Blog Award

I was very happy to receive an award from Phyllis at All Things Beautiful, one of my favorite blogs.  I have visited “award-free” blogs before, so I know that not every blogger accepts awards—perhaps for various reasons.  However, I have a good opinion of blog awards.  It’s not that I crave awards and make a big deal out of them as if I’m someone special.  I view giving an award as a friendly gesture from one blogger to another in order to show appreciation and to point your followers to a blog they may not have read before.  It’s an act of bloggy kindness, and I appreciate it as such.

I received the Liebster Award.  If you are wondering what a Liebster Award is, read THIS post about the one I received last year.

As a part of receiving this award, I am posting a collection of favorite photos I have taken.  I am to tell why they are favorites—what they say about me and what I value. 

So, here they are:

 

I love, love, love children’s books and reading to my kids.  I love this photo of my husband reading to our youngest.  We value time together as a family, and we value books.

One thing I love about living in England is all the amazing places we get to visit, such as Scotney Castle, pictured above left.  I value the opportunities we have here.

When we visit the US, we enjoy taking our kids to Silver Dollar City, our favorite amusement park in Branson.  As this day was particularly hot, I loved the expression of pure delight on my daughter’s face as she got drenched by water spray.  I love Silver Dollar City.  I love hot weather (when you have the means to drench yourself), and I love my daughter.

This picture (above, left) makes me exceedingly homesick--seeing a huge bowl of garden-fresh tomatoes and a US flag on a big front porch is enough to make me long to be home.  Yeah, so this picture contains 4 things I value highly:  my husband, the US flag, a large front porch, and ripe tomatoes.  And the fact that my husband is wearing a shirt with a British flag reminds me of how torn I am between two places I love.

In the second picture (above, right), my girls are wearing dresses that my mom hand-sewed for my younger sister and me sometime in the late 70s.  I value my childhood memories, the dresses my mother sewed for us, my sister, and my own girls.

 

This Scripture is posted at the Grand Canyon.  I value the Bible, the Word of God, and my relationship with the Lord.  I appreciate the fact that this sign remains at a national park in an age when it seems that fewer people value the importance of honoring God in our nation.

 

I value God’s creation and the fact that my husband lifted his hands in worship to God when we visited the Grand Canyon.  I so respect him!

 

I value pieces of history, even ruins.  I enjoy taking pictures of architecture.  I like taking pictures of things from different angles.  I value blue sky.  (Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire)

 

My three most-prized possessions.  I love these kiddos and thank God for them daily!

I value new seasons and growth, gardens and blooms, and the magnificence and delicate beauty of Creation.  Oh, and purple is a nice color (it reminds me of my grandma).

I value other cultures and what they have given the world, and I value the opportunities we have to travel as a family (Gouda, Netherlands).

This is one of my top favorite spots in England, and the weather that day was absolutely perfect.  Lovely weather is highly valued in England, trust me.  (Watendlath, Cumbria)

That’s it!  I hope you’ve enjoyed my photo collection.  I take thousands of pictures because I’m cool like that a photography nut, so I barely scratched the surface of what I could have posted here.

Blog award “requirements” can take up time, but they can also be fun. While I don’t mind doing the requirements (it’s all part of the fun), I don’t like making any. So…for those of you I’m passing this award on to, you are required to do NOTHING to receive this award! If you would like to do what I did for my award (the photos), I surely would enjoy seeing what you post. If you would like to pass this award along, it would be a very nice thing to do. But the award is free…if you want it.  It’s my way of saying, “You have a really cool blog.  People should check it out!”

I’m passing the Liebster Award on to the following blogs:

 

Mudpies and Make-Up

Thoughts from My Window Seat

Homeschool in the Hills

The Pinay Homeschooler

Favorite Children’s Books with Movies

I really enjoy watching a good movie based on a favorite book, so I came up with a list of my favorite children’s book/movie combinations (meaning that I enjoyed both).  These are movies that I would show all 3 of my children (ages 5, 8, 11).  Since opinions will differ as to suitability, parents are advised to preview movies before showing them to children.  At the end, I’ll tell you which children’s books I most want to see made into a good movie!  The following movies are divided into picture books and chapter books but otherwise are listed in no particular order.

