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Now Four......
Oct. 1, 2007
space
Planets Around The Sun (tune: "The Ants Go Marching")
Submitted by Leslie
The planets revolve around the sun, hurrah; hurrah
The planets revolve around the sun, hurrah; hurrah
The planets revolve around the sun and spin on their axis every one.
And they all go spinning, around and around . . .They go.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, hurrah; hurrah
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, hurrah; hurrah
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are whirling and twirling around the sun
And they all go spinning, around and around . . .. They go.
Jupiter, Saturn are next in line, hurrah, hurrah
Jupiter, Saturn are next in line, hurrah, hurrah
Jupiter, Saturn are next in line. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto make all nine
And they all go spinning, around and around . . .. They go.
The Family of the Sun Added 9/22/98 Original Author Unknown
Sung to: "Farmer in the Dell"
REFRAIN : The family of the Sun,
The family of the Sun,
Here are nine planets in
the family of the Sun.
Mercury is hot,
And Mercury is small.
Mercury has no atmosphere;
It's just a rocky ball.
REFRAIN
Venus has thick clouds
That hide what is below.
The air is foul; the ground is hot.
It rotates very slow.
REFRAIN
We love the Earth our home,
Its oceans and its trees.
We eat its food; we breathe its air,
So no pollution, please.
REFRAIN
Mars is very red.
It's also dry and cold.
Some day you might visit Mars
If you are really bold.
REFRAIN
Great Jupiter is big.
We've studied it a lot.
We found that it has lots of moons,
And a big, red spot.
REFRAIN
Saturn has great rings.
We wondered what they were.
Now we know they're icy rocks
Which we saw as a blur.
REFRAIN
Uranus is far.
It's cold and greenish-blue.
We found it rotates sideways,
And it has a lot of moons.
REFRAIN
Neptune has a spot;
A stormy patch of blue.
The planet has a lot of clouds
And rings around it, too.
REFRAIN
Pluto's last in line
It's farthest from the Sun.
It's small and cold and icy, too;
To land there won't be fun.
REFRAIN
Sung to: "The Farmer in the Dell"
The Earth turns around,
The Earth turns around.
Once a day, every day,
The Earth turns around.
The moon goes round the Earth,
The moon goes round the Earth.
Once a month, every month,
The moon goes round the Earth.
The Earth goes round the sun,
The Earth goes round the sun.
Once a year, every year,
The Earth goes round the sun.
Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, I know what you really are:
Giant ball of glowing gas, One of billions in a mass!
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Oh, how big you really are!
Twinkle, twinkle, giant star, Larger than the Earth by far!
Since your distance is a lot, You look like a tiny dot.
Twinkle, twinkle, giant star, Very bright, yet very far!
Stars are twinkling, every one, Some are bigger than the sun!
Just a twinkle in the sky, Just because you’re oh, so high!
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Oh how big you really are.
In Sand Table- use rocks, sand, rockets (made from foil and toilet paper rolls) and plastic astronauts (e.g. the L'il Playmate space sets). tape men's gloves to dryer vent hoses to make sleeves and have children use salad tongs as tools to pick up things.
Space Shuttle
Submitted by HeatherMake a space shuttle in your dramatic play area. Get a large box (rifregerator) and two smaller ones (Oven). Put them together to form a space shuttle. You can use a third box to form the point of the shuttle. Paint the boxes white or drape white sheets over them (cheaper). Finally, cut out a place for the children to get into the box on the bottom of the box. You can cut stars out of the top of the box so that the children will see stars when they look up. For added effect give the children space uniforms (white sheets and helmets (5 gallon ice cream buckets)).
Prop Box Ideas: (You will find easy instructions for making some of your own props below)
helmets, moon boots, white clothing for their space suits, gloves, goggles, telescopes, binoculars, old headphones, large boxes to build rocket ships, oxygen tanks,
Space Helmets
With large paper bags, cut square holes out of three sides. Cut off the bottom of the bag so that when the bag is on their head it just covers their ears. The children can decorate them by adding bits of foil, glitter, markers, crayons..etc.
Oxygen Tanks for Astronauts
Use two 1 or 2 litre plastic pop jugs. Tape them together. Add strips of 1 inch wide ribbon to the "tanks" to form straps (like a backpack) so the kids can wear them on their back.
Paper towel tubes and toilet paper rolls make great telescopes and binoculars- cover with aluminum foil!
Add a piece of colored cellophane to the ends of the tubes - secure with tape. Add a few star stickers to the cellophane so that the children "see stars" when the look through them!
Starry Numbers - Felt Board Activity
Cut out two sets of five or ten star shapes out of felt. Put addition problems on one set- on the other set place the correct number of dots to correspond to the problems. Let the children match the problems stars to their corresponding dotted stars.
My Own Spaceship
Go to a convenient store and ask if you can have (or buy) the lids for Icee cups (most stores are happy to donate them) next let your children help you paint a space theme on paper to put on the bulletin board (complete with stars, planets, moons, etc.) Put your children's pictures under the Icee lids all around the board (looks like their in space ships). Finally, ask your children if they were an astronaut where would they go? And write their answer under their spaceship.
My Spray Bottle Solar System
Dilute white paint with water and put it in a small spray bottle. Let your children spray this mixture onto black construction Paper. This will make the paper look like space. Next show your children several pictures of the solar system. Then invite them to design their own solar system on the paper.
