Month: April 2011

Tumbling Tykes: Day 10

Today’s tumbling class went by really fast and I ended up with not very many photos.

Warming up before the real fun begins!

Ms. Mo showing the class how to do the Chicken Limbo!

Isabel was the line leader today so she got to try the Chicken Limbo first.

Today they jumped off backwards off the dismount stairs. The focus was to see how they dismounted with arms out, chin up, hiney out.

Balance beam work… toe, heel, toe, heel…

The BEST photo that I got!!!!…
Isabel actually balancing on the balance board! WAY TO GO!
(BTW… just like Kate, Isabel was holding the wall as well, until I went over and told her what she was to do… and she did it!)

After class I wanted to get a few photos of Isabel doing her other activities that I couldn’t get during class for various reasons…

Above she is working on eye-hand coordination.
The class threw bean bags into buckets while standing/kneeling behind the cones.

I had wanted to get a good shot of her doing the Chicken Limbo but this was the best that I got.

Ms. Mo gave out homework this week, along with our own “balance beam”…
1. airplane arms
2. toe/heel toe/heel toe/heel
3. look straight ahead
4. chin up (we need to work on this one!)
5. nice dismount (superman arms, knees bent, hiney out and chin up!)
Practice – Practice – Practice – Please!

A Little Polish

Several weeks ago Isabel noticed some of the girls at school with nail polish on. She had asked me if she could have some too and I told her no because we didn’t have any polish. I think the last time I painted my nails was when I was 13 or so, I’m just not into polished nails anymore. However it stuck in my mind and yesterday while we were running into Rite Aid, I noticed the polish and decided to get a bottle (and remover) just for her… a purple sparkle color that when brushed on is very light in color!

The basic equipment needed for our “mini mani”

Before the polish…

I think she’s excited!

I have some toe dividers that I got from a gift bag when we were going to MOPS (4 yrs ago!) and decided that they would work at keeping her fingers separated and free from smudges. Which actually worked out beautifully!

Waiting very patiently for her nails to dry.

… a little later I found her using the dividers for a comb!

… and after. I applied 2 coats just to make it a bit brighter then just the 1 coat.

Later that day… when she was in her tumbling/gymnastics class she had to stop the class from doing their routines to show off her painted nails!
But she forgot to show anyone in class on Wednesday!

School News: No Photo

It looked to be a good day as we headed out to school this morning but it all changed by the time I went to pick Isabel up from school. Later in the afternoon, it would hail, then rain, then clear up and then the sun would come out. This continued for the rest of the afternoon until around 5 or 6 p.m.

Today they worked on something “BIG”. Something that is a secret (to all the mother’s) and I’m not supposed to know about… I do know however that it has to do with Mother’s Day. They had several father helpers to help with whatever they worked on.

The Bible story today was about Creation. Isabel couldn’t remember what part of the story that they focused on.

They did NOT work in their Monday Morning Journals, Isabel said. She seemed a bit upset by this but I told her it was probably because they had so much to do today and just didn’t have time since they didn’t have time for “free play” either. I told her they would probably do it on Wednesday and not to worry.

They played in the playground and the court yard because they had to share the playground with another class. Isabel said while they were in the court yard they (meaning the girls) were trying  to keep away from the boys.

The special helper today was Makayla. For show and tell Makayla brought 2 My Little Ponies®. For snack, Makayla brought to share carrot sticks, chocolate bunny crackers and apple juice. Isabel said she ate her whole snack because she wanted to eat it all and she didn’t want to bring it home. I was glad to hear that she was eating carrots because she’s been saying she doesn’t like carrots anymore, when I know that she does.

I also need to say that the special helper friend Makayla picked was Isabel. Isabel was so excited that Makayla picked her to be her special helper friend!

School News: Spring Break Homework

Over the spring break holiday, Isabel was given her homework for the month. We worked on it today… Enjoy!

I wanted her to do something completely different then what she has done before on her previous homework assignments. No noodles, beans, glitter, stickers, cotton balls, pom poms, cereal; none of that! So I decided she was going to water color her assignment but since the paper was purple it was going to be hard to see. So I traced the flower onto watercolor paper and had her paint it and after it dried she cut it out!

For some reason I didn’t get any photos of her actually painting but I did get the rest of the project on camera…

I had her color two different sheets for the petals and the leaves/stem. The first layer of petals she painted all blue. The second layer of petals she painted all different colors (that is the one she is holding).

The first layer as it looked before it was glued down.

The second layer of petals after she cut them out.

All that early cutting practice has really paid off… she cuts so well!

After gluing down the first layer (the blue), we then added the second layer (the multicolored) and then curled it to give it a 3D effect to the petals. I thought of adding a second layer to the leaves but really like the way it turned out. She did a great job (with a bit of help from me with the gluing and tracing).

 

Note: There aren’t very many “flowers” on the board at school so I will wait until the following week to get a photo of the awesome board!

Tumbling Tykes: Day 9

I found it a little odd that they would schedule a tumbling class during Spring Break. However since we were in town, we decided not to miss a day of tumbling! Enjoy!
BTW… I was using my pocket camera and some of the photos look terrible!

After warming up the class, Ms. Mo took the class around the room to show them each exercise that was to be practiced today. Afterward, the class was given “free time” to practice each exercise on their own, while Ms. Mo helped those that needed help on the forward roll with the cylinder.

After doing this with Ms. Mo, Isabel seemed to get better with balance and keeping her feet heel-to-toe.

Forward roll practice. Ms. Mo says she uses the cylinder pad to make sure the kids are tucking theirs chins down all the way when doing the forward roll.

Forward roll on the cone mat. Isabel was doing great on this! The object is to get each child to go down the cone and be able to stand up after the forward roll.

Hand-eye-coordination. Two boards were place on the ground with a stuffed animal on one end. Each child was to jump with both feet or one foot (depending on the board) on each board and were to catch the stuffed animal as it flew up in the air. Isabel was able to catch the first animal but wasn’t able to catch the second animal.

Next to the hand-eye-coordination boards were placed three balance boards. Each one with a taller and taller amount of board to balance on. Above Isabel is trying to balance on the smallest balance board.

The tallest balance board was the hardest to balance on but Isabel tried! The middle balance board, she said her shoes kept sliding off.
(Note to self: wear different shoes next week!)

Next week they will again practice on the balance boards and with the hand-eye-coordination boards and Ms. Mo is bringing her parachute again! What fun!