Preschool Day 5 – Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Day 5 – Wednesday, August 18, 2010 – 1:30-3:30

Pray together.

BIBLE
Read Gen 2:1-3 (rest) from a Bible. This passage covers Day 7. Create Day 7 page. For Day 7: Leave the page blank. (My Father’s World)

LANGUAGE
Using the ABC Chart, sing the ABCs at least 2 times. Introduce W, X, Y, Z. Feel free to play any games with the ABC Chart and button, as you have done the previous four days. This is also a great time to begin discussing uppercase and lowercase letters. We sometimes call them “Momma” letters and “baby” letters. Remember this is only an introductory time and no part of the lesson is done for mastery. (My Father’s World)

CALENDAR TIME/MATH – Linking Cubes
Remind students that we use the calendar to tell us the month, year, day of the week and the date. Ask, “What month is it?” “What year is it?” Say “Yesterday was ________.” “What day of the week is today?” “It is ____________________.” “Yesterday’s date was the ____th.” “What is today’s date?” “Today is (day), August (date), (year). Write the date in the correct box. Color today’s square, remembering to alternate colors (green, blue). (Saxon K Math)

“Today you will learn about a new math material called linking cubes. What do you think we will do with linking cubes?” Allow 3-5 minutes of free play with the cubes. Give a one minute warning and have the child stop working. Ask, “What did you find out about linking cubes?” “Now let’s try snapping five cubes together. When I say a number, you pick up a cube and snap it on. Watch me.” Demonstrate and then do it together. “Now we both have towers of 5 cubes. Are the towers the same size?” Have the child take apart the towers and put them away.

DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY – Animal Moves continued
Continue discussing how animals move. Remind the child of yesterday’s animals (snake and frog). Ask how a bird is different from a snake. Tell them a bird has two legs, two wings, two eyes, two ears and its body is covered with feathers. Birds eat mostly insects, worms and small plant seeds. Their mouths are made to help them get their food. They fly or hop to move forward.

Share the following rhyme:
                       Once I saw a little bird come hop, hop, hop,
                       So I said, “Little bird, will you stop, stop, stop?”
                       And I was going to the window to say, “How do you do?”
                       When he flipped his little tail and far away he flew.

Pretend to be a bird and follow the “directions” in the rhyme (hop, stop, fly away). If the child is enjoying animal pretend, extend the activity further to include other animals (fish, lions, etc…). (Slow and Steady Get Me Ready p 180)

THEME – Mrs. Wishy Washy continued
We didn’t have enough time to do all of our Mrs. Wishy Washy activities yesterday. For this lesson we will complete our lapbook activities found at Homeschool Share.

Reread Mrs. Wishy Washy and possibly read other Mrs. Wishy Washy books, if you have them available.

Use a light colored piece of construction paper and allow the child to “finger paint” with chocolate pudding. This will create a page of mud. When it dries (make sure to wipe of excess), paste on animals from the story.

With cutouts or puppets/stuffed animals have the child act out the story, with him/her playing the role of Mrs. Wishy Washy. Preschoolers enjoy pretend play and will do very well with this style learning.

Sweet Friends

Although there are days I wish I had a basement or a neighborhood with flat roads to walk or well you know anything else I could think of at that moment when the grass is looking greener somewhere else.  But moving would mean not being neighbors with such sweet friends.....

This is only moments after she informed him that H is her boyfriend, but he is her "real" friend.....

Preschool Day 4 – Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Day 4 – Tuesday, August 17, 2010 – 1:30-3:30

Pray together.

BIBLE

Read Gen 1:20-31 (sea animals, other animals, & people ) from a Bible and use The Jesus Bible Storybook to show pictures to the children. This passage covers Day 5 & Day 6. (My Father's World)

 

Create Day 5 & 6 pages. For Day 5: Draw and color sea animals in the ocean. You could easily use pre-cut animals or stickers for this activity. We may use our thumbprint & ink to make different animals. Day 6: This page will have 2 people and other kinds of animals. For the people we will use a precut man and woman (I am going to trace a gingerbread man/woman cookie cutter). For the animals we are going to follow the great but very simple animal drawing instructions in The Usborne Big Book of Playtime Activities! (I LOVE this book for all ages!)

