Week 9

Weekly Book List:
"Mice Squeak, We Speak" by Tomie dePaula and/or "Have You Got My Purr?" by Judy West
"What Will the Weather Be Like Today?" by Paul Rogers

There is also a series of weather book I found at the library called QEB Weather Watch by Honor Head. The titles are "Sun", "Snow", "Rain" and "Wind".

Monday-Language Arts
sign of the day: horse
Letter(s): E, F
Reading Vocab: Elephant, Fish
Literature: "Mice Squeak, We Speak" by Tomie dePaula and/or "Have You Got My Purr?" by Judy West
Activity: -Talk about communication. How do we communicate? How do animals communicate? Do we ever communicate without words? -Pretend to be all the different animals in the book. Walk like the animal and make their sounds. -Sing Old Mc Donald, using animals from the book.
-If possible, visit a local farm. We have some friends who have a few different animals that we will visit. Listen and watch how the animals communicate.

Tuesday-Science
sign of the day: sunshine
Topic: Weather and Seasons
Read: "What Will the Weather Be Like Today?" by Paul Rogers
There is also a series of weather book I found at the library called QEB Weather Watch by Honor Head. The titles are "Sun", "Snow", "Rain" and "Wind".
Online Story:
Learn: What is Weather? Why does it change and When? Talk about the position of the earth in relation to the sun that creates seasons. To demonstrate this, use different size balls, or cut out circles and make a sort of diagram.  Why do we need to have different types of weather?
Activity: -Check the weather outside. If it is rainy, sing "Rain, Rain, go away!" If it is sunny, sing "You are my sunshine". If coudy, do cloud craft. If it is windy (or may be windy soon) here are some wind crafts:  (or just do all of them!)
-Make a Bumble Bee Kite
-Homemade pinwheel

Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: color
Topic: Easter Egg Math
Activity: counting: write numbers 1-12 on 12 easter eggs. Have child put them in chronological order into an egg carton.
sorting: dump them out, have child put them back in, sorting them by color
graphing: make a bar graph showing how many eggs there are of each color. help child color in the right amount. Analyze the chart. Which color has the most? the least? How many of the colors had 2? etc...
adding and subtracting: make up math problems using the eggs. ex: "I had 12 eggs, but a rat came and stole 2 of them. How many are left?" (I use magnetic numbers to write out each problem on a cookie sheet so they can see as well as hear it) "There were 5 eggs then a chicken layed 3 more. How many are there now?" etc...

Thursday- Social Studies
sign of the day: snake
Topic: Snakes
Read: here are some basic snake facts. Read then explain to child.
Learn: What snakes are poisonous and which are not? Look up particularly the poisonous snakes in your state. Go to google images and look at pics of each one. (Info for Washington)
Activity: (choose a few)
-snake maze
-toilet paper tube rattle snake
-Snake art: draw a rough outline of a snake, making the body large enough to draw inside. Have child make small patterns or line with a crayon. Then, using watercolors, paint the snake. The paint will not cover the crayon.
-Play Snakes and Ladders!
- make snake out of pipe cleaners
- paper plate snakes: color a paper plate (or just use a paper cut into a circle), any colors. then cut in a spiral pattern, making a snake. Add eyes.

Week 8- Christmas!

Weekly Book List:
"The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats (also available online- see below)

* I went to a thrift store and bought a bunch of really cheap varied Christmas books and wrapped each one and put them under the tree. Each day, the kids get to open one (or two, depends how much you have) and that is what we read that day.
 **we will also be singing Christmas songs as part of the lesson each week.

Monday-Language Arts

sign of the day: snow 
Letter(s): s, j (I know we already did J...)
Reading Vocab: snow, Jesus
Literature: "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats (or read online here)
Activity: -The Snowy Day sequencing cards
-Nativity Coloring page. After coloring, cut into 6 squares and use as a puzzle.
-cut and paste snowman 
-or make a snowman mobile
-make snowflakes out of paper and hang them on the cieling.
I LOVED this Gingerbread Man letter matching game. Match the upper case letters to their lower case letter.

