Lesson Plan

Hi All!

I'm going to attempt to come up with some lesson plans each week for Little Man.  After I planned this one I realized how time intensive it is to plan these lessons out!  I'm sure as I start planning more lessons it will get easier (I hope) because I'll find some great sources for ideas and inspirations. 

This is the first lesson plan I've created ever.  I have absolutely no background in Childhood Education (my B.S. was in Criminal Justice) but I figured I go for it.  I feel like this may be too much to try and get done and should probably scale it down.  We'll see. 

This plan is for next week.  Since next Saturday is St. Patrick's Day I picked a "green" theme and went with the color green and frogs.

I'll try to post each day next week and let you know how things are going.  I've never read any of these books before, so I'll let you know if any of them are keepers :D  

Monday:
Book: Mr. and Mrs. Green by Keith Baker  (This book was more like a chapter book.  Nice pics though)


 Froggie went a-courtin by Iza Trapani

Art:  Color a Frog 
Exercise:  Hop like a frog
Activity:  Talk about the frog. What does the frog say?  What does the frog do? What color is the frog?  What does the frog eat?

Tuesday:
Book:  Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson

Song:  There was a frog which swallowed a......
Exercise:  Hop like a frog
Art:  Water and Marker Painting
 
Wednesday:
Book:    A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson

Green:  Seeing Green All Around Us by Keith Baker

Activity:  Discovery Bag (Put green objects into a pillowcase, let the kids take the objects out and explain the color and shape of the objects)
Activity:  Odd Color Out (Use objects from the discovery bag but add new color.  Tell him the color of the "odd" object.  Put the "odd object" next to the green objects and have him pick out the "odd" colored object)
Song:  Five Little Speckled Frogs

Thursday:
Book:  Little Green by Keith Baker



Tuesday by David Wiesner


Activity:  Color Flashcards (use colored paper to explain colors to your child)
Activity:  Show Little Man Colored frog.  What does the frog say?  What does the frog do? What color is the frog?  What does the frog eat?

Friday:
Books:  Pick out our favorite and read them again!
Activity:  Pick out our favorite activity and do it again!
Exercise:  Hope like a frog!

Shared With:
ABC and 123

Chocolate Souffles

Happy Sunday!

I apologize for getting these Sunday dessert posts out so late. I need to get it together!

Anyhow....our Sunday dessert for this week: Mini Chocolate Souffles.  The recipe comes from Oxygen Magazine. 

The recipe calls for: unsweetened cocoa, white wheat flour, low-fat milk, honey, vanilla extract, egg whites and cream of tarter.

I had to slightly alter the recipe because I didn't buy low-fat milk last week.  My options were Little Man's whole milk, or almond milk.  Since using the whole milk kind of defeats the purpose of a healthy dessert, I opted for the almond milk.  I also didn't have white wheat flour on hand, and I didn't want to buy any since the recipe called for a tablespoon and a half.  I used regular whole wheat flour instead. 

This recipe was really easy to make (see the recipe for full details)

Unfortunately ours really didn't come out very well.  They had a very nice rise to them, but they were really under cooked.  I even cooked the second batch at a higher temperature and for longer.  It still tasted yummy, but it was definatly under done.  I'm wondering if this has to do with the almond milk instead of the regular milk.  I've never cooked with almond milk before, so I have no idea.  The Hubs and I still devoured them :D

The recipe got really good reviews on the website , so it might just be the way I made them.  

I guess the lesson of the day is that sometimes it's okay to swap ingredients, and sometimes you just shouldn't. 

If anyone else tries this recipe and it comes out right, let me know.  I'll probably try it again with regular milk just to see if that makes the difference.  I'll let you all know when I try it again. 

Physical Fitness

 I mentioned in my last post how physical fitness and eating healthy are very important to me and how I realize how we treat our bodies today will impact our health in the future.


I recently joined a gym.  I decided to create a little list to help me get out my door and into the gym easier.  When you have a toddler and the responsibilities or running your household, it's really easy to get caught up in your daily activity and put your workout on the back burner. 

1.  Set a Goal:  Have a realistic goal.  Set a date you want to reach your goal, and write down how your going to reach your goal.  When you set a goal, don't just say I want to lose "x" amount of pounds.  Write down why you need to lose "x" amount of pounds.  Make sure to set mini goals, too.
Saying you want to lose 50 pounds is great.  But physcological it seems like a lot.  Breaking that 50 pound loss into mini goals, like losing 5 pounds a month seems much more attainable.  You'll be celebrating the 5 pounds you lost in a month instead of focusing on that 50 pound that can sometimes seem out of reach. 

