We set a goal to read a novel every month during Kindergarten, and we did it! Here is a list of the books we read.
1. Magic Tree House 1-6
2. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo
3. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo
4. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo
5. Sarah, Plain and Tall
6. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
7. The Chocolate Touch
We started with Magic Tree House. These books are really great for introducing read aloud chapter books to your kids. The chapters are short, they are easy to understand, and very fast paced. But after six of them, I was ready for something with a little more depth to it.
As you an see, we went on a Kate Dicamillo kick. My daughter will tell you that she is her favorite author. While we were reading Jane would say, "How does she always write such good books?" I worried that some of the ideas or plot points would be above Jane's head, but she caught onto most of it really well, and I feel like the challenge was good for her. She has become very good at listening and understanding a story in the last year.
Sarah, Plain and Tall was received well and understood better than I expected. They played and talked about it for several days after we finished. I never finished a chapter though and had the kids beg for more.
Charlotte's web is a huge hit. We're almost finished with it, but the kids always beg for one more chapter. Always a good sign!
Showing posts with label Gentle Kindergarten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gentle Kindergarten. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
D and E Weeks
After finishing up the last two weeks, I've decided to spend one more week with D and E. Not because we're struggling with them, but because I want to dive a little bit more into a couple subjects. So this next week we'll be learning a fun summer song, a nursery rhyme, and fairy tale story in circle time. We'll also review our D and E signs, and probably learn a few more.
Homeschooling gives me the flexibility to linger, and I think we'd be better served by diving in a little more and then getting to F is for Fireworks the week of July 4th. So this upcoming week we'll learn more about ducks and eggs and do a couple electricity experiments and drawing lessons. We're also going to set up a number line on the wall. Should be fun!
D Week: *video of signs coming soon*
We learned a lot about dirt this week. We read a book about dirt. Got a cup of dirt and "dissected" it to see what was in the soil in our back yard. (A lot of pieces of wood and clay). We also did this experiment where we let our soil separate in water to see the different layers. We learned our soil is mostly sand, with a tiny layer of silt, and a good portion of flecks of clay, and quite a bit of humus. We talked a lot about decomposition to make dirt. That weekend we went on a five mile hike and pointed out all the examples of decomposition we could find.
We planted Daisies.
And beans.
We talked about weeds and what they are, where they come from, and went into the garden to pull some.
We read a bit about ducks, but not as much as I'd like, thus our upcoming extra week.
We studies Degas' "Ballet Rehearsal On Stage" and painted our own pictures inspired by his work.
Handwriting practice.
Letter D quilt square using a basic runner stitch.
4 pages of math in our workbook.
Lots of picture books (on log)
Wet on wet watercolor painting mixing blue and yellow.
E Week *video of signs coming soon*
E is for Egypt. We read the third Magic Tree House. Mummies in the Morning. Then we watched a couple short vidos on how mummies were made, who was mummified, and where they were buried. After that we got to become mummies by getting wrapped in toilet paper. Jane thought it was interesting that the way mummies were wrapped, they wouldn't actually be able to walk around. They'd have to hop. I think she found it comforting in a way.
Planted echinacea.
Located Egypt on a map. (We now know Egypt,
California, Russia, China, Iceland, and Spain)
Learned about the equator as well as the direction "East." Lots of map time this week.
8 pages in our math workbook.
Learned the chain stitch and used it for E quilt square.
Picture books on log.
Handwriting practice.
Studied Brian Connelly's "Brown and White Eggs." Will do artwork based on it this upcoming week.
Wet on wet watercolor painting mixing red and yellow.
Practiced telling "O'clock" times.
Learned how to make deviled eggs. Will add it to Jane's cookbook this week.
That's all I can remember at the moment. Our days feel very rich, and yet unrushed. We are learning so, so much. Jane is sounding out words and writing her own birthday cards. Right now she's writing a book for Max ("With seven pages!" she'll say.) She sounds out and writes as much as she can until she gets tired and then I do the rest. We're still working on getting all her letters facing the right way. It'll come.
