Reading list-Frog Theme

Books we've read this week for our frog theme.
Pitty-pat read aloud "Tale of a Tadpole" by Karen Wallace a DK level 1 reader.
I also found "Growing Frogs" by Vivian French I didn't know we had it in our bookcase.It has great illustrations by Alison Bartlett Tippy-toe loved the pictures. I can't wait till we get a tadpole to watch. They got so excited hearing the spring peepers we started the frog unit a little early.

Not truants

We passed our truancy evaluation today. We are at least in good standing with the school district. Just keep our family in your prayers.

FROG Lapbook

Today we worked on our frog lapbooks.

They loved the bingo marker activity the most from www.dltk-kids.com
Tippy-toe did a good number dot-to-dot from www.printactivities.com
We used alot of the resources from homeschoolshare.com(including a frog with bugs on his tongue)
I printed out frog sequence cards from enchanted learning

tree fungus

We found this cool tree fungus while out on one of our walks at Aaron's favorite woods. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it to put in our nature journal.

Spring peepers

Today we took the kids all on a nature walk. They found a log with fungus growing on it. Jon identified a tree with three woodpecker marks on it. We brought home a granite rock with layers in it.

Nature study tree fungus

We found this neat tree fungus while out for one of our walks today.

Avacado Pit

I brought an avacado pit home from work. The kids were amazed it was a seed. Our pineapple died so maybe this will grow for our plants and seeds study. I put it in a jar of water with toothpicks to hold it up.

Frogs and metamorphosis

Last June we looked for tadpoles for our natural science but we were too late to catch some. This week we bought a special tank at WalMart made by Backyard Safari Outfitters. It has water area and land area for the tadpole-frog. We found some great pictures in DK Eyewitness Natural World.I copied some great printables form KinderPrintables.com I can't wait so we already started this unit study.
The butterfly house is open for another month in midland. I plant to take them as part of our metamorphosis study. I saw a great homemade journal some one made online with each page a different creature that uses metamorphosis. May be too advanced for us but will put it in our nature journal.

Wish spring were really here!

We spent three hours yesterday raking the leaf mulch(last years fall leaves) out of the flower beds in the front yard. The kids each got computer time while little-man took a long nap. It's nice having Cam home on spring break.

Tot Activities

I have been trying to come up with ideas to keep little man busy at his high chair while Pitty-Pat and Tippy-Toe are working on their school projects. Here's my list so far:

*wonder-under" self liner--He likes the texture and watching the big kids sew with theirs. I cut a 4x4 inch square and will add more fabrics as I find some for a fabric sort. Little man is very tactile and may grow up to be a textile manufacturer-He could tell different kinds of fleece at 2 weeks of age it was amazing to me! He had one fleece blanket he liked and could tell it by feel.

*sorting cereal--I gave hime a lunchables tray with four irregular shaped areas for sorting breakfast cereals. Since he puts everything in his mouth yet beads, poms, or marbles didn't seem like a good idea.

*Bottle cap bank--I saved several milk caps, pop caps(caution these are small and child could choke-Pitty-pat likes to chew these at 6 years so all must be supervised!) and a clear plastic jar with a hole cut in the top like a piggy bank. Little man can sort by color and size, or count as he drops them in the jar.

*Tong sort--I have a large plastic tong and the same large caps to sort and move on his tray. He can't pick them up yet but likes trying.

*Felt ABC's--I cut out some large letters from felt. I plan to make an ABC's book with them later.

*Felt shapes--I cut some basic shapes out of felt in different colors.

From chasing cherios i got these ideas:
The best is to use cloth pencil cases instead of ziploc bags. I like the idea of organizing them on a key ring.

*I made the mini felt board out of a cereal box and piece of felt. I used the shape and alphabet pieces I cut out earlier. The big ones like this too.



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Trip to craft store

I was on call last night so I went to the craft store to find some new ideas. At Michaels I found some wooden shapes to use with our Geometry and fractions--An ovid. a ball, a large cube and small cubes that stack to replicate the same size large cube.
*I also bought pipe cleaners and pony beads and made several patterns for them to copy. A wooden mosaic form for a 1.29 makes the perfect tray for this activity. The edges keep the beads from rolling too far.
*I found Zebra print felt to make the letter Z to finish my felt alphabets I am cutting out for little man.
*I also bought some spring themed funfusion beed kits for a dollar.
*More balsam airplanes for our airplane theme Aaron is doing with them.
*But my best find was a dessert animal set. These will work with the felt map of the continets I plan to make on a fleece blanket. I loved this idea the minuet I saw it somewhere and plan to copy it. I will link to it when I find it again.

