Starting Our New Routine

Sorry about the endless postings about our ocean unit... just a couple more and that's that!  Blogs are funny because they sure don't show the whole picture. From looking at our blog our days are consumed by oceans!!  Heh heh! Well, that's not at all accurate.  I read and read, planned and planned and finally the older kids started back to school last week. As you've seen, ED has been "in school" for a couple of weeks now.  That was brilliant because she has a pretty good understanding of her 'work' and has chosen her own work to do while I'm busy with the others. Today, for example... she utterly shocked me by spending AN HOUR doing the push pin drawings I set out two weeks ago (which she said then were too hard!). I had a pile of 25 or so since DD often likes to do them as well.  She did them ALL!!!

Okay -- so back for a moment to DD and LD's new school routine.  I decided that we'd have a three hour work session in the mornings. I start with "collection" ... which many people refer to as circle time. Since I have so many things to introduce them to as we start the school year, it's been longer than it will be normally. Here's how collection is going for us at the moment:

• Join together
• German -- greetings, hello, how are you, review of the numbers and saying the numbers without counting (seeing the symbol 8, saying "acht").  German Reader (short, cute, easy stories with cute graphics). 
• Calendar time -- change out the "yesterday, today, tomorrow cards." Check the sky and add the appropriate cloud card.  Write their name, day and date in their collection notebooks.  Check the outside thermometer and record the temperature in C and F.
• Song -- We started with Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes in order to include ED (and to be silly together!)
  
• Rules for our Homeschool Session (each of us shared one rule to write down, adding to the list each day)
• Presentation
• Write their daily plans in their collection notebooks (I have a list of ideas of things they can work on... some are 'must dos' like math and language arts, but they have a half-dozen things they can do in each of the various categories.)

Now ideally, I'll do just one presentation, but the first week I had to introduced our various units so the kids know where things were kept and what they could start working on independently. If you've read through my planning stuff the past month or so, you know that our main units this semester or so include...

• The Montessori Great Lessons (the first two)
• This is the USA (an introduction to the symbols and landmarks of the US, basic US geography)
• The Human Body (using this and these kits as our core)
• Animal Discovery Notebook (Science Sorts)
• Landforms
• and will also include material to go along with ED's preschool themes (oceans, deserts, rainforests, etc.)
• My husband and I also want to include a presentation each week on Health and Safety. We brainstormed together on our long drive from Missouri and decided that we should cover topics like our phone number, address, emergencies, fire/fire safety/using a fire extinguisher/fire do's/don'ts/stop-drop-roll, being lost in the woods, germs, teeth-care, strangers, general first-aid how-to/whys of cuts, broken bones, etc. 

So the presentations last week included:
*Let's Learn About the World (basic facts about the largest continent, country, mountain, etc.)
*A discussion of ocean invertebrates (Mollusks-Crustaceans, Echinoderms, Cnidaria) See pic below.
*A few of the landmarks in the US (looking at the cards) and discussion of the southwest

But the presentations led to their own work... drawings, notebook work, read aloud time, etc.

You can find classification charts on the kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrates, etc. here and on invertebrates here,  arthropods here. We used all those and then drew one together as we talked about it.

Here are some invertebrate cards I made to go along with our discussion. Remember, crustaceans, arachnids and insects are all part of the arthropod group (look at this chart to see what I mean).  This is not a complete list of invertebrate groups, just some of the ones we have been discussing.


What will the kids do after collection during our school session?  Well, this is the hardest part for me.  I've been reading a lot (I mean a dozen books!!!!) On the Montessori method and a fabulous book about motivation Drive, The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. I really am solidly convinced that the kids need to have the autonomy and independence to direct their own learning.  So, I'm trying to create an environment that sets forth lots of learning materials, but I'm trying to step back just a bit to be more of a facilitator than a teacher. I'll obviously be in the room with them at all times (no phone, no Internet), but I'd like to give them more freedom to choose how and what to work on.  Stepping back a bit is quite difficult for me since I am a very hands on type person.  I hope that by presenting things and then leaving them with lots of choices and options. As I see it that choice may be... "Mom, let's do xyz" or "Mom, let's read together" etc. so very likely at this age I will be involved, but hopefully they will initiate things and they'll embrace the things that interest and intrigue them and learn lots this next year. I am needed for many things --for example, DD is learning the piano for the first time this year so I need to be right there with her for that. Or, LD needs me to sit/read through his math text with him before doing the problem sets on his own. But I am at least cognizant of the fact that my role is to suggest, but never to nag or over-direct/demand.  No nagging. There, I've laid it out!!!

One thing I have to say about this past week is that I had to end the school day because *I* had other things on!! So far so good! We went well over three hours each day since we leapt back into things straight after lunch as well.

Well, I'll bring this post to a close for now.  We sure have had a fantastic week though (plus it included our first field 'official' field trip... the first of quite a few this semester, we hope!).

Happy Homeschooling! More soon!

Ocean Animals -- the real deal

Even though it was quite a drive for us, I decided a trip to the aquarium was in order with all our studies of ocean animals. We went last week. We sure had a terrific day!

We all LOVED the jellyfish displays!

 

We were so lucky to see the octopus moving all around! 

 

 

Everyone loved the sharks and we were lucky to see the sharks, sting rays and sea turtle being fed.

We even squeezed in the dolphin show.

 

LD turned 8

LD turned 8 almost two weeks ago.We had a family celebration on his big day since my brother-in-law and nephew were here on LD's birthday.  Then we had a small party for friends last weekend.

He likes Harry Potter and is reading through those books -- thus the Hogwart's Castle cake (or my attempt!!)

Ocean Animals and Their Groups

I made this activity for my older kids (5 and 8).  You can download and print these sheets here: Ocean Animals and Their Groups. There are two pages.

You might want to make a colored circle on the back of each of the three related cards. Use a different color for each animal. That way, the kids can check their own work as needed.  Natasha shared this great idea with us at her blog, Leptir.

Sewing Ocean Animals

 We haven't done that much sewing here at the Homeschool Den, so when I saw these cute projects over at future girl's blog I thought they'd be perfect. The kids each chose their own project. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

DD made the octopus. LD made the jellyfish. ED made the fish. DD and LD did the sewing completely on their own, although I threaded the embroidery thread through for the tentacles and LD did the knotting. I had to show ED where to place the needle. She only stabbed me once!

 

 

 

Earthquake

The east coast just had an earthquake.  The news says it was 5.8 on the richtor scale -- and what that meant for us was lots and lots of shaking and rattling. A few things fell of our shelves in the pantry, but we don't see any other damage at this point. We read that the Capitol, Pentagon and White House are being evacuated.  It sure scared us!

Ocean Activities: School of Fish

Why do fish swim in schools?

We cut up little pieces of tin foil and paper to be our fish. First we dropped in one.  It was easy to spot. Then we dropped in a whole lot of fish and tried to follow just one with our eyes. It was much harder to follow one in the midst of many others.  We talked about how there was safety in numbers.

This idea was adapted from Awesome Ocean Science by Cindy Littlefield. She suggests using glitter.

Ocean Animals Math Game for Preschoolers

I made a preschool math game for ED.  ED worked hard to cut out all the pictures.  In the picture to the left, she rolled a 10 and I rolled a 1.  We each chose that many ocean animals to put on our gameboard. Then ED spun the spinner and it came out "even." I showed her how to make partners and that she had all partners, so she had an even number and won the round.

It's a short, quick counting game and we played over and over again!  Below are a few more photos and a link to the game if you want to download it for yourself.

Math Grid Game: By the way, you can also use the ocean animal sheet to play a simple math grid game. Keep the animal sheet intact and print out one sheet for each player. Have each player take turns rolling the die and covering up that number of animals. The first person to cover all the animals wins that game.

Download the Ocean Animals Preschool Game Here.

You can also use these cards with your kids to sort into vertebrate and invertebrate groups.

To Play:

 Player 1 rolls the die.  He/she takes that number of ocean animals and places it on his/her game board.

Player 2 rolls the die and takes that number of ocean animals to place on his/her game board.

One player spins the spinner to determine the winner -- the one who has less, more, odd or even. You may have two winners!

Ocean Activities: The Ocean Zones

The ocean is divided into three different layers. The zones differ in temperature, water pressure and available nutrients.  Marine organisms live in different zones according to the amount of sunlight that reaches there. More than 90% of marine life lives in the Sunlit Zone.

You can download my ocean zone sorting sheets here. I cut them out and laminated them together. (Also that sheet happens to have my "Parts of" a shark and fish labels there as well (yesterday's post).  I used the shark labels with the shark anatomy page found here.)

 

I also made animal sorting cards for the three ocean zone (above), but unfortunately I cannot share publicly  because I am not certain of the copyright status of some of the photos I used.  I would be happy to share that with people privately if you email me (the homeschool den -- all one word -- at yahoo dot com). You might want to leave a comment here as well because I don't always check email and it might get buried.

Sunlight Zone - Blue Marlin, Sperm Whale, Grey Reef Shark, Plankton

Twilight Zone - Octopus, Squid, Hatchetfish, Viperfish

Midnight Zone - Angler Fish, Snipe Eel, Lizard Fish, Sea Cucumber

1+1+1 also has some marine animal cards that are about the same size as the ones I made. Those animals mostly live in the Sunlit Zone.

Montessori Math Addition and Subtraction Worksheets

Back in February, I mentioned that we supplement our math curriculum with Montessori math worksheets. I just thought I'd pass along those links again for those who are getting ready for the new school year.  I like that the numbers are fairly large and divided into columns so it makes it easier for LD to see his mistakes.  You can choose the regrouping option or not as your child's ready.

Montessori Addition Worksheets Link
Montessori Subtraction Worksheets Link

My old post which has a quick picture of the worksheet (and a picture of a neat math clock you and your child can make).

Ocean Activities: Parts of a Fish, Parts of a Shark

While ED has some basic ocean matching out, DD and LD are working on slightly more challenging work. They're learning the parts of the fish, parts of the shark and the zones of the ocean and the animals that live there.  (More about the zones tomorrow.)

The kids can check their work by folding down the answer key under the picture. I got the parts of the fish page from Simple Schooling at currclick. (The unit is on sale at the moment for 50% off.)

The parts of a shark was from Ask a Biologist.

Skip Counting Songs for learning the 6s, 7s and 8s

Late at night my brain often whirls with ideas.  Last spring I put the skip counting patterns to familiar tunes since LD is working on his basic multiplication facts.  For example, I put the 7s to the tune of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.'  LD learned that so well I went back and created another tune for the 6s and the 8s which he'll be working on again this fall.

Click here to see the skip counting songs and to print them out.

Good Sales at Currclick

I noticed there are some good sales at currclick -- I saw lots of items at least 50% off.

For example, many of the products by Simple Bits have been marked down.  I got some great mini-units on the human hand, the eye and more for just 25cents each!  Her wonderful human body copy work (with diagrams on the major organs, bones, systems, 5 senses and more) are also marked down to 25cents (or 75cents for all three volumes).

Also the unit studies by Simple Schooling are on sale as well. 

I'm sure there are many other great bargains there at currclick as well.  The sale goes through August 25th.

---------- SCIENCE -----------
On another note, I found a good website for those of you working on biology of some sort or another.

