W is for Water part 1

This week was W is for Water week.  However, I did not get to everything that I had planned for this unit so we will finish up next week.

New things we added to our week

We added in CLE Sunrise Math 1.  To say that Bud likes his new Math curriculum would be an understatement.  He loves it and asks to do his Math lesson everyday including on our free day (today) when he asks to do two lessons instead;)   It's safe to say this kids loves numbers---I mean he did have a numbers themed birthday party after all.

We also started prepping for our garden.  I find it funny how the kids love playing in the dirt like a sandbox...'look at this snail', 'I'm digging a hole to China', 'I killed this ____ many grubs today'.  It's funny to me because I was raised in the city and in the A/C capitol at that ---so to see my kids enjoying nature just makes me chuckle.  We planted some seeds inside and are growing nicely in their little egg cartons at our kitchen window.


The great outdoors

We've stayed on target with our goal of spending an hour each day outside.  We are not journaling right now--just enjoying.  I hope to add in some narration/journaling soon.  But, if we not we will start it in the Fall with a more focused Nature Study.  We are all enjoying this gorgeous weather.  We are on the look out and have spotted different butterflies and birds (blue jays).  Maybe we need to get a water feature or bird feeder---thoughts?

Read Alouds

 We finished up "The House at Pooh Corner" and our starting "Winnie the Pooh" by A.A. Milne.  It is quite exciting to see how the kids respond to read aloud books with very few pictures.  It is a great exercise in using their imaginations.  This is one habit we intend to keep.


Bud and Sissy especially love the 'tiddely pom' song: 


hummed by Pooh in Chapter One of "The House at Pooh Corner", by A.A. Milne.

The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
On snowing.
And nobody knows
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
Are growing.

W is for Water

We use MFW K for our core unit of study.  The theme for this week was

W is for Water
Words to remember: Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink
Bible Reading/Focus (Hubbard's Cupboard): Esau and Jacob
BFIAR: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

I'll post the information books we used on next week after we finish the unit.

In addition to the great ideas and activities from MFW K and message boards, we used the following:

Water Cycle Coloring Pages

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/index.html

ice/salt experiment

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/phenom/risingice.html

Rain in a jar:

http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2009/04/storytime-and-creative-play-rain-rain.html

Water cycle song:

http://www.proteacher.org/a/12048_Water_Cycle_Song.html

planting sunflowers with Daddy

it's an adventure not work

helping Daddy

I love those sweethearts!  Can you believe Little Bear climbs up there by himself?

Bud digging his 'hole to China'

chulo!

Water as a liquid experiment --ready

pouring water into different shaped containers

observing that water as a liquid has no shape

I found a bug!

Look what I can do Mom!

up in their play house

Bud and Sissy---silly faces;)

Dump trucks, dirt and boys---c'mon they kind of go hand in hand right?

my boys

Some of our Math 'manipulatives'

looking through his Math workbook

Quiet time - picture books on the big comfy chair

Linking to:

Preschool Post @ Homeschool Creations

Weekly Wrap-up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

O is for Octopus (Ocean Animals)

It was O is for Octopus (ocean animals) Week this week using MFW K.  This was  a much better week overall.  I was much more prepared than usual.  I created my own weekly planner pages. I also stocked our homeschool filing tote with all the printables and supplies we needed ahead of time. All of those things helped this week to flow smoothly.  Let's see if I can keep it up.

I also started our new Bible reading schedule following the reading/ theme suggestions from Hubbard's Cupboard.  It was also 'box' week--as we got two new boxes with homeschooling materials for the rest of the year (CLE Math and Intro to Classical Music).

With the weather changing into Spring (some days at least), I've made a renewed effort to spend time outdoors each day.  My goal is an hour each day, but, this week it all depended on the weather.  We went outside and played 4 days out of the week---and made our goal of an hour or over twice.