My Own Constellation
Give all of your children black paper. Let them either use paint to make stars or use star stickers. Finally they can connect the stars with paint or chalk and make their own constellation
Hole Punch Constellation
After showing your children several pictures of constellation, give them a piece of black paper and a hole punch. Tell them to make holes everywhere they want a star to be in their very own constellation. You can then let them add anything else they want to the picture. To make the constellation more visible you can put a yellow piece of paper behind it or just hold it up to the light
Blob Aliens
Have your children drip a few blobs of paint in the middle of a sheet of paper. Next have them fold over the paper (butterfly style). Let them use this beginning to design their own alien and surroundings
Me on the Moon
Submitted by Betty
For a souvenir of your space week, find a picture of an astronaut. Make a copy of the picture. Cut out the face of the astronaut and use a picture of a child and make another copy. Now it looks like your student is on the moon. Do this for all of your children. They'll love it .
Directions: Give each children a paper plate to work with. Glue on dried beans & other assorted things to provide texture for the moon surface. When it dries cover with aluminum foil & tuck the edges over so it doesn't come unwrapped. Then press down gently. This will reveal craters and fissures, etc. on the moon's surface. Purchase some toothpick flags to stick in, too. Tell the children really there is an American Flag on the Moon!
Directions: After looking at some pictures of earth taken from space I gave the children a big white paper circle and blue and green paint. They created their own
version by using small pieces of sponge to paint the water and land
Directions: We covered Pringles cans with construction paper, added a paper cone to the top and fins on the sides. We also added US flag stickers and the children
used markers to decorate them as they wished.
On the black construction paper, draw a rough sketch of our galaxy, the Milky Way using a pencil (or white crayon). Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy with five arms. The center is a dense disk containing many older stars Put glue along the lines of your galaxy drawing. Sprinkle glitter (or sand) on the paper. Tilt the paper onto some newspaper to shake off the loose glitter (or sand). You now have a picture of the Milky Way galaxy, the galaxy where we live - each grain of glitter (or sand) represents a single star (like our Sun).
Space Shuttle
Submitted by Heather
Make a space shuttle in your dramatic play area. Get a large box (rifregerator) and two smaller ones (Oven). Put them together to form a space shuttle. You can use a third box to form the point of the shuttle. Paint the boxes white or drape white sheets over them (cheaper). Finally, cut out a place for the children to get into the box on the bottom of the box. You can cut stars out of the top of the box so that the children will see stars when they look up. For added effect give the children space uniforms (white sheets and helmets (5 gallon ice cream buckets)). This year we're making a "space station" from a refrigerator box. I put a basket of space related books in the station along with a couple of old computer keyboards to simulate work stations
Orbit
Submitted by Amy
Have your children decorate a washer as a planet and a Popsicle stick as the sun. Attach the washer to one side of a piece of yarn and the Popsicle stick to the other (helps to cut a notch in the stick). Tell your children to hold the sun (Popsicle stick) and spin the yarn causing the planet to orbit.
Space Gravity
Submitted by Betty
Suspend objects from the ceiling of your classroom using fishing line. This will help your children to simulate the gravity in space.
- Cut 4 strips from a 8 1/2 X 11 inch sheet of paper.
- Fold in half.
- Tape, leaving 1 inch untaped at the bottom.
- Fold and tape to a point at the top.
- Tear paper on untaped end to make fins.
- Put the straw in the end that is not taped.
- Now have the children blow on the straw, and their rockets will fly.
- How far can your rocket fly? Compare flight distances.
- Where did the power to make your rocket come from?
- Want to do more? Try to get your rocket to land in a designated recovery zone. Place boxes at various distances. Have the children aim and try to land their rockets in a designated box. Encourage children to create their own rocket designs.
Take a sturdy piece of cardboard and cut out three patterns that will act as stabilizers for the rocket. These pieces of cardboard should be big enough to keep the top of the pop bottle about five inches above the ground. Secure these stabilizers with tape to the top portion of your pop bottle. Fill the bottle half full of water. Use a nail to make a hole in the centre of the cork. Insert the cork into the top of the pop bottle and stick the needle of the pump into the nail hole until it is inside the bottle. Take the rocket and your pump outside, preferably away from any toddlers as this activity scares the pants off of them. Step back and start pumping up the pop bottle. As the water starts to bubble, the air pressure in the bottle will start to increase, until eventually, the rocket will go KA BOOM and take off.
Use large planet cut-outs to place in order
We make a constellation in a can. Each child brings a tin can from home. We choose a constellation, mark it on the end of the can and hammer a nail through each star. Then we shine a flashlight through the holes to make a constellation on our ceiling.
Meteors
Wrap large styrofoam balls with aluminum foil. Attach long streamers of crepe paper for tails. Use these to play a game of Meteor Catch!
lapbook-
temperature (hotter/colder than earth)
topography (mountains, valleys etc.)
size (larger/smaller than earth)
color
order in the solar system
number of moons & names
would you be heavier or lighter?
. Begin the lesson by asking what students have seen in the sky and what they know about objects in the sky. Use the KWL chart provided for this purpose.
2. Take the students outside and instruct them to use the Sky Paths Daytime Observation Chart to draw pictures or write down what they see in the sky. Ask them to watch to see if these things move. Have students share their observations.
3. Next, discuss with students what they see in the night sky and if those things move. Have them take the Sky Paths Nighttime Observation Chart home to create the same type of night sky observation.
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Jun. 25, 2007
so he's 4 now........
Ok, I'm not going to bother making any promises about updating this regularly anymore. Yesterday was his birthday- he had a pretty good day though I am dissapointed that we had to have his party on the same day sa his birthday this year. Normally we do it the day before or the day after so that on his birthday we can do something special with just the 3 of us. But he had a good party, a good cake, and we cuddled up for a movie at home for down time.
We're learning about insects now, though we haven't been doing nearly as many activities as normal. I am 13 weeks pregnant and have not been feeling well at all. I am trying to get back in the swing of things, especially since he asked me the other day "when are we going to start learning again?" He has learned that insects have 6 legs and has a poster of insects in his room. He also got an aquarium with 12 crickets in it a month or so ago...they have been breeding and I would say he now has close to 100....he enjoys watching them. He briefly had a caterpillar (it came in some lettuce from an organic farm, and I wasn't sure if it would eat any of the outdoor plants where we live so we put it in an aired container with some of the lettuce it had come in and some sticks)- but it died within a couple of days. Here is today so far....hopefully I will update tonight....
