Jan 19 - 25

This months Theme for science, reading, and anything else we can think of :
"Penguins, Antarctica​, and the Arctic" (adding in polar bears)


PE:
Monday: 30 min neighborhood walk (working on walking flat foot / heal to toe)
Tuesday : Swimming lessons (45 mins)
Wednesday : gymnastics (1 hour)
Thursday:2 hours at Play Abby (climbing, sliding, jumping, running)
Friday: 30 min neighborhood walk (working on walking flat foot / heal to toe)
Saturday: 45 min walk to and from grocery stores
             1 hour walk to and from park & played on swings, dizzy chair, and climbing the spider web.


MATH:
IPAD: Matheletics (45mins)
Jump Math 2.2 workbook


SOCIALS:
Learning Canadian & American National Anthems
Finshed Chapter Book (SEA read to her)... Our Canada Girl...




WRITING
Big A wrote a short story called "The three little pig's 2".  I love that she is getting creative ideas down on paper - but her spelling is quite aweful. I also find it interesting that she writes the same words in her stories and some are spelled right and some not.
For example... down & doun,  wolf & woulf, after & affter...

Big A works independently on daily devotions book. She reads the chapter in the book plus the Bible verse, and then writes all the answers down on her own.


FINE ARTS:
MUSIC
Sunday:
*Participated in the singing time during Sunday school and during the church service.
Tuesday:
*1 hour choir practise
*1 hour violin lesson
Wednesday:
*Participated in the singing time during Kids Club at church.
Thursday:
*1 hour choir practise
*1 hour violin lesson


ART
Big A is constantly in the kitchen creating something - out of playdough or coloring,painting,  cutting, glueing, taping... my walls and counters are beautifully decorated with her creations.

READING:
This months theme: "Penguins, Antarctica​, and the Arctic & Polar Bears"
BOOKS READ THIS WEEK:

Knut The Baby Polar Bear.  Told by Juliana, Isabella & Craig Hatkoff
One Snowy Day.  by Tammi Salzano
The Berenstains' B Book.  by The Berenstsins
The Orphan and the Polar Bear. by Sakiasi Qulinaq / Eve Widermann
Polar Bears - Kids National Geographic . by Laura Marsh
Polar Bears and Their Homes. by Angela Royston


THERAPIES & SUPPORTS:
*Occupational Therapy was this week.   (1 hour)
     *went in the body sack (body awareness & pressure)
     *played with water beads (sensory)
     *ball pit
     *writing with the sqiggle pen
     *balance board


*Theraputty. Big A is enjoying using the theraputty at home and we try to use it daily.

*Ankle weights. Big A has been trying to wear these about 10-15 mins a day and trying to work on keeping flat feet and walk heel to toe instead of walking on tip toes.
*We also stress the heel toe walking when we walk around the neighborhood or walk to the park.



IEP GOAL #1: Playground awareness & Safety:
     *working on staying close together when walking to the park (or at least where we can see and hear each other). Stopping at sidewalks and waiting to cross together, and talking about sneaky people.



IEP GOAL #2: Physical functioning: demonstrate awareness of her own physical strength...
     *she was able to climb up the spider web at Mill Lake very quickly today - she surprised herself. I am amazed at how much gymnastics and swimming are really helping her build her muscles & confidence.



IEP GOAL #3: Emotional / Behavioual Functioning (trying challenging or non prefered activities)
     *Big A enjoys swimming - but not getting face or ears wet. She did very well this week and has been trying to do everything the teacher tells her - even if its only for a second - she has been trying. I am proud of her for that. (and no tears).



IEP GOAL #4: Academic / Intellectual / Cognitive Functioning...(difficulty with new information)
     *


IEP GOAL #5: Math...work on sums to 20

IEP GOAL #6 Social and Playskill development...(use 1 strategy to gain another persons attention in a social group or aprox 3 people.)






REPORT FROM SEA:

Jump Math

 (finished book 2.1 and started new one2.2)

                -14 pages – 2x

                - Graphs and sorting data – understands well

                -Patterns in adding and addition strategies(new book)

                  - gets a little confused with these new strategies as she is able to do a lot in her head

Writing Book    

                -2 pages – 1x

                - months of the year

                -often forgets to put periods at the end of the sentences

Writing

                -Wrote a one page letter to new penpal in Cambodia.

                - We first brainstormed as to what would be important to include and then she was able to organize her thoughts and write it down.

                - She was very excited to do this and did not complain about the length of the letter!