Picture Books

1.  The Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg)

The Polar Express, 2004

2.  Horton Hears a Who! (Dr. Seuss)

Horton Hears a Who! 2008

3.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Dr. Seuss)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  1966

Chapter Books

1.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 2005

NOTE:  I also really enjoyed the newer film versions of Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but The Lion… was the most faithful to the book, so I just listed it.

2.  The Railway Children (E. Nesbit)

The Railway Children, 1970 *Difficult to find in the US*

3.  Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery)

Anne of Green Gables, 1985

4.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005

5.  The Black Stallion (Walter Farley)

The Black Stallion, 1979

6.  Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)

Black Beauty, 1994

7.  Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)

Charlotte’s Web, 1973

Charlotte’s Web, 2006

8.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)

The Wizard of Oz, 1939

9.  Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome)

Swallows and Amazons, 1973 *Difficult to find in the US*

10.  Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1980

11.  Misty of Chincoteague (Marguerite Henry)

Misty, 1961

12.  Heidi (Johanna Spyri)

Heidi, 1937

Heidi, 1993

13.  Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

Little Women, 1994

14.  The Sheep-Pig (Dick King-Smith)

Babe, 1995

MY CHOICE:  This is a personal favorite of mine and my son’s.  I didn’t list it above for two reasons:  1)  I would not show the movie to my daughters (5 and 8) because of frightening scenes and 2) only the first of 3 films has been released, so this is only part 1.

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure, 2012

Which children’s books would I LOVE to see made into good movies?

1.  The Witch of Blackbird Pond—Probably my all-time favorite Newbery-award book, this is the #1 book I wish to see a movie made of—and it had better be a quality, decent movie with no garbage in it!

2.  The Twenty-One Balloons—I think this fantastical adventure would make an ideal movie.

3.  The Door in the Wall—An inspiring story like this one deserves to be made into a good movie, and we need a decent Middle Ages movie that’s not related to fairy tales.

4.  The Horse and His Boy—It’s one of my biggest fears that no one will ever make a movie based on my favorite Narnia book!  I understand they’re planning the next one on The Magician’s Nephew, but I’m not sure they’ll see The Horse and His Boy as fitting into their movie schemes.  Maybe they’ll stop before they get to this one or forget it altogether!  Oh me!

I have seen films based on other children’s books, and I know there are many more out there.  What are your favorites?  What children’s books would YOU love to see on film?

I'm linking this post to "The Children's Bookshelf" at What Do We Do All Day?

Introducing our Light Box! (Finally)

This is another one of those projects I found online and have been wanting to make for AGES!  I’ve been pinning light table/box ideas for at least a year (Pinterest Light Table Fun).  I bought a container last fall, but it’s been lying on top of our wardrobe, with lots of stuff stored in it).  Today, I finally put it together, yayyy!

You can purchase a nice, professionally-made light table, but they are super expensive.  The alternative is to make your own.  I’ve found several ideas online, ranging from expensive ones (but still far cheaper than a store-bought table) to really cheap and easy ones.  Some look amazing, and some are so-so.  Mine probably isn’t the best, but it works.  My kids love it! 

Materials:

1.  Large under-the-bed plastic container with lid. 

The lid and container are both clear, and the lid is very nearly flat, without ridges.

2.  4 battery-operated push lights (with batteries)

I’m probably going to replace these with better lights!

3.  Aluminum foil

4.  Wax paper

5.  Clear tape

6.  Black construction paper

7.  Light table objects of all sorts (can be stored in box in ziploc bags)

So far I have: 

Transparent, colored counters (round)

Transparent, colored shapes

Shapes made from colored, plastic dividers

Marbles

Glass pebbles

Large transparent beads of different shapes and colors

Epsom salts (which I plan to color)

Colored water in transparent trays or bowls

This is really an experiment, so I don’t know if I have it right.  You may not need everything I mentioned, and there might be ways I could improve it.  I’m pretty happy with the results, but my lights aren’t so great.  The girls have been playing for 30 minutes, and the lights are already dim.  Either the batteries or the bulbs are not very long-lasting.  I’ll be on the look-out for better lights, I think!

I lined the inside of the lid with wax paper.  I lined the inside sides of the container with foil and the bottom with black paper.  I put the lights inside the box, turned them on, put the lid on, and I have a light table!  (Or light box).

