the month of "g"

well, only over 2 weeks behind in posting this...

a letter of the month returns!  january was brought to us by the letter "g."

big G, little g:
these pages will be added to our homemade alphabet book as soon as we get through the whole alphabet.

g foods:
grapes are a favorite snack in our house.  we also bought ginger, and emma tasted some ginger powder (she also likes the pickled ginger that comes with your sushi).  we made gingerbread boys and girls and decorated them with icing.

 gideon:
we read about gideon in judges 6-8, and learned how he trusted in God to beat the midianites (we also discovered that God starts with the letter "g" too, what do you know!).  the first time through, we read through the whole story in the "regular" (a.k.a mommy's) bible, while the second time around we read the story through emma's bible.  i showed emma some lambswool to coincide with this section of the story, and then made a simple torch (found here) to coincide with this section of the story.

"g" memory verse:
i picked a verse that went along with our study of gideon:

trust in the Lord with all of your heart, do not lean on your own understanding.

(proverbs 3:5 esv)

"g"-themed books:
go wild girrafes
berenstain bears no girls allowed
God gave us you
giggle, giggle, quack
the gas we pass
emma's gift
gallop
go dog go
berenstain bears week at grandma's

girl:
i printed out pictures of family members and had emma sort them in a "boy" cup or a "girl" cup.

 glitter glue:
emma LOVES her glitter glue and was more than happy to do this activity.

glue/glue tray:
i set up a couple of glue trays for emma to do through out the month inspired from this site.  the first tray was "g"-centered (green pom-poms, green shapes, girrafe print shapes, letter G).  the second tray consisted of gluing ribbons on a paper towel roll.  the glue gets a little messy, so it was nice to have the cookie sheet available to catch all the drips.

 green:
we identified some things around us that were green: kitchen wall, mommy's phone, emma's green slippers, green grapes...and of course it was important to point the green lady (a.k.a. ibu, who really, really, really loves green!).

gastrointestinal tract:
okay, the technical term probably went  over her head, but she now knows what happens to food after she swallows it.  we traced her body on butcher paper and drew the basics of the digestive system: esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine.  then we cut out some pictures of foods that we can eat to help your body stay healthy and strong and glued it inside her body.

 garden:
since it is the middle of winter over here, we made a little paper garden by using this craft to make the flowers.  i found a small box which i filled with some foam peanuts i had lying around.  then, emma and i tore pieces of green tissue paper (left over from christmas presents) which covered on top of the foam peanuts for grass.  we stuck all the flowers we made into the box (the peanuts help hold up the flowers) and used the paper garden as a cetnerpiece for our dining table.  tres chic.

"g" people we know:
Gram, Grandpa John and Gibson (of course!).  Emma also learned that the word grandparents starts with the letter "g," and that she had four of them: ibu, grandpa, gram and pap.

"g" matching game:
i made 5x5 wordsearch putting in a letter "g" in each row.  then i printed off some letter "g"s on those blank, white circle stickers (that you use for garage sales) and had her match the g on the sticker with the g on the paper.  she had so much fun doing it that she wanted to match all the letters in the wordsearch.

groceries/grocery store:
there were plenty of opportunities to go grocery shopping last month.  we usually go to 3 different ones: trader joe's, marc's and giant eagle.

guessing:
i made up a little guessing game to introduce her to sequencing and patterns with some cups and colored pom poms.  afterwards, emma made up a few of her own guessing games that mommy had to participate in.

guitar:
emma learned the difference between an acoustic and an electric guitar.  daddy's black one in the dining room is an acoustic because it's hollow (there's a a big hole inside).  in the basement, daddy has 3 electric guitars, which requires a cord plugged into an amplifier for the sound to come out.  we counted all the guitars in the house (grand total of 6) and then emma enjoyed some play time with the les paul (dad was happy to help).

 we watched the video below (i skipped through the beginning to get to the good stuff) on how to make a gibson guitar...

...and learned that 2 of daddy's electric guitar's are gibsons.

we also made a trip to guitar center to look at all the guitars and try out all the other instruments there.  dad was very excited that a "field trip" to guitar center was part of the learning experience and couldn't wait to come along.

 we galloped and giggled with each other through out the house.

emma learned that her middle name, grace, starts with the letter "g." and she also learned that when mommy says, "gosok gigi" it means "brush your teeth" in indonesian.

and that's the end!  until next month...