Art

• #3 of 4 puppets in package.
• She was able to do almost all of it on her own – she has learned to do the sewing part very well.

Polar Bear Theme

• Co-read 2 books on Polar Bears
• Polar Bears by National Geographic Kids
• Polar Bears and their Homes

Theraputty

• Used medium strength to play and make objects
• Enjoys this – she was able to squeeze and mold objects

Puppy Diary Book

• Reread her diary and enjoyed reminiscing the life and growth of the puppies
• Helped glue the pictures onto paper and put book into order
• She took great pride in her book!

Jan 12-18 2014

This months Theme for science, reading, and anything else we can think of :
"Penguins, Antarctica​, and the Arctic & Polar Bears

Sunday: Spent a nice chunk of the morning and early afternoon in ER with Little A. She has the flu. She has been told to stay home for the week. Hopefully Big A will still get a good amount of work in while we take proper care of Little A.

Sunday afternoon was the Gala at the art Gallery to show off Big A's art work along with fellow 4Cats Art studio work. They will be in the gallery for the month.

This has been a week of mostly caring for Little A who has had 12 days of high fever, cough, sneeze, headaches, tummy aches, back aches, not eating & dehydration. We had 1 night sleep over in PEDs Ward of the hospital. Thankful for our SEA as we would not have done much but reading books this week without her!

PE:
*Occupational Therapy (1 hour)
*Swimming lessons (45 mins)
*gymnastics (1 hour)


MATH:
Jump Math book 2.2
*5 pages. Unit on Skip counting, by 2's, 5's, and 10's. as well as counting backwards by 10's/
Big A got all questions right on these 5 pages. No help needed she was able to do it all on her own and without the help of coins or other props.

Jump Math 2.1
1 page on sorting shapes.

Jump Math 2.2
*10 pages. grouping into 5's & 10's, counting by 10's, counting backwards by 10's.
Unit on Closer to - is it closer to 0 or 10. more than 5, less than 5, finding the 10 that the number is closest to using 5. out of 12 pages - she only had trouble with 1 page. It is starting to click :)

FINE ARTS:
MUSIC
Sunday:
*Participated in the singing time during Sunday school and during the church service.
Tuesday:
*1 hour choir practise
*1 hour violin lesson
Wednesday:
*Participated in the singing time during Kids Club at church.
Thursday:
*1 hour choir practise
*1 hour violin lesson

ART
Jan 12th 1-4pm. Big A has a beautiful piece of art work in the Gallery on Ware St. There is a Galla this day. Hope to have people come out and show support for Big A and her art work.

READING:
BOOKS READ THIS WEEK:
(This has been another really busy reading week - mommy has been busy taking care of Little A who is so very sick)
*The Berenstain Bears Visit Uncle Tex
*Staying Safe around strangers. by Lucia Raatma (HEALTH & SAFETY)
*What makes a rainbow. by Betty Schwartz (SCIENCE)
*Animal Nests. by Lynn Nicol (SCIENCE/monthly theme)
*Canada Counts. by Charles Pachter (SOCIALS & MATH)
*Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear? by Bill Martin & Eric Carle (monthly theme)
*Baby Animal Farm. by Jim Jenson
*Snowy Owls. by Helen Frost (SCIENCE)
*Penguins Hidden Talents. by Alex Latimer (monthly theme)
*Baby Penguins Everywhere. by Melissa Guion (monthly theme)
*A penguins life. by Nancy Dickman (SCIENCE / monthly theme)
*Colors, By Penguins. by Ed Heck
*Tacky goes to Camp. by Helen Lester
*The very hungry caterpillar. by Eric Carle
*There's a Wocket in my Pocket. by Dr.Seuss
*Willoughby Wallaby Woo. by Dennis Lee
*Berenstains' A Book. by Stan and Jan Berenstain
*Baby Penguin Slips and Slides. by Micheal Teitelbaum
*Penguins are Cool. by Connie and Peter Roop
*A Penguin Story. by Antoinette Portis
*The Polar Bears are Hungry. by Carol Carrick

Author "Study" Checking out books by Oliver Jeffers.
*The Incredible Book Eating Boy. by Oliver Jeffers
*This Moose belongs to Me. by Oliver Jeffers

THERAPIES & SUPPORTS:
Occupational Therapy this week.

OTHER:
DVD *Mr.Poppers Penguins

IEP GOAL #1: Playground awareness & Safety:
Read Story: *Staying Safe around strangers. by Lucia Raatma . Talked about strangers & sneaky people.

