Daily Learning Notebooks:
- Jackson: Confessions of a Homeschooler
- Alex: 1+1+1=1
LDS Scripture Verse: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." -Hebrews 13:8
MONDAY
The scavenger box this morning held our foam letter J, The Jungle Book movie, a bag of jelly beans, our J sign-language card, My 'J' Sound Box book, a pair of jeans, a picture card with jam, a glass jar, a jellyfish card, and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
After introducing the letter of the week, going through our box of J items, and reading My 'J' Sound Box, the boys worked on Confessions of a Homeschooler's jellybean coloring page.
One of Alex's Christmas presents was a set of counting bears, so I finally printed off some counting bear pattern cards from The Measured Mom. The boys LOVED using the bears to create and continue the patterns.
We used our apple floor cards for some active number play, which is always a favorite game with the boys. Here Jackson finds the number I called out...
...which he then takes to the table, counts the apples in the tree, and then we all jump that many times.
We finished the day by watching a clip from this Sesame Street video about healthy eating. Alex is our little sweet-tooth, and now that he finally got all his 2-year molars and the holidays are over we can focus on teaching healthy eating habits...again.
Reading List for the Week:
1. My 'J' Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
2. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
3. I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
4. To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda
5. Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
6. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
7. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
8. Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat
9. How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? by Chris Butterworth
10. It's Disgusting and We Ate It! by James Solheim (the boys loved me telling them gross things people eat)
11. Good Enough to Eat by Lizzy Rockwell
12. The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
*These books vary in their age-appropriate levels, but I included all I found that corresponded with our theme*
TUESDAY
We started out the morning activities with some tracing and letter-writing practice. The boys used some tracing cards to do general writing practice (I left the sheets whole and put them in page protectors), and then they moved on to our alphabet playdough mat.
We also worked on Lavinia Pop's letter J activity booklet. The boys colored the cover and completed the beginning sounds coloring page.
Alex finished his work early, so he pulled out a Monsters, Inc. Memory Game ($2 at a thrift store) from the closet to work on while he waited. He did this all on his own! In the classroom, we would call that a "fast finisher" activity. :)
After Jackson was finished, we went downstairs to do our tray activities, focused on food.
Tray 1: Pouring Water
Tray 2: Pattern Blocks with Fruit Template
I recently purchased wooden pattern blocks for school use. I found this template online.
Tray 3: Cutting a Banana
Tray 4: Spreading Jam
I found this little silicone spreader at the grocery store for less than $2, so of course I bought it. I toasted some whole-wheat bread and put it out with some homemade jam.
Jackson loved spreading the jam, and then immediately sat and ate the whole piece of toast!
Alex went to the banana, first. After I helped him remove the peel, he cut it and ate the whole thing.
Alex has definitely improved in the pouring department, although he hasn't learned how to stop when the cup is getting full. He will just dump out everything that is in the pitcher.
(Not) Surprisingly, Alex used the spreader to eat jam straight from the jar.
The pattern blocks were also a success! I love how many printable templates you can find (for free) online.
Jackson experiment with the pouring activity and tried to pour THROUGH the sponge. It didn't work.
Since the boys don't remember what jellybeans taste like, I had promised them a small sample after the activities were done and cleaned up. I gave each of them a small handful to taste. They both enjoyed them. :)
WEDNESDAY
The first activity of the day was to finish the other two pages in the letter J activity mini-books. After that, I pulled out a jellybean graphing sheet and some jellybeans. The boys helped me lay them out and we discussed which color had the most/least.
And then they ate them.
I have really wanted to discuss healthy eating this week. I also wanted to give them opportunities to prepare healthy food, in real life and in imaginary play. We do not own a play kitchen...
...so I made one, instead. Cardboard boxes are magical!
I pulled out some of our cooking supplies and their IKEA play food basket and let them take over.
And they loved it!
I also turned on a specific episode of Super Why about healthy eating. Red learns that she doesn't have energy to play because she is only eating candy and soda, and she starts eating healthier food, like fruits and vegetables. If you have Netflix, it is season 1, episode 62 (Hansel and Gretel: A Healthy Adventure).
