Weekly Wrap-Up: The Farm!

Week of 09/15-09/21

Week 7

Another good week!!

 Bible

• He learned about Hannah in CBS this week and was excited to remind me that "We prayed for a baby, too".  Yes, we did little buddy!

• Memory Verse:  "Do not be afraid...your prayer has been heard. " Luke 1:13

Sonlight Core P4/5 Highlights

For Social Studies this week we read about The Farmer in Things People Do.    And we learned about Mammals, birds, and amphibians for Science in The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science.   We took a field trip to the farm!    He loved climbing on the tractors, watching the bunnies, and of course the carousel ride.  He was disappointed that we didn't see any amphibians, though!  

We read some supplemental books about farmers and mammals.  We didn't read Why am I a Mammal? but, he loved looking at the pictures in that one.

 Other Sonlight Reading

• Poetry - Animals Animals and Mother Goose
• Social Studies - Things People Do
• World Cultures - Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
•  Literature -  Uncle Wiggily's Story Book

 Language Arts

We worked on Week 6 (Letter "A") of Sonlight Language Arts K 

• Practiced writing the letter "A" on a laminated sheet from here
• Introduced the short Aa sound and worked on starting to blend the sounds.  I used paint samples for us to practice "at, fat, rat, bat, and mat".  He would move the "at" down to form the different words.  We went over it on Monday and I wasn't sure if he grasped it or not.  When he sat down at the table on Tuesday, he picked it up and rattled them off without me saying a word....   I was shocked!  Is he really learning how to blend words?  Yay!   
• I printed out this Read/build/write sheet from here and laminated it.  I wrote the word in the "Read" box, then Greyson would build the word with foam letters, and then write them.  He did really well with this. 
• We played a game with the letters we've learned so far in different ways.    Printables are from here
• I would say a sound, he would hop to the letter, then say a word that started with that sound
• I would say a letter, he would hop to the letter, then say the sound
• He made up a game where I would cover my eyes, he would take away a letter and give me a hint as to which letter was missing and I would guess.     
• etc.  He loves games so, we just made things up as we went along. 

Math

·We are working our way through Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten math lessons.  So far they have been pretty easy but, we are enjoying how colorful they are and there isn't a lot of handwriting involved (yet). 

Co-op

Co-op started this week - he goes once a week for 3 hours.  They are doing a letter of the week curriculum there with fun crafts, snacks, and more.  This week was the Letter A.  I don't get to see what all he does because I'm helping in another class but, He was super excited to show me his Alligator puppet that he made and so happy that he liked the snack (he was worried, but it was Animal Crackers).  

Showing off his new backpack :) 

Life...

• Pictures in the middle and on the left -  Yep, Another birthday party :)   I met a great group of moms in a moms group at the hospital when Greyson was only a couple weeks old.  I am so blessed that we have remained friends and it is really fun to see the kids grow up together.   They were all born in August - October which makes these months a little hectic with all of the birthday parties but, who doesn't love a party every weekend :)  
• Pictures on the right - He swam the length of the pool in swim class... Hooray!  I'm so proud of him! 

Weekly Wrap-Up: It's FALL!!!

Week of 09/08-09/14

Week 6

Well, I guess I got what I wished for - the weather this week was AMAZING!  I love the fall weather and spending my days with this crazy kid...  Don't worry, we didn't go out in public in this outfit :)

 Bible

• We started Community Bible Study (CBS) this week where we will both be studying the book of Genesis.  Greyson was nervous to go but, when I picked him up he said "I had a great time at CBS".  I'm so happy.  They have a great children's program and I'm excited to see him grow and learn there.  I'm excited to grow and learn in my studying as well! 

• Memory Verse:  "Do not be afraid...your prayer has been heard. " Luke 1:13

Sonlight Core P4/5 Highlights

For Social Studies this week we read about The Baker in Things People Do.   Great excuse to go get a yummy muffin at Panera Bread :) 

It took 3 tries to get through our story, The Clever Mouse, in our World Cultures book,  Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book.  He was just too distracted the first 2 times but, when we finally got through it, he enjoyed the story.  

Sonlight Reading for the Week:

•  Poetry - Animals Animals and Mother Goose
• Social Studies - Things People Do
• World Cultures - Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
•  Literature -  This week we read out of  The Children's Book of Virtues

Science

This week was all about Nature, Senses of Nature, and Facts about Animals in The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science.  What a perfect week to get out and enjoy nature!!!  

• Enjoyed a picnic by the pond and a nature hunt for sticks and leaves (we were supposed to gather them for a project but, he just wanted to throw them in the pond...  I couldn't argue with that!). 
• Created spider web art - I taped down a black piece of paper, we dropped marbles in white paint, and shook the box until we got a web. 
• Talked about how we use our senses and how animals use their senses - I'm sure glad that he didn't want to use his "taste" sense out on our walks :)
• and we did a worksheet on things that were alive vs not alive from Handle on the Arts

We read some supplemental books about spiders and animal senses.   We read all 3 of these multiple times.  He liked them all!!

Language Arts

We worked on Week 5 (Letter "R") of SonlightLanguage Arts K and the "R" pages from the supplemental book for Phonics - Get Ready for the Code. 

• Practiced writing the letter "R"
• Played a memory game with the upper and lowercase letters that we have learned so far (F, B, M, T, R).  After turning over the card, he would make the sound of the letter and match the letters.  Printables are from here

Math

·     We start our "table time" with his learning notebook.  One of the pages is a "100 days of school" sheet.  It's fun to see how many days we have been doing "school" and we've made a game out of it.  This was mostly because Greyson was getting stuck while counting.  He would count to 19, and then skip to 21.  Now, we count each day and he's finally getting it.  I also use 2 M&Ms and I call out a number for him to find and place the M&M on that number.  I'm trying to make sure he can recognize the number and isn't just counting by memory.     

My favorite quote for the week was after a lesson that we did in Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten.  I told him that he did a great job and he responded with "Yeah, that was too easy for me".   Ha ha!   I can't call an almost 4yr old boastful, he's just telling me like it is.  I'm sure they will get harder, little man! !! 

Top 100 Children's Books

We are still enjoying books from this post sprinkled in throughout the week.  

Here are the ones that we read this week.  

• Greyson loved Don't let the pigeon drive the bus  and we read that one multiple times. 
• Warning!!!!  Don't read Love you forever while pregnant.   I could NOT get through this book without sobbing.  Poor Greyson couldn't figure out why I was getting so upset.   I tried to tell him they were happy tears.  Whew - it's a good book for sure!

Life...

• We had a meet and greet with our friends from co-op (that starts next week).  Greyson took a horrible fall at the playground but, bounced right back. 
• Enjoyed another birthday party with friends - this time at the pool
• Playdate with preschool friends at the playground another day was a great time as well.  What boy doesn't like a spider web and climbing wall!  

Weekly Wrap-Up: Apples

Week of 09/01-09/07 

Week 5

Is it really September already?  Wow!   I am personally ready for the cooler weather -  I can't believe how HOT it has been here this past week!

We added in a couple of new things to our routine this week and had a pretty good groove.   Our weekly commitments haven't really started yet so, things are going to continue to change over the next few weeks - starting co-op, Community Bible Study (CBS), and of course the new baby :)

At breakfast each morning, we always do our bible story, practice our verse, and this week we added in a mini calendar time.  Each day is different but, items that we discuss are the current month,  the date,  last month, next month, yesterday, tomorrow, review the months of the year and days of the week etc.  You get the idea :)  I just pick something each day for discussion.  We also count down to his birthday to try to eliminate the "Is it my birthday yet?" question every day :) 

Bible

• We start each day with a story out of the Family-Time Bible in Pictures

• Memory Verse:  "Nothing can separate us from God's love.  " Romans 8:39

Sonlight Core P4/5 Highlights

After reading The Mouse Deer's Wisdom in the Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book, we talked about smells.  I had 6 different smells for him to try to guess - cinnamon, peanut butter, orange juice, etc.  We read the Smelling Book a few times as well.  

Sonlight Reading for the Week:

• Poetry - Animals Animals and Mother Goose

•  Social Studies - we learned about The Teacher in Things People Do

•  World Cultures - Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book and also Stories from Around the World

•  Literature -  we've been reading from Uncle Wiggily's Story Book before bedtime

Science

We learned about all of the fun things to do in the FALL in our Science book - The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science.  Apples are early this year so it was a great week for us to go apple picking!  We had a lot of fun and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all of these yummy apples.   

We read some supplemental books about fall and autumn.   His favorite was Lucky Leaf  because he thought it was silly that the leaf stuck to the little boys head. 

Language Arts

We worked on Week 4 (Letter "T") of SonlightLanguage Arts K and the "T" pages from the supplemental book for Phonics - Get Ready for the Code. 

• He does not do all of the copywork that the LA-K curriculum includes.  We are practicing them with a printable that I got from here and laminated.  
• I just love his concentration on his Readiness worksheet :)
• We played a bean bag game (with a popcorn bag since I didn't have a bean bag) to practice the sounds of the letters that we have learned so far.  He had fun with this and of course loved it when I was the student, and he got to say the sound and watch me throw the bag.  
• The last picture is him playing teacher when we were working on a Get ready for the code worksheet.  He's reading the manual saying "I'm thinking of an animal that moves slow.  what is it?  Now say the sound "t".  Now color it..  Good job mommy, it IS turtle!".   He loves playing teacher too :)  

Math

·     We read Leaping Lizards which is one of the Level 1 books from MathStart. This was a book about counting by 5s and 10s because to put on “The Fifty Leaping Lizards Show!,” you need fifty star-struck leaping lizards.  He enjoyed the story but, didn't really grasp the concept.  We need to work on counting to 50 before attempting skip counting :)  But, he did have fun counting the cheerios and eating the manipulative before we even got to 20.  

I ordered math curriculum for us to try out and we received it this week!   We are going to work through Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten.  We did a couple of lessons this week and I like that they are short and very colorful.  He seemed to like them as well.   I hope it works out for us.... We shall see!! 

Top 100 Children's Books

We are still enjoying books from this post sprinkled in throughout the week.  

Everyone Poops was his favorite this week.   I couldn't even get through it without laughing hysterically.  A very silly book!!!  Of course Fancy Nancy was not much of a hit and he decided that after we read it that "It can go back to the library now".  ha ha!  

Here are the ones that we read this week.  

Life...

• We had a fun time meeting new friends from church at the park
• Swim Lessons started back up... yay!
• Doctors appointments are every week now so we are really trying to get ready for baby sister to arrive
• Enjoyed a Pirate birthday party with friends
• and we checked out a new playground