Learning 4 Fun!

Intro to Egypt

2011-08-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

So over the summer Eli and I have started reading The Magic Tree House book series aloud {me reading}. We LOVE our adventure books! You see, the tree house takes the two children to wherever they point to in a book. It takes them to all different time periods and countries! We typically read an entire book in one sitting because they're that good. And then afterward we spend some time learning more about the place we read about! I actually started Eli a notebook just for these tree house books. After we finish a book I have him draw a picture about it. Book #1 I had him draw a picture of a tree house. Book #2 I had him draw a volcano and the town of Pompeii. Book #3 I had him draw a pyramid. And then we continue with more learning activities. Here's what we did after reading Mummies in the Morning, a book about Egypt, pyramids, and mummies!

Activites (you could go MUCH more depth but I just wanted to do a little overview):

1. Find Egypt on a world map. I would LOVE to have a huge poster of a world map for the play room, perhaps one with some images that depict the different regions but have yet to find one. Haven't really searched much though either.

2. Look at pictures and diagrams of real pyramids.

3. Build your own pyramid -- paper craft found HERE. You're supposed to coat it with sand, but after I selected some "clean" sand from our sandbox it still smelled like cat poop so I threw it out and we just left it as the paper pyramid.

4. Write your name in hieroglyphics using the symbol key. In the story Jack and Annie decoded hieroglyphics to help the ghost-Queen find her way to the Afterlife.

These are all our names HANNAH, SARAH, ELIJAH (Eli wanted to put his full name), and DAD. Carter was napping so he wasn't part of the activity. Eli did his own but I helped with the others.

5. Play a mummy computer game. This "treasure hunt" helps you learn more about Egyptian traditions and some of the things they include in the mummy's tomb.

6. Using toilet paper wrap each other like a mummy. I chose Hannah to wrap up because 1) I would take a lot of toilet paper to be wrapped. and 2) Eli was more likely to be the better wrapper. Although I did most of this. (note: I used curtain tie backs to tie Hannah's feet and arms together so should wouldn't accidentally break through the paper right away.)

7. Watch a History Channel Netflix video about pyramids and what's inside! Fun family activity!

8. Discussion: What IS the Afterlife and how do WE get there?

Food Lapbook

2011-07-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

I pieced this lapbook together mostly from my own ideas, but you can find lots more grocery lapbook ideas here. This is my favorite lapbook we've done so far, and is the most do-again and game-like. The kids love it and I'm confident they are learning so much!

Goals:

To gain understanding that food does REAL things for our body, we don't just eat food because it tastes good.
To build money skills in how to read $ amounts and figure numerical order.
To practice real-life skills such as menu planning and "looking for the cheapest price"

full view

Food Pyramid (I realize that nutritionists don't 100% follow this same pyramid anymore, but it's the shape I wanted, and it does show the basic idea, including 8 cups of water a day, and mostly we're just focusing on the food groups anyway) These are the pockets for food cards which will be used in nearly all the activities.

#1 Sort food cards according to food group.

# 2 Sort food cards according to color (mostly just the fruit and vegetable cards)
#3 Sort food cards according to where they come from (trees, animals, gardens, fields) I don't want my kids growing up just thinking food comes from the grocery store!

#4 Use food cards to lay out a daily menu plan. (use the serving suggestions on pyramid to help make sure diet is balanced)

#5 Money cards -- set out three cards and have child pick which $ amount is the smallest (we practice this in the grocery store too when I'm buying something)

#6 Money cards -- set out 3 or 4 cards and have child arrange them in order from smallest to biggest

#7 Money cards -- set out 4 (or more) cards and read a dollar amount and have child find correct card

#8 Money cards -- play same game as #7 and have child play game at YOU so HE is the one reading the $ amounts.

# 9 Money cards (including orange coupon cards) - select the whole-number $ cards and practice adding and subtraction, pretending the orange cards are your coupons at the end

#10 Just a general picture showing what different food groups do for our body. Use the clues to figure out what part of the body certain food groups help. Then glue the description onto the right food flap.

#11 An ABC list of foods, creating the border (for a complete food alphabet click here)

On the front of the flap-down

#12 Vitamin chart (the info is all the same as this chart, minus the quantity column) I just reformated it so it could be a flip chart. Again the actual details of each vitamin aren't all that important. It's just neat to see that food works in an REAL way for our body!

#13 Kids' grocery list. Get out your store ads and let the kids practice cutting and gluing as they create their own "grocery list". I allowed them 2 treats but everything else had to be healthy choices.

#14 And finally, to complete our lapbook, we included the Biblical tie-in for how our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit so we are to take care of them. I had the kids color to make it look like themselves. This is glued on to the back cover of the folder.

It took us several days to complete all the activities, and now we can play again and again!

DOWNLOAD LAPBOOK COMPONENTS:

Money Cards and Meal Planning

Vitamin Chart

What does food do for my body?

Food Cards

Pocket Pictures

My body is a temple, coloring page

I think this includes everything to make your lapbook, though it will probably take a couple minutes to download.

Instructions:

*I do not have a file for the food pyramid because I just drew it myself and now I can't scan it or anything because of the pockets on the lapbook.

* And I also don't have files for the pockets themselves. They are a large fat T-shape that you fold together to make your pocket though. Use the food/money cards to gauge how big the pockets need to be.

* Except for the pocket fronts, the vitamin chart, and the "what does food do for my body" flaps, everything else is printed on cardstock. The pockets are also folded out of cardstock.

Enjoy and let me know if you use this!

I stink at drawing!

2011-06-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

Working on a lapbook here I was trying to draw a boy. I couldn't find a clipart for what I wanted but I did find a good face to use, so I thought I could trace the face and draw the body myself. Wrong. See...

It wasn't even done yet and I could tell the torso and legs were all out of proportion. SOMETHING didn't look right anyway and no matter how much I erased and tried again it just wasn't working. So I browsed more clipart images on Google, and look how it came together!

the head, just changed the hat to hair and didn't include the baseball strips on the cheeks

flipped the paper and then traced the arm but drew the hand so it was more like a fist

the arm over basketball and jersey inspiration, though I did a lot of tweaking on the arm and hand


and last, the shoes. Because I couldn't even draw shoes free hand without looking at something!

All that turned into...

He's still not perfect, but sooo much better than what I was trying to draw on my own, and it finished out being the pose I was trying for in the first place!

Stay tuned to find out what project we used this boy for!!

