super-fun learning (playing)!!!!

After D's OT today, we spent well over an hour shopping & playing in a learning store we hadn't shopped before...as I had to get a few things for one of the classes I'm teaching at co-op (good excuse to shop, I know :o).

Color Mixing Glasses...funky blue frames with 2 slots in front to place colored disks...red & yellow disks create orange tinted glasses. The kids loved trying out the various color combinations. ;o) What a face!This is a neat magnetic mosaic "picture maker" - the colored tiles are sparkly which K LOVED!

These Magnetic Match Rings are awesome! D&K spent 10 minutes playing with it in the store. Here's puzzle #2 D solved at home...don't you just love how the magnets repel each other (alike poles) and it looks like magic?!?! This is Marbletick ~ K and C loved playing in the store (the price on the webpage I linked to is NOT what we paid for it :o). The tiny buttons are underneath clear plexi-type-glass and the wand is a magnet used to "pick up" the buttons and place them in the empty holes. I thought it's a great activity for the car, too! We bought the extra pattern cards - K and C will grow into following the patterns.
I also bought a set of prisms to help with the class I am teaching and two large magnets with handles. D&K are going around the house finding things that stick! :o)

And for C's birthday (shhhh, don't tell her ;o), I bought her a magnetic gears set that can easily be used on the fridge or dishwasher. She played with it in the store and LOVED it!

It was a super-fun day of learning & playing...we'll double-up our HOD tomorrow. :o)

Co-op & Unit 14 Begun!

Yesterday was our first day of co-op for the spring semester. I'm teaching 3 classes and 1 is the same class back-to-back with different kids which is great, but makes for a busy morning. The kids enjoyed returning to co-op to see their friends! C wasn't too excited about the nursery, but she survived the morning. :o)

We began Unit 14 yesterday afternoon. K is learning number words for math and we worked on recognizing/reading zero-five using word cards and plastic buttons. She had fun lining them up and then we scrambled up the words and she had to match them to the buttons.Today K's Bible story was about the Ark of the Covenant being returned to Israel. Kate decorated a pudding box with foil and permanent markers to be the "ark."

D learned about the pilgrims welcoming another ship from England to Plymouth a year after they arrived. He had to make the St. George's Cross flag that the ship from England would have been flying on their ship. As soon as he saw the picture of the flag online he said - that's Denmark's flag. He remembered from our unit on Legos! :o) Yeah!
Here's D's finished "clam" from last week complete with a "pearl" inside. It still wasn't dry when I took this picture yesterday. :o( D was a bit discouraged but I assured him that was how it was when you paint with corn syrup...it's okay! :o)

Unit 13 Complete!

We finished Unit 13 today since tomorrow is "no school" due to friends & errands. ;o)

D made a neat map of Jerusalem in Solomon's time to go with the Bible reading for today (I Chron. 29:10-20) which was about David thanking God. For geography he learned about the compass rose - specifically NE, SE, NW, SW directions. After drawing the map I asked him which direction he would head if he were to go to...the temple, house, palace, etc.

He is enjoying listening to The Cricket in Times Square and I'm enjoying it, too. I haven't read ahead...yet. Although Saturday I'm walking 6 miles (training for the half-marathon in a few months) so I may pick it up and read the rest of it. ;o)

This is the pic D drew to go with his poem for Unit 13 - Scatter & Plough - about God's goodness in the seasons, weather for crops to grow, etc. He drew tall corn stalks (left side of pic), a cute green tractor and the rain coming down. I love watching what he comes up with for these drawings!
The last day of the unit he always has a grammar lesson. Today it was reviewing nouns and learning about Proper names (nouns). He came up with a telling sentence for each person in our family. He then picked one to copy. He chose to copy C's sentence which was "C fills her diaper." After he copied it, I had him take a marker and circle the proper nouns and underline the regular nouns. He understood.

Co-op begins Monday and the kids are excited to see their friends!

leaves, clams & what's bigger?

We've been busy the past two days! Our mornings were filled running errands after payday!

Yesterday D cut a leaf out of a paper towel, drew green veins on it and then set the stem in a glass of water and put the leaf on a plate. After 2 hours, the lines he had drawn were pushed out to the edges (didn't get a pic of this). He was excited to see the water travel the stem to the leaf...just like a real leaf!The extra leaf laying to the right on the table was left dry and blown easily off the table just like in the fall. The leaves dry out, change call and are "blown" off the tree!

Today K reviewed the story of David & Goliath. As an activity, she began with a small object (pink pigtail band - just out front of the pic below) and had to find objects that were progressively bigger. I limited it to items on the table. She chose scissors, BrainQuest cards, a piece of paper (behind the cards), Barbie laptop, K and then D!
We read a few extra pages in his history and storytime books today. We'll be at a friend's house Friday morning and shopping in the afternoon, so I decided it'll be a "no school" day ~ we're making it up between today and tomorrow. :o)

D began division today...using carob chips as "cattle" - he was a "Rancher" and had to put 20 of them into 5 equal groups. I then changed the amount & group number so he was doing several different problems. He completed his workbook pages with just 1-2 mistakes!
He painted a clam shells (pink construction paper) with green-colored corn syrup.

He chose red glitter, too!

Once they're dry (in a few hours), he will glue a popcorn kernel inside one of them. :o)


K also drew this today...David's staff on the left, 5 stones on the right and a black line from one stone down to the bottom of the page (since he killed Goliath with it). She does a great job following directions!

Valentine Hearts & Unit 13 Begun

We celebrated Valentine's Day with sweet biscuits for breakfast and chocolate-strawberry milkshakes. Yes, milkshakes for breakfast (strawberries, bananas, chocolate & milk :o)! The kids loved them!

I printed this template for a heart paper project for K. She didn't want to do the cutting, so I did it and she did the assembling and gluing. Can you tell we used scrap construction paper? I was hoping she'd glue the marker side to the white paper, oh well. :o)


We also made this fun project for our valentine cards (yes, we're late with sending them this year). We didn't make them as big as the directions from this website, but they still look cute. The kids were amazed how fast the iron melted the crayon shavings. D was begging to make his own crayons - I assured him another day. We have a big bucket of "junk crayons" for projects like this!
The kids began Unit 13 today!

K learned about David and made this cute little torn paper art project complete with cotton ball sheep! She drew the flowers all by herself!
D enjoyed using carob chips for his math activity today. He drew "picnic blankets" (rectangles) on a piece of construction paper and then we chose varying amounts of "ants" to invade the picnic blankets. As I told him the "problem" to figure out, I'd write it on the small marker board. He did well!


We reviewed seasons today for science and D drew this project...a bush changing through the seasons...I love that he drew a snowman next to the bush in the winter. White crayon wouldn't show up on the white paper so he opted for gray. :o)
D learned what "Fantasy" genre is as we began reading The Cricket in Time Square. He was delighted the little boy's name is Mario! After chapter 1 he begged me to continue reading, but since we're reading the book over the next 20 days I told him no. :o( That's the only bad thing about storytime books...we have to make them last! We can't devour them in a day or two. ;o)

Unit 12 Complete!

D was finally able to begin his much-anticipated multiplication pages today (though he was already introduced to multiplication in Singapore's 1B book earlier this year ;o). He remembered everything (why should that surprise me?) and asked to do an extra page today...I didn't refuse!

His Bible reading today was from John 14:23-31...Jesus telling his disciples he would be leaving them and going to be with his father in heaven, but that the Holy Spirit was coming and He was leaving them PEACE!

D cut hearts out of coffee filters, wrote "peace" on each one, folded them and dipped the corners into food coloring. Sadly, the only food coloring I have is the Wilton gel for cake decorating and so the red and yellow are really light. :o( I will be buying regular food coloring the next time I'm at the store! But thankfully D got the idea of our hearts being "flooded" with the PEACE God gives to us, the PEACE Jesus promised us in John 14.

