This week we worked on the letter I. Our theme for the week was instruments. For more tot school ideas check out the gathering. We used the book Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! and used the pack from Mudpies and Make-up. Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! Has always been one of Patrick's favorite books. Here is Patrick working on the clip cards from the packet. He struggled with the clothes pins but it was some good fine motor skill practice. He did better with counting and finding the numbers then I expected but still needed plenty of help. He also didn't do as well as I'd expected with identifying the instruments. He used to really be great at this but we have kind of been focusing on other things and last year he tore up our copy of the book and we haven't replaced it. He really did enjoy getting to read the copy I got from the library every chance he had this week. 
Another activity from the packet was arranging violins by size. He did very well with this activity. We tried doing this packet last year and it didn't go so well so it's amazing how much easier it was this year. We really talked a lot about the different families of instruments and he started correctly identifying some but it was more that he memorized them and less understanding why a violin is a string instrument and a trombone is a brass instrument.
An activity that I saw on Pinterest was Q-tip painting. And it really was great for working on a correct pencil grip. He immediately held the Q-tip the correct way. He loved this activity and has been requesting that we do it again. This week we also made orange play doh. I wanted to add pumpkin pie spice to it but we were all out. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg but the smell isn't very strong. I might try adding some later since it's been a hit this week with both kids. 
We also did a science experiment today. We put some rice on a drum and hit the drum to make the rice move. This led to a discussion about vibrations and sound. I also had him buzz his lips and we made a zither, which we had done last time we talked about instruments. It was a nice way to add a little science to our week. I'm really trying to do some science and social studies each week. We also talked about where we might hear instruments but he wasn't too interested and didn't add to the discussion. He has been spending a lot of time using the Handwriting without Tears app for our ipad. He really struggled with making any of the letters on there at first but after just a week has been improving. I've been letting him have extra ipad time if he's working on his letters.
And I think that brings me to my big news for the week! After practicing the letter I, he announced that he wanted to write his name. So he wrote it! His first attempt at an A looked too much like an H even for him so he tried again. Which resulted in him writing PHAT. I'm really proud of him. I didn't give him anything to trace for this nor did I write his name above for him to copy. He took the blank side of a piece of paper and did it all on his own!
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