Tot School: Week 21

This was another free play week, with no planned activities.  One reason I did this is because it was really our first nice outdoor weather since fall!  The temps were in the 50s-60s, which is nice for England if it’s combined with sunshine.  I let the older 2 have as much time outdoors as their schoolwork allowed, and I also let Gabriela play outdoors as much as possible.  She LOVED it!  That’s why I was perfectly happy to skip any other activities I might otherwise have planned.

Anyway, there aren’t many photos, but here’s some of what Gabriela did this week:

1.  Play dough

2.  Aqua-Draw

3.  Trampoline Time

4.  Playing “Shopping”—This has been her favorite activity of the week!  I have play food, which she used, but she also put several other items in—just whatever she fancied.  She used the picnic table bench for her “store,” loaded and unloaded her cart, and pushed the cart around the garden (yard).  We also got out the kitchen set.  Because we were getting tight on space in the girls’ room, I chose last summer to put all the kitchen stuff in the garden shed so they can use them on nice days outdoors.  They use it much more this way than if it was in their room all the time.  Gabriela also played in the pop-up tent and with other outdoor toys, but I failed to get photos of them.

Here’s Gabriela’s annual daffodil photo.  It’s a tradition we started when Moriah was a baby.  Greg did Gabriela’s hair on this particular day (and put her in clothes that didn’t match), and he also took the photos.  I would have fixed her hair better first!  Oh well.  Greg CAN fix the girls’ hair well, but sometimes he gets in the mood to put pony tails all over the place…I’ll say no more…  To see Gabriela’s past daffodil pictures, click HERE and scroll to the bottom.

March 2011

I’m linking this post to “Tot School” at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School: Week 20, St. Pat’s

This week was a bit more organized because of St. Patrick’s Day.  Here’s what Gabriela did:

1.  Filling circles on a shamrock with green glass pebbles.  This is a bingo dauber page from DLTK.  I printed just the outline because printer ink is so extremely expensive (you can opt to print it in full color).  Then I helped Gabriela color it, because she didn’t want to.  She did very well putting the pebbles on the circles, though.   

2.  Sorting green and white shamrock picks.  Actually, they’re not shamrocks but clubs...close enough.  I have a set of these picks with playing card shapes.  I used the heart ones for a similar activity last month.  We also re-used our green play-dough from Christmas.  I divided it into 2 mounds and stamped them with the shamrock cookie cutter.  Gabriela loved the tiny pitcher I put the picks in.

After she finished the task I gave her, the picks became people on a boat (the shamrock cutter), going to their houses (the play-dough mounds).

3.  Transferring “Jewels”

Here, she’s simply exploring other things to do with the jewels:

4.  Green Tray—Isaac and Moriah came up with this tray.  There is no task involved—just playing with what’s there and using the imagination!

5.  Pushpin Shapes—I got this basic idea from A Little Learning for Two.  I have a set of round cork coasters, and I traced a shamrock onto one (using a shamrock cookie cutter).  I set out green pushpins for Gabriela to stick into the outline.  The coasters are pretty thin, however, so I put this activity on a carpet square.  She finished most of it before giving up.  It’s a nice fine-motor skill, and she didn’t prick herself at all.  I plan to trace other shapes onto the rest of my coasters.

6.  My Very Own Leprechaun—These are wonderful!  I found these thanks to Toddler Approved!, and they can be found at Kiki Creates.  The download is free—she only requests that you follow her blog and leave a comment telling where you’re from--fair enough.  The download is worth it, and her blog is fantastic!  They’re designed to be paper dolls, but I laminated mine and put magnet strips on the back (which she did as well).  Gabriela loved them!

7.  Shamrock “Fishing”—I found this idea at The Homeschool Den.  Instead of math facts, however, I put St. Patrick’s Day stickers for Gabriela to match.

8.  Bingo Dauber Shamrock—At the end of the week, we did this activity using the same shamrock we used with the green glass pebbles.  Then I cut her out a green paper shamrock for her to make her own bingo dauber art!