IEP GOAL #2: Physical functioning: demonstrate awareness of her own physical strength...
@Swimming, OT, and Gymnastics.

IEP GOAL #3: Emotional / Behavioual Functioning (trying challenging or non prefered activities)
Big A was very much challenged this week with Little A being so sick, and even being admitted into the hospital over night. Big A is very fearful of being sick or others around her being sick and having her little sister have to spend so much time away was very difficult on her anxieties and emotions. I think she handled it all very well.

IEP GOAL #4: Academic / Intellectual / Cognitive Functioning...(difficulty with new information)
Big A did a very good job of trying to process her sisters sickness and why she was not getting as much attention. She also did well processing her new math. (see math above)

IEP GOAL #5: Math...work on sums to 20
We did not do addition this week - we worked on a lot of other math skills.

IEP GOAL #6 Social and Playskill development...(use 1 strategy to gain another persons attention in a social group or aprox 3 people.)


REPORT FROM SEA:

Weekly Report for Aliyah Regehr for Jan.12, 2014

Jump Math book 2.1

- 11 pages – only 1 wrong

- Reviewing sorting groups and data

Pattern Shape Boards

- 12 pages

- Matching shapes on a boardand using various shapes to make pictures

o Was able to creatively use shapes to make the pics.

Art

- Made a fairy puppet

- Lots of sewing and gluing and following instructions

Penguin Research

- Finished worksheets on 4 different penguins; comparing their habitats/countries, features, and food.

- Went over all the research and I quizzed her on different aspects

- Watched movie: March of the Penguins

o Followed the penguins as they walked to where they were born; mated and hatched their egg; and the growth of the newborn chicks

Swimming Lessons

- Getting less fearful of putting her face in the water

- Floated unassisted on her back for ten seconds

Gymnastics

- Can do hand stands against the wall unassisted

- Can do hand stands in the air assisted

- Shoulders are getting stronger as she can pull herself up on a bar and flip over and back again

Jan 5-11 2104

This months Theme for science, reading, and anything else we can think of :
                                   "Penguins, Antarctica​, and the Arctic"

I am sooooo thankful that activities start up again. I must say holidays are no good for my girls. They have shown me very clearly that they NEED structure, routine, and to know exactly what is happening and what is going to happen and when.
Big A got a calendar for Christmas and we have filled up the month of January with as much information as possible. She also keeps asking when the cruise is - so that is also marked on the calendar...for end of May... at least I know where to send her now if she asks again :)
I am very much looking forward to my visit with our behaviour consultant (she is very helpful and a wealth of knowledge) this week too - although I am fairly certain that most of our drama over Christmas was due to the fact that there was no structure or routine, but it will be nice to have her in and be able to talk to a grown up.

January 6th
Today has really proved to me how much structure and routine is needed by the girls.
I wrote Big A a list of things that needed to be done today and she just plugged along doing the things on her list - asking for help when needed, and being a joy and a delight to accomplish her list - I was amazed at how great both girls were and in part I was able to have a very productive day of cleaning & laundry & lots of cooking...and then able to enjoy some great time with my girls as well... guess we need to continue with this daily list...
Here was monday morning list:
eat breakfast, get dressed, brush hair, read 2 stories to sister, play playdough, work on math work book, do art, play in room with sister.
i will need to start every day with a list like this and then add to it :)

January 7th.
Today is my birthday.
Today was a wonderful day all around. The girls got along wonderfully.
Big A was with her SEA for a  nice chunck of the day.
It was the first day of swimming lessons for both girls.
We went to Olive Garden as a family to celebrate my birthday.
My friend from Winnipeg sent me birthday flowers.
I went out with 10 girlfriends to watch Saving Mr.Banks for my birthday.
Great Birthday!

PE:
This week the girls both start swimming lessons and Big A is continuing with gymnastics.
Monday - Neighborhood walk (30mins)
Tuesday - Swimming lessons (the girls did amazing!! there were no tears, they listened and participated in all the activities that the instructor was teaching... they worked on blowing bubbles,
putting thier faces in the water, floating on their backs...)