Okay back to our week---

Bible theme: Abraham from Hubbard's Cupboard

Devotional: O is for Obey Your Parents from 'Big Thoughts' devotional

The words to remember were: 'Even the octopus praises the Lord'

Our read alouds were Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky and A House for a Hermit Crab by Eric Carle


Also reading: In Which a House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore by A.A. Milne

picking weeds;)

Collecting weeds...ahem..I mean a bouquet

Enjoying the backyard

her sweet bouquet

burning energy

Little Bear is almost 2.

having snack outside

Reading about animals in the ocean

What is this?

....why it's a hotdog octopus of course;)

coloring their ocean animal puppets

Bud coloring his puppets

Sissy and her 'House for a Hermit Crab' puppets

Bud lined his up

finishing his last one

What a difference a day makes--outside with jackets and hats.

Little Bear sitting with Bud in time out;)

Working on phonics

the number chart that came with his math curriculum

Looking through his math activity book

Other books:

McLimans, David

Gone fishing : ocean life by the numbers / David McLimans.

Ryan, Pam Munoz.

Hello ocean / Pam Munoz Ryan ; illustrated by Mark Astrella.

Ocean Animals booklet

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/animals/ocean/

House for a Hermit Crab puppets
http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/f.jsp?id=32226

Mama Jenn's WTR illustration/narration sheets
http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/08/words-to-remember-mfw-kindergarten.html

Linking to:

Preschool Post @ Homeschool Creations



Weekly Wrap-up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

The big preschool post

This week I had three different people ask or talk to me about things to do activity-wise with preschoolers. I always recommend Before Five in a Row and then go on to say something like 'there is so much available online'.  This post is a place I thought I can point friends to if they ask about some of my favorite resources.

So, I have included links specifically for the nursery and preschool crowd;)  This is not an exhaustive list by any means.   However, these are the sites that I have used or frequent for ideas, materials and the like.

Have fun browsing!

Favorite Sites

Totally Tots

http://totallytots.blogspot.com

Homeschool Creations/ Preschool Resources

http://homeschoolcreations.com/preschool.html

Christian Preschool Printables

www.christianpreschoolprintables.com

DLTK's Growing Together

www.dltk-teach.com

First School

http://www.first-school.ws

Homeschool Share

http://www.homeschoolshare.com

I usually check Homeschool Share if I'm looking for an activity for a particular book.  They have amazing lapbook and activities available.

For  many more great sites (early concepts for preschool)—I usually look at the lists on Homeschool Resource List Site:

http://homeschool-resource-list-sites.blogspot.com/2009/08/prekkindergarten.html

Blogs/Sites that have lesson plans/schedule/themes

Hubbard’s Cupboard

http://hubbardscupboard.org/pre-kindergarten.html

2 year old, 3 year old and pre-k plans and more

Brightly Beaming/ Letter of the Week

http://www.letteroftheweek.com

infants, toddlers, pre-k, early elementary and more

Confessions of Homeschooler/ Letter of the Week

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/07/letter-of-week-curriculum.html

1+1=1

www.1plus1plus1equals1.com

Pre-kinders

http://prekinders.com

Graham Family Ministries

http://www.school4jesus.com/homeschool/homeschooling-toddlers-preschoolers

printables, and 2 & 3 weekly lesson plans

Teacher’s Book Bag Exploring Letters in Your World

http://www.currclick.com/index.php?cPath=958_1451

ABC Jesus Loves Me

http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com

3 & 4 year old curriculum

Step by Step

http://stepbystepcc.com/themes.html

Walking by the Way/ Read to Me & ABC

http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=356

Delightful Learning/ ABC Fun and Before Five in a Row activities

http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com

Book Lists

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000-primary.html

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/eyreadalouds/

http://www.amblesideonline.org/00.shtml

Favorite Books/ E-books regarding preschoolers

Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert

http://fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/beforefiveinarow.html