2.  Schedule it in.  I use Money Saving Mom's Household Management charts to keep me organized and on schedule.  This also helps me not to neglect anything important I have to do around the house.  It helps to schedule your workouts in during the same time and days during the week.  Put it on your daily "to-do" list.  I like mine first thing in the morning so I don't have to worry about getting caught up on something "more important".

3.  Make breakfast the night before.  I'm in love with making overnight oats.  Super yummy and super quick to make.  I'll make my oats for The Hubs, me and Little Man when I'm making dinner. 

4.  Lay out gym clothes the night before:  Can't tell you how many times I've skipped a worked out because I couldn't find my sports bra, or all my shorts were dirty. 

5.  Pack your gym bag the night before:  Make sure your water bottle is full, your towel is packed, and you have your plan.

6. Create a plan:  Wandering around the gym wondering what to do next is a waste of time.  Plan your workout ahead of time.  Even if you're working out at home you should always know what you're going to do the night before.  It's really easy to get distracted. (visit bodybuilding.com or Oxygen Magazine for ideas) 

7.  Understand your Workout:  Nothing worse than creating a plan and then forgetting how to do the exercise.  Feel free to write down notes in your workout journal. (bodybuilding.com has a lot of videos that will help you learn how to do your exercise right)

8.  Create a Backup plan:  You wake up to run and it's raining outside.  That's not an excuse to ditch your workout today.  Can you lift weights instead?  Or turn on an exercise video?  Even stretching is good.  

9.  Write it down: I like to write my completed workouts on a monthly calender.  This helps to keep me accountable.  Seeing all my workouts makes me feel proud of myself for my dedication and makes me want to workout again.  

10.  Create a Workout Journal:  Use this to create your plan.  It's really cool to look back after you've made progress with weights, or distance, or just feeling better while you're working out. 

11.  Motivation:  Find some sort of motivation.  Post your goals somewhere you can see them often, or create some sort of vision board, read fitness magazines or blogs. 

12. Tell Someone:  Tell someone, anyone, your goals, your accomplishments, your failures.  You can tweet it, blog it, Facebook status is, tell your hubby, BFF, a stranger, or your dog.  This helps you hear encouragement and also kinda holds you accountable.  They might ask how your goal is going or how your workouts are going, and you'll want to tell them something positive. 

13.  Create a reward:  Could be something small or something big.

14.  Workout as a Family:  The Hubs and I really enjoy it when we run together.  It's quite bonding to us and a way to spend time together.  It's also a great way to inspire your kids and to show them it's important to take care of themselves.   Play catch, ride bikes, swim, kick a ball.  Working out doesn't have to be work.  Make it fun!

My Big Rocks

I recently started up at the gym last week.  I went onto Money Saving Mom's website to download her (awesome) schedules so that I can work the gym into my day to day routine easier.   

I happened to notice she had a new series she was writing about developing a routine. What luck!

I expected a "how to get the most done in a single day that you possibly can" type of post.  I stand very corrected.

She writes that when thinking about your routine, start with "the big rocks".  That is, consider what will matter to you most 25 years from now.  


Not what I was expecting.  When I think of routines, I think of my day to day "to do" list; the day to day grind.  The "big picture" never really occurred to me.  I mean, sure, it does, but not when I'm making my day to day to-do list. 

She writes "Develop your daily routine with the big rocks in mind. You’ll likely be able to find time for some pebbles and sand, too, but begin with what matters most."  

Makes sense to me.  I feel it's really easy to get caught up in the "fillers" of life that really don't make much of a difference in the days, weeks, or years to come.  It comes down to the priorities in your life. 

Here's mine:
1. Spending quality time with my husband and son.
2. Preparing healthy meals for us.
3. Work on my physical fitness.
4. Work on my creativity. 
5.  Spending quality time with family and friends.
It seems like if I put my emphasis on these things now, our future as a family well be tremendously better for it.

 My "big rocks" may change slightly in the future.  I'll probably end up going back to work at some point, so I'm sure a career will be in here one of these days.  But right now these are my "big rocks".  Right now I'm focused on setting our family up to have long and healthy lives together.  

Although my current focus on my blog is my family, I'm going to make it a little more specific and and focus on my "big rocks" (I like writing that hehe)

What are your big rocks?

(I don't mean to high-jack Crystal's post nor take any sort of credit for it.  I hope people do not feel I'm "leaching" off her post.  It really inspired me to evaluate my own priorities and long term goals.  Please read Crystal's Money Saving Mom Blog for the rest of the series and for more information)