Wordless Lapbook

2011-04-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

The kids and I made a Wordless Lapbook, using most of our ideas from Just Call Me Jamin but we changed it up a little bit, added a few things, and gave it our own twist! It's a pretty simple one...

Here's the inside view.

I arranged the mini color books so they'd form the shape of a cross (obviously you can see that there) Our booklets are made like Only a Boy blog (minus the drawn pictures) but the text is the same as Jamin's. And we added the little poem from Only a Boy but we placed it in the middle of the cross.

Then we added the ABC's of salvation, formatting it more like Jamin's. If you flip up the text part, you can read the Bible verse that goes with it. (the only thing I don't like is that this ABC book is on the fold of the lapbook, and that's a little bit awkward when folding)

We included the lyrics to our Gospel Fuzzies song (top left) and the GROW mini book (bottom right). Both printables can be found HERE.

The cross picture in the top right is just a coloring page found HERE I printed smaller and had Eli color.

The back of our lapbook folder is a color by number, glued onto construction paper just to add more color.

And honestly, we don't have anything on the front cover of our folder, but you can put whatever you want. This was a pretty simple lapbook, didn't take much time to prepare it. (some lapbooks can really take forever and ton of printing and cutting!!) Excel was a GREAT program to use that made printing and assembling a breeze, so if ya want, I can send you the files! Just email me at sarah_groth(at)hotmail(dot)com!

Then as a bonus activity, the kids and I made these Gospel Cookies (in a jar), adapted from these super cute Girlfriend Cookies. Instead of part M&Ms and and part chocolate chip, we used all M&Ms using the colors of wordless gospel, using some white chips for the white layer. So you fill the bottom half of the jar according to the recipe instructions. Then add your layers: green, yellow, white chips, red, and brown, topping it with your 1/4 cup brown sugar. I didn't have any coordinating fabric for the top of the jar, so it's just plain (oh well). Then you add a fun label for your jar, include a rolled-up paper with the meanings of the colors, and give it away to someone! The idea is that we'd leave the jar in the middle of our dinner table and every time we pray for our meal we pray for who we might share these gospel cookies with. Then before Easter we give them away to our chosen person!

kids are color sorting the M&Ms while I prepare the flour stuff for the jar.

Easter Lesson

2011-04-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Intro

I printed these Easter sequence cards and glued them onto pieces of cardstock (just to make a little neater than white cardstock itself). Have kids try to put sequence cards in order.

Bible Story

Then watch this Easter video (or read it all in a Children's Bible, but I chose the video just to add variety since we don't normally do videos and so our kind teacher wouldn't have to be reading foreeever). And most of the pictures used are actually from our Storybook Bible.

Now go back to cards and re-order them if necessary. (note: Palm Sunday isn't included in video) Or if you're reading from a Bible you can correct the cards as you read.

here is Eli doing the sequence cards again at home and telling ME the story

Lesson
"We can use colors to help us remember the gospel story."

BLACK reminds me of my sin. We are all sinners. We can't be good all of the time no matter how hard we try.
RED reminds me of Jesus' blood when He died on the cross. He paid the price for MY sin.
WHITE reminds me that Jesus forgives me and makes my heart clean as snow.
YELLOW reminds me of Heaven where streets are made of GOLD. When we have clean hearts we can live forever in Heaven.
GREEN reminds me of things that grow. Plants, trees, grass... These are things that grow. i can grow too by learning more about Jesus by praying to him and reading the Bible.

Song
Here is a fun little song I like to sing that helps me remember all these colors... (the kids also sing this at AWANA) Click HERE for a video of how the song goes.

Gospel Fuzzies Song

We're the gospel fuzzies. We're the gospel fuzzies.
We're the gospel fuzzies with a song to sing.

Gold stands for Heaven. Gold stands for Heaven.
Gold stands for Heaven where I want to go.

But dark means I'm a sinner. Dark means I'm a sinner.
Dark means I'm a sinner & I can't get in. (by myself)

Red means Jesus died. Red means Jesus died.
Red means Jesus died and He rose again.

Clean means I'm forgiven. Clean means I'm forgiven.
Clean means I'm forgiven when I follow him.

Green means I am growing. Green means I am growing.
Green means I am growing every day in him.

We're the gospel fuzzies. We're the gospel fuzzies.
We're the gospel fuzzies with a song to sing.

Craft

I would've loved to make the Gospel Fuzzie glove for each of the children, but it was too much time and work for the size of our group. So instead I made the half-paper worksheet with the song lyrics where the kids could glue on the coordinating fuzzies. (you can't tell from the picture but underneath show the color fuzzie on the paper for them to match with)

My kids and I also made a Wordless Lapbook here at home, centered around a lot of this same theme, so you can view that HERE.

CARS Lapbook

2010-11-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Lightning McQueen is Eli's favorite movie, favorite books, everything. So I really wanted to make him a lapbook with those themed activities, but this awesome totbook is much too easy for a 4-yr old, so I enhanced it to make it more appropriate for Eli's skill level.

Cover

Inside View

all the stuff pulled out and opened

time for the fun!

1.Trace inside the title letters{Cars}.

2. Color Lightning McQueen. Glue both 1 and 2 to cover.

3. Read Lightning McQueen story and talk about Bible verse. This Bible verse image is from my friend Randi (thanks!!)
4. Name book. I typed the letters for Eli's name but arranged them in the wrong order. I cut the strip of letters from the paper, and then had Eli cut the letters apart, put them in the correct order, and glue them to his name book.

a happy observer

5. Counting cards. Put them in order.

6. Cars color book.

7. A pocket of maze cards, laminated so he could do them again and again with dry erase markers. Make sure to wipe them clean right away or you'll really be scrubbing later. Maze1, Maze2, Maze 3 (I thought I saved the link but now I can't find it).

8. -ar word family.

9. This doesn't really go in the lapbook, but it's a worksheet that leads into the next activity.

10. Read and color mini book. I made a pocket for it so Eli could take it out and read it easier.

Train Lapbook

2010-11-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Most of our resources came from HERE, and there were still things I didn't have room to include!

the cover

the inside view, with extra flap (blue page) folded down

the inside view, extra flap folded up

the extra flap

First Eli started by painting these shapes, although I didn't tell him yet what he was going to be using them for. We let them sit to dry while we moved on to the rest of his activities.