Books: Who's My Friend?
Science: observed ants and his crickets; discussed gravity
PE: played in the fountain downtown; running; jumping; climbing and playing at park
Math: A mother told Xavier her son was almost 7, and he said "so right now he's 6?"; one plus one
Vocabulary: Went through the t's in his dictionary- here are the definitions that he gave me:
table: "A table is something we eat at"
Tag: "Tag is a game"
Tail: "A tail is something animals have"
Talk: "Talk means you're talking to someone"
Tall: "That means really, really big"
Tea: "Tea is something you drink"
Team: "A team is like for playing basketball or soccer"
Tear: "A tear is something that rolls down your cheek when you are sad or laughing really
really hard"
Telephone: "A telephone is what you call people on and talk to them through"
Television: "A television is for movies"
Tell: "Tell means you're telling someone something"
Temperature: "Temperature is something you take when you're sick"
Tennis: "Tennis is a game"
Think: "That's when you're thinking about something"
Third: "That comes after second"
Thirsty: "Thirsty means you need a drink"
Thread: "A thread is a piece of yarn"
Throat: "That's part of your body"
Thumb: He showed me his thumb
Thunder: "Thunder is the noise lightning makes"
Ticket: "A ticket is a piece of paper that says something"
Tie: "You tie something when you loop it around and make it stay together" (this was a
accompanied by hand motions)
Tiger: "A tiger is a type of wild cat"
Tight: "Tight is when you try really hard" (accompanied by a grabbing motion & grunting noise
Time: "Time is when the alarm goes off or where the hands on the clock are"
Tiny: "Something that's really really little"
Tired: "Tired means you're really sleepy"
Toast: "Toast is a food" I asked "what kind of food", and he said "a bread food"
Toe: "A toe is part of your foot"
Tomato: "A tomato is a vegetable"
Tongue: *he stuck his out*
Tonight: "Tonight is night time after today"
Tooth: *he pointed at his*
Top: "A top is something you spin"
Touch: "touch means you feel something"
Towel: "A towel is what you use after a bath to get dry"
Tower: "A tower is a building"
Town: "A town is a type of city"
Toy: "A toy is something you play with"
Track: "A track is what trains drive on"
Trade: "Trade means you trade something with someone"
Traffic: "Traffic is a type of road"
Train: "A train is a vehicle that drives on tracks"
Travel: "Travel means you go somewhere in a vehicle or you fly there"
Tree: "A tree is a plant that gets broken in storms and people try to fix them"
Tricycle: "A tricycle is something you ride"
Trip: "Trip means you're going to fall"
Truck: "A truck is a type of vehicle"
True: "That means something is not a lie"
Trunk: "A trunk is something an elephant has"
Truth: "That means your not lying"
Turn: "Turn means you move like this (showed me) and go a different way"
Turtle: "A turtle is an animal that can swim way under water"
Twice: "Two times"
Whenever he picks the dictionary as a book (yes, he does), he picks a letter. We go to that letter and I will say "what does____mean" and if he knows he will tell me. I then read the dictionary's definition to him. We use Very First Dictionary by Macmillan. The words that he did not feel able to give me a defintion for are as follows (some of them, I believe he knew the meaning, but just couldn't figure out how to put it into words to explain it-others were new words): Taste, Teach, Tear (tearing something), Tease, Teenager, Thank, Thanksgiving, Thick, Thin, Today, Tomorrow, Trick, Trouble, Try
Reading: Read a Bus stop sign
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Jan. 27, 2007
Friday, January 26th
Books: BB and the In-Crowd; we had a very busy day and I do not remember what the other 3 books were-
Phonics: read a couple of random words throughout the day
Vocabulary: Paleontologist
Science: Went to the Science Museum in Cedar Rapids: played with balance & magnetism, looked at dinosaur fossils models, experienced an earthquake simulation (4.0, 5.0, and 7.0 magnitudes) and talked about what the sounds were and which parts of the motion of an earthquake we were and were not experiencing, looked in "fun house mirrors" and talked about why they made us appear the way that they did, played with water streams, watched a movie ("T-Rex") in the IMAX that gave some information about theories regarding dinosaurs and about what paleontologists do (it was his first theater movie); sang the rainforest layers song 3 times
Music: Played with 2 musical items at the Science Station- one was like a keyboard and one was a system of pipes that you played by hitting the openings with a shoe cushion (one of those things you slide into your shoes to give you more support)
Classification: his Blue's Clue's video game
Large Motors: running; jumping
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Jan. 25, 2007
Thursday, January 24th
Books: Fascinating Firefly; BB Go To Camp; BB Get in A Fight; BB Moving Day
Vocabulary: talked about the word metamorphosis when reading firefly book
Phonics: pasted pictures that started with the letter F to a picture of a fence (far too easy for him, but it
was part of his activity book and he loves his activity books); Read the title of BB Go To Camp;
read the word "left"
Other English: drew lines from each picture in the left hand column to the picture in the right hand column that it rhymed with (4 of these- again, very easy)
Math: workbook page that had 2 groups of 4 objects, a group of 5 objects, and a group of 6 objects- he
circled the groups of 4 objects
Science: Watched The Magic School Bus Catches A Wave DVD (about the water cycle, erosion, and boyouncy); Sang rainforest song about the different layers (emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor)- did this 3 times today; listened to an audio cd of "sounds of the rainforest"
Large Motor: Danced; jumped
Small Motor: Traced a curvy line with a crayon; put x's on things in his activity book; did a single curvy line "maze" type thing
Misc: glued mit on a bear's left hand; glued slipper on a ballerina's right food; determined which of 3 birds had the longest beak; same and different activity in his workbook (again, too easy for him, but he wants to do it)
Logic: finished 3 color patterns in activity book
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Jan. 24, 2007
Wednesday, January 24th
We had a lot of errands to run, a dentist apt, and a playdate today, so we didn't do much academically-
Books: BB & The Double Dare; The Copcat Fish; Who Lives Here
Phonics: Sounded out & spelled stop with me; read the book Zac The Rat on starfall.com