Wednesday - Gymnastics:

Thursday - Indoor - hopscotch, balance buckets, bean bags, dancing)...
Friday - Play Abby indoor playplace

MATH:

     *7 pages in Jump math 2.1
working on shapes ...circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and polygons... it was all very easy till the pages on polygons, but I think we both got it :)  haha - i had temporary trouble on this one too - had to go back to school myself on this one.
     *Penguin addition / color by number worksheet  = sums to 8
     *2 pages in Jump Math 2.2
Working on counting by 2's, and 5's. Forward & Backwards.
     *Canadian Money Pattern Cards & Counters (adding, subtracting, and using the counters to work on counting by 5's forward and backwards)
     *hour on mathletics computer site (i dont monitor i dont know what she did)

SOCIALS:
We looked up on the globe where BC is, and then the North Pole (Arctic), and South Pole (Antartica).
Addition and Subtraction using Canadian money. Learning about the symbols on each coin and the title of the coins... nickel, dime, quarter, loonie, toonie.

WRITING  / SCIENCE:
Big A did a page on unscramble penguin words:
(bird, swim, beak, chick, feather, penguin, Emperor)
Answered Questions about Penguins... for example:
*do penguins fly?
*can penguins swim?
*what is a group of penguins called?
*what is a baby penguin called?
Big A had to come up with words that make her think about penguins for each of the letter in the word penguin...(she came up with the list all on her own)
Penguin
Egg
North Pole
Gulls
Under water
Ice
Nest (only warm places)

Big A wrote a penguin report and had to find answers to questions in books.

SCIENCE:
Bill Nye the Science Guy DVD *Climates
NOVA: Secrets beneath the ice DVD (Talks about Anarctica and the warming planet.)
Animal Planet: DVD Growing up Arctic...
*Growing up Penguin
*Growing up Polar Bear

FINE ARTS:
MUSIC
     *singing songs with her sister
     *participating in Sunday school songs and church worship time
     *listening to LOTS of music (there is  usually always music being played in the house)

ART
Monday:
     *playdough
     *Big A made 2 beautiful paintings. 1 for my birthday , and one for my mom's newly decorated bathroom.

Big A enjoyed drawing penguins...
Read about and followed coloring instructions for Rockhopper Penguin, Emperor Penguin, and The African Penguin.

READING:
This months theme: "Penguins, Antarctica​, and the Arctic"
BOOKS READ THIS WEEK:
   (Big A had many extra hours for reading this week as she was grounded from TV for 3 days)
*Hand, hand, fingers, thumb. by Al Perkins
*Bears on wheels. by Stan and Jan Berenstain
*The Littlest Turtle. Author unknown. (The Clever Factory Inc)
(monthly theme) *Penguins, Penguins everywhere. by Bob Barner
(monthly theme) *I am small.  by Emma Dodd
(monthly theme) *Tacky the penguin. by Helen Lester
(monthly theme) *Tacky and the Winter Games. by Helen Lester
(monthly theme) *Happy Birthday Tacky!  by Helen Lester
(monthly theme) *Penguins, Penguins everywhere. by Bob Barner
(monthly theme) *Baby Penguin Waddles.  by Smithsonian Institution
(monthly theme) *Penguins! (national geographic kids) by Anne Schreiber
(monthly theme) *Emperor Penguins. by Deborah Lock
(monthly theme) *One Cool  Friend. by Toni Buzzeo


THERAPIES & SUPPORTS:
Behavior Consultant come out Wednesday - great helpful advice as always.

OTHER:
Sunday School & Church
Monday evening: Big A and mommy went to the library to find new books on Penguins, Antartica, the Arctic.

IEP GOAL #1: Playground awareness & Safety:
     *when we walk Little A to preschool, and walk to Mill Lake we talk about being aware of the cars and stopping at the stop signs, and waiting for me before crossing the streets. Big A is doing very well at this.

IEP GOAL #2: Physical functioning: demonstrate awareness of her own physical strength...
     *Big A is very proud of herself when trying activities at the park or at gymnastics, or at Play Abby. Being able to use the equipment like balance beams, trampoline, pulling herself up on the bars, doing sit ups, pumping on the swing by herself.

IEP GOAL #3: Emotional / Behavioual Functioning (trying challenging or non prefered activities)
     *Big A very much impressed me when trying swimming lessons and we got to swimming and she tried to do everything the teacher asked of her and she had fun - no tears the whole time.

IEP GOAL #4: Academic / Intellectual / Cognitive Functioning...(difficulty with new information)
     *I was very surprised and impressed this week when Big A was given an assignment to find out specific information about penguins, she read and searched in many books for the answers. The only answer that she could not find was about how much a penguin weighed and she asked me if I could google the answer. I did - It is nice to see her love of books being put to great use and looking up more information.

