Theme: A is for Apple
Story: Sesame Street "A" book; Ten Apples up on Top
Movement: Jump up high to reach "apples"
MONDAY
Project Art: Handprint Apple
Process Art: Apple stamp on letter A
Math & Science: Sort big and small rocks
Language Development: Sign - Letter A
TUESDAY
Project Art: Puzzle art - Apple Tree
Process Art: Apple Stamping
Math & Science: Play Dough
Language Development: Sing - 2 Little Apples
WEDNESDAY
Project Art: Glue seeds to apple
Process Art: Paint apple w/ scented paint (cinnamon)
Math & Science: Count apple seeds
Language Development: Sign - Apple
THURSDAY
Project Art: Glue apples into baskets
Process Art: Bake Cookies
Math & Science: Matching green, yellow, red apples
Language Development: Sing -
FRIDAY
Project Art: Alligator letter A
Process Art: Use stickers to spell names
Math & Science: Find and label parts of an apple
Language Development: Sign - Eat
Friday, April 24, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
April Showers
Theme: April Showers Story: Itsy Bitsy Spider Movement: Walking in Rain Boots
After looking at the weather report for the week, I knew I chose the right theme. We woke up to rain, we had breakfast and lunch and a nap with the sound of rain. During breakfast, we sang every rain song I knew, which was about three, which continued throughout the day. I realized there aren't many happy rain songs, so by the end of the day we were singing our own. A caught on to the sign for rain very quickly, I love to see her proud little face light up!
For art, I drew an umbrella and wrote "It's raining, it's pouring..." before A got a hold of the project. She was excited to see the umbrella, and I was impressed she remembered it's name!
I mixed blue and teal paint with a little bit of glitter glue, and showed A how to tip the eraser side of a pencil in the paint and stamp to make little circles like rain drops. She loved the noise it made when she hit the table. Soon enough, she started dipping her index finger in the paint and using that instead, saying "dot, dot, dot"
Coincidentally, I found a rain stick at Good Will just last week, so it was still new and exciting for A. It's a bit long for her little arms, but she likes tipping it over and listening to the rain sounds. If you dont have your own rain stick, you can easily make one with a paper towel roll and some rice or cheerios.
Admittedly, I had never made cloud dough. It seemed easy enough, and I've heard wonderful things. The recipe is 1 part baby oil to 8 parts flour. I used a tablespoon of each to try it out, and it didn't quite work out, so I just added little squirts of baby oil until it felt right. A smelled it, squeezed it, and only one attempt at eating it (which was quickly regretted because of the taste!). This is something we will definitely do again soon!
Before the day began (after A went to sleep last night), I drew and cut out an umbrella shape from white paper. I cut a handle from brown and glued only that to a piece of dark blue paper. For art, I gave A some crayons and let her color the top of the umbrella. When she was finished, I glued it to the paper and she helped me use liquid school glue to make big dots. Immediately after the glue dots were in place, I taped the paper to the window and A and I watched as the glue dots became "rain"!
We blew lots of bubbles outside, but I also took a few minutes to blow some especially big ones, which we counted and popped. A loved it so much, we took the bubbles inside during bath time and did it again, she even started counting them on her own (kind of. One... Two... Fourteen...).
Because of our crazy week, we did end up painting the suns on Tuesday, which meant adding clouds on Thursday! A was given a little handful of cotton balls and a pile of glue, and encouraged to stick her cotton balls to the glue. This one got messy, as more cotton ended up sticking to her hands than the paper, but the end result is adorable, and she had lots of fun.
Combining Math/Science with art, A was given some yellow and a bit of red paint to mix with a paintbrush. Once the paint was mixed, She used it to do a little free painting. Had the week panned out as planned, it would have been used to finger paint suns, but that's not how life works, especially with children. While finger painting, I 'borrowed' a hand and made the hand print suns.
The baby sign for sun was hard for A to do, so she's taken to signing the last part of it, which is light, and works out well. She's incorporated it into the finger play for Mr Sun all on her own! Anybody with kids knows how mind-blowing it is to watch them piece things together, and that was definitely one of those moments for me!
