Week 6 with the 4's

It seems the kids are mostly back to healthy this week, with the exception of a few runny noses. What a relief! I decided to change up the order of activities this week. Normally we jump right in to calendar and Bible time, but I decided to see how the kids would do making their own snack from start to finish...oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I had all the ingredients ready to go, and I moved our "kid table" into the kitchen so everyone could gather around and participate in all the steps. Here is a peek at the little bakers at work...

The recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar, so each child filled 1/4 cup...they concentrated SO hard!

And we took turns creaming the butter and sugar...

And we used our muscles to mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

The kids did great using my Pampered Chef cookie scoop! Way to work those hand muscles!

 

 

While the cookies baked, we told the story of young king Josiah with the felt board. The Bibles I have don't include this story, so I just told it as best I could with the felt board. They actually seemed to get it pretty well.

And then we traced V's and W's using our tactile letters. And we discussed what sound each letter makes and listed a bunch of words that start with each letter. They are getting SO good at this.

We made V's and W's out of popcicle sticks. They had a hard time with the W...

Then it was time to try out the cookies! They snacked while I read Tales of Oliver Pig...and of course, they thought it was SO cool that Oliver and his mom made cookies just like we did...

Then it was time to practice writing last names...this needs some work to say the least! Ha ha! The kids had a rough time with this activity, but at least we know we have stuff to work on.

This girlie wrote each letter in  different color... :)

 

I also thought it was interesting that they can form many of the letters quite well, but placing them on the lines is a huge challenge.

Then we colored some pictures of King Josiah. I had to talk to the boys about why coloring is important and good practice for learning to write. They both used their crayons to scribble all over the paper without ANY effort at all to stay in the lines...I think they weren't very happy with me after this conversation, but I wanted them to know that it has a purpose, and that even if they don't LOVE to color, they should at least put forth a little effort.

The last thing we did on Tuesday was a visual perception activity using wood blocks. I set up a row of blocks that were all different shapes. I asked them to study the row, and then they had to close their eyes. I took one block away and they had to decide what was missing. They all did GREAT at this activity.

 

On Thursday, we had the special treat of having a friend join us for school. Evelyn was babysitting two kiddos for the day who happened to be the same ages as our kids, so we just added them right into the mix. It was fabulous!

 

 

 After calendar, Bible, and memory verse work, we gathered at the table to practice writing X's, V's, and W's. This was HARD for the kids! I gave them the angled letter worksheet from the curriculum, and they found staying in the lines very tricky...but they all did an excellent job concentrating.

 

Next we made a Bible scroll craft in honor of young king Josiah. They loved crunching up their paper bags!

 

They painted the scrolls using water colors. All the kids loved this part...

Sorry no pictures...

 

 

And then we practiced making letters out of play dough. Most of the kids found this really hard...making snakes is still pretty challenging for this crowd.

 

 

To wrap up the day, the kids practiced making patterns out of pop-beads. This was tricky for a couple reasons...they had to choose the two colors they wanted to make repeat, and the beads require some fine motor skills to snap together. It took most of the group a few minutes to figure out what to do, but they eventually all got the hang of it.

 

 

 

 

Week 3 with the 4's

I cannot believe the difference in these kids from last year! I had so much fun doing school with them this week. It's like they turned into little PEOPLE over the summer. Last year was mostly about providing them with cool learning experiences amidst a great deal of crisis management. But this year, their attention spans are much longer, they are starting to think critically, and they can DO some really cool stuff without so much help or frustration. It's really exciting to see.

Day 1:

We started with the calendar. They all know the days of the week now (thanks to the nifty 7 Days song). We are still working on the months...

 

We read about Abraham and Sarah wanting a baby, and used the felt board to help tell the story...sorry I forgot to snap pics of that part.

 

 

Next we traced our tactile H and 4...

 

 

 

 

And we built 4's and H's out of sticks. This was HARD for them...we will have to keep this one in mind for later. The challenge is good for them!

 

 

 

Next we used our bodies to make an H and a 4. I had to laugh...the boys looked at me like I was nuts when I told them they had to figure our how to make an H on their own using their bodies. Addison (in her typical style) took charge and told them where to lay so they could make the letter. She is her mother's daughter :)

 

 

Next I got out the white boards and we practiced writing our names. This was more challenging than I expected it to be. The boys were pretty uninterested, and Addison practically melted down because hers wasn't PERFECT. She is such a perfectionist that she gets herself really worked up sometimes...we are working on it.

 

 

To work on our fine motor skills, I gave each child a piece of scratch-art paper. Addison LOVES this stuff so I figured it would be a good way to practice holding a pencil (stylus) and practice drawing shapes and letters.

A sun...

And a circle...

Noah made a lot of lines to see where the colors changed, and he wrote his name.

 

 

Then I got out our set of Cuisenaire Rods. I asked the kids to choose two colors and make a pattern.

 

Not sure why this picture won't flip...but Jack did a really good job with his pattern :)

 

 

 

 

Then we moved on to three colors. This was harder...

 

 

And then I asked to them to see what else they could make. Addison was working on an arrow...

 

 

Noah made a square.

 

Jack was kinda done with the blocks by this point :)

Then for some gross motor skills, I got out our EZ steppers. These were FUN! The kids did great stomping around the house, and taking turns. Addison needed a little reminder about what it means to be patient.

 

 

Day 2:

 

We started with our usual calendar and Bible story, and then I had the kids practice making H's and 4's using the sticks again, since it was so hard for them last time. It went much better today. Then we moved over to the coffee table where I had plates with all the letters in their names mixed up. I used a bit of that gummy tack stuff on the back of each plate, and the kids had to find the letters of their names, and put them in the right order on the wall. I modified the idea from something I say HERE on Pinterest...

Poor Addison's name is Looooong...

Next we got ready for snack. Only this time, the kids had to make snack themselves. It was a sorting/counting activity to make their own trail mix. Here's how I set it up...

Oh man...this one won't flip either...

Anyway, I wrote numbers 6-11 in the bottom of muffin tins. Then I put bowls of trail mix ingredients in the center of the table. The bowls were each labeled with a corresponding number. The kids had to find the bowl with a 6 and count 6 of that ingredient into their muffin tin with a 6 inside. They did a GREAT job concentrating and counting, but it was VERY apparent that they don't recognize numerals AT ALL. I think they have 1-5 down pretty well, but these numbers were a total mystery! At least we know what we need to work on!

 

 

Then I gave each child a zip-lock and they carefully put all their ingredients in the bag and gave it a good shake. They were VERY excited to eat this snack!

Just a side note: We have found that the kids LOVE having their snack during story time. So if you are having trouble getting your kids to sit through a story, this works great...even for our squirrely 2 year-olds!

After snack we worked our fine motor skills using wikki stix and some shape templates that I found HERE via Pinterest.

The kids had to use the Wikki Stix to outline the shapes on their paper. This was tricky for them...the boys lost interest pretty quickly, but I think it was good practice for them to figure out how to mold the sticks while trying to get it to stick to the paper. I will definitely use these for future lessons.

 

Finally, we did a little science experiment involving chromatography...that is the separation of colors. I found this experiment HERE via Pinterest...

To start, the kids drew a circle around the center of a coffee filter. The marker can't be washable or permanent...so it's got to be a plain old water based variety.

 

Next, we folded the filter in half twice to make a cone. Then we set the cone in a glass with a little water in the bottom. As the water travels through the marker line, the colors bleed and separate and you can see which individual colors were used to make the one we started with.

 

You can see Noah's black like turned into a variety of blues and purples. This was pretty cool!

 

The kids did a great job staying focused and following directions this week. Great job everyone!!