September 12-16: The Jungle

LITERACY

This week we studied the jungle! We looked at a globe and found the jungles in relation to ourselves. We also read books about jungles, we learned new words on our word wall, learned the sight word 'FOR,"practiced our sight words, read some new readers, and practiced the letter 'J.'

Emergent Reader

Read the sentence, and then colored the picture.

Sight Word Reader that we started this week.

Sight word water balloon game

I wrote the words we know on the driveway. 

I would call out the word and Arthur would go smash a water balloon on it

He had a lot of fun, and it was a new and different way to practice reading.

The two readers we started using this week.

Practicing sight words with our magnet words

Coloring the word "FOR" for our flashcard ring.

MATH

This week for Math we did a graphing activity and we finished a pattern.

SENSORY

This week we made a rain stick as our sensory activity. Nice and not messy this week.

We filled the tube with beans and a long strip of foil. I hot glued construction paper around the tube, and Arthur decorated it with crayons.

ART

This week we made a paper plate snake. Arthur painted the paper plate, and after it dried, we cut it in a spiral and added googly eyes and a tongue. I found this activity on Piterest.

SCIENCE

This week was FILLED with science activities. Not only did we make elephant toothpaste (an experiment I found on Pinterest) we went to the Science Center TWICE. Once to explore with a friend, and again to take a pint size science class.

Elephant Toothpaste. In the bottle is Peroxide, dish soap and food coloring. In the bowl, water and yeast.

Once combined, they fizzed and bubbled up and out the water bottle

As it foamed out, it looked a lot like toothpaste.

Arthur was very concerned about how we were going to get it back in the bottle.

Pint Size Science class, digging for treasures.

Pint Size Science Class, digging out a dinosaur from it's fossil

Looking at leaves under the microscope at the science center. 

COMPUTER

Arthur took a day this week and just spent a couple hours exploring Star Fall. 

Next week our theme is Fall, to coincide with the beginning of fall. Not only do I have a lot of fun activities planned for here at home, we also have a field trip to the apple orchard on Thursday!

September 5-9: Oceans and Beaches

LITERACY

This week in Literacy we learned the sight word, "UP," learned about syllables,

we practiced writing our name, we continued reading from the BOB book #1, and added a Sight Word book to read. Arthur managed to write his name on his own for the first time! We also played a couple clip cards; rhyming words and beginning sounds.

MATH

In Math this week we practiced writing the number 4, we fished for number 11-20 to practice number recognition, we traced shapes, we counted goldfish, and we stamped a bath on numbers 1-20.

 SCIENCE

I always try to have a hands on science experiment for us to do that goes along with our theme. This week it was supposed to be salt water vs fresh water float experiment. I made my salt water like directed, and nothing floated, it didn't work. SO, we talked about salt water and the differences between it and fresh water instead.


ART

Antoher project I found on Pinterest. We made a Walrus out of cupcake liners and toothpicks!

SENSORY

I found a recipe for sea foam on Pinterest. Mixed one part Dawn Soap to two parts water, added some food coloring, mixed in with my Kitchenaid mixer until super frothy, and voila! Sea foam! A fun activity best enjoyed in the bath tub.

COMPUTER

We went to the library again and played their education games.

MUSIC

We sang songs about fish and the ocean, and our Tiny Tots Music Class has started up again!

Next week our theme is "THE JUNGLE," we'll be reading a new BOB book, a new Sight Word book, AND we have signed up for a science class at the Science Center, so if our experiment goes wrong this week, we'll have some science ;)

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!!