Science: Talked about snow melting- why it's not melting outside, but melts inside; (also, he kept asking if the sun was almost on the other side of the earth yet b/c he wanted to play his video game and is only allowed to play video games or watch movies after dark)
Geography: He asked about North & South America so we found them on his atlas placemat
Music: Tambourine
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Jan. 24, 2007
Tuesday, Jan 23
Books: BB and the Trouble With Pets; BB & Mama's New Job; BB & The Big Road Race; BB & The Week At Grandma's; BB & The Big Road Race; Magic School Bus On The Ocean Floor
Phonics: Spelled up, bee, and a couple of other words that I don't remember; read Florida
Math: Counted pairs after playing Go Fish; figured out who had more; two digit addition and subtraction problems in h is video game (I actually did the math and told him the answer- he then found the correct double digit number out of a selection of four numbers- so this was exposure to double digit addition, but as far as his "work", was double digit number identification)
Science: Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor; We talked about which layer of the rainforest the characters were in throughout the movie when we watched Furngully- also talked about pollution
Social Studies: Talked about why the postal workers bring us mail (other people have mailed them, the postal worker's job is to deliver it, the postal worker gets paid money to do her job, etc)
Large Motor: Jumping
Small Motor: Puzzles
Cognitive/Logic: Puzzles
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Jan. 22, 2007
Monday, January 22
Today is probably the first day of Xavier's life that he did not have any books read.......it is rather depressing for me as I enjoy our story time as a special relaxed, cuddly time together every day- he usually gets at least 4 books- one from me and one from his dad at nap time, and one from each of us again at bed time. Today he fell asleep in the car while we were trying (wihtout sucess) to track down a sled somewhere in this town (we went to four stores) and then we had a disciplinary situation ealrier that led to him going to bed without his stories (he chose going straight to bed over sitting in time out for lying). So- here's our day-
Math: counted matches at the end of go fish; determined who (out of two people playing) had more
matches; did a math section in his v-smile game that inolved addition and subtraction with Daddy-
daddy actually did the problems for him and told him the answers, which Xavier found; did a fractions
section of his video game where he had to pick the beaker that was 1/4, 3/4 etc of the way full; talked about money when we were at the store using his gift certificates (you have $40- if you buy this for $20, you will only have $20 left, etc- he ended up buying the video game that is mentioned several times in this blog and saving the rest of his money)
Phonics: Filled in missing letters in words in part of his video game
Grammer: Picked correct verb tenses for sentences in part of his video game (we've never done any
grammer activities before, but he did really well with this- I'm guessing just based on what
sounded right to him, as his language skills are very advanced); picking the verb out from
groups of nouns and nouns out from groups of verbs in his video game- neither the game
nor his dad used the terms verb or noun- Dad just explained it as things and actions that
things do
Science: picking the false statement in a group of statements about animals in his video game; talked about snow melting
Critical Thinking/Logic: logic section of his vido game; took a short iq test for his age group (he doesn't know that is what he did- he thinks he was playing a game- scored 135); puzzles
Large Motor: Played in the snow (jumped around; made snow angels; helped me build a snowman)
Small Motor: puzzles
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Jan. 21, 2007
Sunday, Jan 21st
We started our jungle & rainforest theme today!
Math: He learned how to tally- it was a simple worksheet with a picture of a gorilla on it....the column on the
left had pictures of bananas, and the column on the right had spaces to tally- he picked up on the idea
rather quickly
Vocabulary: Talked about the emergent, understory, and canopy
Handwriting: Did a dot-to-dot of his name on top of the tally worksheet
Phonics: He "informed me" that the word on the book we were about to read was "moon", and that did not say "mon" because there were two o's and two o's say "oo"
Books: Lasso the Moon (twice); BB & The New Baby
Science: We talked about the four layers of the rainforest (emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor);
talked about where coffee comes from; watched San Diego Wild Animal Park video
Social Studies: Watched San Diego Wild Animal Park Video (this was cross-curricular as it provided
information about both the animals and the people who work with them, i.e. career info)
Music: Played his guitar; sang
Large Motor: Jumped
Art: Worked on a 3-d rainforest- he sprinkled coffee grounds onto glue (on a piece of cardboard) for the
forest floor; colored a piece of paper with multiple shades of green which we then turned into leaves
and vines for the trees as well as vines and bushes for the understory ( I had to glue the bushes and the trees to the cardboard- it was surprisingly tricky even for me); glued cut-out leaves to toilet paper tubes and a paper towel tube to make trees of various heights for the canopy and emergent
Small Motor: Scissors (I cut the leaves, he cut strips for the vines); puzzle
Cognitive: puzzle
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Nov. 28, 2006
It always happens like this......11/28/06
We've been buried in chaos once again...this time in the form of medical concerns and testing procedures with Xavier....and I have once again neglected this blog.......I will blog today mostly with a few things from other days recently.
Vocabulary: Xavier has been picking his MacMillan's Very First Dictionary for bedtime story recently- he will pick a letter and we will read all of the entries for that letter, asking "what is a....or what does __mean?" so that he can give us his definition, if he has one, before we read him the dictionary's version. Here are some of the definitions he has given recently:
cage: a place where animals can be
cake: A cake is something you eat!
calender: A calander is like what I have in my room
Camel: A camel is an animal
Camera: It's something you take pictures with
Candle: A candle is somthing you turn on
Candy: Candy is somthing yuo eat
Car: A car is something you drive in.
