Little Red Hen Unit

Monday

Oh Mondays. We started off a little shaky this morning, but we managed to turn things around pretty quickly with help from YouTube, G-ma’s Kindle Firestick and some shows that are not available on our TV for free. Crisis averted! We all cheered up and ate some breakfast, then got dressed and hung out a little bit longer, watching some TV and videos we liked. Some days you just have to go with what will make everyone happy! I had written lesson plans and had ideas in my head for project prep, but we had a busy weekend so I never got around to it. Oops! I had quickly cut out some shapes for the kids to glue together with glue sticks to make their very own Little Red Hens when I woke up this morning, which wasn’t the first project I had planned but it was the simplest. After we did our calendar, I got out the little table for them to use for project. Another quick fix for grumpy moods is slightly changing up the routine to something they enjoy doing or using. We read The Little Red Hen, then started our project. I helped them place the bodies on their papers, but let them decide where everything else went. I love seeing their final abstract creations. We tried to have some piano time while I searched for worksheets on sequencing events of the book for them, but that ended quickly once a fight broke out, so we just colored some blank pages instead. They drew me their adaptations of the books and then explained to me what each line on the paper was. We had snack and then got our bathing suits on for some pool time. Jordan had let Lily cross contaminate the pool and the sandbox this weekend so of course she wanted to do it again. I gave in because I am trying to work on my OCD. And I knew they would really enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach and I love sand and water, and I don’t mind getting dirty or letting them get dirty, but not so much when it comes to trying to get it out of every crevice before returning inside. We finished the morning off with some popsicles in the sun while we dried off, then came inside for some stories and nap.

Tuesday

Today was definitely a relaxed one to start. The weather is gray and yucky and we were all feeling a little lazy. We watched some TV and had some free play time for a little bit after breakfast. Once we got moving, we cleaned up and did our chores and then watched Super Why’s episode about the Little Red Hen. It was very cute to see them compare Red’s problem with Little Red Hen’s problem, and then compare the story we read with the story Wyatt helped retell. In our story, there is a pig, a duck, and a cat, and in this story, the pig was replaced with a dog. It was slightly mindblowing at first for them, but they moved on! While they watched the episode, they colored a worksheet I found on sequencing the events that occur in the story. The pictures are a little different than what our book shows, so I am not sure when we attempt to put them in order how it will go, but the fun part is trying! Our second project of the day was talking about the life cycle of a hen via pictures then gluing those pictures in order on a large egg. The hen stage was completely by painting their hands and using their handprint. They came out really cute and it was a simple project to explain the life of a hen. We read some books and took some naps.

Wednesday

We made it to the middle of the week! It also happens to be absolutely gorgeous out right now so all is good in the world. We had a busy morning and stayed on task pretty well! We ate our breakfast then we helped bake a cake, unlike the characters in the Little Red Hen story. Lily and Tristan were both big helpers making a cake so we can celebrate Tristan’s mommy’s birthday later tonight! They also helped clean up and got dressed with being asked only half a dozen times versus the usual four dozen. After we were all dressed and ready to go, and the cake was out of the oven, we took a nice long walk in the stroller. I cut down our time from last week by 2 whole minutes, so we were flying! When we got home, we loaded up into the car with our new balls from Aunt Lyss and headed to the ‘spider web’ park. The grass was a little high (and we have noticed a lot more ticks this year) so we opted to play on the playground and climb the spider web for the majority of the time we were there. We played catch for a little bit and had some snack, then went right back to climbing. I am so impressed with how fast they caught on to climbing the ropes and also how brave they both are! We came home and read some books and got ready for nap. After nap and lunch, the kiddos helped me shuck some corn. They pretended to be the Little Red Hen’s friends and say “NOT I” when I asked, which was fun, but they were so excited to be able to help!

Thursday

The only thing worse than a Thursday is a Thursday that feels like a Friday. Whomp whomp. We ate breakfast and got dressed this morning while watching some TV. I asked what they wanted to play with and they chose our play food to have a picnic. I took this time to straighten up and decide what my plan for the day was. It already started drizzling and was quite chilly so a walk was out of the options, along with the park. I was considering a trip to the library, but I ran out of my allergy medicine yesterday and my head was feeling it. I decided to skip to Friday’s lesson plan and make salt dough, and just to switch things up a bit, we ran to Giant to get our ingredients along with more Allegra. I curse the car carts at food stores. Luckily there was one in the cart return so I parked right next to it and snagged it. Then inside, I set out with my plan but as usual got sidetracked. Of course because it’s Thursday and we’ve had enough of each other, every time one of them moved a foot or arm too close to the other, head butting or pushing occurred, causing me to almost slam into random displays set up in the aisles. We stopped at the lobsters before jetting out of there before we caused any more chaos. Once we were home and snacked, we took turns helping stir up the salt dough. There was a slight mishap with the flour and Tristan ended up covering half himself, but we laughed through that and shook it off literally (outside). We used our play dough toys to cut out shapes and I had intentions on baking them and letting them paint what the made later today, but that didn’t happen. I was also trying to make their foot print or hand print of thumbprint to bake, but the dough wasn’t cooperating and I gave up. The best laid plans or whatever that saying is. We shall try again someday! 

Friday

Woo! Nothing sweeter than the Friday of a nice little three day weekend AND Jordan and Ash will be home early! Clearly, we kept it simple today. We hung around and packed for the cabin and cleaned up around the house. I’ve been trying to give them more responsibilities, like wiping their trays or moving their high chairs back, or helping me sweep. They love to help so I really need to utilize that and train them young! We took a nice long stroller walk and returned our library books. They were pretty good considering the detours we took to make sure I got my 3 miles in so we played outside in the sandbox and with hula hoops when we got home. We read The Little Red Hen again before nap, except to see if they were paying attention, I would add in different events or animals. They were cracking up and also very focused on the story.

Have a fun (hopefully) three day weekend!