School Time Adventures

Since K the Kangaroo kicks in his Karate class, it was pretty obvious that learning Karate moves would be our physical activity to try. First, we had to put on his Karate outfit, which we used a pillow cover and white cloth belt. Then I used my extensive knowledge from my high earning purple belt karate days teaching kicks, punches and round house kicks. We had fun doing this, but River lost interest and made up the excuse that his belly was hurting from his karate belt. (Funny, I remember telling my Mom similar made-up stories to get out of going to Karate class.) When in reality he really wanted to listen to his "My Body Machine" tape for the 2nd or 3rd time today. He told me, "Mom when you eat bad foods you then have slow kicks." I think as a parent you can take the liberty to tell some little fibs in order for your point to get across, which I am proud to say I taught him that one.

This is the Kangaroo who kicks which is found in the activity book. In the directions it says to use a brad to attach the leg to the body, however when I was at Office Depot I found that it costs $2.29 for a pack of 60. Well I didn't think spending $2.29 was worth it for a one time use, when I could buy 2 items at the $ store, seriously I do think of money in terms of what fun items I can buy at the dollar tree. So I thought we could use a staple somehow and it make it work like a brad. I bended the staple around through both pieces of paper and it worked fairly well, well enough to get the effect of the kangaroo kicking. As River finished intensely coloring this he said, "All the juice, the marker juice needs to dry now."

This week we picked K the kangaroo who kicks in his karate class, in the activity book the theme is knowledge about our body. When River and I decide on the letter for the week we sing the letter song together and then I have him trace it out on the poster. Then I have him think of all the words we know that start with letter K. So we thought of kick, key, kite, kitten, then out of those words I ask him what words he wants to write, he chose kick and key. I make dotted lines and have him go over the dotted lines with a different color marker. Once he made his two words I asked if he wanted to trace a key, a little gold key that a locksmith gave to him a few months back then became the item to play with. When we went outside he loved throwing the key up the slide and then when it fell back down, that little gold colored key blended in really well with the sand all around. He loved throwing it up and then going on a hunt to find it! p.s. Dear Fridge, if you are hiding the other paper with the word K-E-Y on it, I wish you would have given it back before I took this picture.

I found a cute song for the week from PreschoolRock.com. Also I loved Brite Music when I was younger and am lucky enough to have a Mom who doesn't throw anything away...so we have the complete set of books, tapes, activity books, puppets, charts, etc. So we pulled out "My Body Machine", it's a story with a lot of songs about a little girl names Shiny Brite and her big brother Brawny who teaches her about the good foods to eat to keep her body machine super clean, but the villains King Sugar, Sir Salty, and Ms. Grease try to hide in all the food, to take away her shine. Every time we put in one the Brite Music tapes I am transported back to the late 80s, when my desire to sing and dance was at it's peak. Well at least one of many peaks :). A lot of information is covered in "My Body Machine" like all the body systems (circulatory, digestive, etc.) and all the good foods to eat, so we are focusing on this as our book for the week.

Here is the song from Preschool Rock:
Eyes , ears, hands, mouth and nose,
Which one of these can smell a rose?
(yell out an answer)
Which of these can see the sky?
(answer)
Which of these can taste a pie?
(answer)
Which of these can pet a dog?
(answer)
Which of these can hear a frog?
(answer)
(HUGE CELEBRATION!)