I love co-ops!
They are such a wonderful opportunity for my kids to build good, solid, Christ-honoring friendships, to be influenced by other godly parents, and to be encouraged to know that they’re not the only ones who are not in “real school.” Plus, they stretch me to do things that I don’t do with just my kids.
Today, it was my turn to teach 2DD6's 1st grade girls’ Five in a Row Co-op. I had an awesome book from which to teach and barely scratched the surface.
The girls painted, and personalized a wooden lighthouse. They did such a fabulous job and I was so impressed with their creativity and ability. I am not very crafty myself and painting makes me crazy, so I can’t believe I even attempted it, but my dear husband was able to be at co-op with us today because of his crazy working schedule, so he helped to keep things from getting too chaotic (4DD3 still managed to get red paint all over MY sleeve, I was prepared though and was wearing a 12 year old sweatshirt-LOL). Here's a link to the finished products.
http://static.flickr.com/42/106496288_821581627e.jpg
The girls also sponge-painted a lighthouse stencil onto a flip-page in their lapbooks.
The lapbooks were mostly pre-assembled (between midnight and 3AM the “night” before). I included a sketch of the interior of a lighthouse with a list of the functions of each part, another sketch of a suspension bridge with a list of its parts, some pictures of the Little Red Lighthouse (Jeffreys Hook) and the Great Gray Bridge (George Washington), a map of New York, a detailed sketch of the lighthouse lantern and two blocks of Scriptures dealing with pride and humility. The girls wrote the title and their names on the front and stamped a lighthouse on the inside. Normally, the lapbooks include more “activities” for them to do themselves, but I just had too many other ideas, so I created the lapbooks for them more as a source of information and a keepsake. You can check out our lapbooks here.
http://static.flickr.com/55/106496293_8e3d63c7ab.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/50/106496291_789fce2326.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/46/106496295_47ccb96600.jpg
In addition to taking turns with the girls reading our primary source, I read Beacons of Light: Lighthouses by Gail Gibbons and Bridges by Elaine Landau while the girls finished eating their lunches. (This year, we started having the girls pack lunch and eat together, they’ve enjoyed it.) We also looked at photographs of different lighthouses in Legendary Lighthouses by John Grant.
The internet was full of resources! It made my life much easier! Some links specifically related to this book are:
http://www.inventionfactory.com/history/RHAbridg/ (The Building of the George Washington Bridge)
http://www.hudsonlights.com/littlered.htm
http://www.newyorkled.com/georgebridge.htm
http://waltsmith.net/george_washington_bridge.htm
http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/bridges/html/gwb.html
There was so much to cover and so many projects to do that the girls hardly had time to play! I had to omit a few things just so they would have some time for play!
My daughter is enjoying an extended play-date with one of the girls now. We’ll keep her for the afternoon, feed her dinner, and take her to church with us this evening. They’re having a fun time and 2DD6 even designed her own lighthouse craft using scraps of construction paper. She’s a gem! It makes it worth all the work and the lack of sleep!
It’s been a great day!
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