We've spent the last week or so learning about apples, and all things related.
We're having a TON of fun and I feel like the hours of blog-surfing has paid off!
I found this Do-a-dot online, though the link doesn't take you directly to the file. Weird.
If you've never seen do-a-dots, they are just a fine motor practice, just like coloring or play dough. They are kind of a fun pre-cursor to someone who really can't write well yet (Adelyn).
However, Charlotte had just as much fun!
You can buy fancy Do-a-dot markers and I might at some point.
These are just $1 bingo dotters from the Dollar Tree.
We started a little Fall Journal (Again $1 - Dollar Tree - scrapbooking journal).
I was impressed when Adelyn traced this so well!
She is surprising me non-stop these days.
I wanted this unit to be really science-filled, so we started by observing and talking about all of the similarities and differences between the apples we bought at the grocery store.
(1 of every type we could find!)
Charlotte noticed (above) that Red Delicious have really pointy bottoms compared to the other apples. She said they looked more like a red pepper.
I said that there weren't any points in the other bottoms, but she felt them each with her hands and told me there actually were points (or bumps) but they were not as noticeable.
She was completely right!
While I read "Ten Apples Up On Top", Charlotte (without prompting) sorted her apples from yellow-est to red-est. What a scientist <3
We used unifix cubes to measure the height of our apples
We used a kitchen scale to measure the weight of our apples
We measured the width of our apples
We listed all of the things we already know about apples
Charlotte asked what the stickers said, so we got into a discussion about the names of apples AND where each was grown. It seems like they were either grown in the United States OR Chile.
We learned an apple song to the tune of Bingo.
Then we sliced into the apples and made apple prints.
Then, we sliced the opposite way to find a star and seeds hiding in each part!
This is a double-sided and laminated writing practice page from a Printable Pack at Homeschoolcreations.com
Charlotte is working on a "Read, Build, Write" mat that we've been using for awhile, from the same blog.
This page is from the Kindergarten printable pack and Charlotte loves it even more than her sister :)
The best part of many blogs is that they have preschool AND kindergarten versions of printable packs, which is perfect for my girls. Much of it they can share!
The time during ballet lessons continues to be a great time of learning for both girls.
At 40 minutes each, it gives me a quick amount of time with each girl.
I've been packing the bag with lots of options and letting them choose.
Adelyn (above) almost always choose a cutting lesson from a Kumon book.
They have been well worth the money. Charlotte uses this one.
Stories continue to be a huge source for learning and both girls chose to read all 3 books at ballet.
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| How can you go wrong? Poetry, history, kindness, and apples <3 |
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| This is my favorite because it's a cute fictional story with a TON of info! |
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| Another great fictional story with great illustrations and seasons |
Another day Charlotte painted stems and leaves on her and my apple prints.
I didn't think Adelyn would want to do this, but she woke up and surprised me :)
Meanwhile, Charlotte cut all of hers out alone.
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| Someone thinks they are hot stuff :) - and she is! |
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| Today we started with calendar time |
I was always so on top of what Charlotte knew and didn't know. Adelyn is always surprising me with something I had no clue she knew. Today, we were a few days behind on calendar, so she flipped over the 22. I asked her what number it was - she says "twenty-two". Wow - she doesn't know 9, but she knows 22. Go figure :)
Then, we moved to a CGI story problem.
CGI is a teaching philosophy that there really are only a few different types of math problems (starting with addition and subtraction). Research of small children shows that they learn a TON about math just by being exposed to these problem types. I was lucky enough to be a math coach at a school that used CGI and the reasoning of 5 year olds blew my mind.
Anyway, I have created a set of problems for this unit that uses every single problem type in one of the 4 topics we're studying. I plan to have the girls try all of them. Today, we started with an apple problem. Our friend Alisha's name was in it to make it exciting!
Here are those problems if you're interested. You can change the numbers to fit your kid!
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| Charlotte, solving the problem. |
Adelyn only got to counting to 11. She's 3. I'm happy :)
Charlotte sang our song. Adelyn has been singing this song in the car all week, but is much too busy for it right now. Take it away, sweet Charlotte :)
A new idea I got from blog-surfing that is as engaging as I thought it might be.
Using clothes pins and writing numbers and letters on them.
Adelyn is doing a laminated number wheel from that same printable pack.
She counts how many things are in a wedge, then finds the clothes pin with that number on it, pins it on and ta-da!
The best part is that I can leave her alone for 10 minutes to complete this task alone.
Not usually something my sweet girl lets me do, but she was ENGAGED in this.
Can I get a Halleluja?
Meanwhile, Charlotte matched pictures of the life cycle of an apple with the vocabulary words for those pictures. She did a pretty awesome job with a little help!
You can find that sort and tons of great montessori materials here.
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| Then, she rearranged them to put them in order of the life cycle. |
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| Adelyn moved on to pinning letters on the initial sound of a picture strip. |
Again, these clothespin-related printables are from homeschoolcreations.com
I bought 2 packs of 36 clothes pins from the Dollar Tree.
Yes, I love that place!
Another printable was a squirrel on a bushel of apples. I put magnets on the back and gave Charlotte a cookie sheet to keep them in place. I bought these cookie sheets just for learning. They are nice and small.
This puzzle proved to be more difficult than I thought, but she finished!
Probably the BIGGEST hit of the day was playdough mats.
Again, I thought they would be engaging, but you just never do know.
The tree picture and the idea came from this blog.
Adelyn is working on numbers 1-10 right now, while Charlotte knows larger numbers.
Since the original only went to 10, I created my own squares.
I made a bag with Adelyn with numbers 1-10
and Charlotte with numbers 11-20.
That file is here, if you want to have the option.
So, I flipped over their numbers, put their laminated tree in their cookie sheet, and gave them a hunk of play dough. They got to chose a card, and then flip it over and put it on their empty-space.
That's how many apples they had to make out of playdough.
Both girls LOVED this.
If my kids were already going to preschool and I wanted to take one thing away from this blog post to do at home, it would be playdough mats. Easy-peasy and feels like playing :)
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| Charlotte, cutting twigs to make apple stems |
So, after many days, we are going to finish our apple-print craft!
Because I am a super-wise Mama, my kids didn't even know there was more to this craft the first day!
This wreath idea came from Craftberry Bush.
One of the things I knew about homeschooling my girls. Even though I'm not a crafty person by nature (I'm was a math teacher, for goodness sake), I will have to research and be prepared to deliver since my girls ADORE crafts.
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| Adelyn, arranging her apple prints on her paper-plate wreath |
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| Charlotte did NOT want hers overlapping :) |
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| Apple life cycle cards via www.montessoriforeveryone.com |
The girls helped me arrange the second set of life-cycle cards in circular format on the whiteboard (i put little magnets on the back). We talked about how God not only made plants on Day 3 of creation, but specifically made plants with SEEDS so that those plants would make more plants, etc, etc.
Another thing that came out of this conversation is very current for us.
Colorado has no apples this year.
Why?
All of the apple buds froze in spring.
We talked about what happens when we get late-spring snows or freezes and how if there is no flower, there is no apple. On-topic, I'd say :)
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| Oh yes - eat lots of apples! |
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| Adelyn's finished wreath - this is my favorite - shhhh - don't tell Charlotte |
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| Charlotte's finished apple wreath! |
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| Even Momma made one :) |
That's all for now. We have a few more apple activities in store, so stay tuned...