The week ended as crazily as it began, but somehow everything got done - eventually - that needed to. Most importantly, A was happy and learned a little something along the way. I cannot stress enough how important it is to go with the flow when working with young children. Maybe a long nap will interfere with your art project plans, but that paper can be set aside for a day where that same kid is refusing a nap. There is no "one size fits all" project, lesson plan, or schedule for kids. When you're teaching your child, or children, or class, look for progress rather than end results. Everybody learns in their own time, in their own ways.
When A was informed we'd be making rainbows, her face lit up. We talked about how the rain we talked about Monday, from the clouds we talked about Tuesday, came together with the sun we talked about Wednesday, to make a beautiful rainbow. My favorite rainbow song is this one by KidsTV123 . This song is a great pace for working on baby sign language as well.
I knew I wanted the rainbows to have skinny lines, and I'm so sick of paint brushes, so we used q-tips to make the lines for the rainbow. It also worked well because the q-tips dont hold much paint, which means more lines and less blobs. We have some cousins in town, and A's 3-year old cousin made the rainbow you see here. I considered adding a sun and a cloud to the pages, but decided against it. Maybe I didn't want to stifle creativity, maybe I was just worn out from the week...
MONDAY
Project Art: Polka Dot Rain Stamping
Process Art: Wet Chalk on paper
Math & Science: Rain Stick
Language Development: Baby Sign - Rain
For art, I drew an umbrella and wrote "It's raining, it's pouring..." before A got a hold of the project. She was excited to see the umbrella, and I was impressed she remembered it's name!I mixed blue and teal paint with a little bit of glitter glue, and showed A how to tip the eraser side of a pencil in the paint and stamp to make little circles like rain drops. She loved the noise it made when she hit the table. Soon enough, she started dipping her index finger in the paint and using that instead, saying "dot, dot, dot"
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Turn the paper so that the area you want to most paint on, is facing the child. I had A's paper upside down so that her rain drops would be mostly in the sky, above the umbrella.
Later in the day, I showed A how to dip chalk into a bowl of water and color with it on black construction paper. This kid loves chalk, so Im not surprised she took to it, but I think she would have rather been outside in the sunshine!
Coincidentally, I found a rain stick at Good Will just last week, so it was still new and exciting for A. It's a bit long for her little arms, but she likes tipping it over and listening to the rain sounds. If you dont have your own rain stick, you can easily make one with a paper towel roll and some rice or cheerios.
TUESDAY
Project Art: Cotton Ball Cloud
Process Art: Color with different shades of blue
Math & Science: Cloud Dough
Language Development: Sing - Rain, Rain, Go Away
In the morning, I took every shade of blue out of the 64 pack of crayons and put them in a bowl for A. She colored her little squiggles and circles on white paper, as I rambled about shades and she feigned interest. She was surprised to see so many different blues, though, so I know she got the point.
I decided to save time (and art supplies), to combine the finger painting sun from Thursday and the cotton ball cloud from Tuesday. To begin, I drew a sun on a piece of plain white paper (my favorite for coloring and painting!) and wrote A's name inside. She got some yellow paint and a paint brush, and we sang "Mr. Sun" as she painted.
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Make up a name song, and sing it often! You know that farmer who had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o? Well, use that as a guide and make up a name spelling your child's name! For 5-letter names, use the Bingo tune ("I know a boy who's loved so much, and ___ is his name-o!") , for 6-letter names, try Mickey Mouse. I once had a 2 year old with a 10-letter name, and she learned to spell it in less than two weeks!
Admittedly, I had never made cloud dough. It seemed easy enough, and I've heard wonderful things. The recipe is 1 part baby oil to 8 parts flour. I used a tablespoon of each to try it out, and it didn't quite work out, so I just added little squirts of baby oil until it felt right. A smelled it, squeezed it, and only one attempt at eating it (which was quickly regretted because of the taste!). This is something we will definitely do again soon!
