Today I watched my friend's daughter because my friend had to have gall bladder surgery, so our day went a bit differently (but what day isn't different?).

HWOT
I asked Elijah to do a row of B's on a new sheet of grey block paper (each page has 6 rows, I think).  He told me he wanted to do ALL the blocks.  He worked really hard and completed an entire page of B's!  I knew I had to recognize this behavior, so I took him over to The Blessing Chart (www.doorposts.com) and showed him the spot for diligence.  We talked about how he had been diligent and what that means, and I gave him a big bear hug (he loves this kind of recognition from us).   I also told him that he did a great job being responsible this morning.  While I was putting Simon down for a nap, Elijah dropped our big (and I mean big-honking-huge) box of crayons.  When I came down stairs, he was almost finished picking them up.  Wow.  They really do grow up. 

Unit Study-- The Very Busy Spider
I taught Elijah the nursery rhyme, "Little Miss Muffett"
Then, we had a great time acting it out with Mrs. Potato head and a Kid K'nex spider that Elijah made.  Elijah was laughing so hard every time the spider scared Mrs. Potato head away...we kept adding dialogue and changing what she was eating (what are curds and whey, anyway?)

Elijah and his friend looked at The Big Book of Bugs and Creepy Crawlies.

Other
Cutting Card #3

Nature Walk with our friend.  She found a huge beetle (dead), and was not afraid to put it in her bag!   She also picked up a cicada (live) and it buzzed and screeched at her; she dropped it and picked it up again!  I told her she was bug-brave.   Elijah found some pinecones and sticks (sticks...boys...why must they always grab sticks on their nature walks?).  For Elijah's nature journal he chose a milkweed bug we'd brought inside.  Our friend Josephine chose the purple cone flower she picked for her mom to nature journal about. 

Well, I finally counted and we've mailed out eleven letters to family and friends.  I think six have responded!  This is a great way to demonstrate to a child how rewarding it is to be able to read and write (even if they can't yet...it makes them more word conscious).  Not to mention my family members are happy to hear from Elijah (I play the part of personal secretary and write down his dictation in letter form).

I would love to post some pictures later tonight.  I will see if Jason will upload the pictures for me.