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!!

August 22-26: Farms

We have started back to school this week after taking most of the summer off! We are officially doing preschool!! I have put together my own curriculum by finding materials and ideas on Pinterest and on various other websites, like Teachers Pay Teachers.  I'm going to try and give credit where I got materials, but some of the ideas I found I can't remember where I got them, but I'll definitely say if it wasn't my own idea or creation, even if I can't give full credit to where it's due. 

Each week, will be a different theme with different activities to support the theme. We are focusing on Literacy, Math, Science, Art and Technology.  My curriculum is a mix of preschool and Kindergarten level activities, because Arthur is a little advanced for a three year old. 

Morning Work

Every morning/afternoon we go down to our classroom in the basement and the first thing Arthur does is work in his notebook. I've included a few things for him to practice his skills. This notebook has him practicing writing his  name every day, it has him doing prewriting practice, math practice, and coloring practice. It's also a great way to get his brain warmed up and in the right mindset for learning. 

Another thing we're doing every morning/afternoon is journal "writing." I'm excited to see how this activity will grow and change throughout the year. We read the book "Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss, and then Arthur gets a chance to write in his journal. He picks the color that he "feels" that day, and he narrates as he draws, and I write what he narrates. Eventually I hope to see this grow into an activity where he starts drawing actual pictures of how he feels, or what we've done. 

Literacy

Every week, we have a theme, and in that theme we will read books, have a word wall, and do several activities with that theme. This week was Farms, so we read books about farms, we talked about what a Farmer does, we practiced beginning sounds with farm animals, we learned farm words on our word wall, we practiced writing the letter "Ff," and made a farm poem.' We also reviewed all of the sight words that we've learned so far, since it had been a while and he had forgotten most of them. 

Math

This week we practiced writing numbers, practiced counting objects, completing patterns. and drawing shapes.

 

www.3dinosars.com

Science

We made butter! 

Art

We made a cow out of a paper plate. 

Music

We sang songs using the flannel board.

Technology

Started teaching Arthur how to use a mouse, while practicing other skills, with the website Starfall.

Next week, our theme is the Zoo! I'm really excited because I have some activities planned around some very popular children's books about the zoo!

June 13-17: Pete the Cat

This week we turned our summer studies from fairy and folk tales  to everyone's favorite cat: Pete! We also continued working on the word, IT, and practiced writing the letter Cc and the number 4.

Books

Theme Work

To go along with Pete the Cat, we used some worksheets I found at 3 Dinosaurs.  We also used felt pieces on the felt board to help tell our story.

Using the Felt Board to tell the story "Pete the Cat  and his  White Shoes"

Completing patterns

Completing patters

His Completed Worksheets

Counting the objects an d circling the number

Sight Words

Reviewing all of  his sight words! He's getting really good at it!

Finding "IT" in the sentence. 

Handwriting Practice

Miscellaneous

We played a couple different learning games this week.

Color sorting

CVC Word Match. Matching pictures to the words. He needs lots of help with this, but he's learning!

Next week, we're going to continue on the one book a week thing, and we're going to do "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." I'm looking forward to this theme, because we're going to be making homemade chocolate chip cookies to enjoy!