I love to watch him paint.

put the train cars in order

then count the circus animals and put them in the correct train car

vocabulary fan book

cutting the pictures to go in the vocab book

practicing writing the letter T

telling time. look at the clock on the train ticket, tell me what time it says, I write it in digital form on the ticket, then he punches the correct number holes for the time. I was really excited for this part, but the puncher actually ended up being pretty tricky for his little hands. He loved the tickets though and telling time, and he still gets them out again to play!

a train color-by-number page I found just to add to his folder (you can find it HERE)

T words mini book. I printed these on sticker paper just to have something different from gluing and pasting.

exploring everything again

Card Game: War

2010-09-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

Such a simple game, I just realized it was one I could teach Eli to practice "which number is higher" idea! (if you're not familiar with it, you can read the general rules of the game HERE) We played with three players and even four would be good, vs only two players. He caught right on, even with the Jack-Queen-King thing. Ace was a little tricky to remember, but whatever. Fun was had! Though we did play for only awhile {not completion. IS there completion to that game??} because well, it's kind of a boring game. But still, fun way to practice numbers, different from Uno!

Book: Red Are the Apples

2010-09-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be adding a couple more things to this blog, so here you'll find weekly lessons, complete lapbooks, short book activities, Sunday school lessons, and game ideas.

This is a book I'd gotten at the library and I put together a little activity to go with it. It was mostly for Hannah actually, since I knew it would be pretty easy for Eli, but of course he enjoyed it as well!

Book: Red Are the Apples by Marc Harshman

The book goes like this, "The morning is cool in the fall of the year. We explore our garden, to see what is here. Brown is the soil, loose and fine, that's helped the beans to leaf and vine. White are the beans...Yellow's the corn..., etc" So that explains a little of the format of the project....

prep work: make a document with colored color words spread out on the paper. find clipart images of each color item (pumpkin, white beans, corn, apple, black hat, eggplant, leaves, brown soil)

like this

kids do: glue the picture items above the corresponding color

I love watching little ones working hard and concentrating

the completed project

...and an excited boy.

And yes, I'm sure you could do a whole hoard of things relating to book themes. But I don't have a lot of time, so I prefer to keep it simple.

Princess Lapbook

2010-09-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

My goodness, it's hard for me to get posts up for these little school lessons. I still have a whole week of Firefighting lessons, a week of lessons about Grapes, and now we're starting lapbooks. I did one for Hannah and one for Eli. Here's Hannah's princess/Cinderella-themed lapbook that she got to do while Eli was at preschool one morning:

the cover

when you open it

First she glued the letters on for her name to make a little name book.

Then she got to explore everything else--the color book, shapes book, counting cards, Bible verse, and petal book in which she got to do more gluing.


Oh I love those little hands!

*The counting cards, name book, color book, and shapes book are from 1+1+1=1 website HERE.

* I wanted to fill it out more so I also used the Bible verse book and petal book from the Homeschool Share website HERE.

* The cover is just a coloring page I found online, colored on the computer and printed. (It was supposed to be pink, but it printed purple. Whatever)

* The God's Little Princess image is just a cropped image of the God's Little Princess devotional Bible.

We did this two weeks ago and Hannah likes to get it occasionally to look at it. So cute!

Sunday School: Noah's Ark

2010-04-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

I did this activity for our 2-4 yr old Moppets (the kids) at MOPS last month. The lesson: Noah's Ark story.

Intro activity: {For the intro activity I try to use a wrapped shoe box and every month the kids wonder what's in the box this week. They like it.} We did an animal game for an intro to Noah's Ark and inside the box I had a bunch of cards for various clipart animals and on the back of the card were clues for the teacher to read aloud and the kids guess what animal it is. The kids took turns drawing out of the box, and they could either act out the animal or the teacher could read the clue...

Frog: I'm green and like to live in ponds. I leap from here to there. and I say Ribbit, Ribbit. Who am I?

Lion: I'm big and strong and look like a huge cat. I have a mane of hair around my face, and I say Roar! Who am I?

Rabbit: I'm quiet. I have soft fur, floppy ears, and I wiggle my nose. I hop across the grass, and I like to eat carrots. Who am I?

Horse: I live on a farm and spend my days grazing in the pasture. I eat hay and say Nay. Who am I?

Zebra: I look a lot like a horse except I have black and white stripes. You might find me at the zoo. Who am I?

Sheep: I have soft, fluffy wool. I graze in the pasture eating grass. I say Baa. Who am I?

Turtle: I'm small and green and move veerry slowly. I have a hard shell on my back to keep me safe. Who am I?

Snake: I have no arms or legs so I slither along the ground. And I say Ssss! Who am I?

Dog: I like to have a people family. And when I'm happy I wag my tail and say Woof, Woof! Who am I?

Pig: I live on a farm and like to roll in the mud. I say Oink, Oink! Who am I?

Bird: I'm small, like to eat worms, and my home is called a nest. I say Tweet, Tweet! Who am I?

Elephant: I'm gray and have a long trunk and big ears. You'd find me at the zoo or maybe even a circus. Who am I?

Duck: I waddle when I walk, and I paddle when I swim. I say Quack, Quack! Who am I?

Giraffe: I have a looong neck. I'm yellow with brown spots. And I like to eat leaves from tall trees. Who am I?

Cow: I live on a farm. I make milk. And I say Moo! Who am I?

Lesson
Read Noah and Ark story from a children's Bible.
Noah trusted and obeyed God, and God saved him. And in the end God promised He would never flood the entire world again. What did God put in the sky to remind us of His promise? [a rainbow] Have any of you ever seen a rainbow? Every time we see a rainbow this spring we can remember God's promises!

Song: Arky Arky Song (Listen and Get Lyrics HERE)

Craft

Stack the colored circles from largest to smallest. Cut in half. In the center write "God's promises are true!" Now stick a magnet on the back. Each child's rainbow will be unique! And because it makes two rainbows the children are encouraged to share God's promises with someone else!

This was Eli's rainbow!

I always plan enough craft supplies for about 20 kids , so I spent forever cutting out these circles even though we never have that many who actually do craft time. So if you're interested in this activity, I have 7 sets of circles left over, I'd be happy to mail you them! And I also have the computer file for the animal cards if you're interested in them, I could email it to you. Just let me know!

Week 5 - Friday

2009-11-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

LETTER E - Heavenly Helpers workbook page (handwriting, coloring)

NUMBER 5 - practice counting five beads into muffin pan, do elephant parade cards again

THEME
Review poster.
Elephants are like cows in that they're called bulls, cows, and calves.
They're also like cows because they are mammals and make milk for their babies.
Elephants are like many of the dinosaurs because they only eat plants and they are very big.

