Friday, October 12, 2012

Weekly Wrap-Up {Pumpkins and Packing}


Our Weekly Wrap-Up

School was short but sweet this week. 


We packed in as much as we could on Monday and Tuesday so that I could pack up our beautiful school room and get it moved over to the new house.


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Aside from the normal book work, the boys have moved onto the first colonies in our Winter’s Promise Early American Story.  They added another new page to their make-your-own History book project.  I was sooooo very proud of Nate who sat and carefully drew and then colored in a map of a colony.

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He has been completing his work much better this week, and is only 14 pages away from completing his first grade math book.  Yea for a great week Nate!


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Not only did Isaac do all of his school work, but he was an incredible helper to me while packing this week!  He also helped out with several dinners, and made No-Bakes (nearly) on his own.  He very proudly handed them out after supper one night, while all the kids proclaimed the cookies were the best they ever tasted!


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Elaina asked to do a pumpkin themed week.  Sure, why not?  It’s  a great excuse to read one of our family favorites: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.

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We talked about ordinal numbers and sequencing with these Jack-o-lantern cards

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Went over the lifecycle of a pumpkin, and also talked about  what an onomatopoeia is with an old printable I made to go along with the book.

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Of course, no unit is complete without a grid game!  She cried when she didn’t win though….

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She drew a really adorable scarecrow in a pumpkin patch, and I was wishing it wasn’t on dry-erase paper.  It was too sweet to erase.

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I did end up sneaking in a bit of reading work with this fun new set of linking letter cubes.  She loved it, totally understood it, and I am crossing my fingers will be eager to start reading books after we get settled again.

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I got out the pattern blocks and interlocking cubes to use with her Building Thinking Skills book this week.  She loved using both!

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Silly me ended up packing a bit too much of her school stuff, so toward the end of the week she mostly did her MIA reading.

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Olivia did a lot of solitary play this week, which was great for packing.  Whoever was praying for her to have a nice week: Thank You!!

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She did a bit of lacing with orange “oonge” foam shapes and made a very long “ssssnake”.

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She also held and kissed a ladybug that Nate caught in the yard.  Too cute!

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I found a new great recipe for French Bread and made it twice this week.  I’m always amazed at how much bread our family can eat in one sitting….

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Tried another Pinterest recipe: Tuscan Sausage Soup.  It was good and easy too.


That's about it around here.  Well...not really.  We are busy packing, moving, cleaning, decorating, unpacking, and painting.  That's more than I can handle in one week!




Linking up with WUH: Weekly Wrap-Up




Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate The Wash {Free Book Pack}


Jimmy's Boa Box

My kids and I LOVE this Reading Rainbow book: The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash.  I really wanted some extra activities to go along with it, but couldn’t find any free ones online.  So….I made some! 

And some awesome news: I have it here to share with you guys for FREE!!  Like my other book packs, it is a small set of consumable and re-usable printables to help expand your child’s experience with the book.  I’ve included lots of extra ideas as well.  It went along perfectly with our farm unit, and we even threw in an impromptu Boa Constrictor lesson too.

Here’s a look at what we did:

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate The Wash Classroom Ideas
 
Click for Free Printables:
 
 
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We read the book every day during our circle time,  focusing on a different part of the story each time.  For example, one day we talked about farms, another we talked about snakes, another we talked about cause and effect, and consequenses too.  On the last day we talked about illustrations and how we can tell a story and expand on a story idea through pictures.  We also checked out this video of the story.


I let Elaina choose what part of the pack she wanted to do each day.  She was perfectly challenged with the Beginning and Ending Sounds Clip Cards.


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She was so proud of herself for being able to complete these simple math equations: Throwing Eggs and Corn.  I came up with a few scenarios (Jenny threw three eggs at Jimmy and Lisa threw one egg at Tommy.  How many eggs where thrown?)  She used the cut-outs to help her count and then found the numbers to mark her answer.  Then she made her own word problems, and tested me!  We did this one each day.

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She drew her own boa under the wash…

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And did some Spelling Words from the story on our own little "clothesline".

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We went over the Golden Rule for her memory work this week: Treat others the way you want to be treated.  She knows this well, as it is part of our family mantra.  She is still learning how to apply it though….

This provided a natural way to discuss the children in the book, and how they acted towards each other and the animals on the farm.  And that lead us to talk about Cause and Effect.  This book is perfect for illustrating this concept.  The cow was crying….because the haystack fell on her.  The haystack fell on her….because the farmer knocked it over with his tractor. 

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We planned to visit a farm, but with our upcoming move, that has been put on the back burner.  She drew a picture of one though and narrated to me her memory of last years trip to the farm.  (I love the pig and sheep she drew!)


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Elaina surprised me and asked to do a KWL chart on Boa Constrictors!  Yes we can!

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We used National Geographic for our animal facts and also watched this YouTube video and some others.  I was totally creeped out with with all the snakes…but she loved it!  Ewe…


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After that we created our own masterpieces and painted some boa’s.

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The girls both did a ton of other fun farm activities that we own including String-A-Farm

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Listen and Learn Farm Sounds Bingo

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Farm Fun Magnetic Learning Set and sound blocks

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And a lot of imaginary play with Little People Farm set.  Even Duck the cat got to play!

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They both enjoyed the Farm Felt set…


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Farm animal lacing

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Leap Frog Fridge Farm….

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And lots of puzzles!

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We used this set of story prompts for the Farmer In the Dell and played a fun dice game called Roll-a-Barn.

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We could have easily expanded this theme for another week, but alas, everything is now in boxes at the new place.  Tomorrow I am hopeful to start unpacking and setting up the school room.  You'd never believe how much stuff I have....hopefully I can find a place for it all!


Book Pack Box

 
For other fun book packs click here!



All of the Book Packs are provided free of charge, and I hope that they enrich your homeschool experience and make your planning a little easier! I would love to hear from you if you have used these book packs. Please link back directly to my blog, not the document link provided. Thanks!