Jen Desmarais is the creator of the sex education game Blush and co-author of "Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers" and "Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests." "Crushing It" was her first solo novel.
You can also find a short story by Jen in "Nothing Without Us Too", and a novella in "The Mystery of the Dancing Lights".
Co-founder of JenEric Designs, she creates unique geeky crocheted items. Her blogs The Travelling TARDIS and How I Taught My Dragon have been nominated for the Prix Aurora Awards over 2018-2023.
She lives in Ottawa with her author husband, daughter, son, and their library of over 3000 books.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
I am not the biggest Star Wars fan, but am I ever a fan of Spaceballs. (I think maybe because I saw it first and then Star Wars couldn’t live up to the hype.) I love Barf. He’s always so cheerful and fun.
Pegasus didn’t remember the movie from before, and he really enjoyed it. He re-enacted large chunks of the movie with his toys later on in the week.
Dance
As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.
Music
His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book.
Crochet
We haven’t started this yet.
Basic Information
We kept up with these throughout the break, so he was still able to repeat these quite well. We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.
Printing words
These worksheets have 2 more words than last semester’s, so I didn’t print the tracing sheet. He appreciated that because he prefers the activities, and many of those have printing involved anyway.
Counting objects/math-type activities
He still has no problems with counting these, and I feel like his numbers have improved. I did not print the tracing sheet, and he had no problems.
Then there was the new math worksheets. He REALLY likes these and had a lot of fun with the more challenging one. I showed him how to count higher than his fingers by drawing lines and he was very enthusiastic.
Storytime
We read the 4 French library books throughout the week.
Activity
Zhezhi – after much deliberation, Pegasus decided to make a frog. We used this set of instructions. I highly recommend origami paper over construction paper, but it will do in a pinch. He needed a bit of help, but only with the tinier folds.
Make noodle soup – the recipe from the lesson plan was used for the soup, with some substitutions. We had some leftover turkey soup broth from the last time we made turkey soup (note that the “we” used here is Éric). Pegasus decided on which flavours to use for the chicken and broth. It was deemed yummy by both kids.
Shrinky dinks – This was a huge hit. He was excited to make them beforehand, and even though his hand hurt from colouring, he wanted to keep working on them. I convinced him that this could take more than one day. Note to people trying this: use paperclips on all four directions or binder clips. It shifts REALLY easily. ALSO note: make sure you’re drawing on the rougher side of the plastic, not the shiny side!! I definitely panicked when it was in the oven; it takes a little longer than it says, and it also folds up quite drastically and then bubbles dramatically before settling.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
Pegasus didn’t remember the movie from before. And the day after, he quoted part of the movie (on purpose) in English. But we watched it in French. Which means he translated it in his head and remembered the translation.
Dance
As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.
Music
His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He also created his own drum kit in the living room.
Crochet
We haven’t started this yet.
Basic Information
We kept up with these throughout the break, so he was still able to repeat these quite well. We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
I taught him about the seasons today. He was excited that he knew the names of some of them.
Printing words
These worksheets have 2 more words than last semester’s. I’m thinking of no longer printing the tracing words, as he seems to be doing just fine with his printing.
Counting objects/math-type activities
He still has no problems with counting these, and I feel like his numbers have improved. Again, I’m thinking of not doing the tracing ones.
Then there was the new math worksheet. It was definitely too easy for him. I explained what he should do for the first one, asking about how many objects he was holding (pencil and eraser), and then he zipped through the rest. I’m hoping the worksheets are more challenging in the future; I haven’t looked ahead, and I’m reusing the ones from Dragon. The suite at the bottom was really easy for him too.
Storytime
We read the 4 French library books.
Activity
Draw an invention – He struggled to come up with a concept for his invention, but he eventually came up with something that he was having trouble with; he’s had a lot of colds recently, and he doesn’t like having a runny nose or ear infections. Thus, the Ear, Nose, Lip Dryer was born! The air goes through the device (from the blank bubble toward the lined bubble) and into the body via the affected area with a push of a button (buttons not depicted).
Make a lava lamp – I feel like this was a little more dramatic than the one that I did with Dragon. Pegasus was very excited about the bubbles, and was also excited to show his sister.
Make book of shapes – this was an activity that one of Dragon’s due date group kids did before the holidays back in 2020. I really liked the idea, so I wanted to do it again with Pegasus. We started by making a list of shapes (formes) and figuring out their names and what colour they should be. He was very decisive that the order should be what we had written down. He printed every word and drew every shape in the book itself, using my template as reference. He loved making a checkmark on the list after completing each page. The progression of his interest in this activity was… interesting, for the lack of a better word. He was invested while we made the list, he didn’t want to start the book, he groaned and complained through the first two pages, he zoomed through the rest, constantly begging to work on his book, and then at the end, he didn’t want to show it off to anyone. I don’t know. It was strange. He was fine with me posting about it though.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
I loved this dress and then when I was editing the picture, I noticed the soot sprites! They’re so cute! (I’m sure I saw them at the time, but I didn’t remember, so it was like a surprise!)
This is one of my favourite movies, so I had to include it. Also, it’s never too early to introduce time travel to kids! (Yes, that’s a joke, but also true!)
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
Addition and pattern – worksheet
Storytime
Activity
Draw a new invention (link here) Lava Lamp Experiment (link here) Make book of shapes – one shape per page, colour it and describe it (eg. A purple square, a green triangle, a pink heart, a yellow star). Use staples to attach pages together.
