* played syllable bingo: first I called and she found them on her board/s, then she called. She extended it while calling so that she was reading blends from the posters on the wall as well as the list of syllables I had written up
* keyboard practice
* sorted/tidied her room and collected up everything which she doesn’t want to keep in her room any more
* looked at CAA Oxfam Christmas catalogue together and talked about my wanting to have a more sustainable ethos behind our gift-giving, ie. giving less “stuff” and trying to buy sustainable/ethical gifts wherever possible. Discussed starting a new Christmas tradition of getting her and K a CAA Christmas tree ornament every year (she looked at the catalogue and decided which one she liked best). Also talked about other gifts she might like.
* looked after K outside while I tidied/vacced one half of the dining room
* reading aloud: first chapter, “Captain Cook”, from The Australian History Collection
* playing in sandpit with hose
* reading aloud: subsequent chapters “The First Fleet”, “Bass and Flinders” and “Buckley’s Chance”, from The Australian History Collection
* reading aloud: Once Upon a Starry Night, by Jacqueline Mitton (the stories behind some of the major constellations)
* made tuna pasta salad for lunch
* watched ABC schools’ TV recorded from earlier: Count Us In – Length, and For The Juniors – Minibeasts Bush Pond
* went to the Markets for F&V shopping
* keyboard practice
* reading: mental “weightlifting” to improve her visual memory
* reading aloud (getting through as many of the overdue library books as we can before we have to take them back!): The Faery’s Gift, by Tanya Robyn Batt, The Legendary Unicorn by Udo Weigelt, Mr Archimedes’ Bath by Pamela Allen, Patrick’s Dream by Cynthia and William Birrer, and East o’ the Sun, West o’ the Moon, a Norwegian folktale translated/retold by Sir George Webbe Dasent. The latter was definitely my favourite – a fabulous rollicking tale which, despite being very long and repetitive, absolutely rolled off the tongue. Pure magic to read aloud 🙂 The fact that Mr Archimede’s Bath is a retelling of the Eureka!-in-the-bath story is fairly obvious, but I should probably note that the book Patrick’s Dream was a retelling of the story of St Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland.