Letter F Week - F is for Fish!

Daily Learning Notebooks:

 - Alex: 1+1+1=1

 - Jackson: Confessions of a Homeschooler

LDS Scripture Verse:

"Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things." -Alma 32:21

MONDAY

Jackson's MRI was today, so we had no school.  He also got sick the rest of the week, so school happened whenever we could find time during the day that he felt well enough to have it.  He frequently requested school, even when he wasn't feeling well.  :)

TUESDAY

Our scavenger box this week included our foam letter F, a foam number 4, a foam number 5, a fish card (from a Go Fish game), a farmer, a flag, a frog, a fork, a firetruck, french fries, our sign language F card, and our My "F" Sound Box book.

After reviewing the F sound, looking through our box of F sounds, and reading the book to learn even more F sound words, the boys went back to the tables for our coloring pages.  I found some fish templates online (which, of course, I can't find, now) and printed out a copy for each boy.  They got to paint their fish with watercolors, and they turned out great!  I used the fish for another activity later, so I was happy to get many uses from the same paper.

Then I pulled out a bag of glass gems for patterning.  I bought these at a dollar store and we haven't actually used them, yet.  Jackson did patterns on the foam F all by himself, while I worked with Alex on simple patterns and counting.

We pulled out our Go Fish numbers game.  I bought it at Hobby Lobby for about $3, but it is similar to this one.  The boys are still a little too young to understand how to play "Go Fish," so we used about half the cards to make a big game of Memory.  We matched up the pictures, while discussing the numbers on each card as well as the colors and kinds of fish.

We ended the day by watching an Ocean DVD I picked up at the library:

Reading Books:

1. My "F" Sound Box book

2. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

3. Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister

4. The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

WEDNESDAY

Jackson started out using our alphabet tracing mat to learn the correct formation of the letter F.  Alex and I reviewed it using the foam F.  

I was really excited for our next activity! I took the fish the boys painted, yesterday, and cut them out and laminated them.  I put a paper clip on each fish, and a sticker on the back with a number (1-20).

I made a fishing pole out of a broken clothes hanger, some thick beading yarn, and a magnet hot-glued to the end. The boys sat on the tables and took turns "fishing." The magnets picked up the paper clips on the fish.  It was great coordination practice!

Then they turned the fish over and told me what number was on the back.  They LOVED this game! 

The boys took turns cutting and gluing F objects onto our collage page, and doing our shape review fish puzzle.

Then I put together a fish sensory bin.  I put water, the colored glass gems, and this pack of tropical fish toys in a bin and let the boys play!  They used old measuring cups as scoops to "catch" the fish.

THURSDAY

We started out the morning doing a beginning sounds sheet (from The Measured Mom).  The boys used glitter glue to mark which pictures started with the "f" sound.  You can see Jack making the "f" sound in the first picture.

Then we pulled out some Goldfish crackers to use for a fish measuring worksheet (from Confessions of a Homeschooler).  The boys, of course, had to eat the fish as we were lining them up and comparing fish sizes.

The boys completed their upper- and lower-case F Letter Hunt worksheets using Bingo markers.  Jack used the one from Confessions of a Homeschool, and Alex used one from 1+1+1=1.

I picked up The Rainbow Fish book from the library this week.  While researching activities to do with it, I discovered a big controversy about it teaching socialism.  Reading through it again, I can definitely see where the controversy lies.  When we read it together, we discussed the good and bad qualities of the rainbow fish and the other fish.  The rainbow fish started the book very proud, refusing to play with the others and only thinking of how beautiful he was.  He later became more kind and shared his beauty with others.  The other fish started the book friendly, but when the rainbow fish wouldn't just give them his scales (just because they wanted them), they shunned him and refused to talk to him.  At the end, the fish become nice again ONLY AFTER the rainbow fish gives them what they wanted.  It's...weird.

Our last activity of the day was my first attempt at making a homemade light box. Here is the post explaining what materials I used.  The blue lights made it glow like an ocean, and the clear, colored counters reminded me of the rainbow fish scales.  We briefly tied it into the book, but then we sorted the counters into the pill jars.  We had a great time!

And the chips stored away perfectly into the boxes (which screw together).

FRIDAY

We started out today forming the letter F out of different materials, such as straws, cornmeal, and the Confessions of a Homeschooler's foam letter builders.

Jackson loves making numbers out of the letter builders, as well.

The boys used either their finger or a paint brush to form the letter F in the corn meal.

Alex just uses the letter builders to "make houses."

We have loved The Measured Mom's Letters of All Sizes worksheet.  Jackson completed that while Alex continued to "paint" in the corn meal.

Then the boys used glitter glue to find all the upper- and lower-case F's in this Letter Identification worksheet.

Back on the floor, the boys worked with me to put these fish in size order.

To review our upper- and lower-case letters, the boys clipped clothespins on these alphabet clip cards.

We finished the day by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and putting our letter F up in the coconut tree.  I also grabbed Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 at the library and we read that, too.  Jackson loved counting from 0 to 100 using the chart in the back of the book.