Author Archive
Posted on May 28, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 30
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
This is our third week creating a lapbook about butterflies from homeschoolshare.com to contain all the new things we’re learning. If you’d like to know more about what a lapbook is, please visit this post where I included helpful links that helped me learn more about this great way to present a unit study.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
- Observe caterpillars and eggs on milkweed in backyard
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Read The Butterfly Boy by Jeanne M. Lee. (Literature)
- Read My, Oh My–A Butterfly!: All About Butterflies (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Tish Rabe. (Natural History)
- Add lizards to complete the Predators mini-book.
- Read From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman. (Natural History)
- Complete the Life Span of a Butterfly mini-book
- Observe caterpillars and eggs on milkweed in backyard and add to mini-book.
- Complete Butterfly Math mini-book.
- Lunch (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (11:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (12:00 pm)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Continued copywork of The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti. (Handwriting)
- Glue butterflies into Butterfly Math mini-book.
- Read The Magic School Bus: Butterfly and the Bog Beast by Nancy Krulik.
- Read Watch Me Grow: Butterfly by DK Publishing.
- Put together double lapbook! (A single file folder lapbook was too small to glue ALL the mini-books we did!)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on May 19, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 29
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
This is our second week creating a lapbook about butterflies from homeschoolshare.com to contain all the new things we’re learning. If you’d like to know more about what a lapbook is, please visit this post where I included helpful links that helped me learn more about this great way to present a unit study.
Just another note: Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Our family tradition for the past few years has been to plant flowers in our backyard to celebrate this day. Part of our research on plants that attract butterflies was put to good use as we shopped at our local garden shop and picked out some milkweed and zinnias to plant. Within an hour of planting the milkweed, we already had a Monarch butterfly flitting around checking it out. On Tuesday we noticed that she had actually laid eggs! We’re so looking forward to watching a butterfly’s life cycle up close and personal in our own back yard!
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Started copywork of The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti. (Handwriting)
- Read Butterfly Fever by Lori Haskins (Literature) a cute story about a little girl who lives in a town that Monarch butterflies migrate through. Great way to incorporate science within a fictional story.
- Add Tarsi (feet) to the Butterfly Diagram.
- Add the words larva and pupa to the Life Cycle Diagram
- Add ‘gathering in groups/bunches’ to the Defenses mini-book.
- Completed the Butterfly Diet mini-book.
- Studied the migratory map of Monarch Butterflies included in the book.
- Read Fancy Nancy Bonjour, Butterfly by Jane o’Connor (Literature)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (11:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (12:00 pm)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Kate and I noticed that there were lots of butterfly eggs on the undersides of the leaves of our newly planted milkweed. And a teeny tiny caterpillar had already hatched, too! We quickly put together the Butterfly Observations mini-book so that we could record our findings.
- Read Butterflies in the Garden by Carol Lerner. (Natural History)
- Cut out and study Butterfly Cards of the United States.
- Discuss pollination and complete the Butterflies Working mini-book.
- Read Butterflies and Moths by Nic Bishop. Beautiful photos of butterflies, moths, caterpillars, and eggs.
- Completed Moth/Butterfly Venn Diagram.
- Add birds to the Predators mini-book.
- Lunch (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on April 23, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 26
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Handwriting: Evaluation of all uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers
- Natural History: We read books to help prepare for Earth Day. Click here to read our reviews of some the books we read today.
- EarthDance by Joanne Ryder
- Round Like a Ball by Lisa Campbell Ernst
- Composer Study: Ballet of the Elephants by Leda Schubert
- Science: Parts by Shelly Rotner
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Lunch (1hr)
- Watch Disney’s “Earth” at the theater for Earth Day!
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Poetry:
- Composer Study: Beethoven’s Wig by Richard Perlmutter
- Natural History: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
- Literature:
- The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle
- Forever Young by Bob Dylan
- Benny and Beautiful Baby Delilah by Jean Van Leeuwen
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Earth Day Craftiness with Friends!