WEDNESDAY
Project Art: Umbrella with glue rain drops
Process Art: Color umbrella shape
Math & Science: Blow bubbles, count as we pop them
Language Development: Sing - Mr Sun
Before the day began (after A went to sleep last night), I drew and cut out an umbrella shape from white paper. I cut a handle from brown and glued only that to a piece of dark blue paper. For art, I gave A some crayons and let her color the top of the umbrella. When she was finished, I glued it to the paper and she helped me use liquid school glue to make big dots. Immediately after the glue dots were in place, I taped the paper to the window and A and I watched as the glue dots became "rain"!We blew lots of bubbles outside, but I also took a few minutes to blow some especially big ones, which we counted and popped. A loved it so much, we took the bubbles inside during bath time and did it again, she even started counting them on her own (kind of. One... Two... Fourteen...).
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Count everything as often as you can. We put on one shirt and two socks in the morning. Two shoes to play with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pieces of chalk. Include it in asking for help, "Can you bring me those four blocks to put away?" and count as your child picks up each one.
We still sing our made up rain song, so I thought I'd share. There's a song by Laurie Berkner (gosh I love her!) called Moon, Moon, Moon. It's A's favorite song, and we sing it at least ten times per day. It goes like this:
I switched it up, and now we also sing:
Moon, Moon, Moon
Shining Bright
Moon, Moon, Moon
My night light
Moon, Moon, Moon,
I can see,
Moon, Moon, Moon,
You're taking care of me.
Rain, Rain, Rain,
Falling down
Rain, Rain, Rain,
Splashing on the ground,
Rain, Rain, Rain,
I can see,
Rain, Rain, Rain,
You're taking care of me
A is at the age where she loves singing the last word of each line, which is both adorable, and a great first step to talking about rhyming.
THURSDAY
Project Art: Hand-print Sun
Process Art: Finger paint Sun
Math & Science: Mix red and yellow paint to make Orange
Language Development: Baby Sign - Sun
Because of our crazy week, we did end up painting the suns on Tuesday, which meant adding clouds on Thursday! A was given a little handful of cotton balls and a pile of glue, and encouraged to stick her cotton balls to the glue. This one got messy, as more cotton ended up sticking to her hands than the paper, but the end result is adorable, and she had lots of fun.
Combining Math/Science with art, A was given some yellow and a bit of red paint to mix with a paintbrush. Once the paint was mixed, She used it to do a little free painting. Had the week panned out as planned, it would have been used to finger paint suns, but that's not how life works, especially with children. While finger painting, I 'borrowed' a hand and made the hand print suns.
The baby sign for sun was hard for A to do, so she's taken to signing the last part of it, which is light, and works out well. She's incorporated it into the finger play for Mr Sun all on her own! Anybody with kids knows how mind-blowing it is to watch them piece things together, and that was definitely one of those moments for me!
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Use sign language for kids of all ages! It helps with language development and self-expression, is very easy to learn, and decreases stress, anxiety, and frustration which can lead to unwanted behavior such as biting, hitting, and screaming. A started signing at 4 months old ("milk" which we used for bottle) and used it to ask for a bottle before she felt the need to cry! Now at 1.5, she is talking in 3-5 word sentences. My favorite baby sign language book is 'Sign Language for Babies and Toddlers' by Christopher Brown. Get it here.
Apologies for the lack of pictures for today, but there were too many messy hands involved for me to grab my phone to snap any decent shots!
FRIDAY
Project Art: Paint with Q-Tips: Rainbow
Process Art: Tape crayons together to color
Math & Science: Discuss colors
Language Development: Baby Sign - Rainbow
When A was informed we'd be making rainbows, her face lit up. We talked about how the rain we talked about Monday, from the clouds we talked about Tuesday, came together with the sun we talked about Wednesday, to make a beautiful rainbow. My favorite rainbow song is this one by KidsTV123 . This song is a great pace for working on baby sign language as well.
I knew I wanted the rainbows to have skinny lines, and I'm so sick of paint brushes, so we used q-tips to make the lines for the rainbow. It also worked well because the q-tips dont hold much paint, which means more lines and less blobs. We have some cousins in town, and A's 3-year old cousin made the rainbow you see here. I considered adding a sun and a cloud to the pages, but decided against it. Maybe I didn't want to stifle creativity, maybe I was just worn out from the week...
Homeschooling Pro Tip:
Do what works for you and your kid, set your own pace, find your own rhythm.
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