Pumpkins Everywhere!

With Halloween just days away, it seems like there are pumpkins everywhere! Today we did some pumpkins worksheets that I got for free on The Mailbox website.

The first one had pumpkins of different sizes on it. I had the girls color and cut out the pumpkins. Then I instructed them to paste the pumpkins onto the green construction paper starting with the smallest and going in size order. After that, I asked them a series of questions such as: which is the biggest/smallest, which is first, second, third etc., which one is in the middle...We spent a little extra time discussing the ordinal position of each, and then I had them label the pumpkins ordinal position with the smallest being first. This worksheet gave the girls practice with their fine motor skills (coloring, cutting, pasting) and their number sense. It was also fun and makes a great fall decoration!
The next worksheet was about practicing visual discrimination. Initially this paper looked too easy for the girls, but then I thought that it was still good practice. Noticing the differences between the different pumpkin faces and being able to match them is an important prereading skill. Think about the subtle differences between a lower case b, d, p and q. So we decided to do the sheet and the girls thought it was fun, and I extended the lesson by having them tell me about the pumpkins. I asked them questions such as: how do you think this pumpkin is feeling right now, what is this pumpkin thinking about, is this pumpkin scary? why or why not? etc....

Snack was in the car again - on the way to the zoo this time! It was Chloe's first visit to the zoo and she loved it. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

The Teachable Moment

While getting ready this morning and packing up our stuff to take Chloe (almost 8 months) to her first baby storytime at the library, the big girls decided to dump out their piggy banks and combine all of their money. Initially I wanted to be annoyed with them, but then I realized that they didn't care that Sophie's bank had a year's worth more money than Zoe's, or if they ended up with more or less than they had before dumping out the money. So I scrapped the lesson I had prepared for today and capitalized on the teachable moment at hand.

We all sat down and sorted the coins and paper money. I had the girls identify the different coins by name, and then I showed them that 5 pennies and 1 nickel are worth the same. We got out their little cash register and they took turns "buying" erasers. I told them the erasers were worth 5 cents. They had fun choosing whether to pay for their erasers with nickels or pennies.

Next we worked on getting all of the money back into the banks. We started with one pile of coins and I asked the girls how we could divide the pile in half (this ties back to our lesson on fractions). Sophie suggested that she get 5 and Zoe get 5, so we counted out 5 for each. Then we counted out the leftover coins until they were all gone. For the next pile, we decided on the "one for me, one for you" method of dividing. For the pennies (which there were a lot of), Zoe came up with the idea of "drawing" a line down the middle and pushing one side to her bank and the other side to Sophie's bank. We discussed that to be fair, we should count the pennies in each pile to make sure they were the same.

Overall, this turned out to be a fun lesson for the girls. After the storytime (which Chloe loved) I took the girls to the store to buy something with their $5 that they took out of their banks. They were surprised at the cost of the different toys and items they were interested in. Zoe picked a lollipop and a book. Sophie picked a lollipop and some bunny costume accessories to add to her dress up collection.

No snack today - the girls snacked on crackers in the car on the way to the library!

Making Words

Today I decided to mix things up a little. We started our work on the floor with alphabet blocks. I took out the letters I wanted to have the girls practice their "at" words. I put the "a" and "t" off to one side and lined up the other letters to the left. We did a routine that went like this: Sophie, move a block to make the word "pat". Zoe, did Sophie make the work "pat"? Then I would move the letter back and repeat until we had made all of the words. We also did this with "it" words.
After we spent time making the words by moving the blocks around, I had the girls practice writing the words in their notebooks. I left the set up the same and just told them which word to write. Sophie had no trouble with this, but Zoe froze when it was time to write the words. I told her that if it helped her to move the blocks around she could. So when I said, "Write the word "hat" in your notebook", she moved the "h" over and then copied it. I still have to remind myself that she is only 3!!

After our writing, we moved back to the kitchen table to review our lesson from last week on making halves. I got out some of our Melissa and Doug toys - the birthday cake and the cutting fruit set. I gave the girls various items and told them to cut them in half to share. We talked for a long time about how to share the banana (which is made with 3 pieces) and the girls finally decided that we couldn't do it without cutting the middle piece into two. I think they have a very good understanding of halves, which is as far as we're going to go with fractions for awhile. In an upcoming post I will discuss the math scope and sequence I plan to follow starting in January.

