November Plans for Second Grade

November is going to be a bit of a mixed up month. We'll spend a week with Thornton Burgess animal stories, a week on St. Martin and Martinmas (a really beautiful festival about helping those in need), another week on Thornton Burgess stories, and then a week for Thanksgiving.

Circle Time

Pledge of Allegiance

You’re a Grand Old Flag

Saint Martin  from Autumn Songs by Jodie Mesler

Over the River and through the Woods

November

The loud winds are calling,

The ripe nuts are falling,

The squirrel now gathers his store.

The bears homeward creeping

Will soon all be sleeping

So snugly till winter is o’er.

Spanish

This month we will be focusing on Peru. November 3rd is the celebration of Cuencan Independence Day.

Here is the outline of the story I'll tell. this is just an outline. Embellish, get into it, but this just helps me remember the words and how we'll learn them. I don't know how to add accents and markings like that when I type, so I apologize in advance.

Ernesto wakes up and says Buenos dias to his animals. Perro, gato, pez. Then he opens the window (abre la ventana) and asks Que tiempo hace hoy? Have children tell the weather in Spanish. Today Ernesto is visiting his friend Daniela. She is from Peru and her family is celebrating Independence Day for their home city of Cuenca. When Ernesto gets to Daniela’s casa, her mama was still in la cocina cooking up a storm. Her padre was in el bano, getting ready, and her hermano was in his dormitorio, reading un libro. Daniela and Ernesto decide to ir a caminar (go on a walk). They walk through the bosque (forest) behind Daniela’s casa. There are many arboles (trees) and their hojas (leaves) are falling to the ground. (Review some color words here. Rojo, anaranjado, marron, Amarillo). While they are walking they see many pajaritos (little birds) and even a buho (owl). So they sing, El Cucu. http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=1315

When they get back to Daniela’s casa, her mama has just finished making tortitas de Manteca (shortbread cookies.) So Daniela and Ernesto play a hand clapping game.  Tortitas de Manteca. http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2082

Before Ernesto leaves he makes sure to say gracias to Daniela and her familia.

Music

Recorder lessons 5 and 6 in Living Music From the Heart volume 2 by Jodie Mesler

Handwork

Jane will be knitting a scarf to give as a gift that uses the pattern k2, p2.

Science

We're learning about Sea Otters this month to go along with our main lesson. I have some books (fiction and nonfiction) and our aquarium has a great otter exhibit that we'll visit.

Spelling

k12reader.com lists for grade 2. Weeks 9-11.

Main Lesson

Week 1 - Two Thornton Burgess stories about Buster Bear and Joe Otter. One day on parts of speech (nouns and verbs).

Week 2 - Story of St. Martin. Retell and summarize with nouns and verbs highlighted, write out a St. Martin verse for practice

Week 3 - More Buster Bear and Joe Otter stories, one day on parts of speech and another verse for writing practice.

Week 4 - Mostly break for Thanksgiving, but hopefully some Math lessons/practice. We'll see.

All Main Lessons are accompanied by an art lesson, either painting, block crayon drawing, or beeswax modeling.

Service

Week 1 - None, because of Halloween on Monday throwing off our groove.

Week 2 - Tie a blanket and give it away.

Week 3 - Donate to the Food Bank

Week 4 - none

On Celebrating Martinmas

During the week of Martinmas, we'll be making these wet felted lanterns. I would also like to have some friends over to make lanterns with tissue paper and mason jars, eat a yummy fall stew, and go on a lantern walk after dark. To do this, you just light your lantern, go outside and walk around your neighborhood and sing songs about fall and the coming winter, darkness and light. This is also probably when we'll tie blankets to give away.

October Plans for Second Grade

In October, we will continue to follow the lesson plans in our Waldorf Essentials curriculum. We also will have lots of fun celebrating Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. We actually prefer Dia de los Meurtos to Halloween these days. Remembering our ancestors and telling stories about them is such a nice change to the usual gore and scariness.

Circle Time

Gathering Verse
Pledge of Allegiance
Yankee Doodle (We're learning a new patriotic/American song each month.)
Five Little Pumpkins
 Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
 The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late."
 The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
 The third one said, "But we don't care."
 The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
 The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."
 Ooooh, went the wind and out went the light
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Pumpkin Pie (Found in Jodie Mesler's "Autumn Song")

Hallowe'en (Found in "A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme." Just the first verse.)


Spanish

This month we will be focusing on Dia de los Muertos. It is a Mexican holiday. We've already talked a lot about Mexico, but you can probably never know too much about our neighbor to the south. :)

Ernesto the gnome is having a big fiesta with all his amigos in Mexico. Dia de los Muertos is coming and he is having a fiesta at his casa and must get ready. First, Ernesto wakes up and says hola to his animals. Then he opens the window (abre la ventana) and asks, “que tiempo hace hoy?” Have the children tell you the weather in Spanish.

Now Ernesto is getting ready.  “Que hace Ernesto?”

Me estoy bañando  (I am bathing.)

Me estoy secando  (I am drying myself.)

Me estoy poniendo los pantalones. (I’m putting on my pants.)

Me estoy poniendo la camisa…(los calcetines… los zapatos…) (I’m putting on my shirt, socks, shoes, etc.)

Play Mientras que Viene el Lobo.  http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3370

Then Ernesto makes caleveras de azucar for his fiesta. Soon his amigos arrive. They are wearing skeleton face paint and big, decorated sombreros. Together they all sing, “esqueletos.”

Sing “Esqueletos.”  My kids love this song!!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORsWE4ZyiFw

Our recipe this month will be making and decorating Calaveras de Azucar. Be sure to order your molds early! Have fun celebrating Dia de los Muertos. It is NOT Mexican Halloween, though we allow our celebrations to overlap week wise. Dia de los Muertos is remembering loved ones who have passed on. Displaying their pictures and things they loved. Leaving food offerings on their graves. It is not a fear of death but almost a celebration of it, which is why the skeleton faces are decorated, pretty and smiling. It's not about scary. We love it.

Handwork

We will be practicing mixing knitting and purling by knitting a washcloth that is two rows knit, two rows purled.

Music

Recorder lessons 3 and 4 from Jodie Mesler's "Living Music From the Hear, Vol. 2"

Main Lesson

This month we will focus on fables. Each week we will do a kind act to exemplify one of the lessons from a fable that week. Each story will be accompanied by an art lesson, either painting, drawing, or modeling and then Jane will retell and summarize it the next day in her Main Lesson Book. This month we will begin learning parts of speech too. So in her summaries she will have to write each noun in red and each verb in blue.

I'm not going to name each fable here, they're in the curriculum, but I'll list the act of kindness.

Week 1 - Send a note of encouragement to someone going through a hard time.

Week 2 - Send a thank you note

Week 3 - Send a card to a soldier https://www.operationgratitude.com/writeletters/

Week 4 - Clean out toys and clothes and donate to Good Will. Ask each child to give up something they still enjoy.

Math

Because of how the calendar is working out, there will be a week at the end of September/beginning of October without Main Lessons. We will have math lessons that week and continue to practice math through skip counting, verbal math, and board games.

Science
In honor of Halloween, let's learn about a scary ocean animal. Sharks! Books, maybe this kit. https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Dr-Cool-Shark-Science/dp/B00500EKU6

Spelling

k12reader.com spelling lists 6-9 for grade two

September Plans for Grade 2

I'm so excited about our upcoming school year. All my lesson plans are created using the curriculum found at waldorfessentials.com through the Thinking, Feeling, Willing program plus some other books and resources from around the internet that I'll make note of as we go along. If you have any questions or want to share, feel free!


Circle Time

Gathering Poem

Pledge of Allegiance

Thirty Days Hath September

We’ve ploughed our fields

We’ve sown our seed

We’ve made all neat and gay.

                Then take a bit, and leave a bit

                Away, birds, away.

-A Journey through Time in Verse and Rhyme

Michaelmas Song from Jodie Mesler's "Autumn Songs."

Class One Song from A Journey through Time in Verse and Rhyme

       This is a really fun poem with four or five stanzas about different animals getting ready for autumn. I plan on having the kids memorize it and then put it on as a short play. We'll rehearse it and take turns pretending to be the animals and finding costumes and everything during Circle Time.

Spanish

For Spanish this year we are going to focus on a different Spanish speaking country each month. We'll learn about a holiday there, a game, a song, and make a recipe from that country. This month's country is Puerto Rico. My kids take a weekly Spanish class and do some online Spanish work starting in second grade, but I design these lessons to introduce them to culture and try to build vocabulary even though I don't speak much Spanish myself.

The way I do this is by telling a story every day about Ernesto the gnome. Every day, he wakes up and says 'hola' to his perro, gato, and pez. (Have the kids say hola perro. hola gato. hola pez, along with you.) Then Ernesto opens the window (abre la ventana) and looks outside and says, "Que tiempo hace hoy?" (what is the weather?) Have the children tell you in Spanish what the weather is like outside. (We learned weather terms last year.) Ernesto decides to go visit his friend Gabriela. I won't give you a line by line layout of how this will go. But Gabriela is from Puerto Rico and she has dos hermanitos (two little brothers) who need to go to sleep (dormir). So Gabriela teaches Ernesto a game outside.

Game - Cheki Morena  http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3760

Then Gabriela tells Ernesto all about a holiday coming up Grito de Lares. (There's lots of info about this online, do some research and decide how much to tell your kids. But it's basically Puerto Rican independence day.)

Then they sing a fun song.  "Brinca la Tablita." http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3217

Have the children learn the following words in Spanish by giving reasons why Gabiela and Ernesto have to sing this song all these different ways and have the kids sing the song these ways.

