It's Apple Week in our homeschool! I LOVE using themes as a way to add fun and excitement to learning during our school time. This week we are focusing on APPLES! For some reason, I always find this theme so fun!
Last year we did an apple comparison and taste test. It was so much fun, we are getting ready to do it again!! This time I will expand on this coloring activity by having my first grader label the apples.
Everett as a kindergartener with the apples we found last year!
During this activity we will discuss:
1. The name and colors of each type of apple - color and label accordingly.
2. Price differences (there is quite a range!) - a great lesson for math and economics
3. Taste and compare - engage the 5 senses and see how many different descriptive words you can use for the different apples - yummy, crunchy, sweet, tart, sour, juicy, crisp...
If we have the chance we might cut the apple pictures out and make a book. (We'll see how far we get! Everett loves making books right now!)
You can download my FREE coloring sheet that goes with this activity at my TpT store. Click below:
Our 6th week of school was a lot of fun, though there were several difficult moments mixed in.
Co-op
We started the week with our first ever homeschool co-op day. The kids really had a great time. The girls went to Bible, Count with Me, Science, Art, and Gym. My big first grader went to Story time, Bible, Art, Gym, and Hands-on Math with Literature. Mama had a good time too, but I think of all of us, I was the most worn out afterward!
Co-op Aftermath
Tuesday felt like a harsh back to life, back to reality moment! IT. WAS. PAINFUL. After a fun weekend and then co-op, my first grader really had a hard time settling back into our school routine (even in spite of the several fun activities we did). My girlie who is a thumb sucker woke up with a fever that morning too, so she was not 100% (but she insisted on participating in school anyway, that made it "special"). **NOTE: "Special" is my positive spin buzz word for DIFFICULT! ;)
Theme of the Week - Alphabets and Coconuts - Chicka Boom Boom
Tuesday we started Chicka Boom Boom week in our homeschool! I love, love, love Chicka Boom Boom! It's a book we have read over and over. We read it again this week along with several other alphabet themed books. Here are a few!
Bible/Character
We are still talking about obedience!! We revisited what obedience is, what it sounds like/doesn't sound like, and where it comes from (the heart). I used information from the Crossroads of Character book as well as from our We Choose Virtues Obedience card.
During Bible time the girls learned about David and Goliath. Everett learned about how God is everywhere.
Circle Time
During circle time this week, in addition to reading one or two of the fun books mentioned above, we used our magnetic board (a.k.a. large drip pan from Wal-mart automotive department) and our magnetic upper/lowercase letters to act out the Chicka Boom Boom story while we read it. I made a coconut palm tree out of construction paper and laminated it. The kids took turns adding letters to the tree and enjoyed matching all of the lowercase letters to their uppercase matches after the Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM happened!
My preschoolers need lots of work on identifying/naming the numbers above 10. My first grader got good practice too (he does know how to read numbers). This was a chance for him to model how to use this skill for them. Great turn taking! They enjoyed!
Art
For our this week, the kids made a shape palm tree and added the letters of their name to the tree Chicka Boom Boom style. They enjoyed doing this activity. We also counted the letters in their names. My preschoolers are still learning 1 to 1 correspondence, so any time we can practice this skill is great for them!
Snack Time
I made palm trees out of graham cracker/Nutella sandwiches, sliced Granny Smith apples, and used chocolate chips or grapes as coconuts.
Science
For science on Friday, we had an awesome hands-on lesson. While they ate their snack, I read to them about the uses of coconuts, how the palm trees grow, etc. After we finished our school work, we came back to the kitchen to "open up the coconut". We used our senses to see, hear, feel, touch, and finally taste a coconut. The kids really liked getting to handle and take turns trying to crack open the coconut. The last thing we did was go outside on the driveway and measure 98 ft, the length of a coconut palm tree.
**NOTE: We love Roger Day and his music. During this week, we sang his "Open up the Coconut" song OFTEN! If you haven't heard it, find it on iTunes and listen. That song is so funny!
This is our second "no prep" week of the year, and it's only our 5th week of school! YIKES! Honestly, this is typical for us. We are either really on or really off! After a birthday party Saturday, church Sunday, spending Monday with extended family, and Tuesday celebrating the girls' 4th birthday, we are going to jump into a 3 day week. I had planned to do "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" this week, but I LOVE that theme and want to wait until we can do it for a full week. My son declared when it was his birthday that you shouldn't do school on your special day. FINE WITH ME! :) So we spent Tuesday riding bikes, ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then had a family movie night.