THURSDAY
After notebooks, we did a few tray activities together. We started out with a sensory/smelling tray. I saw this idea on Modern Parents Messy Kids and thought it could be great for exposing the boys to new smells, especially Alex. They suggested putting different smells on cotton balls into old spice containers. I happened to have a few empty, glass spice jars, so I used them to introduce them to the scents of peppermint essential oil, lavender essential oil, pure orange extract, and lemon essential oil. After smelling each jar, the boys then asked to smell what was in the little bottles...so the same scents. We did, and I realized I put more work into something that could have been so simple! Next time, I'll skip the spice jar/cotton ball combo and just let them smell things from the original containers.
Then we continued our discussion on healthy eating habits. Those that know me in real life might know that my husband and I have been doing a health program together. We've lost a ton of weight and have developed some great healthy habits. A key concept is the idea of how your plate should be broken down at meals: fruits and vegetables should cover 50% of your plate, protein should cover 25% of your plate, and starches/carbs should cover 25% of your plate. I divided a paper plate into those sections and cut out pictures of different foods from various grocery store ads.
I did a very basic overview of the meal break-down, and then we went through our food pictures and glued them in the right section. Mostly I wanted them to see healthy foods vs. junk foods and that fruits and vegetables are the most important and take up the most space on our plates. Junk foods were glued to the back of the plate to show that they are to be eaten sparingly.
I put together four different trays for the boys to work on:
Tray 1: Pattern Blocks with the Letter J
I found the template for each letter at Making Learning Fun.
Tray 2: Food Matching
I saw this idea on that same Modern Parents Messy Kids blog. I found pictures to match the IKEA food basket items (google images) and printed them out on cardstock.
Tray 3: Apple Size Sort
I pulled out this activity from our Letter A Week. I originally found it on filefolderfun.com, but it looks like that page has disappeared. Confessions of a Homeschooler has a similar activity in her preschool printables.
Tray 4: Fruit Magnet Page
This vocabulary page can be found at 1+1+1=1.
The boys had fun with the trays, and Jackson completed his Letters of All Sizes worksheet before we finished school for the day.
FRIDAY
A friend of mine introduced me to the letter books at The Measured Mom. We made the little J book and read it during Calendar Time. The boys loved it! We may add this in each week.
I used the trays to separate our activities out for today. They really help me get everything organized BEFORE school starts. Instead of letting the boys choose the trays on their own, I brought them out individually:
Activity 1: Letter Hunt/Dot Markers
Activity 2: Jellybean Cut and Paste
I used Erica's jellybean cut and paste and divided it in half (half for each boy). I saw on 1+1+1=1 an idea to use q-tips to apply glue, so I poured white school glue in an old, plastic medicine cup.
Activity 3: Beginning Sounds Clip Cards
This activity was also found on The Measured Mom. I printed the cards out, cut, and laminated them. We used regular clothespins, although you can find mini-clothespins that are a little easier to use, as well.
Activity 4: Observation Tray
I got the idea for this activity on Modern Parents Messy Kids. I put some small kitchen foods, like nuts, beans, seeds, and oats, in a small ceramic ramekin. I also included an orange on the tray, since it has such interesting skin. The idea is for the boys to use the magnifying glass to observe different food items.
Activity 5: Fruit and Vegetable Sorting
This game was found on filefolderfun.com.
The boys did really well with their individual trays and activities. Alex loved using the q-tip to glue, and Jackson did really well cutting around his jellybeans.
I brought out the beginning sounds clip cards because I noticed that Jack has a hard time hearing the beginning sounds in words. He did REALLY well with this activity! He asked for help here and there in the beginning, but the more cards he did the faster he was able to choose which picture matched the sound. We need to do this activity often!
The observation tray was not a big hit. The boys did, however, decide it was a good time to stop for a snack. Apparently, they love the little bowls. Alex went downstairs and brought up pretzels to eat along with the orange slices. :)
And we finished our week by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and putting our J on the coconut tree.
You are amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I do the best I can. :)
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