a J and a j. He can also say "J." 



On our first tray this week was a printable that said "J is for jelly fish." Find it here. I paired the sheet {which I laminated} with exactly enough jelly-like water beads, for Henry to fill in the circles. I also put a spoon and tongs out in case he wanted more of a challenge. 



Henry really liked this. The water beads were a little more challenging since they rolled around pretty easily, but Hen didn't seem to mind. He tried a few times to pick them up with the utensils, but pretty much just stuck to using his hands. Either way, it was fun, promoted a little sensory play and fine motor skills. 



The second tray was Henry's favorite for the week. On this tray was a bunch of jars and a basket containing their corresponding lids. Henry could then match the lids to the correct jar. There was some initial frustration from Hen in getting the lids to stay on, but he picked it up really quickly. One day, he sat and repeated this tray for almost an hour -- total win! 



In addition to the fine motor skills, Henry picked up some new vocabulary using this tray! He started saying "too small," "too big," and "just right." We also had a lot of smelling the jars, since many were old spice jars. Hen's favorite was the garlic container. He would smell it and say "so stinky!" 



The final tray was a set of cards I made. Each card had a picture of jelly beans on it -- from 1 to 10. The images were from the Clippix ETC site! I discovered this site earlier this month and its awesome! It gives teachers license to use certain {high quality!} clip art for free!! Check it out! The cards also had a corresponding number so that Henry could count and match the correct number to the card. 



Henry enjoyed this, but only for numbers 1 to 5. With the higher numbers, he lost patience and didn't want to count all the jelly beans on the page. 



We also had our letter J sensory bin this week. Henry played with this quite a bit too. His favorites were the jacks and the little jaguar animal. 



Other things we did this week included:




Jelly fish dry erase. 



Jelly fish coloring sheet. 



Letter J books. 



Letter J snacks.



Tot School
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Comments

Mommy Sarah
Mommy Sarah said…
Love the idea of using water beads on the dot page! We are going to try that this week! Thanks! :)
Amy @ No Greater Honors
I have been telling myself that an open/close basket is probably a little too easy for my son, but he's the same age as Henry, so I think I am going to break down and try it! He may like it much more than I realize :) Counting Coconuts used to put small erasers/objects in her sons' open/close baskets, just to have a little something for him to take out and put back in! I may do that, and thought I would leave the tip for you or anyone else who might be interested....
Lindsay
Lindsay said…
Love the jellyfish and waterbeads activity! Super fun!
Jade
Jade said…
The water beads are a great idea! Can't wait to do that with my daughter. Wow what a smart son you've got - I can't believe he knows so much and is just 25 months :-)And I really like how you put the letter in jam on the piece of bread xx
Sarah
Sarah said…
Hi Nicole! YEAH YEAH YEAH for finding another mommy blogger with a little toddler boy right around Drew's age. Drew just turned 27 months and is a HAM! We've been doing a letter of the day too and trying to point it out where we can. Love using the food idea though... I'm definitely going to do that! PS - we have that same plate. Looks like we think alike! Such great activities. Hopped over from another blog and can't wait to look around a bit more. New follower and I hope you'll stop by and follow back!
Jen @ the mama years
Thanks for the Clippix site link! Definitely bookmarking that one. My Henry is totally into jar lids too right now. Must be a "I'm so excited to learn how to open things I shouldn't" thing ;)
Unknown
Unknown said…
Hi:). I just discovered your blog today and was so impressed with your J Week! Great job! Thanks for posting:). I will follow!
aimee @ montessori works
I always have a basket of opening and closing work in my class, it interest and engages 2-6 year olds equally, and depending on the containers you put in it, it can challenge a child at any level.
Unknown
Unknown said…
We have been having fun with crystal water beads , and I would have never thought to bring them outside. Good to know they are safe for the garden. I hope you come by and share this tomorrow at The Outdoor Play Party.