Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Uu is for Us & Valentine's Day

Uu us for Us was a good unit. I, personally, am fascinated with anatomy and had hoped to instill that in my son. He's just not that into it at this point and that's ok. We had a good time anyways. We have a kid's museum with an exhibit all about the 5 senses, which we visited. We also watched a couple Cat in the Hat episodes and a Magic School Bus episode all about the body. I had him lie down on a large piece of brown craft paper and i traced his body, then had him fill in the features and even make his outfit look like what he was wearing. However, he asked me not to put the pictures of that online, so I won't. But trust me, it was cute :o) We went on "blind walks", observed sounds outside, and of course, did some activities with food. I forgot to take a picture, but I made a chart with the 5 senses and each of the foods shown in the picture (marshmallow, cheerios, granola bar, pretzels, and chocolate chips. I had him feel them with his eyes closed, smell them, listen to them being broken or bitten, look at them, and taste them. we then charted how he described each sense in relation to the food. 


We LOVE these cards from Usborne all about learning to tell time. We also made our own clock out of paper plates. (Please forgive the not upright photos!) 

 

And ok, seriously, how cute are these little tootsies? 



 And then we had Valentine's Day! I LOVE this day! It inspires so many beautiful things, especially in the food department! We got to have a little themed party when our friends visited, which made it even more fun. I made these cookies, which I loved, though I think everyone else just thought they were ok. We also had twizzler hearts and ice cream sodas. So pretty!


                                        

                                        


We made these cards for the grand parents and my husband's aunt and uncle. I love that we traced Elijah's hand for it. I think that makes it even more special. For his cousins and friends he made monsters with googly eyes and they said something like "I've got my eyes on you". Cute stuff inspired by Pinterest! Love it.


I also got the idea for this online. I interviewed Elijah about his dad and write it down. This is totally something that will be saved. 

On Valentine's Day we took a break from our curriculum and learned a smidge of history about it (turns out there's not much to learn). Elijah got homemade cards from us, his first very own box of chocolates (it only had 4 in it) and candy hearts. We put those candy hearts to work with this graph he filled out. I saw a print out for something like this online, but I can't find it to look it. I just went ahead and made it myself though. Super easy. 
                                     
                                      

He also did some taste tasting and clearly marked how he felt about each flavor/color and he practiced drawing hearts.
                                       

By far the best part was having Elijah help decide what random acts of kindness we would do and who we would give them to. He picked out a chocolate bar to leave for the mailman and we made chocolate dipped short bread cookies (one of the best recipes ever, which I got from my dad) for our neighborhood firemen and librarians. He helped make them and we added a note saying we appreciate them and i included a list of ingredients for any restricted diets they might have. We also made chocolate dipped strawberries as a surprise for my husband :o)
       

Delivering the cookies was SO fun! I cannot recommend doing this enough. I need to do it more with him. The firemen were so excited and kind and the librarians (whom we see on a weekly basis) were extra appreciative and thankful. I could tell he was so happy and proud. I love seeing him shine like that. I love that he is old enough to feel how good it feels to be kind to others.



 Our Valentines Day table was covered with sweet cards and gifts. I also got a surprise box from my sister full of Valentine's Day gifts that made me cry and miss her and her family so much.


My husband and I ended the day with a homemade dinner of flilet mignon (my first time making it), spicy roasted zuchinni, and creamy garlic noodles and we watched Lars & the Real Girl. It was a beautiful day full of love and happiness, which I am so blessed to say that I experience on a daily basis with my boys. I am so in love with my family I can hardly stand it. 































1 comment:

  1. "And he is better than a hedge hog." That is beyond precious - and I love Elijah's attention to dad's love of coffee. Really cool project!

    -Miranda :)

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