Elephant Facts: Habitat
Because elephants are so big, the world's largest land animal, they require a lot of space. They need space to find enough food to eat--lots of grasses, trees and shrubs. They also need a good supply of water to drink and to bathe in.

Activity: connect-the-dots elephant

Books:
Babar Saves the Day by Laurent de Brunhoff
Fly, Dumbo, Fly! by Jennifer Liberts Weinberg

FAMILY FUN: watch the old Disney movie Dumbo

**LATER IN THE DAY**

Bible Hero: Elijah
Read story HERE. Hannah wasn't up from her nap yet, so even though this is a really long story, Eli actually sat and listened to it!
Add picture to poster and words faithful, trusted God.
Do raven craft.

Completed learning poster.

Week 5 - Thursday

2009-11-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

LETTER E: collage, add Eli pic to poster, lay out the letter E out of forks, crayons, markers, uncooked spaghetti noodles, straws, popsicle sticks etc., handwriting worksheet

Activity: glue eggs to letter E shape. I printed the eggs from this activity.
THEME

Elephant Facts: Appetite
Just like many of the dinosaurs, elephants only eat plants. They love fruit, especially dates, plums, berries, and coconut. Elephants use their trunks to get fruit and leaves from trees. They use their tusks and trunks to pull the bark off trees. They use their feet and tusks to dig stems and roots from the ground.

Books:
The Balancing Act: A Counting Song by Merle Peek
Dumbo the Flying Elephant by Walt Disney

Week 5 - Wednesday

2009-11-21T12:23:00.001-08:00

* NUMBER: add to poster, add stickers to counting book, workbook pages for number 5

Add 5th commandment to train.
Activity: Assemble Counting elephants book.

THEME
Review learning poster.

Elephant Facts: Babies
Just like with cows, a baby elephant is called a calf. We've learned that elephants are mammals too, and baby elephants drink their mommy's milk. They drink 3 gallons of milk a day! After a few months they will start to eat plants too. Elephants are the world's biggest land animals, so they need to eat a LOT of food! You know what snack elephants really like to eat?? Peanuts! They don't even take them out of the shell first!

Activity: Give the elephants the correct number of peanuts. I found this elephant ima ge and a clipart of a peanut and made up the following worksheet. Eli glued the right number of peanuts onto each elephant's belly.
Activity: Handprint elephants. I made this one up, so they look kind of silly, but it works! After doing one elephant, Eli said the elephant needed a friend, so we made two!
Books:
The Right Number of Elephants by Jeff Sheppard. Our library had this one as one of those huge teacher-sized books, so that was kinda fun to read together on the couch.
Mama Loves Me by Mara Van Fleet

Week 5 - Tuesday

2009-11-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

*SHAPE: oval (like an egg). Ovals house walk.

Activity: Instead of cutting and gluing, I had Eli trace the eggs and color accordingly, then count the eggs in the basket.
THEME
Review vocabulary word.

Elephant Facts: Families Elephants are very social animals and like to stay together as a family. Most herds have five to twenty elephants, led by the oldest female (cow). There are only mommies and their babies in the herd. The daddies go to live with all the other males, bulls. In the herd they take care of each other and protect each other.

Poem: Five Gray Elephants (don't remember where I found this one)

Five gray elephants, marching through the glade,
Decide to stop and play like they are having a parade.
The first swings his trunk and announces he'll lead;
The next waves a flag which of course they need.
The third gray elephant trumpets a song;
The fourth beats a drum as he marches along.
While the fifth makes believe he's the whole show
And nods and smiles to the crowd as they go.
Five gray elephants, marching through the glade,
Having a lot of fun during their parade.

Activity: Put the parade elephants in order. I used one of the elephant images from this counting book, colored it and added numbers to it on the computer, and printed on card stock to use for this activity.
Activity: Shapes elephant craft.

Books:
Big Egg by Molly Coxe
The Story of Babar by Jean De Brunhoff

* = add to learning poster

Week 5 - Monday

2009-11-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

* THEME: E is for Elephant. Add letter E and picture of elephant to learning poster.
* Vocabulary word: herd - a group of like animals

Read: Pooh Encyclopedia about elephants.

Action song (tune: "The Mulberry Bush")

The elephant goes like this and that, this and that, this and that.
(Walk heavily and stomp feet loudly)
The elephant goes like this and that, cause he's so big and fat!
(Puff up cheeks and stretch out arms)

He has no fingers and has no toes, He has no fingers and has no toes
(wiggle fingers; wiggle toes)
He has no fingers and has no toes, but goodness, gracious, what a nose!
(stick arms out like a long trunk)

Memory verse: "In all things give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

(tune: "The Ash Grove")
In all things give thanks
And give God the praise
For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (repeat)
First Thessalonians five verse eighteen
Give thanks in all things
For this is God's will.
In all things give thanks
And give God the praise
For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Craft: paper plate elephant

Book: Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

* = add to learning poster

Week 4 - Friday

2009-11-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Review day!

LETTER D: Heavenly Helpers workbook page (tracing, a small color by letter). Usually Hannah just does this one while Eli does the letter collage, but this time both kids glued scraps to a letter D outline so Eli could practice cutting with scissors! By the end he was really getting the hang of it! I don't practice as much with him as I probably should, but that's okay.
THEME

Book: another book from the library, I didn't get the title written down before taking it back

Dinosaur acrostic poem and add to learning poster. thanks to Kevin for helping write this!

Dangerous
Interesting
No long live
Oversized
Scary
Animal
Underground
Roars

Dino of the day: Apatosaurus
* many people call it brontosaurus
* a plant eater with a long neck
* did not chew up its food so it swallowed stones to help grind up its tough plant food

Activity: shadow match, reviewing all of the week's dinos. I searched online coloring pages to find the dinosaur images, then used a paint program and paint bucket to color them, saved it, then painted it again but all in black and saved it as another title. wolah! shadow game!

Bible Hero: David. Read Goliath story. Add picture and words brave and trusting to learning poster.

Activity: stone game. tape off a medium-sized box on the floor with an X in the middle. Find 6 rocks, labeling them with the letter D-A-V-I-D and G. Place the "G" rock on the X. Then you have 5 turns with the remaining rocks to slide the rock at the "G" rock trying to knock it off the X.

Learning poster at the end of the week:

Week 4 - Thursday

2009-11-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

LETTER D: sound, collage and letters, handwriting page/coloring book. The collage took quite a bit of time, so it worked fine that we didn't have many other activities for the day.

