Musings by Debbie
August 21, 2007
First food, first art and first lapbook

Posted in school

First, I must say, this is quite an accomplishment for me: three blog posts in four days!!!  (Okay so the last two were a tag and an award, but at least I was blogging, right?)

So, as my title proclaims, it's been a week of firsts around here!  Last Wednesday, Ethan had his first solid food (except of course the tiny bite of Jell-O Daddy gave him...)  I fixed about a tablespoon of rice cereal, making it extra thin and, boy did Ethan love it!  He had been showing interest in food for a couple of weeks, going so far as grabbing Brady's cup of Jell-O (thus the bite...). 
Don't let the wide-eyed look fool you, he really did like it.  See?
Yes, that is cereal all over his chin.  He wore more than he ate this night (and the next, and next and next.  But who's counting, right?)

Benjamin and I started a new preschool program two weeks ago.  It's a Letter of the Week program.  We started with an intro to the alphabet week and then moved on to letter A.  We have a bulletin board that we work with daily, books about words that start with our week's letter.  I also use a puppet to help teach and we make snacks to go with our letter. We also learn a poem and a song and do lots of coloring and lots of crafts.  One of letter A's crafts was to color a large A and large a, then cut them out and glue them onto an apple print frame.  Benjamin and I painted an apple cut in half with red paint and stamped it onto construction paper to make our frame.  He loved painting with the apples so much!
For letter B this week, he made a "stained-glass" butterfly with tissue paper scraps and LOTS of glue!

And finally, Braden and I finished our first lapbook of the year. (For those clueless about lapbooks, they are a teaching tool that utilizes file folders and lots of paper and construction paper and imagination.)  We read Charlotte's Web as part of our Core 1 studies.  We decided to lapbook about spiders.  (Not my favorite subject, but Braden LOVES them!)

Here is a pictorial description of what we did:

Braden w/ his completed book:

A close-up of the cover (Braden drew the web, then outlined it w/ glitter glue.  I printed the spider, he colored it and we glued it on so the legs are 3-D):
The inside:
The left top is a picture Braden drew of Charlotte:

Bottom left is a mini-book that describes how spiders spin a web.  Braden drew the pictures (using a library book for inspiration) and copied the description form the same book:
Middle top is a flip-open file that shows a spiders anatomy and gives descriptions of each part.  Braden labeled the parts and colored the picture.  (Worksheet downloaded from Enchanted Learning.
Bottom middle is a game.  There is a picture of a spider on a pocket.  The opposite pocket has pictures of different items (6 insects and 6 other objects, like a flag, an ice cream come, etc.).  The point is to feed the spider the insects by putting them in the pocket and leaving out the things a spider would not eat.

Top right is a comparison of a spider leg and the bones of a human leg (in the book, Charlotte tells Wilbur that humans and spiders have a lot of the same names for their leg parts):

Bottom right is an accordian  book telling the life cycle of a spider:

And finally on the back is a book about spiders that Braden completed (again downloaded from Enchanted Learning):


Whew!  I'm tired and the baby's crying because he wants to eat.  I guess now you'll have to wait a month or two for another entry!

J/K!  If CrossView has her way, I'll be blogging every day!

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Comments

August 21, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by teachingmisssmartypants


I really enjoy reading about your family. I love getting a preview of what's to come in Core 1. :) Not to mention Ethan is just too cute!

Lydia and I are going to start lapbooking in September and I am curious to see how it goes. Braden and Benjamin did great jobs with their crafts!


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August 21, 2007 - lapbooks

Posted by maadrose


your homeschool looks like so much fun! wish I had that much energy--well I enjoy reading your blog. I am also on the sonlight boards so when I ran across your blog i "friended" you--keep up the great work!


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August 21, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by kellieann


Fun firsts! I think we're going to do a Charlotte lapbook too now that I found that file that I sent you.


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August 21, 2007 - LOVE the FIRST

Posted by Anonymous


Great week of firsts.... Check out my blog Belle wrote her name this week.


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August 22, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Prncsstefy


Awww look at that happy cereal face!!! What a doll!!!!

Braden did a great job on his lapbook!

The butterfly reminds me of my all time favorite art project. Instead of gluing the tissue on paper, I cut a shape out of white construction paper (butterfly, Easter egg, leaf, whatever), Mackenzie "paints" water all over the shape and then puts the tissue paper (kind that bleeds) all over it. The paper sticks and eventually dries. When it dries, you peel off the tissue and are left with a beautiful tie-dyed "whatever" you made.


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August 22, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by CrossView


Ethan is so adorably squeezy! I just love his face! Those eyes.... =D

Awesome schooling!

Every day WOULD be nice. But I have it on good authority that she would be thrilled with anything more than once a month.... =P


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August 23, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by OhPumpkinshellz


That was some pretty cool work. I was quite impressed!

Michelle :-)


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August 28, 2007 - *AHEM*

Posted by CrossView


Tick-tock....
One week and counting =P


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August 30, 2007 - Great Book!

Posted by Anonymous


Found your site from the sonlight forums. This book is great. I've never done lap books, but wanted to start this year, so I think I'll use yours as a model for when we get going on Core 1.

Sarah
http://sarahmchia.blogspot.com


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September 6, 2007 - *Ahem*

Posted by CrossView


coughcough17dayscoughcough


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September 9, 2007 - FREE lapbooks

Posted by momblog


Check out my blog as I have free lapbook and other lapbook resources listed.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/momblog/386123/
LOVE your project!!!


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September 13, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by kellieann


Just wanted to inform the concerned masses that Debbles 107 is not dead! I spoke with her on the phone yesterday, and she sounded quite well and was enjoying an iced coffee from McDonald's. I'm not sure when she'll return to the blogging world, but you can at least call off the search parties for all is well.


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October 14, 2007 - lapbooks

Posted by Joyce


I love lapbooks! Great job Braden!! I wish I had learned about them earlier. My ds (15 y/o) did his second one this summer for his 4-H project fair entry. They loved it!

Keep up the great job schooling those boys. What a super mom you are.

quiltmomof2 on SL


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