Ready to make your own light box?  Here are some blogs with ideas and instructions for all kinds of DIY light tables and boxes:

Growing a Jeweled Rose

The Home Teacher

Kreative Resources

Teach Preschool

Filth Wizardry

Play at Home Mom

Sense of Wonder

Happy Hooligans

Do you have a light table or box?  Please leave a link in the comments—I’d love to see it!

My Favorite Links for Free Printables

In our homeschool, I use a LOT of printable pages I find on the internet.  I wanted to share some of my favorites that I use on a regular basis.  Actually #10 and #14 are two websites I haven’t used in awhile, but I decided to include them in this post, I won’t lose the links! 

1.  Homeschool Creations—I use Jolanthe’s Geography printables regularly, especially the country fact sheet and the Children Just Like Me page.  In the past, I have also used the State Factsheet notebooking page, and some of the flags and maps for different countries.  I also use a lot of her literature based printables.  If you go to her main page, the tab for printables is on the right…there are LOADS of great printables here!

2.  Homeschool Share—This is my go-to place when we make lapbooks.  Not only do they have lapbook templates for a variety of topics and books, but they also have a large selection of blank templates if you want to make your own.  You’ll find some notebooking pages as well.

3.  Guest Hollow—In the past, I’ve found lapbook printables here as well as a template to make our own geography passport.  Currently, I’m using their timeline pages for my son’s history.  On the printables page, you’ll find charts, notebook pages, worksheets, copywork, and more! 

4.  Enchanted Learning—To use this website to the fullest, you must be a paying member.  There are, however, a large number of free printables.  I often use Enchanted Learning for maps to label.

5.  About.com Geography—When I can’t find a “Label the Map” printable for the country I want, I make my own using map outlines from this website (scroll down for blank and outline maps).

6.  More Coloring Pages—This website has a lot of printable coloring pages, but I mostly print out country flags to color for our geography units.

7.  DLTK—I use this website for various things, from geography to preschool to holidays.  They have color pages, puzzle pages, templates for crafts, calendars, booklets, theme units, bingo dauber pages, certificates, charts, and more!

8.  Confessions of a Homeschooler—Erica has a huge number of free printables, many of which I’ve used with Gabriela.  Currently, I’m just using the calendar notebook printables and some of the letter ones, but check out the others!  Categories include Animals, Art/P.E., Bible, Calendar Time, Geography, History, Kindergarten, Lap Books, Literature, Math, Mom Stuff, Phonics, Preschool, Science, Seasonal, Spanish, Weather, and Workboxes.

9.  Making Learning Fun—This early childhood website is a HUGE source of wonderful printables for dozens and dozens of themes.  I’ve used a lot of their alphabet printables and some of the themed pages.  I’ve just discovered that they also have geography printables for different countries…I will be checking this out!

10.  PreKinders—I actually haven’t used anything from this source for quite a long time, mostly because I forgot about it!  There are loads of free printables on this site, and I’m going to check out the pages for theme units.  They look really nice!

11.  Homeschool Helper Online—I’ve used this source a number of times, though maybe not regularly.  I’ve mostly used their lapbook and notebooking pages.

12.  1+1+1=1—Although I constantly read this blog, I haven’t really looked through the printables offered, although I knew they were there.  I do use some printables from the Raising Rock Stars curriculum for Gabriela’s preschool.  Have a look!  Just click on the “Printables by Theme” tab.

13.  Activity Village—This website has thousands of free printables on a large variety of topics!  I’ve used it several times, though mostly for geography.  I really need to explore this site more.

14.  Lapbook Lessons—This is another site I haven’t used in awhile, but it has plenty of free lapbook templates.  My only complaint is that all of the ads on the home page make the site a bit annoying to maneuver through.

UPDATES: Here's where I'll list any additional websites with lots of free printables (as I find them)!

15.  The Notebooking Fairy--This blog has lots of free notebooking pages for different categories.

16. Donna Young's Homeschool Resources and Printables--This website has printables both for organizing and for various subjects.

If I run across any more websites with free printables, I’ll update this post.  Also, if you have any favorites I did not mention, please do comment and share your find!

All Kinds of Winter Stuff

We’ve had more snow than usual this winter, so wintery activities have been on my mind.  Although it’s my least favorite season, we’ve always tried to make the most of it and create fun memories.  Anyway, I thought it would be nice to review some of my past wintery posts and link them here.  

