The Napping House

 This week (last week, actually) we read The Napping House by Audrey Wood.  It's about a grandma, kid, and a bunch of animals that fall asleep on top of each other.  They all get awakened by the one sleeping above them. 

We had Margaret and Ava pretend to be the grandma, and then each of the kids had a different stuffed animal to place on top of them as we read the story.  As each of the animals got startled awake, the kids got to throw their animals off.  They thought that was pretty fun.

 

These kids are SOOOOO different from last years group!  Tuesday they were all pretty quiet, and I got a lot of blank faces throughout the day.  I introduced them to the weather lady on Tuesday (last year the kids loved her, and thought she was hilarious), and they didn't know what to think.  Thursday they wanted her to come back, and gave me a few smiles as I made a fool out of myself. 

This is going to be a FUN group! 

After we read the story, we talked about the differences between day and night.  We discussed different animals and whether they sleep at night or in the day.  I talked a little about the term 'nocturnal' with them.  After a few of the comments like, "No, animals sleep during the nighttime (Blake).  It's too dark to be awake in the nighttime (Stewart).", I realized that I needed to bring it down a notch for Thursday.

 

We colored and pasted some animals to show if they stay awake in the day or the night.  I was really impressed how focused they all were with the activities/crafts.  Luke is amazing at coloring.  For the most part he stays in the lines (obviously Ava doesn't from the picture above - he he), and is very aware of what colors certain animals should be.  I was impressed.

 I tried to get some group pictures, so I can replace the blog header picture (bad lighting in that one).  The only time I could get Luke to smile was in this goofy one.

 For snacks we had crackers and cheese shaped like a house for the Napping house.  The apple we decided was a boat. Good kids. :)

 For journal writing and book look I made them sit on their hands, so they wouldn't move.  Is that considered child abuse?  I'm actually surprised they went for it.

 Thursday craft, we made pom pom suns.  We simplified the day and night discussion a little, and they had fun making these.

 Finished masterpieces.

 My elderly neighbor across the street fell on Thursday, so a firetruck and ambulance came and took her to the hospital.  All the kids lined up by the window and watched the whole thing take place. I'm sure it was just as much of a show for the other people looking into my house, with 7 tinies and their little peepers staring out the window.

 We also made noodle moon and stars. It's hard to tell from the picture, but Stewart, Ava, Grant and Blake have their mouths full of "leftover" noodles.

 More projects.  

It really was a fun week.  Not much drama, cute kiddos, fun story, cute crafts, and a fun time had by all. :)