She is always creating something, growing something, singing something. It's wonderful. We also started taking them to do some swimming lessons 3-4 times per week. Jane can now doggie paddle enough to get to the side of the pool which is such a relief for me.
My goal of 2 hours outside playtime has been reached every single day the past two weeks, especially with the pool time. It's effect on Max's behavior is amazing.
Homeschooling gives me the flexibility to linger, and I think we'd be better served by diving in a little more and then getting to F is for Fireworks the week of July 4th. So this upcoming week we'll learn more about ducks and eggs and do a couple electricity experiments and drawing lessons. We're also going to set up a number line on the wall. Should be fun!
D Week: *video of signs coming soon*
We learned a lot about dirt this week. We read a book about dirt. Got a cup of dirt and "dissected" it to see what was in the soil in our back yard. (A lot of pieces of wood and clay). We also did this experiment where we let our soil separate in water to see the different layers. We learned our soil is mostly sand, with a tiny layer of silt, and a good portion of flecks of clay, and quite a bit of humus. We talked a lot about decomposition to make dirt. That weekend we went on a five mile hike and pointed out all the examples of decomposition we could find.
And beans.
We talked about weeds and what they are, where they come from, and went into the garden to pull some.
We read a bit about ducks, but not as much as I'd like, thus our upcoming extra week.
We studies Degas' "Ballet Rehearsal On Stage" and painted our own pictures inspired by his work.
Handwriting practice.
Letter D quilt square using a basic runner stitch.
4 pages of math in our workbook.
Lots of picture books (on log)
Wet on wet watercolor painting mixing blue and yellow.
E Week *video of signs coming soon*
E is for Egypt. We read the third Magic Tree House. Mummies in the Morning. Then we watched a couple short vidos on how mummies were made, who was mummified, and where they were buried. After that we got to become mummies by getting wrapped in toilet paper. Jane thought it was interesting that the way mummies were wrapped, they wouldn't actually be able to walk around. They'd have to hop. I think she found it comforting in a way.
Planted echinacea.
Located Egypt on a map. (We now know Egypt,
California, Russia, China, Iceland, and Spain)
Learned about the equator as well as the direction "East." Lots of map time this week.
8 pages in our math workbook.
Learned the chain stitch and used it for E quilt square.
Picture books on log.
Handwriting practice.
Studied Brian Connelly's "Brown and White Eggs." Will do artwork based on it this upcoming week.
Wet on wet watercolor painting mixing red and yellow.
Practiced telling "O'clock" times.
Learned how to make deviled eggs. Will add it to Jane's cookbook this week.
That's all I can remember at the moment. Our days feel very rich, and yet unrushed. We are learning so, so much. Jane is sounding out words and writing her own birthday cards. Right now she's writing a book for Max ("With seven pages!" she'll say.) She sounds out and writes as much as she can until she gets tired and then I do the rest. We're still working on getting all her letters facing the right way. It'll come.She is always creating something, growing something, singing something. It's wonderful. We also started taking them to do some swimming lessons 3-4 times per week. Jane can now doggie paddle enough to get to the side of the pool which is such a relief for me.
My goal of 2 hours outside playtime has been reached every single day the past two weeks, especially with the pool time. It's effect on Max's behavior is amazing.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite by Issac Watts
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Gentle Kindergarten - The first few weeks
I guess I should begin be explaining a few things. Yes, we are starting Kindergarten now and going through the summer. We're doing this for a few reasons.
1. While there is a bit more formal structure to our "school days," we try to live in a relaxed, unschooling fashion all the time. This means that we read every day, we have a map on our walls where we're always finding different countries and states that we talk about. We go outside, identify things in nature, do lots of art, and follow our children's questions wherever they lead us. This alone covers a lot of information if Rob and I are tuned in and willing to make the most of our time with the kids instead of just plopping in front of a screen. So really, we're always homeschooling, summer or no.
