August 29-September 2: The Zoo

This week we learned about the zoo! In a completely surprising act, Arthur spelled zoo for me to write on our white board as we introduced our topic. When he did that, I knew he was ready to move on to learning to actually read. So this week, we pulled out the BOB reading series, and started with book 1. He needed some help the first time through, the second time through, well, just take a look at this video:

LITERACY

This week in literacy, we learned the sight word: IS, we practiced writing his name, we read zoo words off of the word wall, and read in some emergent readers (see above video). We also continued to write in our journal every morning, and we are still working every morning in our morning notebook practicing skills like writing his name, tracing letters, counting, and cutting.

Introduction to the theme, Arthur named animals we could find in the zoo.

Activity to go along with "Dear Zoo." Found on Totschooling.com

Using scissors the correct way for the first time.

Activity to go along with Goodnight Gorilla. Found on Pinterest.

Working in his Interactive Notebook. This was created by me.

Finished page in his interactive notebook.

Working in his emergent reader.

MATH

This week in math, we practiced matching pictures, finishing patterns, following shapes in a path, and counting pictures and objects. Arthur really enjoyed math this week, because he got to use his favorite learning tool: The Dot Marker. All of our math worksheets were found at The Measured Mom.

Pattern Completion

Which Animal is the largest?

How Many Animals?

Match the animal to its shadow

Color the triangles to lead the giraffe to the food.

SCIENCE

In Science this week we talked about animal habitats. We had three bowls: one with water, one with dirt and one with grass. We then took the zoo animals and put them in the correct habitats. I got the idea for this activity from Pinterest. 

SENSORY

I placed zoo animals in "mud" (chocolate pudding), and Arthur had to free them and wash them off. He loved this activity, and he ate most of the pudding, but he also kept freeing and cleaning the animals for like half an hour.  I came up with this idea on my own.

MUSIC

We sang songs using finger puppets.

COMPUTER

We went to the library and Arthur spent time playing the games they have on their computers.

FIELD TRIP

And finally, naturally a week studying about the zoo isn't complete without an actual trip to the zoo!  We had also conveniently signed up for a class at the zoo, so we were able to do that this week too!

Next week our theme is OCEANS and BEACHES. I have a lot of messy, hands on activities planned for next week. Wish me luck!!