1.  Snowman Sensory Tub.  My #1 blog post (according to my stats) is January Sensory Tub: Build Snowmen

2.  Make Paper Snowflakes--I make these every year, and the kids enjoy helping.  I give step-by-step instructions in this post.

3.  Winter Sensory Tub—We did this one last winter.

4.  Snowman Play Dough:  Tot School—Week 14 AND Tot School—Week 15 (the snowman play dough can be found in both posts—just scroll down)

5.  Fun for Tots—Tot School Winter Theme 

Mitten Match:

Winter Clothes Dress-Up:

Snowman Art with cotton buds (cotton swabs):

Warm vs Cold Sensory Tray:

6.  Snow Sensory Tub—This tub had real snow and was a huge favorite with all 3 of my kids.

7.  Winter Storytime—We have several winter books we enjoy together.  This post has our top choices:  Favorite Wintery Books

Hands On:  As We Grow has featured 32 snow activities (including my snowman sensory tub) from different blogs.  Lots of snow fun here!

I’m linking this post to All Year Round Blog Carnival: Winter at Sunny Day Today Mama.  There are more links here than I can possibly look at in one day, but it’s the place to go if you are looking for winter-themed ideas.

My Thoughts on Getting Kids to Write

My sweet 11-year-old son has never liked to write.  I’ve never quite figured out whether it’s the physical act of writing or trying to come up with ideas, or both.  I’ve tried several different programs, including K-5 Journal and Language Arts (Love to Learn), Daily 6-Trait Writing (Grade 4), and WriteShop C.  Out of all of those, WriteShop was definitely the favorite (mine and his).  I’ve tried stapling pages together for him to make his own books, along with illustrations (he loves to draw).  I’ve tried teaching him different types of writing (poetry, fiction, topical, etc.).  This year, he’s learning to write outlines and summaries in history, so I decided not to get a writing program.  However, every other Friday I have asked him write a story using WriteShop’s World of People StoryBuilders.  He dreads it.

I’ve occasionally allowed him to dictate to me.  I’ve had him practice typing so he can learn to type out his own stories.  I’ve allowed him to publish stories in different ways (power points, posters, letters, comic strips, etc.).  No matter what I’ve tried, it’s been like pulling teeth to get him to do it.

He will write, however reluctantly.  The problem is that he does only what he must do to get by (even with his summaries in history).  Maybe I’m too easy on him, but I don’t want him to get too frustrated.  I just keep trying to encourage him and to come up with different ideas.  His writing has been sloppy, weak, and grossly lacking in detail.  If I tell him he must write 5-7 sentences, they will be the shortest, choppiest sentences he can muster…and often they won’t even make sense.  I’ve tried showing him how to write, but he doesn’t care.

Then I discovered something I didn’t know.  I was totally unprepared for it.  My son actually CAN write!  I was stressing about his poor writing skills (and feeling like a bad homeschool mom because my 6th grade son couldn’t write as well as I thought he should).  He proved me wrong this past week.

Before I tell you what happened, let me give you a few samples of his more recent “assigned” writing using the World of People Storybuilders (he had to use the words chef, amusing and warehouse):

A Chef

There once was an amusing chef named Jeff.  Who was always spilling Boniezefff (a drink).  He found an abandoned warehouse.  The next day whilst searching in the warehouse for some pizza he found a secret staircase with gold and jewelry.  So he became rich and famous.  The end.

Okay, so he rhymed 3 words and invented a vague type of drink.  Oh, and he used the word “whilst” (result of living in England for 8 years).  We know the chef was searching an abandoned warehouse for pizza.  In the end, he finds a secret staircase with gold and jewelry and became rich and famous.  Before I pressed Isaac for details, the chef had found just the staircase, and that made him rich and famous.  We don’t know why he was amusing.  We don’t know what spilling his drink had to do with anything.  Why on earth would he search an abandoned warehouse for pizza?  How did he find the secret staircase?  How did gold and jewelry get there?  These are questions I asked Isaac, in an attempt to help him improve his writing, and he just moaned and groaned and begged his way out of writing anything else.