Carrot: A carrot is something you eat. It's a vegetable.
Cartoon: A cartoon is something you watch.
Cat: That's a cat! (pointing at our pet cat)
Catsup: Catsup is something you put food on
Ceiling: That's a ceiling (pointing at the ceiling)
Deer: A deer is an animal.
Delicious: Delicious means something is very yummy.
Dentist: A dentist is someone that helps you and takes care of your teeth, like I had
a dentist appointment.
Desert: A desert is a place where animals live.
Desk: That's a desk (pointing to a desk)
Dessert: Dessert is something that is very yummy.
Diamond: A diamond is a shape
Dictionary: That's what we're reading
Die: Die means something isn't alive anymore
Dime: A dime is ten worth of money
Dinner: Dinner is something we eat
Dinosaur: A dinosaur is an animal
Dirt: We got dirt on our shoes! It's made of rock
Disappear: It means you need to find it, like when we play hide and seek
Dish: A dish is something you eat on
Doctor: A doctor is someone who helps you.
Dog: A dog is an animal
Dollar: There's a dollar in my doggy bank
Dragon: A dragon is an animal that roars
Dream: Something that's not real
Dress: A dress is something to wear
Drive: Drive means to go somewhere on the street
Drum: A drum is something you play
Dry: That means it's not wet
Eagle: An eagle is a bird
Ear: This is an ear (pointing to his ear)
Earth: The earth is where we live
Egg: An egg is something we eat
Elephant: An elephant is an animal
Elevator: An elevator is something you ride in
Empty: That means it has zero things in it
Excited: Excited is when you are happy
Exercise: Exercise is something you do for your body
Factory: A factory is chimmneys
Family: Family is mommy and daddy
Farm: A farm is where some animals live
Father: Dad is father
Favor: A favor is something you do for somebody
Feet: These are my feet (wiggling them)
Field: A field is where animals eat
Fire Engine: That's what fire fighters are supposed t orie in
Fireman: A fireman is someone who helps people
Fish: A fish is an animal- it lives in water
Fist: It's something you give someone (it does make since, there is a story behind it,
and it is not what it sounds like!)
Fix: Fix means something's not broken anymore
Flour: Flour is something you make food with
Fork: A fork is something you eat with
Table: A table is something you eat at.
Tag: That's a game you play
Tail: A tail is something animals ahve
Tea: Tea is a drink
That is all from the last 4 days or so.....on to today-
Reading: he read some words from "I Read Signs"; played the "ug" game at starfall.com;
he read the book about the big hit from starfall.com; colored all the peanuts
with capital or lower case E's brown in in one of his activities; read the word
long; Circled the picture in a group of 3 that rhymed with a picture on the left
Books: "The Magic School Bus Inside The Earth"; 1 section of a book on the Grand
Canyon; "A Picture Book Of Helen Keller"; "I Read Signs" (about street &
community signs)
Science: After reading the Magic School Bus book we went on a walk to collect rocks-
while on our walk, we also followed the path of a man made stream, seeing
where the water went; On our way back, we saw those little flags that stick
out of the ground to warn of water lines, electric lines, and gas lines, and
talked about the purpose of the signs and what would would happen if one
were to drill or dig in those spots. When we got home we washed off the
rocks with soapy water & toothbrushes, and pulled the Magic School Bus out
so we could attempt to find out what kinds of rocks we had. We had a
couple of sedementary rocks, a couple of small fossils, a few pieces of pumice, something we think was basalt, a few stones that we think were limestone
and something we think was basalt. At one point, Xavier put two stones in his
water bowl, started mixing it together with his toothbrush, and said "I'm mixing
them together- I'm making a metamorphic rock"- he meant sedementary,and
we talked about that. Later his dad pulled out some stones of his- a couple of
large sandstones, a rock full of fossils, one that may have been limestone turning
into marble, one covered in crystals, and a large piece of petrified wood for us
to look at and talk about.
Social Studies: The Helen Keller & Sign books
Sequencing: Determined which was the first in a sequence of 3 events
Time: Determined which activity out of 2 pictures would take less time; talked about
it being Tuesday and what Tuesday meant in our family schedule
Math: Randomly said "1 plus 2 is 3....we have 1 plus 2 people (him and his dad were
in the kitchen, I was in the living room); reviewed with an activity book page in
which he circled pictures that had one object & colored pictures that were
groups of 2.
Technology: Watched the "How It Was Made" section at the end of the movie "Jungle
Book"
Art: Drew pictures of honey, a cookie, a bug, and a music note in an activity book
Shape Review: Colored all of the things in a picture that were shaped like a triangle
Small Motor: Helped a fish get to it's bowl in an activity book- basically a single line
"maze"- it was wavy, and he had to stay b/w the two lines; cleaning
rocks with a toothbrush
Large Motor: Jumping; walking; walked/balanced across a wooden plank "bridge" over
a small stream; running; had a pillow fight with Daddy
Misc: He did 2 "position words" sheets in his workbook- one where he colored flowers
and glued them in front of a house, and one where he colored a ball and glued it
in the back of a wagon; matched patterns of shapes in an activity book; Circled
the things in an activity book that were long; circled the different object in a group
of 3;
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Oct. 1, 2006
Again, Again, Again
This is the third time in about as many days taht I have started and lost this blog......I have said that every time I think I have life under control, something else happens- this time we are having health concerns regarding Xavier......I really need to find a way to stay on top of this regardless over the next 3 years- but that's why I started it so early- I knew I'd need the time. We were learning about farms in September- here is what I had recorded or in memory:
Science: went to a farm- fed chickens, ducks, a pony, and goats- saw sheep, peacocks, a litter of farm cats, and a cow; talked about shearing sheeps and using wool; looked at sea animals on the internet; looked at different horse breeds (apaloosa, roundup, arabian) on the internet; talked about different "uses" of horses; picked apples from a tree; refresher on what plants need to go (he remembered all of it from months before!); watched a tadpole to frog metamorphosis on tv; names of each individual finger; location of heart & knuckles; a lot of talk about various forms of pollution;
talked about why the sun goes away; read various science books; ocean animal
riddles; worksheet from his Brighter Visons book determining which pictures were
ocean plants and which were ocean animals (some of these were actually difficult-
like the sea pen and the sea lilly being animals); skeleton puzzle that has labels for
the bones; classifying things according to what you play with inside and what you
play with outside; talked about how different activities use the body and what parts
of the body are being used
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Aug. 13, 2006
Long Story
So we lost our internet....almost lost our electricity....moved- we're in a much cheaper place now, and internet is included in the rent, so this should be much easier. We're learning about Africa now- here's most of the last week.
