Letter W

Wonderful letter W! A and E really liked our poem this week:

When the wind is in the east,
'Tis neither good for man nor beast;
When the wind is in the north,
The skilful fisherman goes not forth;
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait in the fishes' mouth;
When the wind is in the west,
The 'tis at the very best.

Our vocabulary words were: walk, water, west, and winter. We enjoyed reading The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins and Nice Wheels by Gwendolyn Hooks. This book was easy enough for A and E to read. We also did a lot of writing this week:

I went walking.
We had winter weather.
The water is warm.
Do you walk in the winter?
The west wind blows.
Jesus walks on water!

Our Bible verse was: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16 and we read about Jesus walking on water.

We did a lot of science reading books this week: Earth's Water Cycle by Robin Nelson, The Water Cycle by Craig Hammersmith, Water by Robin Nelson, Wind by Erin Edison, Wolves by William Ripple, Whales by Cari Meister, and Winter by Ann Herriges. We also looked at walrus, warthog, wolf, woodpecker and watsonia.

In our social studies time we read about George Washington by Pamela Hill Nettleton,
Washington by Susan Labella, Wright Brothers by Lisa Wade McCormick. We looked at maps with a book called - World Atlas by Nick Crane

A Week by Robin Nelson also was good to go over the days of the week. We also practiced parallelograms.

For art time we made snow flakes for the winter season. I had A and e draw three lines on a piece of paper.  I had them draw one across, one from top to bottom, then diagonally through the other two lines. The girls cut out pieces of aluminum foil and glued them to the lines to make the snowflake. We also make watermelons. I cut out a red letter W. The girls drew a line around the outside of the letter W and then color it in with green to make the rind. The girls drew black dots on the W to make the seeds.

A cutting out pieces to glue on for her snowflake.

E practicing cutting for her snowflake.

E and A showing off their snowflakes.

A coloring around her W to make the rind for her watermelon.

E coloring her watermelon seeds.

Letter M

Magnificent letter M! Our theme for the week was moon. Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin was really good for explaining the moon phases and when they can be seen during the day. The Mitten by Jan Brett and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff are always fun.  Munch! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming was a fun book we read this week. Our vocabulary words for the week were: mouse, monkey, music, mirror, moon, mitten and mountain.

We had some fun sentences this week to write:

The mice saw the men.
The manatee moved!
Mommy went marching.
Smell the marigolds.
I went to the moon.
We moved on Monday.

Our poem is one of my favorites and went well with our theme this week:

I see the moon
and the moon sees me.
God bless the moon
and God bless me.

When I see the moon
and the stars so bright,
I thank the Lord
for day and night.

In our Bible time we read about Moses. Our Bible verse came from Colossians 3:2 "your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

 

For our math time we learned about All About Money by Erin Roberson. This book was great for introducing the values of the coins and did some early addition with coins. We also read Months by Robin Nelson. We also greatly enjoyed singing the months song.

Mars the Red Planet by Lincoln James

Face to Face with Manatees by Brian Skerry was one of our science books. The text was pretty dense and a little bit above A and E but it was good for pulling out bits of information to tell them about manatees. We also looked at mockingbird, moose, marigolds, manatees and muskrat.

We didn't do an art project to go along with the letter M. But we did make our own snowflakes to go along with this winter season.

A coloring her snowflake.

E putting some sparkly stickers on her snowflake.

The finished snowflakes.

Letter K

Kicky letter K! We had an enjoyable time learning about the letter K. Our books were:

Clifford's Kitten by Norman Bridwell, A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, My "k" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure, and The Kite by Mary Packard. The Kite was an easy read. So easy in fact that the girls were able to read me this book with some help here and there.

These are the sentences we wrote:
Katie flies a kite,
See the kangaroo kick?
I kicked the king.
I like kangaroos. (The girls picked what they liked that began with the letter k.)
Karl  flew a kite.
Can I kiss the koala?
We like books.
Do you like pink?

Our poem was:
Kites
The March wind is calling,
"Come fly your kite!"
The wind is blowing
With all its might.
The kites are tossing
In the sky.
The wind is calling,
"Come fly up high."

Our Bible verse this week was:  Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another. We also read a lot of stories about King Solomon.

Our shape was diamonds.  

 
In our science time we read about a variety of animals. Watch Aniimals Grow: Kittens by Colleen Sexton was enjoyable for A and E.  Kangaroos by Jolyon Goddard and Koalas by Jen Green were very advanced for the girls but we pulled out a few bits of information here and there. There was a picture slightly disturbing to the girls in the Kangaroo book. We also looked at some pictures of a kookaburra, koala, kangaroo and krill.

In history we read about Helen Keller by Sean Dolan.

Our art time was  spent making kites. I cut out a letter K. The girls cut out diamonds and glued the letter and diamond on to their paper. Then they took some of my scrape ribbon to glue it on for the tail.