Here’s another sample.  This one it a bit better, but it’s still not what I’d expect from a 6th-grader who has had writing as part of his curriculum since 2nd grade.  It’s very much like his writing of 2-3 years ago.  His story words were angry, actor, and avalanche.

Angry Actor

Once there was an angry actor.  He lived in South Africa.  He was so noisy!  He was so noisy that one day, he caused a rock avalanche!  After the avalanche, he and other people noticed he wasn’t angry anymore!  The avalanche had knocked all the anger out of him!  The end.

Again, there is nothing to indicate why the actor was angry or what being an actor living in South Africa had to do with anything that followed.  I’m certain that if a rock avalanche hit me, I would be either dead or more angry.  I didn’t tell Isaac that, though.  I felt lucky to get 6 sentences out of him.

One night last week, I had just put the girls to bed.  Isaac is allowed to stay up a little later, and I knew he was downstairs in the living room.  I had assumed he would be playing Wii or looking over his Star Wars lego models.  I walked into the silent living room and found him writing in his notebook.  When he saw me, he put down the notebook, gave me a sheepish grin, and asked if I’d like to read his story.  He told me he had just felt like writing a story and that it made him feel really strange (because of the urge to write).  It was only one paragraph, just the beginning of a story.  Immediately interested, I picked it up, and here is what I read:

Shipwrecked

Sixty-nine years ago, I was stranded on this desolate island.  I was hungry, thirsty, wet, and cold.  I felt practically naked as the wind whipped through my skin and sent a chill through my bones.  I searched in vain for shelter but found none.  So I dashed toward the mountains, hoping at least to find one small cave to lie in for the night.

Here’s hoping he’ll keep working on this to the end!  He was very pleased with all the praise we gave him. 

My conclusion?  I will continue to teach Isaac spelling and grammar (we use All About Spelling and Easy Grammar, both which he uses willingly).  I will continue to have him practice writing his outlines and summaries for history.  I will strongly encourage him to read good books, since he loves to read.  Other than that, I will encourage, but not force, him to write as he feels inspired to write.  He is learning the tools he needs to write well, he is reading excellent examples of writing, and I’m confident he will write well when he does choose to.

So far, Moriah loves to write in her journal.  Maybe the girls will be different when it comes to creative writing.  Each child has different strengths and weaknesses.  Each child is different in their learning styles.  I have determined that I will be satisfied with what my son is producing in his spare-time writing, and I am convinced that he will turn out to be a writer yet, despite all my worries!

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, Isaac freely gave me permission to publish his writing samples in this post. He’s getting old enough to make me feel like I should ask.

Do you use a writing curriculum?  What have you found that works well for your older child who doesn’t like to write?

Geography Travels: Burma/Myanmar

The official name of this country is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; however, many countries (including the US and the UK) still refer to it as Burma.  The UN and other countries use the name Myanmar, and some use both.  Confusing.  To keep things simple, I will use the name Burma in this post.  As with other geography studies, we spent 2 weeks on Burma.

Week 1

Located Burma on the globe, map, atlas; discussed capital city and other major cities.  Rangoon (Yangon) was the former capital, but the capital has been in the “planned” city of Naypyidaw since 2006.

Listened to “Asia Song” from Geography Songs

Discussed names Burma/Myanmar

Began reading Ann of Ava (about missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson)

Colored the flag of Burma and listened to different national anthems (both the flag and the anthem have changed recently—see links at the end of this post).  I found this flag page at Colouring Book of Flags:

Here’s the most recent national anthem:

Read from Geography From A to Z:  coast, mountains, rivers, gulf, valley, highlands, lowlands, jungle, ocean, islands, forests, plateau, delta, volcano

Labeled a map of Burma (Enchanted Learning)

Discussed language, government, religion, currency

Week 2

Missions—Adoniram Judson

Science: Monsoon, flood, cyclone, earthquakes, volcano

Culture: food, customs, architecture, music

Natural resources (gems) and agriculture (rice)

Wildlife and plants (jungle animals, bamboo, fruits)

Talked about Burmese cats and Burmese pythons  (personally, I would much rather have the cat)

The Not-for-Parents Travel Book—I found this book at Costco, and it’s part of our geography studies now.  Every country (big and small) is represented—one page per country.  It is full of fascinating facts and lots of photos.  Ignore the “Not-for-Parents” part of the title…this parent loves it!

