Rachel here. This week I've started to introduced Reese to numbers. This is a cute puzzle that matches the number of objects with the numeral. We worked on it together, but Reese was being SUPER SILLY and skipping numbers and starting with random ones. It was really frustrating. Fridays are horrible teaching days around here. We did manage to finish, but this was definitely not the only activity where Reese really tested my patience.
Yesterday all she did was learn the /f/ sound, paint, and play with playdoh... ALL DAY. Not once was she ill behaved either... that made for a long day today though to get things done.
I love putting different things in her play doh container to see what she does with them. This go 'round I used marbles... she loved it.
I found this puzzle (along with a couple other really great things) at Once Upon a Child. I originally had a similar one on the girls' Amazon Wish List, but this was only $5.50, so I couldn't resist. I had it on Emma Grace's shelf, but Reese really seemed to enjoy it.
For the second part of the week we worked on the /f/ sound. Reese painted a BEAUTIFUL fish with water color paint and added some pom poms for a lovely glittery effect. ;)
Along with her fish, we painted her
hand prints and made a flower for her /f/ wall. Her letters are covered in goldfish. My dining room is quickly becoming covered in awesome artwork... I LOVE IT!
I was hoping this activity would get Reese counting
out loud and realizing the number of objects to numeral relationship. (I used a bingo blotter for the dots.) This was another activity that we had to do together. I would say the number, count the dot, and then Reese would count the button as she placed it over the dot. It worked well but not how I originally envisioned it. I thought she would be able to do more of it on her own, but with practice we'll get there.
More math. Patterns. I don't think Reese really grasped the concept. She kept putting the frogs on the color w
illy nilly... out of order. Once she got to the last strip though and saw there were only two colors, she had a smile on her face and put them in place in order. Maybe a
light bulb was going off????
This was an adaptation to an activity I tried to do with Reese earlier on with
transferring spring loaded clothes pins to the rim of a glass. She wasn't able to squeeze the pin hard enough, so I found these non loaded ones in a crafting box. She must have done this activity a dozen times just today.
This activity nearly caused me to have a heart attack. Look at the letter on the paper, find it in the bucket, put it on the tray. You would think it would have been that easy wouldn't you?
OMG.
"Reese, can you find the /a/?" "Yes... right here. What do I do with it?" "Put it on your tray, then cover the letter up on your paper with a button." "Oh okay. Now what I do next Mommy?" She did this for every single solitary letter. And then she wanted to start putting the letters wherever she wanted to on the tray. And then she was all kinds of worried because the magnetic letters were NOT the same color as the ones on the sheet. And then she was worked up because Emma Grace was waking up and she would eat the buttons. Needless to say I've found foam letters that match the correct colors, and I've taped lines onto the cookie sheet. She will do this on her own... oh yes she will. ;)
Look how bored she looks. "Mommy... what's wrong with
tv?" This was about the time I threw in the towel and turned on "Word World" from the
DVR and fixed dinner.
Today was our first Literature Friday. I know soon the weather will be too cold to really go out and enjoy a "Fun Friday," so I thought we would read a super fun book and do an activity with it. Today we read "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." I loved it, Reese could have lived without it but was very concerned when I said we would just stop because I didn't think she was paying attention. Turns out she was and DEFINITELY wanted to finish. Earlier in the week Reese did a cutting exercise, and I saved the red and brown paper she cut to use for our spaghetti and meatball art.
CUTE RIGHT???? We may have gotten a little glue happy, but it's sweet nonetheless.
THANK GOD IT'S THE WEEKEND. :)
I gave her red and yellow food coloring and had her squeeze them separately into two different jars. And then she took a baster and transferred/mixed the two into a third jar.
Then my hopes were for her to have bright colors to transfer to a coffee filter in order to make a pumpkin. NOT SO MUCH. I had to put a piece of orange paper behind it to enhance it. I cut various facial features for different projects for Reese. She was able to pick and choose what sets she wanted for what projects. 
Today she cut orange paper and put the pieces onto contact paper and made a pumpkin mosaic.
Transferring candy corn pumpkins.
Halloween sensory tub.
20 minutes later. :)
"There was an Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything" activity from Making Learning Fun. 
She colors very lightly, but she did in fact color... that in itself should be counted as a milestone. ;)
Helping decorate cookies for Daddy to take to Alpha with him.
(My Montessori Journey)
I bought the felt board from Once Upon a Child months and months ago, but I cut the pumpkin sets for Reese myself. There were three each of the stems, sets of eyes, noses, and mouths. She spent a little bit of time mixing and matching the features. This was an activity that took me 30 minutes to make and her 5 minutes to play with... le sigh.
This was a joint effort. I had to tell her where to lace the ribbon, but she really got a kick out of lacing it, and it turned out adorable! (I can teach my child)
This week's Art Class projects.
I've been working with Reese writing her name. Don't you love the mix of upper and lower case letters? I chose the easiest of the duo to teach her... hopefully she won't be confused for life. ;)
Reese also worked on a magnetic letter sort.
