Ocean sensory bin

After our Dinosaur unit, I knew that a sensory bin was essential.  

I couldn't figure out if I wanted to just put this outside and add actual water.

However, the girls play with this in our loft daily, so I decided to keep it inside.

After an hour of non-stop play, Adelyn asked if they could keep it "forever".

Success :)

Materials:

Instead of sand, I used corn meal!  It shapes really nicely like wet sand!

 Sealife Mega Toob

I got mine from Jo Ann's with a 50% off coupon!

This itsy bites bucket was a nice addition with some 

weird sea creatures that weren't in the mega toob.

2 bags of Aquarium gravel. 

We already had a bunch of dive-fish, so I used those.

I bought a couple of plastic aquatic plants to top it off :)

This last part will sound weird.

I'm kind of into brain research, as it pertains to learning.

One of the things that really connects with sensory tables is that the MORE senses we engage, the stronger the memory.  This includes smell.  No joke.

Most adults have particular smells that will transport them in time and make them think of a memory, etc, instantly.  That same thing - it pertains to learning.  When a particular smell is connected with learning, especially learning that is actually connected in a real way to that smell, the learning is stronger.  Also, when that smell is present, that learning comes to the surface, much like memories!

So, I've been trying to connect smells with my sensory bins.

What do you use for smell and the ocean?

I used sunscreen.

My master plan - every time my kids put sunscreen on at the beach, their memories of learning about the ocean will resurface.

Let's see if my master plans works ;)

Dinosaurs

We're just finishing up a unit on Dinosaurs.

So much fun :)

The girls seemed to learn a little something.

I learned a lot (about them and what works!)

I used a "letter of the day" and "number of the day" format a little bit this unit.

It seemed to really help Adelyn.  We did some writing and word study with the letter sounds.

Our first activity was a "dig" of a 3-d wooden puzzle.

I got mine at a local toy store for $2.99 and it was well worth it!

This activity really hooked the girls into the unit!

I've learned that a sensory bin is HUGE in a unit.

From our last 2 sensory bins I've come to realize that the leg-work that I put into creating these is really worth what comes out of it.  This stayed in my loft where my girls played with it daily.

They pretended and repeated the dinosaur names and activities over and over again without any prompting.

This particular one has green-dyed rice in the bottom and dried beans on top.

There are also some blue flat marbles from the dollar store on top.

I used some sprigs of an evergreen for pretend trees :)

I kept a small bin underneath for the extra Dinos!

My oldest is a straight-up-sensory girl.  She would swim in the sensory table if she could!

I also realized that a BIG collection of Non-fiction is really helpful.  Both girls would pore over the books, examining pictures and asking for me to read about particular scenes or dinosaurs.

This unit some of the materials I found had some really basic sentence writing, using a vocabulary word.  It was actually a great place to start and work in regular writing.

We did a little more work with Venn diagrams, using our Dinos.

During this unit, Adelyn began her reading lessons (100 easy lessons) AND regular word study sorts.

She's really adjusted well to both, though they aren't too often, only once in awhile.

Charlotte has really gotten used to doing her reading rod lessons with some autonomy.

We're finishing up digraphs and blends for word study. 

 Shaving cream spelling tests always make for a fun time!

So, I bought these "Phonics Phones" awhile back for $1.99.

This unit we began to use them with our sorts.  After everything was sorted, when we would go through the read the lists in a row, we would grab our phones and read through the whole list.  

Charlotte has really gotten into the habit and I do think it helps find outliers!

Charlotte finished her reading lessons, and has begun to read books for reading time.

The "Dear Dragon" series seems to be a good one right now.

We did some measurement outside with sidewalk chalk to help us understand how long some of the Dinosaurs really were.

Fossil Cookies were a ton of fun (and yummy!)

We visited Dinosaur Ridge with some homeschool friends during the week.

It was actually a really nice visit.  We learned a few things and came home with a few small souvenirs. 

One of the things we saw a lot of at Dinosaur Ridge were Dinosaur tracks.

They talked a lot about how we see predator and prey steps together, etc.

They also talked about how the ground would have been muddy/softer when the marks were made.

We came home and used play dough on a cookie sheet to make marks.

Then, after a few days, the play dough hardened just like fossils.

On a Friday, we visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Dad!  We definitely got a membership there.  We spent hours just on one exhibit - Prehistoric Journey (and there were tons).

The girls were incredibly stoked to actually meet a Paleontologist and talk with him (and watch them work on a Stegomastodon spine!)

I'm learning that File-folder games and similar tasks are really helpful.  Adelyn's attention span is short, but Charlotte's is really long.  It's nice to have a bank of activities that Charlotte can do either with me or without me if Adelyn isn't lasting long.

We some geography (the continents) with our Dino lap books and both girls really seemed to like this.

It was our first time that we turned our desks into a more "school-looking format". 

They both seemed to like it and Adelyn was (and still is) obsessed with the ball globe.

We've finished up our lapbooks.  I got a lot of the material from homeschool share.

Some I liked and believed theologically. Some - egh.

However, it was nice to have a final product of their learning.  

They both seem to like looking at it.

Perhaps we'll be doing more Lapbooking.