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June Oberlander

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159160236X/sr=1-1/qid=1298176614/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1298176614&sr=1-1&seller=

Rod and Staff ‘About Three’ and more activity books:

http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Study_Time_Preschool/

Graham Family Ministries: Learning for the Littles and Growing in Wisdom

http://www.school4jesus.com/store/product.php?id_product=34

http://www.school4jesus.com/store/product.php?id_product=35

Linking to: Hip Homeschool Hop

D is for Dinosaurs

The past few weeks have had it's ups and downs with bad weather and illness.  But, we've turned a corner!  Signs of Spring are starting to show and hopefully we'll put these stomach bugs and sore throats behind us.

So I'll post what we have for D is for Dinosaur week using MFW K.  Bud was not too crazy about Dinosaurs.  I thought he would love it---but, no--he doesn't like the ferocious looking meat-eaters thank you very much;)  We did have some really good discussions from reading some of the books on our book list.  We had some fun crafts and messy art projects.

The Words to Remember for D is for Dinosaur were: Big and Small God made them all


We used Enchanted Learning for a lot of the crafts and printouts.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/animals/thisdino/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/printouts/d.shtml

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/DinosaurEaselArt.htm

We read:

Ken Ham's What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs

A Picture Book of Dinosaurs by  Claire Nemes

DK's "Meet the Dinosaurs"

to go along with Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur

They woke up on Valentine's morning to heart shaped waffles and a note on their plates from Mommy and Daddy--with a few other goodies, too;)

Bud really enjoyed coloring and writing the names of some of the dinosaurs.

That's Stegosaurus with a really big G in the middle;)

Sis trying to get the hang of color by number.

Shapes dinosaur

Making paper plate dinosaurs....Little Bear getting in on the act of course.

I threw in color mixing with white to make light colors like: baby blue and lavender.

Painting

The whole crew busy painting

Now they just have to wait until it dries to put the paper plate dinosaurs together.

I've mentioned our devotional that uses the alphabet--so here's a pick of our D devotional.

Linking to:

Preschool Corner @ Homeschool Creations

Weekly Wrap Up @ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

T is for Turtle

Last week was T is for Turtle week in our MFW K curriculum.  By the way, I highly recommend it--it is fantastic.  This was a fun week for Bud.  He really enjoyed the books that we read for this unit.

The words to remember were: I do not give up; I persevere.   Those words to remember brought up a lot of discussion.  I have been able to refer to it often since we covered this topic.  I love the connections Bud is making with MFW.

We focused on The Hare and the Tortoise (Aesop's Fables).

Some of our favorites were:

The Hare and the Tortoise retold by Helen Ward.  This is a beautifully illustrated book.  Great detail of the animals.  This is one inappropriate word.  (s----d).  We skipped over it....and I actually read a different version and showed them these illustrations.

Diego and the Baby Sea Turtles by Lisa Rao

Terrific Turtles by Anders Hanson (Sandcastle books)

In addition to the MFW K activities, we enjoyed articles and printables from the following:

http://www.smithlifescience.com/SeaTurtleInformation.htm

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/TurtlePrintablesandIdeas.htm

http://www.dltk-teach.com/fables/tortoise/index.htm

The kids also went to a pet store with Dad to look at turtles.  There was only one there and it was hiding...but they enjoyed looking at the aquariums and other animals.  We learned the difference between sea turtles and a tortoise.  And learned different features of a turtle.  

We also used Mama Jenn's great copywork pages.

Turtle shape cut and paste

Coloring in action

Bud's finished product....Titus the Turtle

This kid looooves color by number sheets---looking it over with a bowl of Blue Bell.

Re-enacting the Tortoise and the Hare race.  They made tortoise and hare finger puppets.

His finger puppets ready for the race

Sissy's puppets

Looking through a Turtle book

Working on his copywork page



Linked to:
Preschool Corner @ Homeschool Creations
Weekly Wrap-Up@ Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers