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Venturing Out: Activities for 8/31-9/4

• Monday: Park and BV Library
• Tuesday: Playgroup at Church @ 10:30 AM
  
• Wednesday: Live Storytelling IS ON SEPT. 16TH.
  
• Thursday: Storytime and Craft with Ms. Glory 10:30am @ Rockbridge Regional Library.
• Thursday: 6:30pm Party for Ethnie DeSpain.
  
• Friday: Camping at our Cabin (we're going to use B is for Birthday for Bryant's birthday and start C is for Cabin and Camping for next week a little early!).

Friday 9/3 "B"

Language Arts, Music & Math (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.
• Recite: Baa Baa Black Sheep
  
• Read one of the stories: Buckles Buckles Everywhere
  
• Sing the song (Baby Beluga)
  
• Watch: Little Einstein's Legend of the Golden Pyramid (Braham's Hungarian Dance)
  
• Review the color of the week: Blue
  

Sports/Games/Activities (20 minutes)

• Off to the cabin for the weekend! Discuss Bryant's birthday!
  

Review (10 minutes)

• Review any of your activities from the week that your child enjoyed the most.

Thursday 9/2 "B"

Language Arts, Music & Math (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.
• Read the rhyme chosen.
• Read one of the stories(the same or different).
• Sing the song.
  
• Listen to music of the composer of the week: Brahams Hungarian Dance no. 5
  
• Review the color of the week. Blue
  

Social Studies (15 minutes)

• Benjamin Franklin: HERE
• Awesome slide show HERE
  

Art Project (15 - 30 minutes)

• Craft project at Storytime (theme: siblings)
  
• Theme: Brothers. Have Sam draw a picture of Joey.
  

Wenesday 9/2 "B"

Language Arts, Music & Math (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.
• Read the rhyme chosen. Baa Baa Black Sheep
  
• Read one of the stories: Buckles Buckles Everywhere
  
• Sing the song you chose. (B-I-N-G-O with storyboard)
  
• Listen to music of the composer of the week: Brahams' Hungarian Dance
  
• Review the color of the week. Blue
  

Science (20 minutes)

Bird- bluebird : HERE
Flower - buttercup HERE
Mammal - bison HERE
Ocean Creature - beluga whale HERE

Bible Story/Character Lesson (10 minutes)

• Review the lesson you learned on Monday: Bravery
  
• Act out the story.

Tuesday 9/1 "B"

Language Arts & Music (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.(banana, balloon, book, baseball, bear, bird)
• Read one of the stories "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"
  
• Sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep"
  
• Listen to music of the composer of the week: Joannes Brahams Lullaby
  

Math (15 minutes)

• Before - tell your child a number and he must tell you the number that comes before. You could do this orally or with manipulatives. (ie: if you say the number 4, the answer is 3.) Use counting bears.
  

Colors

• Teach the color listed. You should be able to find the color in a 64 or 96 pack of crayons.
• Take an index card and color it the color listed.
• Write the color word on the other side.
• Show the flash card a few times each day for the rest of the week.

Character Lesson (15 minutes)

• Review the lesson you learned on Monday (Bravery)
  

Monday 8/31 "B"

Language Arts (30 minutes)

Letter of the Week:

• Introduce the letter of the week on a poster "B b"
  
• Teach both the name and the sound it stands for. Only one sound at a time!
• Show both upper and lower case letters.
• Color and put the poster in the bathroom.
• Discuss the sign for B HERE
• ABC's HERE
• Starfall.com "B"
  

Theme Words:

• Theme words: banana, balloon, book, baseball, bear, bird
• Make flash cards of them
  
• Put flash cards in pocket chart after showing them to Sam.

Color of the Week:

• Blue: fingerpainting with Blue.
  

Poetry & Rhymes:

• Choose one rhyme to memorize for the week: Baa Baa Black Sheep.
  

Read Aloud:

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
  

Music (15 minutes)

• Listen to a music selection of the composer listed: Johannes Brahams "Lullaby"
  

Song:

• Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Bible Story/Character Lesson (15 minutes)

• Discuss Bravery. Sometimes it's hard giving up things you love and you may be a little afraid, but if you are BRAVE you will make it through! ex: giving up Binkie last week.
  

Week In Review 8/24-8/28 in Pictures

Sam's first spooning with dried Garbanzo beans

Practicing writing A and a in shaving cream

"A" is for Africa!

Let's pretend we're going camping!

Apple-printing and finger painting with the color of the week: Red!

Simply Montessori

This is a really fantastic resource site for Montessori at home. I do believe I'll test the waters with a few spooning activities with Sam.
http://simplymontessori.blogspot.com/2009/06/spooing-activities.html

Research: Child doesn't like to color

I'm getting frustrated with "I can't do it" when it comes to coloring with crayons with Sam. I know he's young. And I know the crayons are the skinny crayola kind so dexterity is an issue. However, most activities involve coloring already. So, it's time to go to Google University and see what I can dig up to help Sam enjoy coloring. He can scribble... but this is already a marked improvement from... Monday.