THEME - review so far

Book: something from the library. I didn't get the title written down and now the book is already returned

Dino of the day: dimetrodon
* name means "two measures tooth"
* actually lived a long time before the dinosaurs
* had a sail-like flap of skin along its back
* had sharp teeth and clawed feet

Activity: homemade puzzle

Week 4 - Wednesday

2009-11-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Mark day off calendar.

Add 4th Commandment to train.
NUMBER: Add number 4 to learning poster. Add four stickers to counting book. Count four beads into spots on wooden Mancala tray. Take one bead out and have Eli find the missing spot. Number 4 activity pages from coloring book we have.

COLOR: Do green page in our Counting Colors book.
THEME

Book: How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yoken and Mark Teague

Dino of the day: T-rex
* name means "tyrant lizard king"
* a huge meat-eating dinosaur
* ate other big dinosaurs
* had short arms with two claws on each

Activity: do-a-dot number four

Week 4 - Tuesday

2009-11-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

COLOR: Green. Add to learning poster. Show 3-5 green items and then take a house walk finding more green things. Color worksheet.

THEME

Book: Big Old Bones by Carol Carrick

Poem: Long, Long Ago by Jean Warren (with actions)

Long, long ago, when the earth was young
Dinosaurs lived here under the sun.
Some were big and some were small.
Some were fat and some were tall.
Some could swim, some could fly.
Some could stretch up, very high.
Don't you wish they still roamed free
And lived somewhere that you could see?

Dino of the day: triceratops
* plant eater
* had three horns, one above each eye and a smaller one on its nose
* it had a parrot-like beak
* behind its head it's neck and shoulders were protected by a thick collar of bone and skin

Activity: coloring page

Activity: make our own fossil making prints with dinosaur toys, paper clips, keys, etc

Week 4 - Monday

2009-11-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed from as slowly as I'm getting these lessons put up that we really don't do school every day. It seems to be taking about two weeks to do one week of lessons. Just because. If we have other things going on, or visitors, or I'm just plain exhausted, I'm not going to push to do something that's not even necessary at this point.

This week we did a dinosaurs theme, but I had a hard time finding many activities we had supplies for, so we kept things pretty simple. A book, poem, and song has been seeming like too many sit-and-listen type things in a row. So this week we just did a book and a song.

* THEME: D is for Dinosaur (add letter D and dinosaur picture to learning poster)
* Vocabulary word: paleontologist--someone who studies dinosaurs

Book: Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp by Syd Hoff
Song (tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")

Dinosaurs lived long ago
Some ran fast and some moved slow.
Some ate plants and some ate meat.
All were mean, none were sweet.
I'm so glad I didn't live then
I wouldn't want them for my friends!
-Ellen Bedford

Activity: egg hunt with facts inside (we had these big Easter eggs that came with Little People-sized friends inside, so I got those eggs back out and we used them for this activity). I cut these facts into individual little strips, putting inside each egg. We went around the house looking for eggs and when we found one we opened it up to read a fact:

Dinosaurs were animals that lived millions of years ago.
Many dinosaurs were very big, but some were as small as chickens are today.
Most dinosaurs ate only plants. Some dinosaurs ate other animals. They were meat eaters.
The word dinosaur means "terrible lizard".
A paleontologist is someone who studies dinosaurs.
Fossils are the remains of plants or animals that lived a long time ago or the evidence of them.
Many dinosaurs had more in common with birds than with lizards.

Dino of the day: stegosaurus

one of the earliest dinosaurs
its name means "roof lizard"
was a herbivore which means it only ate plants
had triangular plates on his back and spikes on its tail for protection

Activity: homemade stegosaurus puzzle using this coloring page

* Memory verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16 "Be joyful always."
(song: by me, tune: "Are You Sleeping")

Be joyful always, joyful always
First Thessalonians, five sixteen
Have a happy heart
In all that you do
First Thessalonians, five sixteen

* = things that go on learning poster

Week 3--Thursday

2009-10-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

We don't do "school" every day, so this week we finished in four days instead of five since it was the end of the week and I just wanted to be done with it.

* NUMBER 3 - add to poster along with three small triangles (our shape of the week), add stickers to counting book, count beads into ice cube tray, take one bead out and have Eli finding the missing spot, "slap" game (this time I added a new element to the game: Eli slapped for number 3's, I slapped for number 2's, AND we raced to slap for the SkipBo cards.)

10 Commandment Train - Commandment 3

Handwriting practice: letter C tracer page

* Bible hero: Caleb. Read story. Add picture. Words--courageous, determined, faith

--Dinner break--

THEME

Book: Ten Cows to Texas by Peggy Mercer

Fingerplay: This Little Cow

This little cow eats grass.
This little cow eats hay.
This little cow drinks water.
And this little cow does noting
But lie and sleep all day.

Activity: color by number picture (turn any coloring page into a color-by-number by just writing numbers onto the picture and adding a color code)
Activity: homemade farm puzzle again (see Monday's lessons)

finished learning poster

Week 3--Wednesday

2009-10-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

LETTER C - talk about sound, look at collage (we'd already made this one awhile ago), find more letter C's to add. Hannah glues scraps to letter outline. (actually she glues where I draw small stars and then I end up sticking the paper on. So don't be fooled by how nice it might look, because I did help.)
Activity: trace letter C with finger, then decorate with do-a-dot markers
Heavenly helpers handwriting practice for Eli. Hannah colors letter C coloring page.

THEME
review everything on poster first

Book: Sailor Moo Cow at Sea by Lisa Wheeler

Poem: The Cow by Ann Taylor

Thank you, pretty cow, that made
Pleasant milk to soak my bread
Every day and every night,
Warm, and fresh, and sweet, and white

Do not chew the hemlock rank,
Growing on the weedy bank
But the yellow cowslips eat;
They perhaps will make it sweet.

Where the purple violet grows,
Where the bubbling water flows,
Where the grass is fresh and fine,
Pretty cow, go there to dine.