9.  Find the Gold Crown/Transferring—I have a small crown that used to be on my keychain (but fell off), and I hid it in a bowl of green glass pebbles.  Gabriela used a scoop (and also her fingers) to find the crown.  While searching, she also transferred the pebbles to another bowl, so it was just a transferring activity with a twist!

She also pretended the pebbles were eyes:

We made shamrock cookies, but they disappeared too quickly for me to take a photograph!

For a story about St. Patrick, we watched a clip from Veggie Tales:

I’m linking this post to “Tot School” at 1+1+1=1.

Geography Travels: Kansas

Isaac chose Kansas to study because we have relatives there, and he got to visit once.  We really enjoyed studying Kansas, and I found a lot of neat ideas from other blogs, which I’ll mention as I come to them. 

Week 1

First, Isaac located and colored Kansas on his map, located the capital (Topeka) and some larger cities, such as Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City.

Put together a notebook page (page designed by Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations) about Kansas.  Isaac loves to make decorative letters for the state names, using things about that state.  I need to look again at his paper…it looks to me as if he misspelled Kansas!

Watched Kansas travel video clips on YouTube:

Colored the flag of Kansas (Apples 4 the Teacher):

Learned the state song “Home on the Range.”  We sang the entire song once, but the other days we practiced only the main verse and chorus.  You can find the lyrics at Kididdles.  I also found Gene Autry’s version, thanks to Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn:

Read about plains/prairie, hills, forests, and rivers from the book Geography from A to Z.

Labeled a map of Kansas (from Enchanted Learning):

Discussed wheat production (YouTube clip):

Discussed bison (look HERE too) and did Draw-Write-Now, Book 3, p. 20-21:

Did “buffalo hide” art (used DWN, Book 3, p. 22-23 for reference).  I got this idea from Superheroes and Princesses and Giggles and Crayons.  Here’s Isaac’s:

Week 2

Began our Famous People chart.  Here’s the completed chart (we only found 3 worth mentioning):

Discussed Amelia Earhart:

Discussed President Dwight D. Eisenhower:

Discussed sunflowers and snacked on sunflower seed kernels (which came from China, actually):  

Drew sunflowers from Draw-Write-Now, Book 3, pp. 38-39.  I didn’t have him write—he just did the picture:

Read about Mt. Sunflower and Giant Vincent van Gogh Painting (click links to read).

Discussed artist John Steuart Curry and 2 of his paintings (click on links to see): Tornado Over Kansas and Baptism in Kansas.

Discussed tornadoes (see websites FEMA for Kids and Weather Wiz Kids); watched Wizard of Oz.

Here are a few Kansas tornado videos I found on YouTube.  I’ll warn you right now to preview them for any language you might now approve of.  People accustomed to cussing tend to do it even more so when they’re being freaked out by the tornado they’re crazy enough to film.  Also a good opportunity to talk about tornado safety…as you watch the crazy people.  : )

Read book Wagon Wheels; discussed Native Americans and pioneers.

Packing Your Covered Wagon activity (Laura’s Prairie House)—This is a great activity for studying pioneers!  I really wish I had my Little House on the Prairie book here!  I don’t know why I didn’t think to pack it the last time we were home—I knew we were going to study Kansas.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it at our local library, and I don’t have extra money right now to order it online.  Anyway, I ran across this website which has activity ideas for some of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books.  In this particular activity, you have to decide what you would pack in your wagon for the 5-month journey out west!  You have a list of recommended food per person and a long list of items you could possibly take, and how much each item weighs.  You can’t take more than 2,000 pounds in your wagon, so you have to decide which items have priority!  We had a great discussion while we worked out what we would pack.

Here are some of the other blogs I read that have geography posts on Kansas:

Superheroes and Princesses

Adventures in Mommydom (several posts)

Just Playin’ Around

Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn

Giggles and Crayons (several posts)

Here are some other sites we looked at:

8 Wonders of Kansas

Kansas Underground Salt Museum

Gypsum Hills

I'm linking this post to Geography/History at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.