Yell = grito

Whisper = susurro

Talk = hablar

Sing = canta

Whistle = silbar

Hum = tararear

Recipe: tortilla de gueneitos.  http://www.elboricua.com/Tortilla_de_guineitos.html

Handwork

Learning to purl. Make a dishcloth with just purl stitch.

Music

Lessons 1 and 2 on recorder from Jodie Mesler's "Living Music From the Heart vol. 2"

Main Lesson

This month our Main Lessons will be focusing on Saints Stories.

St. Francis

St. Jerome

St. Christopher

St. George

St. Michael

We are going to try to do a weekly act of service based on the stories of these saints.

Week 1 - St. Francis - make a hummingbird feeder

Week 2 - St. Christopher - clean up a stretch of the local creek

Week 3 - St. George - donate to the women's shelter

Week 4 - St. Michael - make cookies for firefighters

All lessons are accompanied by painting, drawing, or modeling from the story and summarizing in a Main Lesson Book.

Math

We will keep up on our math facts by practicing addition and subtraction on our walks and playing the several math games I purchased this summer.

Science

This year we will focus on marine biology. This month will be fish. I'd like to go to the aquarium, buy a goldfish and observe it, and read books about fish (both fiction and non fiction.)

Spelling

We will again be using the weekly spelling lists from k12reader.com http://www.k12reader.com/second-grade-spelling-words/

Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite by Issac Watts

We're still finishing up memorizing this one, so she got a little help from mom. A couple more days of circle time and she'll have it!

Interior Design for Moms

I love the idea of setting my house up Montessori style. I'm no expert, but I've read a few articles with ideas and decided to take it on. The basic idea is to make your home child friendly.

Think about your house. Where is the clock?

At adult eye-level probably.

Where are the towel hooks?

At adult arm's reach probably.

Where are the plates and cups and bowls?

Out of reach of children.

Just like the snacks and drinks.


What does this mean for kids and moms? Well, it means kids don't get the opportunity to walk past a clock and really look at it. Watch the hands move. Ask what it means, and get interested in telling time.

It means that instead of the kids putting away their own towel, or cup, or snacks, that mom has to do it. It's totally anti-independence! *As a note, if you have a snacker, like me, I totally understand having to be very intentional about what you keep low where kids can find it.**

But, it was with these thoughts in mind that I began unpacking in our new house.

I had the world map in our last house...at my eye level. I bought it for the kids, right? So why did I have it up where only I could study it?

I put the wall clock low. Right where the kids can see it. Tommy loves banging on the map, by the way. It's definitely making him a genius. I know it.

I also put all the small plates, cups, and bowls in a low cupboard. I always tell the kids to set the table, but then I have to pull out all the dishes. It's little help to me if I have to do half the work. This way, the kids can do it all, including the counting, by themselves. They can also retrieve their own glass of water. Can I tell you how nice it is to not have to be constantly getting someone water? It's amazing!!!!!

So, if you want to foster independence, spark curiosity, or just plan, flat make your life easier. Consider this, put things on your kid's level.

(I kept the calendar high, because otherwise the kids throw the pieces all over. But I put our bird poster low in case we see any in our backyard. We don't have a cat anymore so maybe they'll come back.)

Christmas Bells Preschool

This week was all about bells in preschool! It started when Jane requested that we sing "Carol of the Bells" for circle time. 

Daily circle time: I borrowed my mother-in-law's hand bells and we sang "Carol of the Bells" and played the "ding dong ding dong" parts with the bells. The kids actually did really well with it and seemed to enjoy it. Then we practiced spelling "bell" with these letter beads I found at the store. We also recited "Ride a Cockhorse to Banbury Cross" since that talks about bells.

Day 1: We did a big Christmas sensory tray. It was filled with that fake snow confetti stuff and little doodads from the dollar store. Tiny drums and presents. Cut up pieces of garland. Max played with it for over an hour. You can see how much fun it was from the mess.

I also had the kids do a sorting activity with red, white and green pom poms. They sorted them by size and color.

Day 2: We made Jingle sticks by attaching jingle bells to pipe cleaners and wrapping them around small dowels. Then we sang Jingle Bells and added that to Circle time. These homemade instruments now sit on my piano for anytime we want to sing Christmas songs. Here's a video of the kids kind of singing. We'd already sung it a few times before I took the video so you can tell their interest is waning.

Day 3: We learned about India. We found it on a map and then watched a video of some classical Indian dancing. We talked about the ankle bells they wore, called Ghungroos. I had crocheted some jingle bell anklets the night before. We tied them on our feet and followed a Bollywood dance video. Then I put on a classical Indian music station on Pandora and Jane danced her heart out.

We also did a fun sensory art project. I attached jingles bells to paint brushes and let the kids paint with green red and yellow.

Day 4 was kind of a bust. I was going to do this science experiment with a hanger and string. But then I realized I didn't have a single metal hanger! Not one! I could have done it with a spoon, but by the time I realized I didn't have the materials it was getting late and I had to get Max ready for his tonsilectomy in the morning.

So there you go! A fun, easy preschool week just in time for Christmas.