- Bird Feeder Wreaths
- Recycled Earth Crayons
- Stained Glass Butterflies
- Tin Can Votives
- Coffee Filter Butterflies
Posted on April 21, 2009 - by Kay
Books We Love: April 2009
Ballet of the Elephants
My review
rating: 5 of 5 starsWinner of the 2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award, this book filled with watercolor pictures of the true story of the Ballet of Elephants was captivating. When Igor Stravinsky (composer of The Nutcracker) was asked by George Balanchine (Russian Choreographer) to compose a piece of music for John Ringling North’s circus elephants to perform to, Stravinsky gladly jumped at the opportunity. My 6 year old listened to the story fascinated by the idea of elephants performing ballet, and was even more enthralled at the end when she realized this had been a TRUE story. Great book for introducing Stravinsky as a composer. (Continue reading this article…)
Posted on April 17, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 25
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Evaluation Week! Kindergarten Skill Test covers the following skills:
- Alphabet – recognize and name all upper and lower case
- Letter Sounds
- Read Color and Number words
- Knows Shapes
- Count to 30
- Knows Birthday, Address, and Phone Number
- Says Days of the Week and Months in Order
- Knows consonant blends and digraphs
- Knows short and long vowel sounds
- Reads 30 most common words
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (10:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (11:00 am)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Phonics:
- Math: Addition sentences using #s 1-9: Disney Princess Addition & Subtraction (pg 6)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Sign Language: Practice Time 123 DVD from Signing Time
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on April 9, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 24
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Phonics: Easy Reader – Oliver Pig and the Best Fort Ever by Jean Van Leeuwen
- Composer Study: Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”
- Artist Study: Matisse: The King of Color by Laurence Anholt (see my review of this book here)
- Literature: Old Mother West Wind “Jimmy Skunk Looks for Beetles” by Thornton Burgess
- Poetry: “The Farmer and the Queen” by Shel Silverstein
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (10:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (11:00 am)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Artist Study:
- More Than Meets the Eye: Seeing Art With All Five Senses by Bob Raczka
- One Starry Night, by Melody Keyes on Kindersite.org
- Literature:
- The Sleepy Cadillac by Thacher Hurd
- The Buffalo Storm by Katherine Applegate
- Handicraft:
- Look through Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff by Hearther Smith with Joe Rhatigan to choose a few crafts for Earth Day coming up.
- Create Thank You cards to friends who came to her birthday party
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Sign Language: Practice Time 123 DVD from Signing Time
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on March 31, 2009 - by Kay
Books We Love: Matisse: The King of Color
A bit about the book…
Laurence Anholt has done a beautiful job of telling the story of Matisse and his nurse, Monique, who became a nun, in a way that children can relate to and enjoy. Since I didn’t know anything about this artist, I also enjoyed getting to learn more about his personality and his art, too.What we loved…
While the illustrations were quite unique, I also loved the way that the author used typesetting to help ‘illustrate’ certain passages. During a passage about “diving in tropical lagoons and rowing on blue-green seas”, Anholt typesets the words in curves that go around the fish in the picture behind the words to hint at the motion of swimming and waves. But, more than anything, it was the story itself that captured both my attention and the attention of my six year old. There’s just something fascinating to me personally about an artist creating a chapel in a new and different way.(Continue reading this article…)
Posted on March 12, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 23
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Poem of the Month: A Frisky Lamb
- Handwriting: Practice all Upper Case and lower case letters
Literature:
- My First Ballet Class, by Katharine Holabird
- The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan, by Beatrix Potter
- Artist Study: Katie and the Sunflowers, by James Mayhew (another great story where Katie disappears into the paintings in a museum – this time they’re all of the postimpressionist era)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (11:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (12:00 pm)
- Lunch (1hr)
Outdoor Play (1hr)- Literature/Art Study:
- I Spy: An Alphabet in Art, by Lucy Micklethwait (Awesome introduction to the alphabet and to art at the same time. Micklethwait has hand-picked 26 pieces of art and then asked the reader to spy the element in it that starts with that letter. Very cleverly done, and actually encourages the reader to stop and study a piece for a while before turning the page.)
