Week 2 Recap

(Photo credit: the incomparable Martin Reisch, aka Safe Solvent)

Note to self: Keeping to any schedule, even a flexible schedule, is difficult when mom’s in town. Overall, I think we covered everything (or almost everything) from this week’s plan, but our days definitely didn’t have the same “routine”.

Books:

Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! (N. Wallace) – I think this is a fantastic book to add to any curriculum. Within the story, there are a number of seed-related activities (sorting seeds, filling a bird feeder, etc.) that any preschooler can do.
Curious George Plants a Tree (M & H.A. Rey) – The title is misleading as the book actually talks about recycling. It was still a fun book to read and, like I said, George always delivers.
A Plant is a Tree (C.R. Bulla) – An informative book that goes through the life cycle of apple trees within each season.
B is for Brooklyn (S. Alko) – This book goes through each letter of the alphabet, with respect to the various attractions in Brooklyn. It’s a fun book with cool illustrations. Truthfully, I think I enjoyed the book more than my preschooler!

Activities:
My daughter loved Veggiecation’s free cooking class this week, and we plan to make it a monthly event. We repeated the recipe at home, and she enjoyed making it a second time, but wasn’t as keen to eat it (probably because she’s a social eater–go figure).

At the beginning of the week, we went to the park to scavenge for “tree parts”–leaves, seeds, bark and small branches.

At the end of the week, we made a “tree collage”. I cut open a paper shopping bag and drew a bare tree lengthwise on the bag. My preschooler and I glued the various tree parts we collected on the tree and labeled them. Here’s the finished tree:

My preschooler loves to dance, and we started going to a drop-in ballet class at the Dance Project of Washington Heights. It’s fun, inexpensive, and an excuse to explore a different neighborhood.

Speaking of new neighborhoods, we went to Brooklyn Bridge Park with my mom, ate a pizza from Grimaldi’s and walked around the park. We were “supposed” to for for a square scavenger hunt at the park, but the beauty of the bridge and Manhattan skyline distracted us.

On to week 3!