Tot School - Black and White (and the end of our color study)

We actually have been finished with colors for a few weeks now, but I realized I never shared our black and white color week. I had so little for both that I needed to do them together, and I think it worked out well, since they both highlight something important in the color study - the absence of color, and the culmination of all colors combined.

I will start with our trays and sensory box. I only made two additional trays this time to go alongside our box.

In our Sensory box we had:

White decorative marbles

Black pom poms

Black and White zebra striped notebook

White key chain (stretchable)

Black key chain (stretchable)

Black and white mini's - gorilla, cow, sheep, felt dog and cat, monkey, zebra(s), and miniature bowl.  

One to One correspondence tray - white painter's palette and white marbles

Zebra puzzle

Buddy Boy enjoyed this tray, and did it several times. My intention was to put some sort of tong with this tray, but - it didn't happen. I couldn't honestly tell you why - it just didn't. Hand transfer worked very well, though, and for the last three weeks, I have found many a white marble hiding under my furniture and around the room in hidden spots. :)

I am sad to say that he was completely uninterested in the puzzle tray this time. He had enjoyed the others we did in the past, but I guess there just wasn't a pull to it this time. I did not catch him at any point choosing it, and when I gently suggested it, it was always declined. However, I was able to get a picture of Bug using it - so that's what you get to see, too!

(side note - am I the only one who finds her children's shoes lying all over the place every day of the week - except Sunday, when we need them?)

The sensory box was by far the most used part of this week. That comes as no surprise - they are still his favorite! The mini animals were the most used of the box, as well. He did pull the notebook out and find a crayon from time to time to write in it, but always retreated back to the animals before too long.

Here he decided to see just how far we could get that key chain to stretch. In case you are wondering - no, I have not kept these key chains after the particular color week was over. They aren't in any shape to be used - especially not this white one :)

He decided that one white marble (or two or three) in this mini bowl is perfect for feeding the animals. At one point, he had several animals all around it - presumably eating out of the same bowl. The only place you will ever find a gorilla sharing lunch with a zebra and lamb at the same time! :)

As always, it never fails that we end up playing some sort of ball. This time, he said that we both needed a marble, and the goal became trying to roll our marbles toward each other. Major bonus points were earned if the marbles hit and split in two directions across the room! 

You can't see it from this picture, but during this particular week, it snowed some - which meant that he actually got a full sensorial experience with the color white. It also means that he got distracted quite a bit by the desire to look out the window and watch the snow.

And that, my friends, is how we ended our weeks of color study. I was afraid that, regardless of the time spent, he was still not where I'd hoped he would be. Orally, at this point, he wasn't always connecting the correct color names with the colors themselves. He can, and has been able to, match the colors, so I know he understands the difference. Thankfully, over the last couple of weeks, I have been able to observe through talking with him that he does manage to use the correct color name about 90% of the time. 

Our tot school time will be changing a bit in the next few weeks - it already has, to some extent. Instead of trying to block out 30 minutes - 1 hour every day, I am just incorporating his trays in to the rest of our day. Taking that time for just him was fun, but there were times where he would gladly spend all morning with it, meanwhile - the rest of the kids don't get started right away and makes for a harder time getting them going. His trays now reside on a shelf among the rest of our shelves of work. He can access them any time during the day, and if I am not busy giving a lesson or presentation to one of the other children, and he wants to work, I direct my attention his way and give him that focused time. A few more minor changes are coming, but I will share about those in future posts.