Tuesday-Science
sign of the day: Tree
Topic: Christmas Trees
Sing: O Christmas Tree
Learn: talk about disidous and nondisiduous trees. Why don't "christmas" trees loose their leaves and turn colors like other trees? Tell child the evergreen christmas tree is a symbol of everlasting life that Jesus gave to us. Bring a branch of a real evergreen in for the child to see and feel.
Activity: - christmas tree coloring page
Beaded Christmas tree ornament: use green wooden craft stick as tree trunk. Glue or wrap green chenille sticks horizonatally across trunk as the branches. String beads on the branches then curl or glue ends to keep them on. Glue string or ribbon to the top to hang it.

OR! make the tree completely out of wood craft stick, paint, and glue on sequins for ornaments. Could also make a magnet?

Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: present
Topic: Patterns, Sizes
Activity: -Use these Christmas pictures and practice patterns.
-Here are some different size baby Jesus pictures to put in order.
-Christmas counting page
Thursday- Christmas fun!
sign of the day: Christmas
Topic:
Activity: -Christmas tree maze, Christmas tree maze 2, snow christmas maze, santa maze, christmas maze, baby jesus maze (my son loves mazes....)
-Christmas dot-to-dots
-Make Wreath. Cut hole in center of a paper plate. Tear small strips of green construction paper and glue on plate. Add red pom poms for berries.
-nativity christmas coloring pages

Getting Behind

so...I'm getting behind. It was bound to happen. Time for our fall break...haha.

Week 7

Weekly Book List:

"The Giant Jam Sandwich" by John Vernon Lord


Monday-Language Arts
sign of the day: sandwich
Letter(s): j, w
Reading Vocab: jam, wasp -I don't know why this is a picture of a wasp, yet says "worm". oh well.
(to go along with book)
Literature: "The Giant Jam Sandwich" by John Vernon Lord
Activity: Real vs. Make believe: while reading the book, perhaps point out to your child the concept of fiction. Ask what things in the book could have really happened and what couldn't.
Sequencing words: Cut out all the parts of a sandwich out of colored paper or felt. (or use play food) Build a sandwich, vocalizing each step with the words "first, next, then, finally" etc. Ask things like "what do you do before/after you put on the jelly?"
Make bread. Use your favorite recipe. Make a jam sandwich out of it!
Write your own story: Help child come up with his own version of this story and write it down.  First, you will need to do a bit of brainstorming (answer the following questions):


1. What's the name of your town going to be?
2. Think of a pest (cockroaches, goats, mice, or even peacocks or kangaroos!)
3. What is the problem with the pest? (this can be realistic like it was with the wasps or ridiculous)
4. What is the solution going to be?
Tuesday- Science
sign of the day: animal
Topic: Animal Classification
Read: (after the lesson) Any book with a variety of animals. I chose Animal ABC's. Ask child which family each animal belongs in.
Learn: Discuss the five catergories of the animal kingdom: mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds.
Activity: Animal Classification Pockets: (click on the about 3rd link down "animal classification pockets") Assemble these pockets on some sort of board or paper. Find several animal pictures. If you get Nat. Geographics, that would be great to let child cut out animal pictures and sort them. Otherwise, print out pictures of several different types of animals to sort. classroomclipart.com is a good source. Cut them out, then help child put them in the right pockets. There are also some from homeschoolshare you can use. This will also be a good opportunity to discover new species.

Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: snail
Topic: numbers
Activity: we are just going to practice counting. I got out all our old counting games. Also got out the numbers and practiced simple math problems.


Thursday- Social Studies
sign of the day:  spider
Topic: Spiders
Read: Anansi the Spider 
Learn: All about spiders.
Activity: spider maze, Little Miss Muffet coloring page, Spider dot-to-dot, spider egg carton
hand print spider: make a spider using childs finger prints (minus the thumb) for the legs. put it on a web made out of string.

Week 6/ Halloween!