• Pencil grips are also called Crossover grips
• Advice from OT: break crayons to make them easier to use.
• Bryant and/or I need to color in front of Sam.. casually. Maybe while he's playing in the living room one of us should color and show that it's fun. MODEL.
• Fine motor activities: here

Well-organized Alphabet activities

RIGHT HERE

Friday 8/28 Short "A"

Language Arts, Music & Math (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.
• Read the poem chosen: Animal Crackers
  
• Read one of the stories: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
  
• Sing the song you chose. (Listen To The Short A Sound)
  
• Listen to music of the composer of the week and show the flash card, if you made one. (Leroy Anderson: The Waltzing Cat)
  
• Review the color of the week. RED (review hong se, rojo and rouge)
  

Sports/Games/Activities (20 minutes)

• Decide on an activity and make the day fun!
• I think we'll make a "tent" in the living room and pretend to go camping and piggy-back on the library's theme of the week. If we're lucky, we'll be able to go back to a cabin in the next few weeks!
  

Review (10 minutes)

• Review any of your activities from the week that your child enjoyed the most.
• We may do the shaving cream again. It was a BIG hit. Near the end of the lesson, Sam was really able to make uppercase and lowecase A's.
  

One awesome site!

This is such a cool site!

http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/preschool-themes.html

Mental note: Ask Mike to print this out:
http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/support-files/writingworksheetsa-z.pdf

Thursday 8/27 "Short A"

First 30 minutes, same as yesterday.

• Writing the letter "A" and "a" in shaving cream on the table.
  

Social Studies (15 minutes)

• Continue discussion about Africa.
  
• Color map of Africa
• Look at Africa on the web.
  

Art Project (15 - 30 minutes)

• Storytime: Camping. Imaginative play: "pretend" roasting marshmallows with "witches' brew" cauldron with fake flames. Sam LOVED it.
  

Wenesday 8/26 "Short A"

Yesterday went so well! Sam was thrilled with painting with apples and loved sitting at the table and trying to write straight lines. Here's today's overview from letteroftheweek:

Language Arts, Music & Math (30 minutes)

• Review the theme word flash cards.
• Read an A Poem:

Animal Crackers
by Christopher Morley
Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers, I think;
When I'm grown up and can have what I please
I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do you choose when you're offered a treat?
When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
It's cocoa and animals that I love the most!

The kitchen's the coziest place that I know:
The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

Daddy and Mother dine later in state,
With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;
But they don't have nearly as much fun as I
Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;
And Daddy once said he would like to be me
Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!

• Sing "Short A" from Starfall.com ("Short A Makes this kind of sound "Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah", the "ah" in cat, the "ah" in rat" makes the short A sound, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah Ah!")
  
• Listen to music of the composers of the week. (Leroy Anderson: Typewriter song)
  
• Review the color of the week: Red. Discuss apples can be red. Red in Chinese: hong se (learned from Ni Hao Kai-Lan:Celebrate with Kai-Lan).
  

Science (20 minutes)

Bird-albatross : HERE Large seabird.
Flower - aster HERE
Mammal - antelope Slideshow at San Diego Zoo
Ocean Creature - abalone (Dirty Jobs: Season2 Disc 1: Seaweed Harvester/Abalone farmer)

Great link to enchantedlearning.com: Animal Coloring Pages
Here's just a page of African Animals: HERE

Character Lesson (10 minutes)

"Every job on a team is important" ((learned from Ni Hao Kai-Lan:Celebrate with Kai-Lan (DVD). When Kai-Lan's friend Rintoo refuses to help carry a huge dragon costume, Kai-lan must convince him his job is important.

Week One: Short A

Monday/Tuesday/Weekly Overview:
Introduce short A.

• Print out Aa poster: Sam then colored the poster and we put it up in the bathroom (lol)!
• Discuss ASL "a"
  
• Starfall.com: Short A song and ASL "a"
• Practice writing: Horizontal lines: WORKSHEET
• Practice writing: "a" wipe off/on board.
  

Theme Words:

• apple, alligator, astronaut, animal, alphabet, ambulance, acrobat on flash cards and in the hallway pocket chart. I've also added "Sam" as a card. We review these cards often throughout the day. I just flip through the cards, and naturally, Sam repeats. If he doesn't repeat, I don't make him.
  

Music:

• Tomaso Albinoni (1671 - 1751): Adagio in G minor (discuss violins)
• Leroy Anderson ( 1908-1975): The Waltzing Cat
• Introduce the Lap Harp

Art:

• Apple-printing with finger paint.
• Apple Match file folder game (to work on color matching) as a free time activity.
  

Science/Geography:

• Ocean Creature: Abalone. Watch Abalone Farmer episode of Dirty Jobs
• Plant apple seeds and watch them sprout
• Show Africa on the map/play globe. Discuss animals that live in Africa.
  

Math:

• Abacus addition/counting

Movement:

• Act out animals
• Grow up tall like an apple tree
  

Why this blog is being madeMy

This blog, more or less, is to help me keep track of my homeschooling curriculum and sources that I find online.

I am a brand new homeschooling mother to my 3 year old preschooler, Sam. We also have a 6 month old boy, Joey who, of course, will be helping us learn as we go.

We're choosing to homeschool Sam for at least his first "year" of preschool to give him a jumpstart on schooling. Sam is a very bright little boy who loves to learn new things. We've unschooled up until now but, with the beginning of the school year for traditional schools it seemed like a great time to start him on his slightly more formal education.

We're going to primarily using Letter of the Week (.com) as our curriculum foundation. We're also blessed to have as superb public library in Lexington, Virginia with an entire resource room for preschool readiness to use as we need.

So, here we go!