At the dollar store I found some wonder-under and colored yarn. I made a pipe cleaner needle and cut a placemat size piece of wonder-under for a begining sewing lesson. The yarn is easier to pull through this than it is plastic canvas. We bend our blunt needles trying to work with the plastic canvas. Today is a rainy day great for practicing fine motor skills indoors.

Airplanes

Aaron bought Styrofoam airplanes with the kids. They assembled the kids colored them with markers and put stickers on them. I can't wait to see them fly.

Walk

Cam and I took little man for his first walk outside. (Not in his stroller, he had to walk.) he was so cute and never tried to go too far off the sidewalk. We didn't get too far. He kept pointing and saying "ook, ook!" translation "look!" This winter has been so cold and he has a lot of sinus drainage, so no walks even in his stroller all winter. He was so cute.

Geoboards

The kids are making their own geoboards. I went to probuilders for the boards and nails $12.59 to make three geoboards. We even had some pine board left over. I printed the 10x10 geoboard dot paper template from the Eclectic Homeschool website. Then I made shape cards from the worksheets found at abcteach. I will pick up colored rubber bands or hair ties on my next dollar store run. I glued the dot template to the board and set the kids loose with a hammer outside on the porch. I found detailed instructions on how to make a geoboard at http://www.kidscanmakeit.com/AC0003.htm The original idea to search on geoboards came from lapazfarm.homeschooljournal.net thanks to everyone mentioned for all the ideas.

Dollar General Store Finds

pots for starting seeds 3.00
seeds 0.20 each 0.20
color by number set 1.00 each 2.00
plastic alphabet and number sets 2.00
alphabet stickers 1.00 each 5.00

Total spent 12.20 plus tax

Not too bad for making three new activities. The color by number sets were flowers and bees which will go with the flower and plants theme I am working on for our next unit study. The alphabet stickers go with some paint chips I picked up for free to make reading slide cards. and the plastic alphabets didn't come with magnets like I thought but we got out some magnets and two metal popcorn tin lids and are using them to study magnetics anyway today. Pitty-pat has a pin, coins,magnets from the fridge and is amazed at how the magnets make the pin stand up on the coins in from high above the safety pin. Tippy-toe is more into hanging the magnets from each other in the air. I printed out magnetic and not magnetic cards from somewhere(I will look up the link and plan to get them out of my file cabinet to put with this for the next time they get the magnets out of the activity file box.)
Little-man is happy with a set of tongs and a couple of jar lids to move around on his highchair tray.(also a free activity)I think he would try to swallow the magnets. Today he starts potty training after his nap! We bought a new potty chair, training pants and rubber pants--ready, set, go!

Indoor sandbox

Today we are studying fractions. I had some left over colored rice which I gave to the kids along with each getting a canning jar funnel, narrow funnel, wide moth jar, small mouth jar, cheese jar, measuring spoon,and a specimen bottle. I set them up with different colors so I will know who needs to sweep the floor by who gets the most rice on the floor. I cautioned them that the rice on the floor will be put in the trash. Now and then I walk over and say whose jar is full, half full, ... ---sandbox math!

Nature walks

The best way to study nature is to just explore the outdoors. we go out to Aaron's mom's woods and just walk as often as we can.  the kids love it out there and it is just so good for them. Little-man just loves going for walks.I love to get out of town and let them explore.



Rainbow rice

Today we made rainbow colored rice for our I SPY JARS. I will look for small items to make an alphabet theme jar.
Rainbow Rice Recipe
Rice in a small ziploc baggie about 2 cups. (One bag for each color.)
4-5 pumps hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol 4 Tblsp.
4-5 drops food coloring
Close bag and mix. open bag and let dry.

Right now they are drinking up a gatorade so we can recycle the clear bottle. i found this neat idea at Pink and Green Mamma's blog.