Weekly Book List:
Go to library and pick up several Halloween related books. Read one every day with the lesson.
 Buy: Candy Corn mix

Monday-Language Arts
sign of the day: pumpkin
Letter(s): p, q
Reading Vocab: pumpkin, queen
Literature: Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater nursery rhyme and Five Little Pumpkins poem
Activity: Peter Pumpkin Eater finger puppets use to tell rhyme
Do Five Little Pumpkins finger play

Tuesday-Science
sign of the day: halloween
Topic: Pumpkin lifecycle
Learn: print out these stages of a pumpkin's life. Help child put them in order. Maybe include the pumpkin pie stage! Here's another pumpkin lifecycle worksheet.
Activity: cut open a pumpkin. Explore the insides. Talk about how the seeds, if replanted, will make more pumpkins next year! Cook the seeds and eat them. (wash, spray with little oil, cook at 325 for 25 minutes)
Here's a jack-o-lantern maze for fun.

Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: corn (put together with candy to say candy corn)
Topic: Candy Corn Math
Activity: Candy Corn Patterns: Buy a package of Autum Mix candy corn (with the pumpkins and and two different kinds of candy corn) Practice making and finishing patterns with the candy.
Candy Corn Grid Game: each player gets an ice cube tray. Take turns rolling dice. Whatever number you roll, you get that many candy corns. Whoever fills their tray first, wins.
Play don't eat Pete with candy corn: Make 3x3 grid with one candy corn in each square. One player goes out while the others choose which one is "Pete". Player comes back in and begins to collect the candy. When they choose "Pete" everyone yells "Don't eat Pete!" They get to keep however many they collected before finding "Pete."
Thursday- Social Studies
sign of the day: fun
Topic: Pumpkin Fun
Activities: jack-o-lantern mask: hold a paper plate up to child's face. Mark where his eyes, nose and mouth are. Make a jack-o-lantern face on the plate matching up with the child's face. Color orange. Cut out holes for eyes nose and mouth. Punch holes on each side of the plate and tie yarn to tie around child's head.
Make pumpkin cookies using chocolate chips to make a jack-o-lantern face.
Make egg carton jack-o-lantern. fill with candy corn.  
Go to the pumpkin patch!

Week Five

Weekly Book List:
"Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman
Monday- Language Arts
sign of the day: bird
Letter(s): a, c
Reading Vocab: apple, cat
Literature: "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman
Activity: C is for Cookie song! (from Sesame street)
Make a bird nest: Using whatever you have available (sticks, pine needles, hay, grass...) and mud, let child pack it all together and make a nest.
Feather painting: Using feathers as a brush, let child paint a picture.

Tuesday- Science
sign of the day: water
Topic: Water
Learn: Properties of water
Activity: Water Experiments!
Water tension: :
1. using a dropper, see how many drops of water you can get to balance ontop  of a penny. When you have as much as you think will fit, gently touch the water with a toothpick and watch it flow off. (breaking the tension)
2. in flat container, arrange toothpics in a pentagon. (or any enclosed shape really) add some water. dip another toothpic in dishsoap and gently touch it to the center of al the toothpics. Watch as the soap breaks the tension and pushes the toothpics away.
Density:
1. Using a large bowl water, gather several objects and test if they will sink or float. Let child guess first. If they sink, they are more dense than water.
2. Homemade Lava lamp! before lesson, freeze several ice cube with different colors of water. fill tall vase with oil and add ice. As the ice melts, it will slowly float to the bottom. (Water becomes less dense in its solid form, ice)

Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: day
Topic: Intro to Patterns
Activity: gather small snacks from the kitchen. (we used pretzels, cheerios, raisins and crackers) Use these items to teach child what a pattern is. Once he gets the idea, practice by starting a pattern and having him finish it. Then let child make his own patterns and check to see if they are correct.
Then we looked around the house to find some patterns. Some examples: stripes on a t-shirt, the tiles in the kitchen, pattern on the windows...

Thursday- Social Studies
sign of the day: apple
Topic: Apples
Read: Johnny Appleseed book (or just tell the story. Here's some basic information of Johnny Appleseed.) 
Activity: Play Pass the Apple (same as hot potato, just use an apple instead).
Apple Pie Playdough: use this recipe for playdough, except use apple juice in place of water and add some cinnamon and nutmeg.
Apple Prints: cut an apple in half. (take out seeds) Let child paint it then press it against a piece of paper. If you want, cut one half again to make different patterns to paint. When done, glue the seeds on the apple print to make it look like a real apple. Draw a stem.
Pick apples! we are going to an orchard to pick apples.