After the cutting halves lesson, we reviewed the numbers 1-12. Using a set of princess cards with numbers on them, I had the girls stand side by side on our tile. For each card they got correct, they got to move one tile forward. If 'm got it wrong, they had to stay on their tile. The winner (the one who moved the most tiles forward) would get a prize. It was a tie...and they still are not consistent with numbers greater than 9. I'm going to have to just really focus on those numbers in lots of different ways. I notice that I don't spend as much time on reading and writing numbers as I do their letters. I think it's because we spend a lot more time in life dealing with letters than with numbers, but I am vowing to make more of an effort to get some number time in there! On a more personal note, at bedtime Sophie read almost an entire Biscuit book by herself (I helped with just a few words) so that was a thrilling experience!

Rhyme Time

After practicing writing the letter "Q", the girls did a worksheet about rhyming. I read the words for them, and then they had to circle the two that rhymed. They did a great job, but towards the end I could tell Zoe's brain was getting tired, so I modified the page for her by giving her a choice between two words. For example, instead of reading all three words (wish, win, fish) and asking which two rhyme, I would say, "What rhymes with wish? Win or fish?" One of the advantages of working one on one with a student is to be able to immediately modify the work or provide accomodations that allow the student to be successful and have the experience of completing the work and achieving that sense of accomplishment.
Next we did some math. Today we focused on the properties of basic shapes. We identified the numbers of sides and angles in each shape and also spent a lot of time discussing the difference between squares and rectangles. After that we did a worksheet in which the girls got to draw different shapes.

While I made snack (goldfish, strawberries and bagel bites with peanut butter), I sent the girls outside to practice drawing their shapes with sidewalk chalk.

Let's Get Crafty!

There's something about the fall weather that makes me feel like doing crafts. Maybe it's the opportunity to make some homemade decorations for the upcoming holidays or all the great craft stuff that seems to be on sale right now. Anyway, I thought I would share some of our items as well as some resources for craft ideas.

This is a yarn winding craft. I got this idea from Kids Craft Weekly. All you need for this craft is a toilet paper roll, yarn and double-sided tape. Both girls really enjoyed doing this.

Here is a craft that I read about, but I don't remember where...it might have been Kids Craft Weekly also. To make this, I used a leaf-shaped punch cutter on different fall colored papers (orange, red and yellow). Then I took a piece of contact paper, peeled it back halfway, and covered the sticky part with the leaves. I then peeled back the rest of the paper and folded the contact paper over itself. I used a hole punch, tied some yarn through it and hung it on the window.

When I cut out all of those leaf shapes, I was left with lots of scraps of paper with leaf shaped holes! I immediately came up with all kinds of ideas for using those scraps. Zoe tried out one idea: glue fall colored tissue paper to the backs and hang it on the window!

Yesterday we got together with another homeschooling family to do this beautiful craft from The Homeschool Classroom. While back east, we went on a few walks and collected lots of fall treasures specifically to do this craft when we got back. I think they turned out great and they are now lovely centerpieces for our table.

Math?

Today we mixed it up a little bit and started our lesson with math instead of with reading and writing. First we used some worksheets to practice adding and subtracting. Then we did a worksheet about dividing objects into halves. I was surprised at how quickly the girls caught on to the concept of halves - maybe it's a byproduct of being such close siblings! I extended the lesson by getting out the playdoh. The girls each got a ball of playdoh and were told to smash it down to pancake size. Then I instructed them to cut the playdoh in half. They had to compare the pieces to determine if they were equal. If not, they had to start over. Zoe got hers on the first try, but Sophie took a few attempts. She was pretty thrilled to finally get her halves to be just right.

Here she is comparing two pieces that were not equal.

After the math lesson, we moved on to the letter "P". We practiced writing it, came up with lots of "P" words and used our playdoh again to sculpt "P's".

Today's snack included wheat thins, banana wheels with peanut butter and hard-boiled egg whites.

We're Back!