 We also had some fun this week cutting out snowflakes and playing with snow dough! I took six parts baking soda and one part conditioner and mixed them together. It created a nice packing density and had a great scent because of the conditioner. I placed it in a container and it has stayed fresh for awhile.

Letter Z

Zany letter Z! Because we were close to Christmas when we began Z we didn't spend a whole lot of time with this letter. Also, I think most kids recognize and pick up on this letter pretty fast.

The books we read this week were: Z See it, Say it, Hear it by Kelly Doudna, 1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman, Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo by Ayun Halliday, If I Ran a Zoo and On Beyond Zebra both by Dr. Seuss. Going to a Zoo by Rebecca Rissman and At the Zoo by Dana Meachan Rare were also good for basic information regarding zoos.

For our sentences this week we only got in one day. The girls wrote "I went to the zoo." and "Look at the zebra!"

Our Bible verse was Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world.

For our science pictures we looked at zinnia, zebra, zooplankton.

We also made a zebra out of the letter Z. I cut out a white letter z, two triangle ears and a nose. I had the girls glue on the pieces and then they cut the black stripes and glued them on to give their zebras stripes.

Letter A

Amazing letter A. Our theme this week was apples. We read some books that A and E had a great time with: Albert Albatross by Syd Hoff, My A Sound Box and Short A and Long A Play a Game by Jane Belk Moncure, 10 Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss, My Apple Tree by David Bauer, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall.

Our poem was An Apple Pie:
An apple pie, when it looks nice,
Would make one long to have a slice,
But if the taste should prove so, too,
I fear one slice would scarcely do.
So to prevent me asking twice,
Pray, Mamma, cut a good large slice.

The sentences we wrote this week were:
I ate a apple.
Do you like acorns?
I like Australia,
The rat has a hat.
The cat sat on a mat.

In math time we worked on the number 13. We also began a little addition. We had an introductory book called Help Me Learn Addition by Jean Marzollo. I also made up a few worksheets that A and E enjoyed. I took stickers and put them down. I wrote the numeral below the stickers. Then A and E would add the numbers together and write the total on the line. I kept this activity really simple. I don't think the total number added any higher than seven.

Our science animals were: albatross,  aster, antelope, and abalone.

In our social studies time we read about Johnny Appleseed. A good book for him was by Christin Ditenfield.

Letter N

Our vocabulary words for the week were: new, no, noun, next, nut, and name.

Some books we enjoyed this were were: Naps The Sound of N by Cynthia Klingel, The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood and Noah's Ark by Linda Hayward.

Our sentences for writing were:
I have a new nut.
Now is number nine.
I have a new newt.
You live in New York?
Your name is a noun.
The moon is out at night.

Love one another. from 1 John 3:23 was our Bible verse.

In science we looked at a nightingale, a narwhal, and a numbat. We had a great book on narwhals but I lost the title.

We also learned about Florence Nightingale. Again, there was a good book about her too. I think it was a junior biography book.

We also made necklaces. Here A is stringing her beads on the thread. I taped her opposite end so the beads wouldn't fall off. This helped her a lot and eased a lot of frustration when the beads fell off.

We actually did letter N around Thanksgiving (yes, I am far, really far behind) so we made some turkeys. I found this great idea on Pinterest. We cut up a toilet paper tube roll and then the girls painted it.

E is cutting some lines I drew on the tp roll. This was good practice for cutting skills.

A is painting her turkey.

Letter V

Our theme for the week was vegetables.

We didn't have very many books this week. But, we did enjoy: I Eat Vegetables by Hannah Tofts, The Vegetables we Eat by Gail Gibbons, and Volcanoes: Mountains that Blow their Tops by Nicholas Nirgiotis.

Our vocabulary words were: vocabulary, van, volcano, and violin.

The sentences we wrote this week were:
Can you play the violin?
We rode in the van.
Do you take vitamins?
We eat vegetables.
Watch the vulture fly.
Did you smell the violets?


Our poem for the week was The Letter V by Katrina Lybbert:

The Letter V, the Letter V,
How I love the letter V.
Violin, vegetable, volcano, van.
I can say V words,
Now see if you can!

"Everyone who calls on the name of The Lord will be saved." from Romans 10:13 was our Bible verse.

Science time we looked at a vampire bat, vulture, and violet.

Volleyball by Ray McClellan was a sport we decided to learn about a little.

Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes was also good for instruments. We tried to do some stuff with my violin and listening to some music by Antonio Vivaldi.

During our art time we made a volcano. I found the idea below on Pinterest. I cut out a red letter V and two tall green triangles. The girls glued the pieces together to make it look like a volcano.

Building the volcano.

Getting ready to paint the lava coming out.

The finished volcanoes.