Next week we will start our first homeschool co-op. Twice a month the kiddos will have a chance to learn in a class with some similar aged peers. I think it will be a great experience for them. 2/3 are VERY social and the other little one needs to learn to branch out and make friends.
Our spelling curriculum is 4 days learning and 5th day test, so we are going to stretch that unit over this week and next. I don't want to put too much pressure on my little guy. I'd rather take it slow and be sure he has time to learn the information!
So, that's what's up in our little school this week. A 3-day week. We will probably do some fun lego activities and save Chicka Boom Boom for next week!
Here's a recap of our fourth week of school. Fairy Tale Week!
Bible Time/Character:
"I am gentle" from We Choose Virtues
Everett learned that God is a spirit and the girls learned the story of David and Jonathan.
Circle Time: telling and retelling stories
We had lots of fun learning about what fairy tales are. During the summer a friend gave us flannel graph sets for Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Gingerbread Boy. We also retold Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood with puzzles I have from my teaching days.
Elynne's turn to add a picture
while retelling the Gingerbread Boy
Read A-louds
We checked out several fun books from the library. These fun spin offs of some of the stories we already knew were some of our favorites:
Center Time
I thought of a new "center" that the kids really enjoyed! I love finding activities that excite them and this one did. Best of all, it was VERY inexpensive! $1 from the Dollar Tree.
WINDOW CENTER - I bought window clings with them numbers 1-10 and the alphabet. I will probably also go back for the weather set, so my first grader can match the words to the pictures.
Evangeline adding the correct number of dots
after putting the numbers in order.
Other centers they enjoyed included our Little People castle and people, Little People Klip Klop castle, puppets (they have enjoyed them for 3 weeks now!!), quiet books (hoping to show you these up close in an upcoming video), sorting bears/cups, painting. Note: we have several little people sets, but we were so blessed to receive the castle as a hand-me down when a friend upgraded her daughter's and I found the Klip Klop castle at a thrift store and bought it for $2!! One of my all time greatest finds!! :)
What didn't work?
Art! I had planned for them to make a Jack and the Beanstalk that I have pinned on pinterest, but it was a bust! With me being busy with some of my own computer work and assembling file folders for laminating, the girls got as far as drawing and painting the leaves and gave up. We even had an epic meltdown when one of them decided to cut her leaves into tiny pieces then got upset after the fact that they didn't look like leaves. **SIGH** Art wasn't fun like it was supposed to be, so we scrapped that project for all of our sakes. We will try another painting project next week.
Here's our Homeschool Week in the Life recap for this week.
I love using these little muffin tins to create a simple lunch in a hurry. These are great for when our school day runs long and we need lunch before a hunger meltdown occurs.
Mrs. Mommy will do ANYTHING to avoid that kind of meltdown cause it is ugly! :)
There are so many different combinations you can create, just grab what you have. Something about a colorful selection motivates them to eat up! We added some fruit cups and yogurt after I snapped this pic, too.
Dollar Tree 6-cup muffin tins filled with: lunch meat
This is Fairy Tale week, so we are talking lots about talking/human like animals, princesses, good guys/bad guys, etc.
I usually spend some time printing activities for my preschoolers to do and find fun activities for all of the kiddos to do to make our school week hands-on and fun. This week though (**SIGH**) I didn't have a chance to prep, and I've been working on some other major tasks on my to do list. So, I'm realizing that when I do the prep, it pays off! It definitely makes school more fun for the kids and easier for me.
My first big job was switching my www.speechtherapygames.com site product links to my TpT store. BIG job, and wow, so hard to do with little hands poking at my computer. Computer + school room = sad times! But, I got it done!!! YAY!
I thought I was done with big project, but then I got these two File Folder Games books from amazon.com. So today during school, I was gluing and prepping all of these games for laminating. It will be soooo worth it once they are ready to go! These books are awesome and I highly recommend!! My kids are excited about all of the different activities they will have to do soon.
In this video she shows what they look like closer up!
I used my menu sized laminating pouches to laminate these file folder games, they came out GREAT!!!! I LOVE being able to laminate large things like this without a trip to the teacher's aid shop. I have a 12" laminator and the pouches are 12 x 18. I just trim the sides and bottom a bit and they fit perfectly with enough room around the edges for it to have a good seal!
When Mrs. Mommy is distracted, it makes our days more chaotic than normal. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get back into a better groove!
We are thrilled to be parents! God is so good and His timing IS perfect! We've been praying and asking for a long time and He said "YES"!
Thank you to all of those who prayed with us! We are finally parents!
For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.