Our jet-lag is mostly gone so it was back to school for the big girls today. We started with a few worksheets from Starfall. We practiced writing the letter "O" (an easy one for sure!), did a connect the dots worksheet and a counting/numbers worksheet. After that, the girls decorated "O's" with tissue paper. This is a great prewriting activity. Encourage your student to scrunch/roll up the tissue paper with one hand - if they have a preferred writing hand, have them use that one to scrunch the paper. The act of scrunching and rolling the paper strengthens the muscles that are used when writing. Zoe complained that her hand was hurting, so I had her alternate hands. After the tissue paper activity, we played a round of number bingo. The girls are still inconsistent at recognizing the numbers 11 - 20, so I need to make more of an effort at including that in our lessons.
While we were away, a new issue of High Five arrived for the girls. This is a great magazine. I have great memories of reading Highlights as a kid, and my girls get so excited when their magazine arrives each month. Not only are the stories just right for preschoolers, but they also have fun crafts, action rhymes, games and recipes. This was what they picked to read while eating snack.

While I was making snack (grapes, melon balls, teddy grahams and pretzels), I had the girls go through the house and find 3 objects each that either looked like "O's" or had an "O" on it. They brought their items back to the table, and then took turns showing and telling about their objects to each other. I happened to mention that the pot Zoe found from her play kitchen could be traced to make an "O" on her paper. Well they loved that idea and started tracing lots of "O's" with their objects. It was cute to see them get excited and take the initiative to try out the idea.

Be sure to check back next week. We're getting together with another homeschooling family to do a super fun fall craft!

Taking it on the Road

We're taking our learning on the road until October 15th. Have a great week!

October Fun

It still doesn't feel like fall here, but we're trying to get into the spirit. After completing our "N" worksheet, we did a pumpkin cutting activity. I drew pumpkin shapes on orange paper and triangles and squares on black paper. First, the girls cut out the triangles and squares to make eyes and a nose, and then they pasted them on their pumpkins. Then they designed a mouth, cut it out and pasted it on too. Finally, they cut their decorated pumpkins and hung them on the window.

Zoe's pumpkin

Sophie's pumpkin

We also did some math worksheets today that I got for free from The Critical Thinking Co. We worked on number sense and operations. I extended the lesson a little by cutting out number stickers (1-9). I gave each girl a pile of the stickers in random order and had them put the stickers in order on the back of their worksheets.

Bananas, ham roll-ups, cheese and goldfish graham crackers.

What's Your Move?

Today's lesson got off to an interesting start. The girls were in their dress up clothes, Chloe wasn't down for her nap yet, and we were all a little bit tired. We started by reviewing "L" using a page out of this little Alphabet workbook I found awhile back at Target for only a dollar! It's nothing fancy, but it's great for practicing tracing letters. It also has mazes, connect-the-dots, color by letter and other fun activities that the girls can do independently. I keep books like this around to throw in my bag when we go to a restaurant, a doctor appointment, on an airplace or any place where I know the girls are going to have to be patient (aka waiting politely). After that we did two different "M" worksheets and made a list of "M" words. I noticed that it helped them think of words if I said, "Name an animal that starts with "M" or "Name something on the table that starts with "M". Sometimes it's overwhelming for kids when they have everything in the world to choose from. Sophie especially will go right into "deer in the headlights" mode!

Next we played memory with some of our index cards. I grabbed 8 pairs of upper/lower case letters, spread them out on the floor, and played your basic memory game. Once the girls made a match, they had to tell me the name of the letter and a word for that letter (again I made categories for them if they couldn't think of one).

Sophie dressed as Super Girl and Zoe dressed as a Barbie princess:)

For math today, I wanted to continue our work on number recognition, specifically numbers 11-20. I made up this game I call "What's Your Move?" To play, you need index cards numbered 0 - 20 and an open space. First, brainstorm with your child different ways you can move your body or different actions you can do with your hands. Some ideas are: jump, hop, skip, gallop, run, take giant steps, twirl, somersault, jumping jacks, clap hands, snap fingers and leap. Now, spread out your index cards face down. Have your student name an action that she can perform, then draw a card. Have her tell you the number on the card, and then instruct her to perform the action she named that same number of times. For example, Sophie picked somersaults, then drew a card. She got the number 12, so she had to do 12 somersaults. The girls had so much fun playing this, and by the time we had gotten through the cards, they'd gotten some exercise (try 20 push ups!) and I got to check where we are with our numbers - I was pleased to see that our practice has paid off. This is also a great opportunity to see where your student is with gross motor skills and milestones, such as hopping on one foot and balancing.

Zoe doing jumping jacks!

For snack we had strawberries, grapes, peanut butter filled pretzels and graham crackers with cream cheese. The girls are really into the Arthur books by Marc Brown, so we read several that we borrowed from the library. The books came with a CD and they had lots of fun listening to the stories again and following along with the recording.