Ask a Biologist has coloring activities and worksheets on a number of different subjects:

•    parts of an ant, shark, animal and plant cell, eye
•    worksheets on the human brain, heart, neuron,ecosystem (and more)
•    and a really informative set of sheets about vitamins -- what each vitamin does, what foods it is found in and deficiency problems

Preschool Routine, Tuesdays

ED's Tuesday Routine:

So you heard yesterday that I'm planning to use biome/habitat themes with ED this fall. This is what I have planned in a general way for Tuesdays:
     Arts and Crafts (based on the theme)
     Montessori Math Beads; Math Activities
     Science Sorts (Long post and link to my 30-pages of notes, etc.!)
   
Arts and Crafts 

The girls painted boxes to make a diorama.

Now all this needs is the sea creatures!

The kids have had a blast making various sea creatures.  They made fish, jelly fish and sharks for nearly two hours! I found an amazing set of ocean craft ideas over at Playing House in Maryland.

 Montessori Math Beads:
     I have Tuesdays set aside to bring out the Montessori math beads and work with ED on some basic number skills.

I think this might be called the "Bead Stair" in Montessori circles.  I simply cut out two triangles from felt (so the beads won't roll off) and set out the appropriate beads (we're using 1 to 6 this week).  The triangle helps create a control so that the child can visually see the progression.

This week I also set out a jellyfish number matching activity and our number puzzle.

Science Sorts:
      Living-Non Living Cards

I printed out this free card set from Homemade Montessori. They have gotten a lot of use these past few years.

 More about our science sorts this fall at this post.

Preschool Routine, Mondays

ED's Monday Routine:

The idea of planning all this is so that I can change up ED's activities, keep them fresh, interesting with the minimum of thought on my part.  I expect to skip days, but then I'll just pick up on the appropriate day and continue on.  The routine is (hopefully) to make it easier on me to keep things engaging for ED.
     Mailbox Letters and Scavenger Hunt
     Montessori Activities set up
     Theme of the week begins
   
Weekly Letters
   ED is still learning letter recognition and letter sounds. When LD and DD were both little I did a LOT of scavenger hunts and outside play with them on their letters. Somehow ED hasn't gotten as much of that this past year. So, I'm instituting my weekly scavenger hunt again.  When LD and DD heard this they insisted that they be a part of that too! Of course they won't have letters -- their cards will work on addition and multiplication facts.
    If you have weekly letters... then you need a mailbox to put them in, right?

Here's the little mailbox I made for EDs weekly letters.

One of ED's tray will have letter work.  I plan generally to cover just two letters each week, but she already knows these fairly well.  She's putting sticker letters on an index card. She also matched wooden letters to these cards (didn't get a photo of that.

ED is tracing her sandpaper letters.

Scavenger Hunt!

After the scavenger hunt they mailed their letters and cards.

One last thing about the weekly mailbox letters is that I also hope to have the kids write or send drawings to one of their relatives each week. I hope to do this on Mondays.

It's always good to be active.  These hopscotch activities were a big hit!

Montessori Type Activities
     Each Monday I hope to set up a number of Montessori-related activities. These will relate to our theme as much as possible.
     A couple of years ago we covered some of the world's biomes.  We'll be doing animal habitats with ED in the coming months.  As you may have seen, I hope to include the older kids with this to a certain extent... and plan to introduce them to the idea of research and recording their findings. Anyway the kids discussed this among themselves and decided that our first few themes will be...
      oceans
      deserts
      rainforests
     

This obviously has nothing to do with the ocean, but the kids have been begging to use their test-tubes. I have been eying these for a long time (years), but they've always been out of stock.  When I saw them in stock at Oriental Trading this summer, I snapped up a set. There are four colored trays and 16 science test tubes.   

 

This week I set out themed pin punching.  DD went straight to it, but they were a bit daunting for ED who insisted on doing a smaller one.  I need to keep that in mind. I like the cute over-sized push pins Grams gave us!

 

No surprises to the blog world with this activity, but both ED and DD did this straight away.

 

We don't have the Montessori stencils, but it's been interesting that ED has found her own equivalent with this shape template.