Books: BB & The Trouble w/ Friends- 3 times
BB & Too Much Birthday
Bunches & Bunches of Bunnies-6 times
MSB Inside The Earth
BB Get the Gimmies-2 times
Tom Thumb
Dumbo
Old Friends, New Friends
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
Whales
Curious George Goes To The Hospital-4 times
Am I Big Or Am I Little
BB & The New Baby- 4 times
BB & The Ghost Of The Forest
Winnie The Pooh Opposites
MSB In The Time Of The Dinosaurs
Tricks & Tricksters
A Wocket In My Pocket
My Five Senses-2 times
BB & The Pumpkin Patch
Creation From The Waters (From The Children's Book of Myths &
Legends- now reffered to as M&L)
The Great Serpent (M&L)
Isis And Osiris (M&L)
Arachne The Weaver (M&L)
Ananse And The Sky God's Stories (M&L)
As usual, there are probably some books that have been missed and some that were read more times than recorded.
Mathematical Concepts: Built w/ wooden blocks; built with legos; read Bunches & Bunches of Bunnies several times (a new favorite of his, it goes through 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, etc, all the way up to 12x12 with cute little rhyming poems and pictures); talked about probability; looked at the angles shown on the Electroplankton music video game; counted to 20 randomly by himself (he skipped 16); he tried to draw a numeral two, then asked me to draw it, so I demonstrated; put his number magnets on the fridge in order from 1-10, using a single digit "1" and a single digit "0" to make the number "10"; counted cherries when playing hi-ho-cherry-o and fish when playing that fishing game with the batteries- also determined who had the most fish (out of 2-3 players); built with wood-links; watched the number movie; talked about the difference b/w a sphere & a circle, a cone, a pyramid, and a triangle, as well as a cue and a square; looked at hexagons, trapazoids, & parallellograms
Science: Anatomy (heart & it's job; eyebrow; the brain & thought; talked about what body parts are used for different senses); looked at jelly-fish online; 5 Senses book; MSB Inside The Earth book; MSB In The Time Of The Dinosaurs book; looked at pics of African animals and read about what each one eats *
what part of Africa it lives in through a "virtual safari" online;
Music: Sang; free Friday Night Concert; Electroplankton rhythym video game;
Social Studies: looked at flags of various African countries (online); looked at African mask pictures (online); his full name; mom's full name; dad's full name; his address; mentioned that Egypt is in Africa when reading Egyptian myths;
Art: used crayons to make the flag of Gambia; colored an African mask with markers; bath crayons; magna-doodle; modeling clay; modeling noodles
Phonics: ABC's in english (he does); French (he does part of); and sign (he sings in English and watches me do the signs); sounded out 2-3 (and rare 4) letter words that we made on the floor with his letter blocks, as well as some in his books;
Large Motor: Slides; ladders; steps; jumping; walking up-hill; running; balancing across curbs and a plank bridge (with help of course!)
Sensory: Audio (tone) memory on Mario game)
Fine Motor: Worked on writing his name using a dot-to-dot; battery operated fishing game
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Jun. 4, 2006
Last 4 days
We had a rather busy weekend....the local art festival was taking place, so Mat (my husband) was giving tarot readings all evening Friday, and all day and night Saturday, then today was Children's Day, so the three of us went out and participated in that together....here is what I can remember of the last 4 days....
Reading/Phonics: read the word tub and bus; the letter sound song; ABC's;
random letter identification; "What's Happening's" (those pictures that the kids "make" the story for by telling you what is happening in the picture) activity book page in which you cross out the picture that starts with a different sound than the other pictures
Large Motor: Jumping; Running; Balancing on a ledge (a very wide one!); climbing ladders and stairs; going down slides; trying to balance on one foot (can't quite get it yet)
Math: Random number identification; oral recitation of numbers in order; counting objects; talked about our pita being cut in 1/3ds, "which means 3 pieces" instead of 1/2 "which means 2 pieces:
Logical Thinking: Sequencing activities in workbook
Art: Painted a turtle cutout; did a collage w/ a frog cutout; painted a cardboard town with other children; colored;
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May. 31, 2006
Wed, 5/31
I did start a blog yesterday, but it got closed before I had saved it....*sigh* Here's today:
Books: 101 Dalmations; Where Do Kisses Come From; Pinnochio; there were more,
but I can't remember them all.
