Archive for the ‘Year 0’ Category
Posted on May 28, 2009 - by
Year 0: Week 31
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 last week of school before we take a break for the summer months. Although we are ALWAYS learning (and will be going many places, including the Cockrell Butterfly Center!), we will not be doing ‘formal’ lessons for the next couple of months. So, I wanted to use this week to wrap up our lapbook and then do an end-of-year evaluation with Kate to assess where to start again next school year.
Monday:
- Mommy’s book club
- Errand, cleaning day
- Observe caterpillars and milkweed.
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Continue copywork of The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti. (Handwriting)
- Paint My Butterfly Symmetry. We found that the paint needs to be watery and wet when you fold over the butterfly to make a print on the other half. Our first attempt was too sticky and wound up tearing the paper.
- Lunch (1hr)
- Read first two sections of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, retold by Naomi Lewis.
- 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
- Finish copywork of The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti. (Handwriting)
- Cut out and paste on the Symmetrical Butterfly.
- ASSESSMENTS:
- Reading – Phonetics and Comprehension Test
- Reading – Decoding
- Math
- Lunch (1hr)
- Read Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent by Lauren Child.
- Read Hansel and Diesel by David Gordon.
- Read Cowlick by Christin Ditchfield.
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Posted on May 28, 2009 - by
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
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 May 7, 2009 - by
Year 0: Week 28
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 month we are trying a new activity. We will be learning about butterflies and doing a lapbook from homeschoolshare.com to contain all the new things we’ve learned. 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
Tuesday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekly schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
**Just a note: We did WAY more today than I ever would have expected us to do. But, Kate was THRILLED with all the hands-on and learning and couldn’t get enough. We probably would have done even more, but I finally got too tired to keep going!
- Wrote down the things that Kate already knew about butterflies in this mini-book (Handwriting)
- Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Literature)
- Completed this circle mini-book for the life cycle of a butterfly (Natural History)
- Read Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell (Literature)
- Filled in caterpillar diet mini-book (Natural History)
- Also filled in one difference between butterflies and moths on this Venn diagram mini-book (Natural History and Handwriting)
- Read Springtime Addition by Jill Fuller and did the math included (Math)
- Lunch (1hr)
- MORE Butterfly Lapbook
- Read Angelina and the Butterfly by Katharine Holabird (Literature)
- Read Are You a Butterfly? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries (Natural History)
- Complete Caterpillar Questions Flap-book and Butterfly Diet mini-book (Natural History)
- Kate was fascinated by the butterfly in the illustrations, so we pulled out the National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies to try to identify it. (Natural History)
- While we were in the Field Guide we saw a diagram of the different parts of a butterfly and decided to go ahead and label our diagram mini-book, too. (Natural History)
- 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
- Kate and I decided to draw a large butterfly outside using sidewalk chalk. I told her that she would draw half, and I would copy her half on the other side like a mirror. She knew that is called ‘symmetry’. We had fun not only discussing symmetry, but also using the anatomical names we have learned like fore wings and hind wings, antenna, proboscis, etc. She had a blast coloring with Mommy while also reinforcing things we had already learned about butterflies.
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Butterfly Lapbook
- Read Bob and Otto by Robert O. Bruel. Cute story about an earthworm and a caterpillar who are friends, until one day Bob wants to climb a tree and Otto wants to dig. Great way to differentiate caterpillars from ‘worms’. (Literature)
- Read Born to be a Butterfly by Karen Wallace – an early reader about the life cycle of a butterfly. It even includes a picture glossary at the back for those ‘hard’ words like tongue and chysalis.
- Read The Butterfly by Diana Noonan (Natural History)
- Complete the mini-book on defenses based on pages 8-9.
- Watch the life cycle of a Pipevine Swallowtail.
- Read pg 25 in A Backyard Flower Garden for Kids by Amie Jane Leavitt to learn about the types of flowers attract butterflies. (Natural History)
- Also read about specific plants for attracting butterflies in Houston.
- Lunch (1hr)
- Complete the Favorite Flowers shaped mini-book.
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk
Just another note: This Sunday will be 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 will be put to good use as we shop at our local garden shop. Looking forward to planting some great flowers this weekend and then watching to see what we’re able to attract to our little garden in the back yard.
Posted on April 30, 2009 - by
Year 0: Week 27
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:
- Short I vowel sound with “ind” and “ild” Crossword Puzzle- Barbie Phonics (pg 15)
- Short and Long I vowel sounds – Phonics Educational Workbook (pgs 6-7)
- Math: Addition sentences – Disney Princess Addition and Subtraction (pgs 7-8)
- Science: We had a very strong thunderstorm system blow through the last few days, so Kate requested to learn more about storms.
- Eye of the Storm by Steven Kramer & Photos by Warren Faidley
- Storms by Seymour Simon
- Literature: Raggedy Ann Learns a Lesson by Johnny Gruelle
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Kate’s choice
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Wednesday:
- Literature: Frog and Toad CD Audio Collection
- Lunch (1hr)
- Literature: Library Books
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Thursday:
- Pledge
Weather: Record temperature, outside conditions
Calendar: Write out weekend schedule - Phonics:
- Three Little Plays on Starfall.com
- Puppet Personalities
- Long A vowel sound with “ai”, “eigh”, “a with silent e” – Barbie Phonics (pgs 9-11)
- Poetry:
- Many selections from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
- Several selections from Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Prelutsky
- Lunch (1hr)
- Outdoor Play (1hr)
- Independent Reading/Rest Time
Friday:
- Nature Walk at Mercer Arboretum
Posted on April 23, 2009 - by
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 17, 2009 - by
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
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 12, 2009 - by
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
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