LANGUAGE

Using the ABC Chart, sing the ABCs at least 2 times. Make sure to pause to avoid the usual slurring of L-M-N-O-P. Have the students point to each letter as they sing it. Introduce W, X, Y & Z. Then using a button & the ABC Chart, review those letters, as well as any previously taught letters. For example, you could say, "Put your button on letter B." Print the letter on another piece of paper and allow the child to correct his own mistake if necessary. You can also turn the cards over and let a child choose a letter. Then have the child put his button on the chart. We have tried to "play" several versions of the ABC Chart game this week. (My Father's World)

 

CALENDAR TIME/MATH

Remind students that we use the calendar to tell us the month, year, day of the week and the date. Ask, "What month is it?" "What year is it?" Say "Yesterday was ________." "What day of the week is today?" "It is ____________________." "Yesterday's date was the ____th." "What is today's date?" "Today is (day), August (date), (year). Write the date in the correct box. Color today's square, remembering to alternate colors (green, blue). (Saxon K Math)

"Today you will learn how to count using teddy bears and pattern blocks." Give the child a piece of construction paper to place in front of them. Have 15-20 teddy bears in a pile close by the paper mat. "As I count, take a teddy bear from the pile and put it on the edge of your mat." Demonstrate as you count. Put the bears at one side of the mat. "One, two, three…" "Line up your bears and watch how I count my teddy bears." Demonstrate sliding the teddy bears across the mat as you count. "Let's slide and count our teddy bears together." Then say, "Our teddy bears are tired. Each bear will need a chair to sit on. Let's pretend our pattern blocks are chairs. How many chairs will we need?" Put out pattern blocks in a pile close by. Take enough chairs for each bear to have his own chair. Put your bears on the chairs." "How many bears on chairs do you have? Let's slide the bears and chairs as we count." After a few minutes of free play with the bears and chairs, have the child separate the bears and patterns blocks and then put them away on their own.

DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY – Animal Moves

If necessary, you may want to forgo a new activity, and repeat the developmental activity from Day 3, based on the child's skill level. Although skipping was definitely not "mastered" at our house, we are moving on.

Show the child a picture of a snake and discuss that it has no arms or legs. Talk about what you know about snakes (dry scales, sheds, two eyes but no outside ears, hears/feels vibrations, doesn't eat often, etc..) and then encourage the child to wiggles like a snake by lying on the floor on his stomach and moving his body forward with body muscles.

Repeat this activity focusing on frogs. Tell what you know about frogs (four legs, two eyes, smooth skin, tongue to catch insects, no external ears, moves forward by jumping, etc..) Pretend to be a frog and even find a few things to jump over (pillow, book, etc..). This activity will be very entertaining if you join in too! Think of it as easy exercise! (Slow and Steady Get Me Ready p179)

THEME – Mrs. Wishy-Washy

Today we will make another lapbook. They are a lot of work (printing, cutting, etc…) but the children love them so much and they can be pulled out later in the year for independent activities. We will use all our most of the activities at the Homeschool Share site for the Mrs. Wishy-Washy lapbook. There are so many great ideas here. I hope we have time to do them ALL! J

 

Note- Once we get into studying a different letter each week through the My Father's World curriculum (which will be soon now that we have "introduced" all the letters), there will not be time to do many lapbooks, so I am trying to get some in now while I have a chance!

 

Our FIRST lapbook - Goodnight Moon

Today was a success! Jack and C are already anticipating some of our daily activities - calendar, ABC chart game, etc.. Here are a few pictures.....

Day 4 - Bible

Saxon Math - Pictograph Lesson

Here are my favorites!  Jack & C had a lot of fun with their lapbooks!

As soon as I put in a load of laundry, figure out dinner, love my children, monogram something for a friend, and doing a little editing....then I will post tomorrow's lesson plans!

Preschool Day 3 Monday, August 16, 2010

Sorry this post is so late.....my Sunday got away from me! Have a wonderful week!  Look for the rest of this week's lessons to be posted tonight, if my pretzel M&Ms don't run out!  Would love to hear any feedback about last week, if anyone tried any of the ideas! 

Day 3 – Monday, August 16, 2010 – 1:30-3:30

Pray together.