Week Four

Week Four Book List:
"Growing Vegetable Soup", by Lois Ehlert
"The Grouchy Ladybug," by Eric Carle


Monday- Language Arts
sign of the day: yellow
Letters: x, y (click letter for worksheet)
Reading Vocab: X-ray, yellow
Create: Xavier the Pirate (x marks the spot)
Play: Have a treasure hunt! Make a pirate map: draw 3 or 4 different pictures of a specific place in your home (ex: ontop of a bookshelf, or under the bed). Each spot will have a clue that leads to the treasure. (ex: on the bookshelf you might find the word "bottom", under the bed might be the word "dresser" the next might be "drawer:) When he has all the clues, the child will know where to find the treasure! (it can be anything- goodies, a toy, etc.) Make sure to mark a big X on top of the treasure!


Tuesday- Science
sign of the day: soup
Topic: Plants
Read: "Growing Vegetable Soup," by Lois Ehlert
Activities: If possible, pick vegetables/fruit from a garden and talk about the growing process.
How Plants Drink: put a piece of celery in a glass of water colored with food coloring. Check back throughout the day and watch as it changes colors. Explain how plants suck up water through their roots.
Grow a Bean: Materials: clear jar, yogurt container, paper towel and bean seeds.  Wrap strips of paper towel around the yogurt container so that when placed upside down in the jar the paper will touch the sides. Push the bean seeds between the jar and the paper so that they will stay without falling. Wet the paper and place the jar in a sunny location. Be sure to keep that paper moist. Watch as the beans swell, split, and sprout both down (roots) and up (shoots). (about 2 weeks)
Make Vegetable Soup: Take child grocery shopping and let him help pick out what vegetables to use. Go home and chop them up and make your own soup. (throw in crockpot and it will be ready in time for dinner!) Hopefully he will be excited enough to actually eat it!


Wednesday- Math
sign of the day: time
Topic: Introduction to Telling Time
Read: "The Grouchy Ladybug," by Eric Carle
Learn: Teach child how to count by 5's. This printout may help. (My 4 y.o. will not quite get this, but this is just an "introduction". If it flies over his head, we will not worry too much!
Clock: use this template. Make a minute and hour hand and attatch to clock with a brad. Explain the basics of telling time. Move the clock as you are reading the book to the appropriate time.  
Digital Telling Time: do a basic explanation of reading a digital clock. This is much easier for preschool age.
Play: Snap-o-clock. print one or two of these. fill in template with matching analog and digital time. cut into cards. Use cards to play "snap", saying "snap" when a clock face and its matching correct time are turned over.
Here are the steps to follow when you play Snap:
Deal out an equal number of cards to each player.
Each player puts their stack of cards face down in front of them.
Players all turn one card face up and place it next to their face down stack.
They look at everyone's card to see if any matching cards have been turned up. Tip: If yes, someone says “Snap.” The first person to say “Snap” gets all the cards in the face-up stacks that match each other. Play then continues from Step 3.
If no, play continue from Step 3.
If a player gets to the end of the face-down stack before the end of the game, he or she turns the face up stack over and continues.

Thursday- Social Studies
sign of the day: money
Topic: Money
Activitiy: You will need a variety of coins. You may want to clean them first.
Sort: Have child sort the coins into piles that are the same. When he is through, discuss each pile. ("the coins in this pile are DIMES. They are worth 10 CENTS. 10 PENNIES is the same value as ONE DIME"...etc, etc.)
Line the coins up in order of their size. Then explain how size of the coin doesn't determine it's value. Realign the coins in order of value.
Play: If you have enough, make coin towers.
Saving Money: explain that money is earned by hard work. Maybe give child chance to earn money by doing EXTRA chores (not daily, required ones).
Make piggy bank out of a mason jar. Let child decorate it. Help him think of something he would like to save up his money to buy. Put a picture of the desired item on the jar to remind him what he is saving for.
Play: create a store. This could simply be child's playroom! Or the kitchen pantry. Give child a basket and let him pick what he wants to "buy". He will bring his goods to the checker (you) and one by one tell him how much each is worth and let him give you the correct amount of money. Ex: "That teddy bear costs 2 quarters and a dime." He it out and gives it to you, then moves on to the next thing.