Where I live - (Handkerchief Beach) Calm after the Storm

High Rotation Reads - Aug 22nd to 28th

 Now Little Tree's second love to dinosaurs right now is space.  That said he isn't quite as enthusiastic about this one as other I Wonder Why books in the past.  To me the facts seem like they should be engaging  but it's just not connecting for him so I might allow it to go to the bottom of the basket without any fanfare and try and introduce it again when he is a bit older.

As the enthusiasms, of three yr olds, go Trains has been high on the agenda for a long time.  This book with it's wonderfully accurate colour pictures and wide range of simply addressed topics has been amply appreciated.  As an op shop buy this particular edition is a bit hopelessly out of date, the English/France Channel Tunnel hadn't be completed at publication, but as most of the information is historical this has been less of a problem than it might otherwise be.  It has certainly put the Collins Eyewittness Guides on the map for us and if I was ever to see one on a topic of interest I would now be compelled to flick though 

New on the Shelf - Imprint Matching

Last school holidays the local council ran a series of activities at the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens.  One of the activities for the day was "make a plant fossil".  Now as Little Tree is into dinosaurs the word fossil hooked him in.  Being who he is at this point in time Little Tree made his a plant fossil, then rolled it out and made another, rolled it out again then decided to "write his name" into to the clay and 5 minutes later had very happily completed his process by scrunching it up and making a clay rock :-)

 Thankfully though through that the inspiration, this matching was born.

I had an inkling this would be, mostly, reasonably easy for him so to make it harder I left most of  the matching objects up on his nature table so he had to find the ones he deemed most appropriate.  

That said I knew the acacia seed head imprint, top row middle, was going to be the hardest for him to find as he needed  to match something that didn't have much in the way of visual cues to shape from the imprint, if he just guessed and didn't try it from different angles it wouldn't fit.  Thus I presented all the plant materials on the tray from the beginning as a straight one to one matching tray which made, all but the acacia, very easy but gave him good insight to work with the shells tray where he needed to find the materials himself.

All the items he chose were correct to the type of material, i.e. the correct size and shape of shell. He also correctly moved them around so they sat neatly in the imprints.  As these things go that's a successful activity in our world.

Winter Garden

Gardens can only be this green in Winter

Blocks, Blocks and Building

Hammer Blocks (How We Montessori)

Lego Juniors, Fire Truck & Waste Truck (Kmart)

Cars and Construction Vehicles(Siku, Matchbox)

Haba Technics Lg Vechicle Blocks + Lg Builders pack (Send a toy)

Personal Designs Record Book (contains Photo's of previous projects)

Green Inspirations Folder

Little Tree has required quite a bit of encouragement to really get into blocks and building.  

When he was younger I kept presenting block options and having them ignored.  When he was somewhere between 2.5 and 3yrs I found Haba Vechicle blocks.  With a quite a bit of time at introduction to help him replicate the designs in the included inspirations book he was off.  

In many ways these Haba  blocks have been great for his ongoing development.  Getting the wheels and block clips on and off the blocks  has built hand strength along with hand eye co-ordination and using the "trailer brackets" initially required quite a bit of patience on his behalf as the connections are firm but reasonably small. Connecting the block clips also starts to build the concept of force and that somethings are stronger in certain directions than others and this is a concept that he is starting to take in

He still doesn't do a lot of architectural type "buildings" that is something I am hoping to find a way to encourage in the next 6 months.  Most of his building right now is roads, cars and robots but whatever the gateway to inspiration it's always wonderful to find his constructions  and see he is practicing lots of great skills.

High Rotation Reads - Aug 15th through 21st

Now as with many families we're avid readers. 

Given a choice Little Tree tends to read books within an inch of their life for a while.  He then walks away, often only to look through them occasionally and interacts with them more in the manner of someone conjuring a fond memory rather than seeking any specific information.

With that little explanation here's what's being requested this week

 

Aunty M went exploring for dinosaur fossils up North and sent Little Tree this wonderful book. 

He loves it all. Right now though he is absolutely enamored with the description of the finding and recovery of Sue, who is the most complete T-Rex fossil found to date.

 

 This ABC has beautiful and appealing artwork but I will say the prose does leave something to be desired considering it's aimed firmly at young children.  It rhymes sometimes, other times it doesn't and I don't know for anyone else but I personally find that a bit disconcerting.  I think he does too as interest in this one really seems to come and go in a way that is not common for him

 Really aimed at infants and young toddlers but because penguins are sky high in the interest stakes he chose this one, at the library, and had me read it 6 nights running before bed.  Honestly what 3 yr old can walk past splashing, dashing and pooping penguins without a smile.

 This one is new today but I can tell it's going to be a favorite.  Beautiful Collage style illustration, which has been a favourite of his for a while, and wonderful rhyming prose all giving snippets of factual information.  Backed up by an animal glossary at the back with a bit more detail on the animals mentioned and a little blurb about Charles Darwin explaining why the Galapagos is so important in science.  

 A story about a Peregrine Falcon pair that leave the wild after a bushfire and nest on a city  skyscraper.  Based on a true story, in Brisbane, it shows the adaptability of wildlife in their quest to survive and thrive.  For those that might be disturbed the main story thread once they relocate is the male falcon hunting and bringing back food to the female, with a nice life affirming twist at the end.

We love the I Wonder Why series over here.  

I first made the mistake of trying to read entire pages only to have him zone out with information overload.  Our deal is now that I just read what he points to on a specific page then leave it at that.

I am personally not sold on some of the cartoonish illustration but the facts are interesting and catch attention.  Thankfully enough of the pictures are realistic that I can survive :-)

Looking for the Sun

-Waiting to put those seeds in the ground-

Spring's coming we'll just have to be patient in the mean time

Little Tree's Activity Shelves -

 Top : Found Objects & Loose Parts

Far Left : Auditory Matching (How We Montessori)

Middle : Life Cycle of a Lady Bird (Free: Montessori Print Shop)

Far Right : Hammer, Screw and Nails Activity - Linked to pre-drilled holes outside