2. Summers here in Central CA are boiling hot! Unless you're in a pool you can't go outside between 10 and 5. It gets well into the high 90's and low 100's. The rest of the year is beautiful and we WANT to be outside. But not really during the summer. So might as well do school now when we're hanging out in the AC.
3. Rob's schedule gives him a four day weekend every month. If we do school through the summer, we can take fun vacation time in September and February when everything is less crowded. The more I do now, the more we can slow down and enjoy Christmas, last-minute vacations, or those weeks when life gets unexpectedly crazy.
So anyways, there's my thought process with starting school in the summer.
We're doing a really gentle Kindergarten. I'm not pushing reading at all. When Jane is a full six we'll focus on it more, but I'm a firm believer in more delayed academics instead of banging my head against the wall before a child is ready.
Instead of formal reading instruction, Jane does 20 minutes a day of a computer program called "Earobics." It was created for children with auditory processing disorders (which Jane has very mildly) but is now also used for kids who need help with reading. I think it's a great introduction to training a child's brain to listen to the breakdown of words in such a way that lays a great foundation for reading.
I'm basing the rest of our Kindergarten loosely off of the plans found here. I say loosely, because the fairy story isn't really my style, and I've added in my own things. Like this lesson plan, each week we focus on a letter. We use her book suggestions and go over the scripture story and piece of art she includes for each. Jane also handsews that weeks letter into a square of fabric to make into a quilt later.
We do circle time every day. During circle time we take a look at the work of art and talk about it. We listen to/read/retell the scripture story. We also recite our poem for the month. The poem I chose for the first four weeks is Longfellow's "Arrow and the Song," which the kids are really close to having memorized. We'll also sing any songs that seem fun. For B week we learned "America the Beautiful."
I print off and hang up the Vocab words for each letter from here. We're learning the signs for the words, and Jane is really picking up on that. She loves to "speak" sign language.
Other things we try to do every week.
Decorate a pot and plant a flower that begins with the week's letter.
Practice writing the letter with a couple worksheets.
Read lots of picture books, some with that week's letter in the title, others around the science theme for the week. We also read in our chapter book. Right now it's "The House at Pooh Corner," although we just finished the second "Magic Treehouse" book.
Read a story or poem from "The Children's Book of America" and either talk about it all week or sing/say it all week.
Measure the bean plants in our garden and write down how tall they are.
Draw/paint a picture similar to the one we're studying.
Tuesday "tea time." We eat a snack that begins with our letter, practice our manners, and play chess.
Do other little crafts of activities either suggested or that I come up with myself. Jane is in the process of tying a babydoll quilt (so hard but so good for her finger dexterity). We've tried to birdwatch by putting out seed, but I think word of our cat has got around because none have come by, so that was a bust.
Learn a new, easy recipe and have Jane add it to her cook book. She writes out the ingredient and decorates the page, then dictates to me the instructions.
Some ABCmouse time if desired.
We've really been shooting for 2 hours of outside playtime, which we were doing well with before we hit crisis-mode. Now it's patchy, but after the move we'll get back on track with that. It'll just have to be in early morning or late afternoon.
That's really it. It usually takes up maybe 1- 2 hours of our day. The rest of the day Jane can play, do all the art projects she wants, etc. Even without pushing reading, she's started sounding out and spelling easy CVC words. It's so fun to see her learn and enjoy learning. Can't wait to share more of our progress in a few weeks. I've included the video "evidence" of the signs she's learned so I can show this to my ES for the charter school we're working through.
**If you're wondering about math, I'm waiting until September to start with it. Real life and calendar time offers all we need right now. But in September I plan on purchasing "Right Start Math," through the charter school, and beginning more formal math instruction then. I'll also be adding in more formal Social Studies then, too, through a sort of co-op I have planned.**
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