Week 13: Letter M

Our theme for this week was the moon. We tried to learn about the different phases of the moon but that wasn't received to well by A and E.

For our English time we read My M Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure, The Mitten adapted by Jan Brett, Mama for Mayor by Jan and Mike Berenstain, Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Clifford's Manners by Norman Bridwell.  Our poem for the week was "I see the Moon". I believe the author is unknown.

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.

For song time we sang She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain and Three Blind Mice.

For our Bible time we read about Moses. We read a fair amount about him. We started with when he was a baby. We also did his time with Pharaoh and the plagues. We ended with the crossing of the Red Sea. Our verse for the week was Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

For our time in math we worked on money. We went over the different coins we use and their respective values. We have also been doing the "Month Macarena" during our calendar time. Both A and E know the order of the months due to singing this song. A special thanks goes to Uncle Darren for teaching us this song and our "Days of the Week" song.

For science we spent a lot of time reading about Mars. Some books A and E really enjoyed were Mars by Lincoln James and another book entitled Mars by Thomas Adamson. A book that A really enjoyed reading was called Slow Down for Manatees by Jim Arnosky. She asked so many questions. We are going to Florida to visit some family in a few weeks. I am hoping we might be able to see one while we are there since she is really interested in them. We also looked at some pictures with a muskrat, moose, marigold, and mockingbird.

This week we didn't do that great of a job on social studies. We did try and practice using good manners which really doesn't belong any where in particular! 

Week 12: Letter L

To begin our time studying the Letter L we decided the theme would be about Lighthouses. We were able to find a lot of great books that centered around lighthouses and the role they serve for ships at sea!

For our English time some of the great books we enjoyed were: The L Sound Book by Jane Belk Moncure. Leila at the Library and the Letter L by Cynthia Klingel, Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle, Little Red Lighthouse and Great Gray Bridge by Hidegarde Swift and Lynd Ward, Gracie and the Lighthouse Cat by Ruth Brown. Our poem for the week was titled "Lighthouse" by Roger W. Hancock.

Lighthouse shines in darkest night.

warning of the rocky shores.

Foghorns blow in the thickest mist,

warn of the nearby shores.

Sounding horns and beams of light,

together exist within night's kiss.

 

For Bible time we read the Lords Prayer. I found a very nicely illustrated book called The Lord's Prayer that was done by Tim Ladwig. Our Bible verse was from Numbers 6:24 "The Lord bless you and keep you." I also took to signing this doxology to the girls. They really weren't that interested in it but it has a lot of fond memories for me. 

For math we found things that were similar in color to "lemon yellow". This was good to talk about different shades of colors. We also practiced drawing different types of lines. 
 

For science we looked at some pictures of a lobster, llama, lilac and a lorikeet.We also learned about ladybugs be reading a book called A Ladybug Larva Grows Up by Katie Marsico. A and E liked looking at the pictures and seeing how a ladybug changes from a larva to a ladybug.

For Social Studies we learned about Abraham Lincoln. We read a great book about him by Lola Schaefer. However, A and E really didn't really like this particular book. I thought it was pretty good, but I have always enjoyed history. We also learned about librarians. We read Going to a Library by Rebecca Rissman, We Need Librarians by Jane Scoggins Bauld and Our Library by Eve Bunting.

Week 11: The Letter K

 A has really taken to kites so our theme for the week was kites of course. She really wanted to go out and fly a kite after reading about them but it was too cold! Most likely we will be able to this summer. 

The books we read this week were: Kacy's Kindergarten and the Letter K (I can't remember the authors name), The Berenstain Bears - We Like Kites, My K Sound Box by Jane Belk, A Kiss for Little Bear by Maurice Sendak. Our poem for the week was entitled "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."

For our music time we had a fun time singing Kookaburra and Let's Go Fly a Kite. (A really likes Mary Poppins so we had fun dancing around the house while we sang this song.)

For our Bible time we read about King Solomon and our Bible verse was Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another."

For math we looked at diamond shapes. 

For science we had fun learning about different animals. We read two really enjoyable books about animals. The first one was A Kangaroo Joey Grows Up by Joan Hewett and the other was Red Kangaroos by Edna Eckart. We also looked at pictures of the following animals: a kookaburra, kangaroo, koala and krill. We also looked at a flower called kangaroopaw!

For social studies we learned about Helen Keller. We found a good book about her by Sean Dolan. A and E asked a lot of questions about her because there were a fair amount of pictures from when Helen Keller was younger.

Week 10: Letter J

Our theme for this week was about the Jungle!