IEP GOAL #5: Math...work on sums to 20
     *This week we worked on adding and subtracting with money, she did great!


TIME WITH SEA:

BIG A  weekly report for Jan.5, 2014

Jump Math -10 pages – review

-         Shapes – needed lots of reminders and practice

-         Lines of symmetry and creating symmetry

-Did well and enjoyed this part

Money

            -recognition and value

            -practiced making $1.00 using various coins

            -used Money Pattern Cards and Counters

                        -needed some thinking but was able to do  10/10 questions

            -practiced buying items

Writing– 2 pages in book

            Days of the week (knows well)

Arctic Events Worksheets

            -finding odds, evens – did well

            -Word search – loves doing these

Penguin Study

            -read various books and discussed information

            - Egg to Penguin, Penguins, and Penguins, Penguins Everywhere

            - Worksheets – In the arctic, I saw

                                       - All about penguins

                                       - Penguin Traits

 - great start! She is really enjoying studying this topic.

Art

-         Made a frog finger puppet

-         Good practice cutting, pasting and threading/sewing

Shopping

-         Big A  wanted to shop for gifts for Mom

-         We brainstormed about possible items, decided how much money to spend and how to decide what is best

-         She did very well in the store. Was able to go through 20 books and narrow it down to 1 within about 5 minutes.

Gymnastics

            -was very excited to be back.

            -met some new girls and talked with them a bit

            -complained about a boy that was bugging her

            - was able to jump off of trampoline doing a somersault!

 

 

 

2 week Christmas Break

PE:
around town:
Play Abby indoor playplace
Neighborhood walks
Walk to Mill Lake
   *swings
   *slides
   *excercise equipment

 

 

At home:
*dancing
*hopscotch
*stepstones
*bean bag tossing

Math:
*Hi Ho Cherry O game
*Skip o card game
*Dominos
*Sequence board game

Art:
4 cats Fairytale Art Camp (2 days)  did another beautiful canvas painting, and clay sculpture of a castle.
Big A  was very excited about this class as this is the first one where they got to pick their own colors for the paintings, and create any kind of castle that they wanted too - she chose to do a heart castle. She was very proud of herself as her backdrop for her painting was red and no one else chose to do red.

At home - there was constant coloring, cutting, glueing going  on
There was also much playdough being played with.

Reading:
She finished a chapter book: Bearenstein Bears Gota Dance
She is currently reading Canadian Girls Series (Social Studies)
Big A  read many books to herself and to her little sister during the holidays.


Dec 27th - we were supposed to go iceskating with our church... it was a day filled with fighting, tears, little A biting Big A, the girls were satisfied with nothing, art, playdough, new christmas toys, movies, lego, board games... it didnt matter - the day consisted of fighting and biting and more tears... i gave about 40 warnings that if this behavior continued and if they can not play nicely - I would not be taking them ice skating with me... behaviour continued...I went skating by myself... this of course led to a major melt down by both children. Little A had a meltdown and hit me several times, and Big A went to the negative self talk of how she is the worst child and she wants to know why no one has killed her yet. Such heart breaking words to parents - but I gave them more than enough chances, warnings and activities to choose from during the day :(

Dec 29th -
Today my husband and I redeemed the best Christmas gift we were given this year...
A kind friend took both girls for the evening and sent us on a date to a Thai restaraunt. A new experience and it was quite good. What a treat to get out and not have to pay child care or for the date, and know that our girls were in fantastic hands!!

Jan 2nd -
After supper Big A was complaining about her legs in terrible pain. It was a night of little sleep , and to top it off...
Someone in the apartment building pulled the fire alarm, and Big A's anxiety went through the roof - many tears and worries about the apartment burning down, and us losing everything and becoming homeless. We attempted to hug and reassure her that it was just someone thinking it would be funny to pull the alarm and there was no real fire - but we have to go outside just in case... we also reminded her to let the big people worry about the big problems, and that she would always be taken care of, and have everything she needs.

Little A  - she still is not eating very well, or  much, and there are a few foods now that we are finding that she is throwing up or refluxing... we really need to find us a doctor this year that takes us seriously.

Jan 3rd - Big A is on high alert today and is needing to be in control of everything (my guess is cause of all the pain and fire alarm stuff yesterday).. this is not sitting well with Little A  or mommy... much tears, and drama today.

Jan 4th - what a beautiful sunny day - a great day for a family walk to Mill lake!!