Large Motor: Played Catch
Math: Counted spaces in candy land; found the numbers 3 and 0 on the microwave
Art: Painted w/ watercolors- He said that he painted a parrot
Music: Played the triangle
Science: Talked about the garden; Talked about day time and night time & what causes the shift; hunted through his dinosaurs for the triceritops, which he found
Social Studies: Located the Des Moines, the capitol of Iowa, where his grandparents live
Small Motor Skills: Legos
Home Ec: poured dry noodles into a bowl; added brewer's yeast, wheat germ, and peas to his macaronic & cheese; normal chores (feeding his new kitten a few times a day has been added to his chores list)
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May. 27, 2006
2 crazy months
This is the longest that I have gone w/o blogging since I started....In the last 2 months (since my last post) we have had a job loss (husband), 2 job changes (me- the one I will be starting next week is a better job than any I've ever had), a tornado that hit our block one street over, a fall that caused Xavier to have 2 teeth removed in an emergency procedure, a garden to put in, a new kitten.........that's about all that I can think of off the top of my head, but it's been rather insane. So....I'm just going to give a quick update on what we've been doing and then attempt to begin blogging regularly again, now that things (fingers crossed) finally seem to be calming down.
Phonics: We have started a phonics program called . We do not do it every day...pretty much whenever he asks for it. So far we have gone through the "ma"'s, "me"'s, and "mi"'s....For some reason I seem to be able to only handle one line of sounds at a time before I start getting agitated. He is not generally happy when I say it is time to stop, but I figure it is better to move on to another activity even if he does not want to then for me to get impatient with him while he is trying to learn how to read.
Science: We have been out and about a lot now that the weather is so warm....he has been helping me garden, we have been talking about different kinds of seeds and plants that we see, we have been going on many walks through local nature trails, and have been observing animals.
Social Studies: His old world atlas placemat finally became pretty much unuseable (it was mine when I was a child), so we got him two new ones...one is another world atlas and one is a map of the U.S. We have been looking at it and talking about where different family members live.
Math: Lots of counting; he has also been trying to teach himself how to read time- his abacus has a painted clock with moveable hands and he will spend as much as 1/2 an hour at a time moving the hands and asking "what time does it say now" over and over again.
Pe: Lots of walking, ladder climbing, sliding, frisbee throwing, etc
Art: Paint, markers, clay, crayons
Music: He hasn't really been focusing on this much anymore....he still loves listening to it, but hasn't been playing alot.....he's played his drums a couple of times, his guitar maybe once, and he tried someone's flute....he has been making up songs to sing a lot though and we've been to the Friday Night Free Concert Series in town the last two weeks in a row
Cognitive: Memory and Go
His as official as we'll get until we start paperwork preschool curriculum that I planned out for him starts Thursday.....It'll be a lot of fun and I"m really looking forward to it......I think that's about all I an really summarize from the top of my head for the last couple of months. Hopefully I'll get more regular about blogging.
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Mar. 31, 2006
Mar 31
Books: BB & The Doctor; The Boy Who Wouldn't Go To Sleep; Night And
Day; Elmo's Guessing Game About Colors; MSB and the Human Body; MSB and the Beehive; Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom....there were more, but I don't remember them
Math: Counted stairs; Candy Land; Connect Four; Counted pennies
Cognitive: Go
Large Motor: Jumped
Small Motor: Marker caps; Put doctor's air pump back on the tool; Put pennies in his dog bank
Science: Weather; Talked about X-Rays and how they are like cameras that can take pictures of the inside of your body (he had one today)
ABC's: He sang in English, alternated with me in French, watched the signs, and attempted some
Phonics: Identified random letters
Art: Colored w/ markers; Colored w/ crayons
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Mar. 31, 2006
This Last 2 Weeks
Yeah, I'm not getting much better yet
Lots of books, as usual
ABC's- Him singing in English, Us alternating letters singing in French, me signing,
and him attempting some signs
Phonics- Sounding out random words & letters; randomly identifying letters
Music: Guitar; Bongo Drums; Got to play a very nice, large keyboard that somebody had downtown
Art: Crayons, Collages, Paint on paper, egg carton (to make caterpillar), and dyed eggs
Large Motor: Running, Jumping, Climbing ladders, slides, ride-in car, tricycle (though he still can't reach the pedals properly...he pushes with his legs on the ground)
Small Motor: Legos, marker caps
Home Ec: Spread pb & jelly on sandwiches & cut w/ plastic cookie cutters; crushed graham crackers to help make a pie crust
Imaginative Play: He plays w/ his kitchen, garage, animals etc, almost every day so I don't mention those. We have added 2 imaginative play "centers" to our house which I won't mention after this entry, b/c he now plays w/ them almost every day to. The first is "pizza delivery". My husband and I currently both deliver pizzas and Xavier has been pretending to do so a lot lately...so dh brought home a broken pizza bag from work, and we got him an apron, play money, and an empty pizza box; I then used posterboard, clear contact paper, and velcro to make him a pizza that he can attach various toppings to. We also pulled out his old baby bath and a bottle that he has been using with his "baby sister" (We got these items out after he started saying that one of his dolls is his baby sister...the only place I can think this may have come from is a Berenstain Bear book that he has in which Sister is born and Little Bear becomes Brother Bear)
Cognitive: Go with Dad; Memory
Math: Played with measuring cups in the bath, and with various sized cups in his sandbox; Counted random objects; random oral counting; Random number identification; Candy Land
Social Studies: He pointed at Africa on his map and told me that is where lions & tigers live; We have been talking a lot lately about various jobs and what people do at work (he has become extremely interested in this since my husband got a job for which he now leaves for work while Xavier is still awake and I closed the daycare and started working out of the house again for the first time in over a year); Daily calander viewing- I made him a week long calander with velcro....it has the days of the week with the planetary symbol for each across the top, and then three sections underneath each day....one section for the date (there is an additional piece of velcro in each of these sections for attaching a card that says "Today!!" and has star stickers on it- I place the dates at the beginning of each week), one section for the weather (I cut out suns, snowflakes, clouds, etc from magazines, laminated, and attached velcro- we look outside together each day and he determines what picture should be put up and attaches it....this takes a minute or less), and one section for activities (so far we have pictures from magazines of ducks (for feeding), a park, a doctor, a dentist, party hats, a computer, books (library).....I am keeping my eyes open for more and am also working on getting pics of some of his friends, his grandma, etc- these I also put up at the beginning of the week)- I made the calander b/c he was asking to see people/go places and was not able to grasp the concepts regarding how long it would be before we would get to see them/go there
Science: Talked about Spring; Talk about weather and "charting" it; planted moonflowers, alyssum, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and kale; talked about what plants need to grow
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Mar. 17, 2006
This Last Week
I really ought to get better at doing this every night....I know I miss a lot when I try to remember an entire week.
