Cole's Cookie

Last week we met Dan for dinner. There was a tasty display of dessert treats that Cole was eyeing up. We told him if he ate a good dinner he could get a treat. He ate and then picked the triple chocolate chunk cookie that looked and smelled so delicious! And it was huge!

The lady brings it over and sets it in front of Cole. Dan reaches across the table and breaks off maybe 1/4 of the cookie and shares with me. Cole is like HEY! We told him he has to share or he doesn't get any. So, he takes the cookie and turns his back on me and scoots to the edge of his seat so he is far from Dan and just nibbles away on the cookie. He is good and quiet and still.

Dan tells Cole to give me a piece. Cole breaks off a tiny piece, looks at it, and then takes a bite from it AND THEN gives it to me!!!!!!!!!

All we could do is laugh!

We all know where the boy gets his love of sweets from! Yep, that's my boy!

Smash Crash

January's Kiddie Book Club (KBC)was perfect for Cole! The book was Smash Crash by Jon Scieszka and after listening to it, that's exactly was they did! They each brought a car to crash into objects stacked around the room. What fun!

Report Card

There have been many firsts that took me by surprise in the last year:
1. Cole going to school.
2. Packing school lunches.
3. School pictures.
4. School parties.
and now...
5. Cole's first report card.

He goes to Speech two days a week and is doing pretty well. They are working on the /f/ sound at the beginning and ending of words. The teacher says he does great for her, but he doesn't like to practice at home or try. (Typical Cole) They work on other sounds as well.

I am hoping that by the time he goes to Kindergarten (2010) that he won't need speech any more.

Math Time

I know Nicole has tips for in-your-head addition...but this is for the kiddos who are ready for that yet.

I just got these flash cards at the dollar spot at Target. I spread them out and let Cole pick one.
Then we use cars (what else?) to figure out the addition problem. 2 cars + 3 cars = 5 cars. (Just have your child count all the cars for the answer.) Use words like "how many cars are there altogether?" It can be hard for kids to "count on" meaning they count the two cars and then move to the group with three and start counting with one again. Help them go one, two, (keep going) three, four, five.


Of course, you don't even need the flash cards. You can do addition with anything around the house or any favorite toys. (forks at dinner time, bowls at breakfast, shoes in the closet, crayons, dots of glue...) I just used the flash cards so Cole could see what addition problems look like. (You could always write it out on paper to show.)

Here we are adding cars on the car hauler...4 cars on top + 3 cars on the bottom = 7 cars altogether.

Cole's Busy Day

Cole told Dan that he "had a busy day with the President." (I had the inauguration on all day and told about the historical event.)

He was loving the motorcade! He was yelling "Cadillac! More Cadillacs! I see a Chrysler Aspen!"

Cole said the president had a list of things to do and he had to ride in his car all day.

Here is Cole playing with his cars while President Obama is walking in front of his.

***snow*** day***

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Cole skipped school today to play in the snow.
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Of course the first thing he does when we get outside is get out his car.

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Catching snowflakes

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Playing with his cars.



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He wanted to play in the sand/water table. I opened it up and this is what we saw...

FROZEN CARS!
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Two Funny Things... having to do with laundry

1. Today I did the laundry...when the timer on the dryer went off Cole said "Mom, the dryer is calling you."

2. "These jammies are back!" That's what Cole says when he finds his favorite jammies in the drawer after I wash them.

Curly Fry Cole

We had Arby's this past weekend...
Cole picked out fries that looked like letters...
He spelled his name!

January and Skinned Knee

Go figure...two days ago Cole was outside playing with shorts on (hence the skinned knee) and today we are stuck inside with a winter weather advisory b/c it is rainy and 32 degrees.

Reading Tips

Most of us have children who are interested in what words say... or can read some already. Here are some things I do with Cole:

I buy this highlighter tape at a teacher store and pick a word in a story that I want Cole to learn. (Sometimes I let him pick the word.) I put the tape on the word wherever it appears in the story. (sometimes I let Cole find the word on the page after he starts to recognize the word.) Then we read the story. When we get to the highlighted word, Cole reads it if he remembers what it is. After a few pages he picks it up.

We started with the. We sang a little song to go with it...to the tune of three blind mice: t-h-e, t-h-e, the the the, the the the.

**Always point to the words when you are reading. They pick up words that way. Cole pointed to the words prize and you and read them...and I had no idea he knew those words!




Now that he knows a bunch of words, I incorporate them whenever I can. Here is today's breakfast! (mini pancakes with words on them. I let him decorate after he reads the words. you can always say "eat the pancake with the word the on it first.") We just use little tubes of icing to decorate and write on the pancakes.


Here is a video with Kindergarten sight words:



I also made a list of some sight words and some words Cole likes. We highlight the words he knows.