* Nursery Rhyme:

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle
The jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such a sport
The dish ran away with the spoon

Craft: cow paper craft

* = add to learning poster

Week 3--Tuesday

2009-10-29T05:01:00.000-07:00

* SHAPE: Triangle. Add shape to learning poster. Take a house walk finding triangles. Workbook page. Had I thought about it ahead of time, I could've taken these pictures first and then had Eli try find what they are pictures of. Kind of a treasure hunt game.
Triangles worksheet: I put together some pictures of road signs and had Eli circle the ones that are triangle-shaped. Throughout the week we've had fun finding them when we're driving.
Activity: Homemade triangle puzzle for Eli. I just used two triangle blocks, positioning them in all kinds of different ways, traced around them, and colored. Then Eli figures how to turn and flip the triangles to match the picture. (I made this a few weeks ago and it was a perfect time to pull it out again) Hannah just plays with remaining blocks.
THEME

Review vocabulary word and facts.

Book: Cock-a-Moo-Moo by Juliet Dallas Conte

Poem: The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess

I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!

Song: The Cow by Katrina Lybbert (tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

The cow wakes up at dawn,
The cow wakes up at dawn,
Moo, moo, a great big yawn,
The cow wakes up at dawn.

The farmer milks the cow,
The farmer milks the cow,
Moo, moo, be careful now,
The farmer milks the cow.

The cow eats up her hay,
The cow eats up her hay,
Moo, moo, O happy day,
The cow eats up her hay.

The cow plays with her calf,
The cow plays with her calf,
Moo, moo, they sing and laugh,
The cow plays with her calf.

The cow and calf now sleep,
The cow and calf now sleep,
Quiet please, don't make a peep,
The cow and calf now sleep.

Bible story: read about Pharaoh's dream

Activity: find all the skinny cows, worksheet.

Week 3--Monday

2009-10-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

* THEME: C is for Cow. (add letter C and cow picture to learning poster)

* Vocabulary word: mammal--a type of animal that makes milk

Cow facts:

An adult male cow is called a bull.
An adult female cow is called a cow.
A baby cow is called a calf.
Cows eat corn, hay, barley, grass, and wheat.
Cows give us milk, meat, and leather.
Milk can be made into other dairy products like butter, cheese, and yogurt.

Book: The Big Red Barn

Poem: Little Calf by Katrina Lybbert

"Good morning, little calf," gentle mother said,
"It's time to get up from your sweet hay filled bed."
Little calf jumped, stamped his feet, swished his tail,
And followed his mother past a shiny milk pail.

Out into the backyard, holding his head high,
Little calf looked up to the blue, blue sky,
Birds flying past chirped a joyful song,
Little calf smiled, and felt happy all day long.

Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm

...and on his farm he had a bull...with a moo, moo here...(make the sound deep and loud)
...and on his farm he had a cow...with a moo, moo here...(make the sound high and loud)
...and on his farm he had a calf...with a moo, moo here...(make the sound little and soft)

Activity: farm animal "puzzle". Make your own puzzle. I printed and colored this picture, cut it apart randomly, and let Eli put it back together. Warning: do NOT try to do this with a Hannah around! Since the pieces don't actually lock together, it doesn't take much for it to get all messed apart again. It works for Eli though, and he had lots of fun doing it again and again!
* Memory verse: Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another."

Memory verse song by me (tune: "Around the Mulberry Bush")

Ephesians four verse thirty two
Be kind to one another
Share God's love with everyone
Be kind to one another.

Craft: I just printed a plain cow coloring page and then had the kids sponge paint black spots on it.
* = things that go on learning poster

Week 2--FRIDAY

2009-10-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Review last week's poster.

Review everything on learning poster and 2nd commandment.

THEME

Book: Butterfly by Mick Inkpen

Poems/Songs--repeat any favorites from previous days

* Add butterfly and poem to learning poster.

The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled upon a leaf.
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly.
And later when she woke up,
She was a butterfly!

* Bible hero: Bartimaeus. Read flash card (I got a Bible heroes card set at the Dollar Store for $1 the other day). Then read story printout. Add Bartimaeus picture to poster along with word FAITH. Read Bartimaeus poem from Bible book. (I found this cute old book at Goodwill once for only 99 cents, and I love it!) How can we have faith like Bartimaeus did? When we're hurt or sad, we can have faith that God will help us. The Bible tells us that God works all things for good and for His glory. Read What is Faith? happy day book (ours is the old version though)

Share our learnings: Draw outline of a butterfly. Let kids water color paint it. After it dries then write text: God made you as beautiful as a butterfly! And mail to Grandma!

The first one Eli painted he kept painting in the same spot too much until it was bleeding through the paper. So I explained that I wanted him to paint on new spots each time, and he did such a great job! Beautiful butterfly!

Learning poster at the end of the week:

Week 2--THURSDAY

2009-10-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

* Introduce NUMBER 2--add sticker to counting book, number games...

Activity:look at boy coloring page and point out what we have two of (eyes, ears, arms, etc). I happened to use this worksheet for a Moppets lesson, so we just pulled it back out again for our school lesson.Activity: Part one, Eli counts two beads into ice cube tray spots. Part two, secretly add a third bead to one of the spots and have Eli find it.

Game: A new game I made up, "Slap Jack". Using our SkipBo cards I flip pretty quickly through the cards and when Eli sees a "2" he slaps it and gets to keep the card. In the end we count how many he got and play again. (by having him keep the number 2 cards I could then not use the entire stack of SkipBo cards. I could just use a small stack of the other number cards) The second time we played it, then I slapped for number 1's while Eli slapped for number 2's. He loved it.Add to 10 Commandments Train--Commandment 2 THEME

Book: The Butterfly Garden by Else Holmelund Minarik

Song: The Life of a Butterfly (tune: "Skip to my Lou")

I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me,
I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me,
I'm a caterpillar, wiggle with me,
What'll I be my darlin'?

A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
A chrysalis, now sleep like me,
What'll I be my darlin'?

A butterfly, come fly with me,
A butterfly, come fly with me,
A butterfly, come fly with me,
What'll I be my darlin'?

Now all together, let's do all three!
A caterpillar, a chrysalis, a butterfly, three!
Move your body like this with me,
The life of a butterly, darlin'!

Craft: footprint butterflies and decorate--trace feet: left foot for right butterfly wing, right foot for left butterfly wing.

Eli's creation

I actually did my own to ease my temptation to help Eli too much

* = add to learning poster

Week 2--WEDNESDAY

2009-10-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Introduce Letter B--sound. We've already made a collage for this letter before, so find more letter B's to add. Hannah glues scraps onto big letter B. Heavenly helper's workbook page.
THEME
Review what's on learning poster so far.

Book: The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Poem: untitled

Let's go to sleep," the little caterpillar said,
As they tucked themselves into their beds.
They will awaken by and by,
And each one will be a lovely butterfly.
~Author Unknown

Song: The Caterpillar Song (tune: "I'm a Little Teapot") I had a hard time fitting this words to this tune, but we went with it anyway.

