Monday, November 22, 2010

Mini Mayflower boats and the beginning of Thanksgiving unit study

Last week we read some of the Thanksgiving books in our book basket and also worked through a few of the activities from my big list of Thanksgiving links.  If you missed it...here it is: Thanksgiving Links

We first worked on our calendar---they enjoyed figuring out how many days until Thanksgiving.

We did a worksheet on items that are orange---but I don't know if you notice...little Sissy--spelled her name!!!

She's pretty proud of that;)


Little Bear using an orange marker to color his Pumpkin
Then I let them all mix red and yellow to make orange---I think he liked this, don't you?

Then we worked on a Mayflower voyage map and a mini Mayflower

the finished boat


We also did a float or sink experiment before we tested to see if these boats would float.


There they go

It floats!
I loved these coloring pages and copywork pages from Christian Preschool Printables









Resources we used this week:


thankful character trait tune charts by Hubbards Cupboard
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/map/Help from the Lord scripture pages
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Thanksgiving/HelpFromLord.html 


calendar

Help from the Lord scripture pages
table turkey tracer craft
orange color sheet



pumpkin coloring page for extra paint

Books we read:
Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons
On Thanksgiving Day by Judy Zocchi (with Spanish)


We watched:

Mayflower Voyagers (Peanuts)

Monday, November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving Links and resources

This morning we started our Thanksgiving Unit Study.  I plan to do a little bit each day up until Thanksgiving.  The plan is to have a lapbook for each kid ready to display, along with art crafts that can serve as decor.  But, this is also a great introduction to what a holiday is...so I'm going slow. 

I'll post more as the week comes to an end...but, this morning I heard:

Bud: I'm thankful for Mommy, Daddy, sister, brother, calendars, Jesus and God, clothes and house.   (Wait, what was that?  Calendars?  It was so funny I rushed to find a pen and write it down)

Sissy: I'm thankful for bananas and crispy treats  (hahahahaha I love these kiddos)


I spent quite a while scouring the web looking for links that a) would be appropriate for my preschoolers skill wise b) wouldn't use up a ton of ink;)  so a lot of things require the kids doing the coloring themselves.

Here's what I found:

Thanksgiving Resource Links and List

We already have done a couple of the activities this morning and I'm looking forward to the next 10 days of prepping for Thanksgiving Day!

L is for Leaf/ Caps for Sale

We spent the last two weeks on L is for Leaf from MFW K.

We had a great time--but, it's definitely time to move on to our Thanksgiving unit study.

In addition to MFW K, we used the following books:

Let's Read and Find out: Let's Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber


Discovering Trees by Douglas Florian


Caps for Sale Esphyr Slobodkina 

Our favorite non-leaf books this week were:

Bud: Train of States by Peter Cis

Sissy:   Old Bear by Jane Hissey

Little Bear: Touch and See Bible

Most craft/activity ideas came from:

MFW K board

and some of my friend's ideas;)

Five in A Row:

We didn't do any other crafts relating toour Five in a Row book these past two weeks,  other than reading Caps for Sale many times and discussing and trying to act it out...

But, you should have heard Sissy yell out 'Caps for sale..50 cents a cap'...hillarious!




We went through the MFW K lessons and Bud really 'got' the Leaf without the plant object lesson.  But, other than that--leaves were just an okay thing for him.

But here is what I caught on camera:

We started out the L is for Leaf unit by Bud receiving a letter from a friend that lives in Kansas....boy, did he looove that.  She also sent leaves from her backyard--this inspired him to collect leaves that had started to fall. 

Leaf work started by the kids making letters/words out of colorful straws--Bud spelled the word Leaf

Sissy made a letter 'E'
We had fun color mixing again...they love this--even Little Bear

Sissy painting using q-tips as paint brushes

Laying out brown paper grocery bags to form a tree pattern

Coloring leaf templates

Bud coloring leaves in Fall colors

first batch for the tree ready to go

Some of the more colorful leaves along with 'Lulu' the leaf that didn't want to stay in the plant (MFW K)

Little Bear enjoying coloring on brown paper bags

bud painting part of the tree trunk

The whole crew working on art

Funny how sometimes my kids don't like what I like or would have liked....Bud, trying on only ONE hat--not many ala 'Caps for Sale'


Bud's tree...he glued all the leaves on himself;)
The whole 'sweet' tree




Sissy pulled out her Snow White headband and found a new way to wear it;)


Leaf Rubbings...thanks Jess for the great ideas!

