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.