BIBLE
Read Gen 1:14-19 (sun, moon, stars). Also read pages 22-23 in The Jesus Bible Storybook or any other children’s Bible. This passage covers Day 4 of the Creation account. (My Father’s World)

Create Day 4 page. For Day 4: Fold paper in half (hamburger style, not hot dog style). Paste a cut-out sun on one side of the paper. Paste a piece of black paper on the other side. Either draw the moon and stars with white crayons or paste on pre-cut stars & moon.

(Although I didn’t mention this last week, we are doing some scripture memory work too. We learned Genesis 1:1 already and will be working on Genesis 1:27 this week. – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”)

LANGUAGE
Using the ABC Chart, sing the ABCs at least 2 times. Make sure to pause to avoid the usual slurring of L-M-N-O-P. Have the students point to each letter as they sing it. Introduce M, N, O, P, Q. We use flashcards with pictures to introduce each letter. Then using a button & the ABC Chart, review the new letters, as well as any previously taught letters. For example, you could say, “Put your button on letter B.” If a child missed one, print the letter on another piece of paper and allow the child to correct his own mistake if necessary. (My Father’s World)

CALENDAR TIME/MATH - Pictograph
BEFORE the lesson: Cut one 3” light colored construction paper circle for each family member. Tape two pieces of construction paper together and create a grid.

Remind students that we use the calendar to tell us the month, year, day of the week and the date. Ask, “What month is it?” “What year is it?” Say “Yesterday was ________.” “What day of the week is today?” “It is ____________________.” “Yesterday’s date was the ____th.” “What is today’s date?” “Today is (day), August (date), (year). “ “Let’s say that together.”

Point to the date squares. Ask, “What do you notice about these squares?” “What colors are they?” “Let’s read the colors of the squares together.” “This is called a green, blue pattern.” ‘What color do you think we will use to color today’s square?”  Color today’s square using the appropriate color. (Saxon K Math Lesson 5)

“Today you will learn how to make a graph to show how many boys and how many girls are in your family.” “You will use a picture of each person’s face to make the graph.” Give the child a construction paper circle (cut to fit your pre-made graph). “Draw your face on this circle.” “Who else is in your family?” “Draw ______’s face on this circle.” Repeat until all faces of family members are drawn. Point to the words “Boys” and “Girls” on the grid. “What do you think these words are?” ‘When you graph the faces, you will put one face in each box. You will start at this end.” “Where do you think you will put your face?” “Will it go in the girls’ or boys’ row?” Ask this same question before the child places the remaining faces. Occasionally ask “Which row has more?.....less?....the same? How do you know?” When all the pictures are graphed, ask “How can we find out how many boys are in your family?” Count the boys’ faces. Do the same procedure for the girls. After this portion of the lesson, glue the faces to the actual graph. Save the graph for Lesson 6.

DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY
Skip around a room or outside as slowly as you possibly can to show the child how to skip. Skip very slowly and say, ‘Step, hop. Step, hop.” Encourage the child to follow you. Demonstrate how it can be enjoyable to skip fast. (Slow and Steady Get Me Ready p177)

THEME – Goodnight Moon
Read Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown . Talk about different pages in the book, pointing out the idea of rhyming words. This is an early age to be learning about rhyming but remember”exposure” is the idea here.

We will be doing many of the lapbook activities from Homeschool Share. If you choose to do these, you will want to get them ready a few days or the night before. They require some prepwork, especially if you want to be able to reuse the resources later. Also if you’ve never made a lapbook, the short 4 minute video on Homeschool Share is helpful.

Each child will have a folder (with 5 or 6 blank construction paper pages in the brads) as their “lapbook” for this story. I have added pages in the folders to display their work. This can be arranged in anyway you would prefer or even use the items as individual activities with no intention of preserving them for future use. I would like my child to be able to go back and look through the lapbook at a later date, so we will attempt to keep them all in the designated folder.

Complete the What Color was the Balloon? Have children fold the book and then color each balloon. We will be cutting each color section and pasting them in our lapbook. Color words will be learned this year.

We will choose at least two other of the lapbook activities to complete during our time together.

ALTERNATE ACTIVITIES
We chose to focus on the moon, during our theme time, but one could easily do something else with the Sun or stars.

Read Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, by Ira Trapani. There are many star theme-related activities at Homeschool Share for children who are a little older than the ones I am working with right now.

This is a fun and easy star activity. - Twinkling Stars