Bud working on one of his leaf rubbings

Washing coins ---the whole money/change inspired by 'Caps for Sale' 50cents a cap!


stirring/cleaning his change

Math time!
Inspired by the letter 'I' from co-op class...playing 'Don't break the ice'

Linking up to Preschool Corner

Sunday, October 24, 2010

M is for Moon/ Goodnight Moon

We worked on the M is for Moon lessons from MFW K the last two weeks and also went through 'Goodnight Moon' BFIAR


We enjoyed the weather outside a lot the last few weeks...Bud picking up acorns.

They were having a blast just filling up buckets with acorns.

My baby gave this to me...so sweet--Little Bear loves his Mama!


Bud


Little Bear taking a milk break


Sissy 'painting' the house with water

She loved this....and I loved that it was not real paint--at least not until later;)

Little Bear with one of his favorite toys---a football!!!


The solar system by Bud

Bud also put the planets in order and wanted to make a 'banner'--hmmm, I wonder where he got that idea of a banner?
Sis' dot to dot 'E' and Bud's astronaut

Goodnight Moon resources and Moon printables from:  homeschool share

School Update

School is going really well so far! I realized I haven't updated how the first week went--or the first month or so for that matter.

We have settled into a groove for the most part.

To recap:

Bud (Pre-K 4)is using My Father's World K for Bible/Character, Science and supplementing Math. He is using Queen's English Language Lessons for Little One's v.3 for Phonics, Narration and Picture Study. We are also going to start Abeka K Math (since we were given this workbook for free). Math is his favorite subject so if we breeze through it we will start MEP year 1. We have also started going to a once a week homeschool Co-op where Bud is taking a Moods/Manners class, Fine Arts class, and a Spanish class.

MFW K
LLFLO
MEP Math 

MFW K suggest a 6 day schedule per theme....and to be honest, I try to just stay on one theme for a week.
However, I love the flexibility of the program and there have been times we have stayed two weeks on one theme and that is just fine.

I am also using this year to do 'delight directed' and topical unit studies with the kids.  We start the second unit study next week...so we'll delay our MFW K theme for the following week.

So far we have covered the Community Helpers/Safety (unit study) Days of Creation, The Sun,  and the Moon.  We will take a detour this week and study Astronauts/Solar System a little more in depth.

I am loving MFW K...the themes, Bible and Science activities is really top notch!

For Sissy, I am using Before Five in a Row.  Thanks to Amber at Refined Metals Academy, I am using her list for matching up themes/titles for BFIAR and MFW K.   Sissy is also part of the preschool class at Co-op.  They focus on a different alphabet each week and have fun activities centered around that letter/theme---she loooooves it!

Little Bear is joining us when he wants.  I set up a few weekly activity boxes for him.   He is on the brink of a language explosion here...any day now, any day now:)

First Day of School Pics

So I am finally getting to posting pics of the first day of school---here we go!

These are Bud's work folders


Activity Boxes: Top row is for Bud, 2nd row is Sissy's and bottom row is for Little Bear, my supply box on bottom right

 Close up view of Sissy's boxes...she has the most 'stuff' in activity boxes for her "Tot School" time


First Day of School photo with Dad

Bud...Pre-K 4
 Morning Calendar Time
 Even Little Bear is joining in
 Sissy has her Tot School Folder
 Bud's Math time (sorting)
 White board with our schedule



Bud's desk: You can see what he has already done for the day on his chart on the wall.









This is where he puts the completed folders/work.
Sis working on a puzzle from her Tot Box

In action


Sis was very proud that when she finished this alphabet puzzle!