Once I was a caterpillar
crawling on the ground.
Then I spun a chrysalis,
and wrapped it all around.
Then one day the sun shone,
and warmed me all inside,
Slowly slowly I emerged,

I could no longer hide.
I soaked in the sunshine
for a long long while,
Then I tried my brand new wings,
And it made me smile!

Now I'm a little butterfly,
colorful and bright,
You might see me if you look
outside when it's light.

Activity: butterfly memory game for Eli/matching for Hannah
Activity: do-a-dot art with butterfly worksheet

we were having so much fun with the new do-a-dot markers we did this little guy too

Bible lesson: Review memory verse and song. Jesus in the tomb.
After Jesus died they wrapped him up, put him in a tomb, and three days later he came out again brand new. Read Bible story.

Craft: waxed paper butterfly. this didn't turn out nearly as nice I'd hoped. It would be prettier with pinks and lighter colors but we didn't have those to grate apart.

Week 2--TUESDAY

2009-10-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Click here for MONDAY'S LESSON.

* Introduce color: BLUE--show 3-5 objects, then take walk around house finding blue things, continue throughout week wherever we go

Activity: Color worksheet

THEME

Book: Pooh Encyclopedia about butterflies p.174

Activity: Which butterfly is different?
Worksheet: Maze (Eli), Coloring page (Hannah)

Finger play: I'm a Butterfly (tune: Pop Goes the Weasel)

I spin and spin my chrysalis (circle fingers on palm)
Then go to rest inside (close fingers and rest hand on palm)
When I come, I've changed indeed (open fingers slowly)
Look! I'm a butterfly! (fingers fly away)

Song: The Fuzzy Caterpillar (tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)

The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled upon a leaf.
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly.
And later when she woke up,
She was a butterfly!

Bible lesson: Romans 12:2 Just like God transforms the caterpillar, God transforms us! He renews our minds and helps us to think like Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, we live a whole new life, sharing love and joy with others!

Craft: egg carton caterpillar
Isn't this adorable?! Eli actually did a really great job painting this on his own. I only helped with the part in between two different cups.

Week 2--MONDAY

2009-10-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Instead of including the whole week's plans in one post, I thought I'd break it up a bit. You can still view the whole week by clicking the week category on the sidebar. Enjoy!

Monday
*THEME: B is for Butterfly

*Vocabulary word: chrysalis--another word for cocoon; where the caterpillar changes into a butterfly

Read Butterfly facts page

Book: Caterpillar's Wish by Mary Murphy. Eli loves this book and we've already checked it out from the library about four separate times before. Great excuse for another!

Poem: The Fuzzy Caterpillar (author unknown)

Once there was a caterpillar fuzzy as could be,
He ate and ate and ate all the new, green leaves.
And when he was finished and could eat no more,
He made himself a chrysalis that didn't have a door.

While inside this chrysalis, he began to change,
The fuzzy caterpillar would never be the same.
After seven days, he broke out and my oh my,
The caterpillar he had been was now a butterfly.

Song: The Butterfly Song (tune: Up on the Housetop)

First comes a butterfly and lays an egg,
Out comes a caterpillar with many legs.
Oh see the caterpillar spin and spin,
A little chrysalis to sleep in.
Oh, oh, oh look and see.
Oh, oh, oh look and see.
Out of the chrysalis
My oh my,
Out comes a pretty butterfly!
-Author

Activity: Sequencing cards--first put them in order, then match words to pictures

* Memory verse: Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away anger."
Bible lesson: God wants us to be gentle-spirited like butterflies! Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit, along with love, joy, patience, kindness, self-control, and many others. Instead of getting angry and fussy with our friends, even when they hurt us, God wants us to choose gentleness instead, as a way of sharing God's love with others. Think about how nice it feels when someone says or does something kind. It makes it hard to stay angry anymore. So God wants us to be gentle and kind with others all the time. It's hard to do on our own, but God can help us! Dear God, help me to be gentle like a butterfly, showing kindness to others. Amen.

Memory verse song (tune: Jesus Loves Me) by: Me!

A gentle answer turns away...
Anger and helps my joy to stay.
Instead of choosing to get all mad
I'll be kind and make God glad.

Proverbs fifteen one!
Proverbs fifteen one!
Proverbs fifteen one!
Being gentle is God's way.

Craft: paint blob butterflies

* = things that go on learning poster

LOTS MORE TO COME!

Week 1

2009-10-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

In the last post I shared our school routine. And now here's what we really did, well not exactly because we didn't finish the first week so we carried into another week. Seems like a lot of planning and then it only takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes to do all of it, but we sure have fun! And we'll figure it out the more we go through this!

THEME: Apples!

MONDAY
* THEME: A is for Apple. Post letter A and an apple picture on learning poster.
* Vocabulary word: apple core--the center part of an apple. Post word, definition, and small picture on poster.
* Book: Strawberry Shortcake's Field Trip
* Poem (found here):

If I were an apple
And grew on a tree
I think I'd drop down
On a nice boy like me.
I wouldn't stay there
Giving nobody joy
I'd fall down at once
And say, "Eat me, boy."

* Action Rhyme (found here):

Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up, hands open)
Two little apples smiled at me (keeps arms above head, close hands into fists)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (arms still up, "shake" tree)
Down came the apples (bring fists down toward stomach)
Mmmm, they were good! (rub stomach)

* Activity: Apple of God's Eye. Draw a glittery apple and paste Eli's picture inside. Once dry add to poster.

TUESDAY
* Shape: square--find 3-5 objects to show, walk around house chanting "Squares, squares, they're everywhere!" Actually we continued that through the whole week, and wherever we went we'd look for squares, especially in public restrooms.
* Super squares worksheet from this workbook (My Little Heavenly Helper, Preschool. From Dollar Store for $1) Squares coloring page for Hannah.* Song: Do you know the apple man?

Do you know the apple man, the apple man, the apple man?
Do you know the apple man who likes to sing with me?

Oh he loves the letter A, the letter A, the letter A.
Oh he loves the letter A and likes to sing with me.

*Review vocabulary word.

WEDNESDAY
* Learn Letter A and sound--say several words out loud and ask if it starts with the letter A, point out letter around house, practice tracing letter, worksheet (Eli practices hand writ ing and Hannah colors an apple coloring page)
* Review poster.
* Read about Johnny Appleseed.
* Poem #1:

Eat an apple
Save the core
Plant the seeds
And grow some more!

