When you're a kid, there's nothing that can be more frustrating than a change in plans. It's true that some changes are ok like an impromptu trip to the zoo or an ice cream date. However, others can be painstakingly demoralizing. For Ellie, the latter was true on Tuesday and Wednesday when she found out that school was cancelled due to bad weather.
I realize that as Ellie gets older, she'll probably learn to love snow days, especially if it results in a test being postponed. I'm clearly not speaking from experience there or anything. For now though, Ellie absolutely detests snow days. She loves her teachers and friends and has an unyielding desire to learn more about the world. Therefore, any interruption in that routine is devastating to her, probably more so due to the fact that she only attends school three days a week.
While it's true that Ellie couldn't go to school this week, Bethany and I figured there was no reason why we couldn't bring school to Ellie. Therefore, we mapped out a "lesson plan" for the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday that would allow us to best replicate Ellie's day at school.
On both Tuesday and Wednesday, we started our day by diving into a Preschool workbook we purchased for Ellie over the summer. We specifically targeted the numbers of 11 through 15 per her teachers, i.e. how to write them and understand them. Ellie honestly has a good handle on numbers so the idea of correctly identifying 15 objects is, dare I say, child's play. She also had the opportunity to spell out the words that correspond with Eleven through Fifteen.
After spending some time working with numbers and writing, we then entered our art and music time. For music time, Ellie listens (and dances along) to the Months of the Year Macarena. What's fun about this is that Ethan is actually able to join in on the fun and the two spend a few minutes dancing and grooving to the music. Our art time, which follows music, consisted of painting a book of Zoo-themed pictures that Ellie has been working on. It's actually been really fun to watch her progress in her painting as time has gone on. Earlier this year, her painting could essentially be referred to as scribbling whereas now she takes great care to paint in the lines.
After music and art time, Ellie will start her center time which gives her another chance to play with Ethan. For center time, I've been having Ellie work with her magnet tiles because I know that it encourages creativity. Not only that, but after Ethan received a set for his birthday, it provides the two with a good opportunity to play together.
One last activity that needs to be mentioned is that on Tuesday, we worked a special "Baking Tuesday" into the curriculum which allowed Ellie to practice the areas of mathematics and science. At least that's what I told myself. If nothing else, we gained some yummy muffins that we didn't previously have as a result of our "studies".
I know that Ellie was definitely disappointed that she didn't get to go to school all three days this week. However, the fact that we got to have school at home and that we even dressed according to the daily themes of this week's spirit week at school have to count for something, right? If nothing else, I definitely earned my keep this week or at least I think I did. Ellie's probably the only one who can answer that question. #DaddyWrite
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