Notebook page (Homeschool Creations)

Links

National Geographic

Bartering in Burma (Philip Martin World Travels)

Christian Biography Resources (Adoniram Judson)

Myanmar/Burma Travel—Wild Frontiers Adventure Travel (YouTube video)

Faces of Myanmar (YouTube)

I'm linking this post to "History and Geography" at All Things Beautiful.

Geography Travels: Antarctica

Several years ago, my husband and I saw an IMAX film on Antarctica, and although I got a little tired of seeing nothing but white, I was fascinated.  Visiting Antarctica is on my bucket list…who knows…

Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this post.  I found quite a LOT of fantastic websites about Antarctica!  Honestly, I found way more resources than I could possibly use.  Enjoy!

Week 1

Found Antarctica on the map, globe and atlas; discussed name and location

Explored Antarctica box; read Pole to Pole (Barbara Taylor)

Labeled map (Enchanted Learning) of Antarctica.  We found THIS map, THIS map and THIS map to be helpful.

Discussed animals of Antarctica—learned about different penguins, drew pictures of penguins, labeled an emperor penguin (from Enchanted Learning), drew a picture of krill, read The Emperor’s Egg (Martin Jenkins)

Friday: Geography from A to Z: icebergs, glaciers, volcano, ice shelf, continent, arctic climate, sea ice, oceans, peninsula

Week 2

History and exploration (read about Antarctic explorers at Enchanted Learning); read Escape from the Ice (Connie Roop)

Read The Race to the South Pole (Jim Pipe)

Discussed visiting and living in Antarctica; read Playing with Penguins and Other Adventures in Antarctica and Destination: Antarctica

Websites (see list below) and videos; read Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World

Watched March of the Penguins DVD

I made my own notebook page for Antarctica to fit its uniqueness as an unpopulated continent rather than a nation.  It includes interesting facts, famous explorer, famous landmark, and fun things.

Antarctica Links:

Antarctic Connection

Antarctic Field Trip

Antarctica! (several video clips)

Antarctica games and links

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears (lots of fun stuff for both Arctic and Antarctic)

Classroom Antarctica

Color Me Good (Antarctica color pages)

Cool Antarctica

Ducksters: Antarctica

Enchanted Learning: Antarctic Animals

Enchanted Learning: Antarctic Explorers

Enchanted Learning: Zoom School Antarctica

Homeschool Creations: To the Bottom of the Earth (Antarctica for Kids lesson plans week 1; week 2 HERE, Shackleton study HERE)

Kids Konnect

KidZone Penguin Activities

Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site

NASA Quest: Live from Antarctica 1

NOVA Online: Warnings from the Ice

Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure website (includes teaching guide); see movie trailer HERE.

South Aris Expedition

South-Pole.com

ThinkQuest: Antarctica

ThinkQuest: Antarctica Explorers

Timeline Index: Robert Scott, Journey to the South Pole

I'm linking this post to "History and Geography" at All Things Beautiful.

Preschool Corner: Weeks 14-17

Alphabet Time:  Along with our Easy Peasy—All in One Homeschool lessons for letters N-Q,  Gabriela made these letter creations (from Totally Tots):

Other Letter Activities:  We went kind of overboard on P week!

P is for Parrot (idea from DLTK):

P is for Penguins:  We read penguin books, and Moriah was kind enough to let Gabriela play with her stuffed penguin.  We also watched a few clips from March of the Penguins.  She also played with the penguins from our Antarctica box (the same ones in the snow sensory tub).

P is for Pigs & Pancakes:  We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake (Laura Numeroff), colored a picture of the pig (HarperCollins Children), read Pancakes, Pancakes! (Eric Carle), ate pancakes, read other pig books (including If You Give a Pig a Party), and watched Charlotte’s Web.

P is for Pigeons:  We read 3 of Mo Willem’s pigeon books that I had, and we looked at his website (Pigeon Presents!).  I found the finger puppets on the website.  Later in the week, I ordered two more of his pigeon books and read them when they came in (The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!).  I found the stuffed pigeon at a yard sale last summer (I was so excited)!