Yes, D is in his Transformer's costume again. :o)

He told me if we had "red" coloring we could make some more hearts to use as Valentine's. Yes, if Mommy had REAL food coloring! :o)

K matched color words today in her Do It Carefully workbook. She chose the corresponding colored pencil to circle the words. (She's in dress-up attire again!)

Here's her drawing of Saul...she learned that he was anointed by Samuel and would be king of Israel. I drew only the flesh-colored oval and eyebrows, she did everything else!
She then "anointed" his head with oil (q-tip & canola oil)...

...And made some drip down his forehead as it may have done when Samuel anointed him! Have a great weekend!

indian pics & the ark

D's history reading was about Squanto today and he learned that Indians used pictures to communicate with others. So his project after the reading was to make up a story but tell it only in pictures. He could have gone all the way around the circle, but opted for a "short" story. :o) It's all about a person planting a vegetable plant from a packet of seeds.He surprised me by writing the last 6 lines of his poem (I had asked him to write only 4). He told me that he's beginning to like the copywork. WOW! He also illustrated it with a boy kneeling on his bed and praying as the poem for Unit 12 was titled The Prayer Perfect.

Last night after D went to bed, J told me that he asked D what his favorite part of the day was ~ D told him it was math because he gets to multiply in only two more days (one day now)! I thought that was HUGE considering the math competed with a choc-peppermint milkshake that was a big treat yesterday afternoon! :o)

K had fun hiding the "ark of the covenant" (a.k.a. yellow Lego brick) under two cups and having D guess which one it is under. :o) This activity was based on her Bible story today - Eli hearing the news that the Philistines fought the Israelites and took possession of the ark.

The kids received a package from Nana in the mail yesterday (Thanks, Nana!) with Valentine's Day cards and several fun Valentine crafts for each of them. K asked to do one today after her school work was complete. She made a bear puppet with LOTS of glue...I guess we have to work on making "small glue dots" and not "glue puddles!" ;o)

letters & geography

We're over halfway through Unit 12!

D had to draw a map for geography today complete with a map "key" ~ he did a great job and even added "gate" in the map key box that was extra from the directions I gave him from the guide. :o)The completed map...

D's enjoying listening to Sarah Whitcher's Story as we're nearing the end (scheduled to finish it Friday). I have to admit that I read ahead last week after he ran off to play when our school time was over. I couldn't wait to find out what happened! However, D is waiting patiently each day and not begging to read ahead...yet! Today, we found out Sarah was found alive after 4 days in the woods by herself!

He's continuing to devour the Magic Tree House books each night. He's begun picking them up to read at other times during the day, too.

His spelling words this week are a bit more difficult than past units. I made a word search for him to complete (love this online freebie!) and then he wrote the words 1x after finding them in the puzzle.

K enjoyed writing a few letters today from her Do It Carefully book. We had left off a few weeks ago after writing was a struggle for her, but now she's writing lots of letters on her own, I decided we probably should continue working through this book for the remainder of the school year. She'll officially begin handwriting in the fall. :o)She learned about Samuel listening to God's voice and she drew this paper to go with the story listening to verbal directions...2 black lines from the top (God's voice), yellow rectangle "pillow" on the left side, a blue square" blanket" on the right. She wrote "YES" at the bottom of the page all by herself - needing help with only the "S" after I took this picture...

Faces & Germs

Drew's science on Monday was about germs. We read in his history reading about the many pilgrims who were sick and died that first winter in the new world. Drew had an activity to show the way germs spread...

He tore up tiny pieces of paper (germs) and put them in a cup (mouth).
When I said, "Aaachoo!" He shook the cup and watched the germs spread all over the table.
We did it again only this time when I sneezed, he covered the cup (mouth) and kept the germs from spreading. ;o)
Kate's Bible story on Monday was about the woman Hannah praying God would give her a child. For her math paper she had to draw 2 baby faces in each box.
She did a great job. She then counted by 2's and wrote most of the numbers by herself (I helped her with #8 :o)