Ellsworth’s Extraordinary Electric Ears, by Valorie Fisher (A very clever alphabet book that has a one-sentence story with as many words starting with that letter as possible. For instance, “Alistair had an alarming appetite for acrobats.” The picture for that page includes the alligator, Alistair, as well as the acrobat along with several other ‘a’ words for the children to spy. At the back of the book is a list of all the ‘hidden’ elements for each letter. It was fun to see if we could find them all without looking at the back of the book first!)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Handwriting: Finish writing lower case letters, discuss which letters we need to work on for next time.
- Poem of the Month: A Frisky Lamb
- Sign Language: Review all words, check against Signing Savvy
- Composer Study: Strike Up the Orchestra, by Carin and Joan Dewhirst
Literature: Mother Earth and Her Children, by Sibylle Von Olfers- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on February 19, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 20
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule 
Poem of the Month: Baby Bumblebee
Verse of the Month: 1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.”- Science: Let’s Try It Out with Towers and Bridges, by Seymour Simon
- Composer Study: Bach playing in the background
- Literature: The Random House Book of Stories from the Ballet, by Geraldine McCaughrean, “Coppelia”
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (10:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (11:00 am)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
We
ather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Poem of the Month: Baby Bumblebee
Verse of the Month: 1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.” - Math: Addition Game
- Phonics: Phonics Scramble Game – Long Vowels
- Sign Language: Numbers (0-10)
- Artist Study: Leonardo da Vinci in Katie and the Mona Lisa, by James Mayhew (great little story that introduces several Italian Renaissance painters)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on February 18, 2009 - by Kay
Year 0: Week 19
Our school days are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30am, when we return from dropping off Ethan at Mother’s Day Out. Each bullet point is a 5-15 minute period of time.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Handwriting: Write Valentines for friends
- Poem of the Month: Baby Bumblebee
Verse of the Month: 1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.” - Math: Add up costs of items purchased for handicraft
- Handicraft: Make paper flowers with tissue paper and pipe cleaners as valentines for friends/family
- Composer Study: Camille Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals (in background while doing handicraft)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Story time at the Library (10:30 am)
- Turn in old and check out new books (11:00 am)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Play at a local park (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule- Phonics: Finish the All About Me section on Starfall
- Poem of the Month: Baby Bumblebee
Verse of the Month: 1 John 4:19 ”We love because God first loved us.” - Nature Walk: at park behind library, Kate added the drawing of a pine tree to her nature journal. We’ll also print out the pic she took on my iPhone and add it to that same page.
- History: Kate noticed that it was Lincoln’s Bday on my calendar. It was the perfect segue into a small history lesson on who Mr. Lincoln was. We read this story about his childhood, and Kate loved ‘coloring’ this pic, too…
- Math: Fewer/Less Than vs More Than in Counting At the Zoo, by Amy Rauen (not the best example of a ‘living book’, but Kate enjoyed the simplicity of it.)
- Natural History:
- Jump Into Science: Sun, by Steve Tomecek (Kate picked this one up at the library and really enjoyed learning more in depth about the sun. Definitely written to her age group or just a tad older, but done really well to explain how the sun works, sunspots, and why we need the sun here on earth. Another great random find at the local library!)
- Across the Solar System, by Rod Theodorou
Literature:
- There’s Nothing to Do on Mars, by Chris Gall
- The Random House Book of Stories from the Ballet, by Geraldine McCaughrean (great collection of ballet stories, including Cinderella and Swan Lake. Kate and I read Cinderella and then compared/contrasted it to the Disney version. Interesting the things that she picked up on…)
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