P is for Polar Bear:  We read books about polar bears including three of the Little Polar Bear books by Hans de Beer, watched The Little Polar Bear on DVD, and colored some pictures of Little Polar Bear (Coloring Book).  I found this tracing page of polar bears for Gabriela to do (Making Learning Fun):

P is for Panda:  We read these panda books, but we didn’t do any activities (we were a bit overloaded with the other P animal activities):

After P week, I was a bit relieved to reach Q!  We did read a few books (The Missing Tarts, which is related to the “Queen of Hearts” rhyme, and The Keeping Quilt), and Gabriela made a quilt Q (Our Crafts ~N~ Things) and a queen toilet paper tube craft (DLTK).

Story Time:  To see what books we read during these 4 weeks, click HERE and scroll down to numbers 230-300.  Some of these went with other themes, but I also have several books related to letters N-Q. 

Books on Tape:  Gabriela has learned to listen for the tone and to turn the pages herself.  I’m working on getting her to turn the pages at the corners instead of in the middle.  We listened to There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, Owl Moon, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and The Mitten.

Math: 

Using square tiles to make different patterns:  

Ordering objects from smallest to largest (using our nesting dolls from Ukraine):

Comparing sizes of containers in relation to amount of water (things like the amount of water staying the same even when poured into a different-sized container, how many cups of water are in the pitcher, etc.):    

Themes: 

The Mitten (Jan Brett)--I’ve seen a lot of theme units online for this book, but I finally decided on several pages from the book unit at Homeschool Creations.  Here’s a matching game we used:

I also found some animals to color on Jan Brett’s site.  I cut out two mitten shapes, hole-punched and stitched them together with yarn, and then Gabriela colored designs on them.  She put the animals into the mitten as I helped her retell the story.

Winter—We did a lot of winter activities, made even more wonderful by the fact that we had SNOW!  Gabriela played in the snow, helped make a snowman, drew a picture of a snowman, ate snow with syrup, played with a snow sensory tub (with scoops, penguins, and colored water), put together a foam snowman, watched snow melt, watched Frosty the Snowman, watched The Snowman, talked about animals in the winter, and read lots of winter books!  

5 Senses: Sight—We played “I Spy,” looked at hidden picture books, looked at Braille and talked about vision impairments, made hand shadows, colored a picture of an eye, and looked at our eyes in a mirror. 

5 Senses: Hearing—Read books about noises and sounds, identified sounds she heard (with her eyes covered), discussed hearing impairments, and watched the Animated Hero Classics DVD on Helen Keller.  We’ll probably do a few more activities on hearing next week, as I didn’t get to do all the activities I had planned.

Opposites—We’ve been practicing opposites and reading books about opposites.  We also played “Mary Contrary,” which is like “Simon Says,” except you do the opposite of what you’re told.

Before Five in a Row: 

Angus Lost—We looked at the illustrations and noted how one page portrays Angus silhouetted against the night sky.  So, we talked about silhouettes and made the one below.  I traced and cut it out, but Gabriela glued it to the paper. 

Also for Angus Lost, we talked about getting lost, and we looked at different dog breeds.  Isaac has some dog breed posters in his room.  I explained to Gabriela how some dogs have jobs they’re good at.  We picked out our favorites from each poster, and we also found the Scottish Terrier, which is what Angus is of course.

Caps for Sale—We put all kinds of hats on each other’s heads and counted them.  I first saw this activity in the book Math Play!  I thought it would go well with Caps for Sale.

The Snowy Day and The Carrot Seed—Mostly, we discussed the stories and looked at the art styles used.  We’ll do more activities with these books our 2nd time around (I’m doing each of my BFIAR books twice this year, since I only have half of the books required).

Trays:  I finally cleared off the bottom shelf of our workbox station to put trays on for Gabriela.  Although we’re not in Tot School anymore, there are times when I’m busy with Isaac and Moriah.  I set up trays for Gabriela to choose for those times. 

Here are the two trays she played with the most:

Play dough--This is kind of late, but I made her a Christmas tree to decorate with beads.  She also enjoys using cut-up straws with play dough.  We currently have red, yellow, green and orange homemade play dough.

Imaginative play—Instead of making her a set this week, I got out my tins of “stuff” and let her choose what she wanted to put on her tray to play with. 

Outings:  We spent a weekend in the Lake District with our church.  One afternoon, we went on a walk and got to go inside a small cave:

I’m linking this post to “Preschool & Kindergarten Corner” at Homeschool Creations.