Some of the books we enjoyed this week were: Jelly Beans for Sale by Bruce McMillan, Jenny Jellyfish by Suzanne Tate, Clifford Gets a Job by Norman Bridwell, Jaguar by Helen Cowcher, Bread and Jam for Frances by Rusell Hoban.

Our Bible story for the week was Jonah and our verse was: Acts 16:31 - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

For math we read Jelly Beans for Sale by Bruce McMillan. We used this time to go over coins and their values. Our number was 10 for the week and we practiced  counting different objects to ten. We have also been playing memory with number cards and pictures.

For Science we learned about Jaguars by Helen Frost. We also looked at the Junco bird, the juniper and jelly fish. 

For social studies we learned about Thomas Jefferson. 

A favorite part of the week was jumping jacks! Also, we had a great time making jelly fish. We took paper plates and colored them. I like how the underside of the plates folded down to look like a real jellyfish.

E coloring her jellyfish!

Each girl decided how many tentacles the jellyfish would have. We practiced counting as I went around. Here A is putting her tentacles on. This was great practice to for some fine motor skills.

E's finished Jellyfish! I really like it. She did a great job coloring.

A's Jellyfish. She didn't really want to color today. :(

Week Nine: The Letter I

This week our theme was Igloo! Our vocab words for the week were: insect, inch, instrument, and inside. Since the number for the week was nine we listed nine insects, and things that were inside the house or fridge and different instruments. Some of the books we read were: Imagination and the Letter I, Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, Dancing with the Indians by Angela Shelf Medearis, The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown.

The poem we learned was Inch Worm by Katrina Lybbert. I made up some motions to go along with it while we recited it and A really liked that. I think it helped her learn it faster.

Our Bible verse for the week was Matthew 28:20 I am with you always.

For math we measured different things with a ruler. We walked around and just found things to measure. If I were to do this again I would have pictures on a sheet of paper and do a scavenger hunt to find them and then measure them. As I said earlier we also counted/listed nine items that were inside the house/fridge/etc along with different insects and instruments. We also looked at and talked about a pentagon.

For science we looked at Indigo Bunting, Iris, Iguana, and an Imperator Angelfish.

For social studies we learned about Indiana, our home state.

We also got out our instrument box and played along to some songs while we danced. A and E always have great fun playing our instruments!

Week Seven: The Letter G

The letter G was not a good time in our house. Mostly it came down to the fact that our printer was out of ink! Also, a lot of this was done over the holidays so really not to much got done.

Our theme for the week was glasses.

We really didn't get that many books this weeks. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown was about our only "G" book.

For Bible time we read about Gideon and learned James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above."

We really didn't have much music this week. :( We were all sad because of this. 

Wow, we really didn't do much! I think this is most of what we did. Oh wait! We did practice some cutting. I have used stickers before with working on hand writing but I took it over to cutting this week. Check it out below!

Week Eight: The Letter H

Well, since the holidays are over I figured we should get back into school. Still, it did not go so well. More it is just a matter of time. We seem to be going out and doing more than I thought we would, even in this cold weather! So I decided to do a letter every two weeks. A and E both seem to enjoy this a lot more because we spend more time on different things and I think they are able to remember more.

So, this was our first time doing a letter for two weeks and we worked on the letter H!

For our English time we read: Old Hat New Hat and The Big Honey Hunt by Stan and Jan Berenstain, My Hands by Aliki, and Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. I was a slacker and did not get around to a poem this week. :(

For music the girls had a great time! We sang If You're Happy and You Know It (a huge hit), Home on the Range, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, and the Hokey Pokey (also a hit). A especially loved the last one and it started to help her cement her knowledge in right and left side.

For our Bible time we read about Hannah and our memory verse for the week was: Eph. 4:30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

For Math we practiced counting by hundreds. We also talked about the color brown. This week we walked around the house and counted nine brown items. Our dog was counted a few times because she followed us around. My sweet girls just love their dog!

Science we looked at honey bees and horses. They were asking lots of questions about horses! We also added to vocabulary by looking at: hedgehogs, hippopotamus, hydrangeas, hibiscus,  Harper seal and herons.

Social Studies took us west as we learned about Sam Houston. For some reason E really liked reading about him but A did not. Oh well.

A and E did not want to do an art project this week. I had planned on drawing or painting a picture of our house.

However, A really did like our physical activity, HOPSCOTCH! We did it inside because of this Midwest winter weather. This was great for a physical activity, counting, hopping, and when E played it was good for taking turns. Check it out.