* Poem #2 (found here):

Thank you Johnny Appleseed.
We owe you quite a lot.
For the apples that you planted
With a Bible and a cooking pot.

Your seeds were planted far and wide.
You gave a helping hand.
A friendly word you had for all,
Across our frontier land.

Thank you Johnny Appleseed.
We owe you quite a lot.
The lovely trees and apples,
And the lessons that you taught!

* Song: Johnny Appleseed Song.

THURSDAY
* Introduce number 1. Add to learning chart along with a picture of 1 square (shape of the week) next to it. Put ONE sticker in counting book. Using our Mancala beads, two colors for each child, we started by just putting one bead in each hole of an ice cube tray. Then Eli worked on doing patterns, alternating the colors as he put them in the spots. And with Hannah we got out two bowls and practiced color sorting. Then Eli did this worksheet that I made for him, while I Hannah did a coloring page.* Introduce First Commandment to commandment train.* Review learning poster.
* Read: Pooh encyclopedia about apples
* Finger play:

Five red apples hanging on a tree (five fingers held up)
The juiciest apples you ever did see!
The wind came past and gave an angry frown (shake head and look angry)
And one little apple came tumbling down (put one finger down)
Four red apples, etc.

* Handwriting worksheet for Eli. Coloring page for Hannah.
* Activity: finger print apple trees with poem

These are special apples,
Hanging on this tree.
I made them with my finger prints.
They are a part of me!

FRIDAY
* Read about Bible hero: Abraham/Isaac story and add to learning poster along with the key values obedience, trust, love.
* Review learning poster.
* Activity: Make a collage of letter A's and pictures starting with the letter A. This was good repetition as we cut out a million letter A's from magazines (I had pre-found the words/sentences) because even after doing "A" all week, he was still calling it a "B"! So this repetition helped him get "A" stuck in his head. While Eli did this project Hannah just practiced gluing scrap pieces of paper onto a big letter A.* Activity: Color a "surprise picture". Using masking tape make a letter A on a piece of paper (press it down as lightly as possible). Then have the child use the side of a crayon to color all over the paper. Then carefully peel off the tape and see the surprise Letter A!* Activity: Number hunt. Make an assortment of fun-colored numbers, with a majority being the number of the week. Hide them all over the house. Then have child go around with a bucket finding the numbers. Only number 1's go in the bucket, and the other numbers are for Mommy. We play this again and again.
* Activity: make a spreadsheet with 2 green, 2 red, and 2 yellow apples (6 separate squares). Print and cut them apart into 6 cards. With Eli we laid them out and played a memory game again and again. And with Hannah we just worked on matching.* Share our learnings: make homemade applesauce to share with daddy

Hmm, we didn't quite do all of those activities on Friday. We spread them out across 3 days or so since we didn't finish the lesson all in one week because of a weekend trip. But Friday is kind of a review day, so we did one activity for each element on our poster.

The Format.

2009-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned before, I'm trying to follow the layout of Brightly Beaming Resources, but with minor adaptations. Here's the plan we're trying to follow. I wasn't sure about doing a small poster each week, because I didn't know what we'd do with it afterward. But when I saw a whole package for cheap at the Dollar Store, I thought we'd just go with it. And it is actually nice. Now I just need to rig a way to hang it up during the week. So anyway, here's the plan, but you'll see when I post what we actually did that we did even more adjustments:

MONDAY
*Introduce the weekly theme with pictures and post one or two on your learning poster.
* Choose one story to read based on the theme.
* Share a poem based on the theme with your child.
* Do a gross motor skills activity with your child. (usually just a project of some kind)
* Introduce vocabulary word and post a picture for it on your learning poster.

TUESDAY
* Introduce shape/color of the week.
* Collect 3-5 everyday objects of that shape/color and share with your child.
* Walk through home looking for the shape/color.
* Put a drawing of the shape on your learning poster. Or for a color week, let your child color in a coloring book or on a printout.

* Review theme and vocabulary word.
* Read a story, share a poem, and sing a song based on theme. (this one is hard for us to do every day)

WEDNESDAY
* Introduce the letter for the week.
* Have child color a printout of the capital letter.
* Teach your child to trace the letter with his finger. You can trace in pudding, finger paint, a shallow tray filled with rice or beans, etc
* Point out the letter in signs, cereal boxes, etc.
* Post the letter on your learning poster.

* Review weekly theme and vocabulary word.
* Read a story, share a poem, and sing a song based on theme.
* Review shape.

THURSDAY
* Introduce number for the week.
* Show your child the appropriate number of objects to count. Sort that many small objects into ice cube tray spots.
* Show your child the written number and put on your learning poster.
* Add the correct number of stickers to your counting book. (I cut several sheets of paper in half and then folded them to make a small book. The written number both as symbol and as a word on one page and then a spot for the stickers on the opposing page.)
* Walk around the house counting objects up to the number of the week.

* Introduce commandment for the week and add to 10 commandments train. I liked the cute train idea but preferred the wording I'd seen somewhere else. So I saved the picture as a screen shot so it would be a JPG file instead of a PDF file, then opened it in Photoshop, put a white box over the old text, and added a new text box on top with the wording of my choice.

* Review everything on learning poster.
* Read story, share a poem, sing a song based on theme.

FRIDAY
* Learn about a Bible hero and add a picture to your learning poster.
* Review everything on poster.
* Read story, share a poem, sing a song based on theme.
* Share an idea you've learned this week. ie: write a letter to Grandma, make something for someone, etc

Okay, that's the general layout, but you'll see in the next post what we really did! =) Then it'll look a whole lot more fun!

Yet another!

2009-10-01T06:32:00.001-07:00

Hello, friends! I don't mean to start yet another blog! But I'm trying to start a home school preschool routine, with both kids (Eli's 3 and Hannah's 19 months), so come here to check out what we're doing! We haven't decided if we want to home school or public school yet, but since Eli's 3 and not enrolled in a preschool this year, I thought it might be fun to do something organized at home. You know I do love planning! I want to try following the format of Brightly Beaming Resources but to themes of my choice and adding in Biblical ideas. We've done one week so far, theme of APPLES, so stay tuned for my lesson plan and links! We're all having fun, and as soon as I even say the word "school," Hannah says "Okay!" and dashes off to her pot seat at our playroom table, eager to start! Isn't it fun when it's fun! =)