Books: As Many as usual
Music: Guitar
ABC's- English & watched me do signs
Phonics: Sounded out random words; played w/ "My Own Learning Leap, and with
leap pad letter book
Home Ec: Helped make his pb & j sandwich with his butter spreader
Cognitive: "Played" Go with Daddy; "Memory"
Math: Played "Connect Four"; Counted random objects; Played w/ measuring
cups in bath-tub
Large Motor: Stairs; Ladders; Slides; Jumping; Has been trying to do the splits
lately; Basketball; Catch
Small Motor: Lacing Beads; Legos; Wood-Links (like Lincoln Logs)
Sensory: Played w/ moldable sand at Children's Museum; Played in cold dirt
outside; crunched and crinkled dead leaves while bagging them
Science: Planted onion seeds; sent balls down ramps in the Children's Museum
motion room
Imaginative Play: (I have not been including his play kitchen at home, his stuffed
animals, or other every day pretending here, b/c he does
way too much of it for me to keep up with) Put on a "play" for
Daddy with his farm animals and the story "Farmer Jones"; Played
in grocery store, farm, and pizzaria at the Children's Museum
Art: Crayon coloring; Collage w/ glue, feathers, foam shapes, paper, etc; Markers;
Paint; Chalk coloring
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Mar. 10, 2006
This Last Week
Books: As many as usual
Music: Guitar; Drums
ABC's: Him in English, me in French & ASL
Phonics: Sounded out random words; Leap Pad book
Math: Reviewed "octagon" a few times; Counted random things; Random number
recognition
Large Motor: Running; Climbing ladders; Slide; Jumping
Small Motor: Lacing Shapes
Cognitive: Played "Go" with Daddy
Sensory: Played in mud while helping me garden
Art: Painted; colored w/ markers & w/ crayons; Started a paper mache project
(flour, water, and newspaper strips on a balloon to create an African mask) with
David (his "pre-school" buddy)
Science: Bird identification; planted rosemary seeds & talked about what they need
in order to grow properly; Helped me pull grass and bag leaves in the
gardening area & talked about composting
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Mar. 10, 2006
Fri, 03/10
Books: "BB Don't Pollute (Anymore)"; "BB Ready, Set, Go"; "The Magic School Bus
Space Explorers" We didn't read much today b/c we were incredibly busy,
as the rest of the entry will show....it was fun for both of us though
ABC's
Phonics: Leap pad book
Shapes: Talked about octagon (this all started in relation to stop signs & the
transportation theme we are doing this month)
Math: Counted stairs; Counted octagon sides
Large Motor: Climbed ladders & stairs at park; slides; Jumping; Ride-on tractor
Sensory: Felt tires at the auto shop & talked about the different treads (we were there
to drop the car off for an inspection)
Art: Painted; Made a collage w/ glue, feathers, paper scraps, and alphabet stickers
Fine Arts: Went to the art museum with David (and his mommy and little brother)-
they had a special African art display....we also went through most of the
museum looking at sculptures, paintings, carvings, tapestries, etc
Science: Helped me in the garden; Talked about composting; Looked at earthworms
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Mar. 3, 2006
So Far This Week
Books: The Tao of Pooh; Boxcar Children; Dog's Colorful Day; The Cat In The Hat;
Lots of BB; and a lot more
Music: Musical Scale; musical scale song; drums; guitar
ABC's: He sang in English; I sang in French and did signs....he tried to copy some of
the signs, though being actual ASL they require a lot of small motor skills
Talked about "oct" and how a stop sign is an octagon & has 8 sides like an octopus has 8 legs
He has been paying even more attention to traffic signals and signs since we started our transportation theme.....in addition to telling us to go whenever he notices a light turn green when we're driving & watching for the "walking man" at the cross walk (which we've done for quite a long time), he is now pointing out pedestrian signs
Math: Counting stairs and random objects as well as "hidden" pictures in the shark book; Counting to 20 with assistance after 11; heard counting to 10 in Japanese; Counted toppings for pizza at Children's Musuem according to a spinning wheel
Large Motor: Running; Jumping; Climbing ladders; Slide
Small Motor: Pen Caps; Zipper on his coat (pulling it up and down once we've attached it at the bottom)
Cognitive: "Played" Go with Daddy yesterday; Sorted vegetables in the farm and pizzaria rooms at Children's Museum
Art: Decorated Mardi Gras mask with glue, foam shapes, and feathers; Colored with markers & with crayons; Chalk on chalkboard
Sensory: Played with playdough, cookie cutters, play plastic ware, and cars (we made roads out of the playdough and drove the cars on them to leave tire tracks); smelled various things; Played in cold mud while I was doing gardening work
Culture: Attended Japanese Doll Festival story time at the library where he heard three Japanese stories, one of which was told with a moving picture stage- he also saw a girl try on a kimono and heard counting to 10 in Japanese; Ate Japanese food for lunch yesterday
Social Studies: Played in hospital & ambulance room at Children's museum; Played in Pizzaria room at Children's Museum;
Dramatic Play: "bathed" baby in hospital room at Children's Museum; "Made" pizza at pizzaria in Children's Museum; Played with puppets & costumes at Children's Museum; "Planted" vegetables in Farm Room at Children's Museum
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