Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Toddler Class/Preschool

I prefer being really flexible for anything I do with my toddlers so I don't follow a specific program and we are constantly changing and adjusting. I'm sure that anything I've posted in the past we finished or stopped doing a looong time ago.
But O, my almost 3 year old, wants her own "class" and it is really helpful to devote 20-30 minutes to my two little girls before starting school work with my older kids.
We start by reading books together. They will usually pick a few that they are currently interested in, and I pick a few as well. The ones I pick we usually read for 2-4 weeks at a time, and have more of a learning aspect to them. Sometimes we read the books and sometimes we look at the pictures.
Books I've picked for November:
A book from My First Bob Books Pre-Reader Collection which includes the Alphabet set and Pre-Reading set -- I don't read these to teach my girls to read, but because they are simple and have a lot of familiar pictures for them to identify. They also like them because my older kids have used the other collections as they were learning to read, so my girls think they are using "big kid" stuff. And there are stickers.
First Rhymes: A Day of Rhymes with a Different Twist by Lucy Coats -- Author has re-written favorite nursery rhymes: "Humpty Dumpty stood on his head, Humpty Dumpty fell out of bed . . . "
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman -- has colors, opposites, and lots of DOGS, my girls' favorite animal.
Before Five in a Row books -- The Five in a Row books are wonderful, but I prefer to just use the book lists for wonderful picture book ideas. Jesse Bear is very well-loved and O is always asking for it!!
After we've read for a little while we play games. Right now they like laying the memory cards face up and making matches. In the past we've done puzzles, played with babies or other toys, and sometimes we also do activities like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes or Ring around the Rosies. We also sometimes sing songs together - they are really getting into a song we are learning in anticipation of Christmas called Christmas Bells.
After about 30 minutes I let them pick some toys from the closet that are just for school time -- we have a house set, barn set, Noah's ark set, space ship set, blocks, puzzles, and quiet books. They also will join in when we are doing something they can participate in such as coloring, nature walks, listening to stories, etc.

Don't feed the wildlife!!

18 broccoli and cauliflower plants eaten down to stubs.
32 pea seedlings trampled or devoured.
So much for a fall garden.

Composer Study - Fall 2009

"Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold." -Beethoven

Artist Study - Fall 2009

"School always gave me the impression I was in prison . . ." -Claude Monet

Poetry - Fall 2009

William Blake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_blake

http://amblesideonline.org/Blake.shtml

Audio@Librivox

"Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?" -William Blake

Autumn Series - Squirrels & more!!


We didn't spend a lot of time talking about squirrels this week, because we did do this challenge back in January. However, I discovered I never blogged about it! I still have some sick kids this week, so we haven't been able to go out for our outdoor time, but still managed to do some nature study.

A backyard visitor this past summer - he thought he would scavenge bird seed on our deck, but ended up hiding from us behind the planters.
N's journal pages - (L) Jan 09 (R) Nov 09

A's journal pages - (L) Jan 09 (R) Nov 09
The one on the right is also his "tough" squirrel.

Both times we did this challenge we watched and enjoyed the videos. Squirrels are amazing!!! My kids also really enjoyed the tale of Fury/Furry in the Handbook of Nature Study, and the squirrel stories in The Burgess Animal Book.

This week we also decided to learn about another mammal that has been migrating through our area this last month -- the Pronghorn Antelope! Several times we have seen small herds grazing in the neighboring farm fields. The following picture doesn't have any antelope in it (of course I didn't have my camera with me when we saw them!!), but it shows the farm fields separating our neighborhood from the rest of the Salt Lake Valley. We live in the foothills on the west side of the valley.
Initally we didn't know we were seeing the pronghorn (which are not really part of the antelope or deer families), but thought they were deer. But my dad set us straight when he was visiting a few weeks ago. And when our November issue of Ranger Rick showed up highlighting these beautiful animals we knew it was time to learn more!!

In addition to reading the article, we watched a video at Animal Planet. I also found a picture to color from a NM coloring book - the pronghorn is on page 18. I found information on tracks here, which shows and compares tacks of many Western U.S. animals. Here is a short interview with the photographer for Ranger Rick- Joe Rii & Pronghorn Project, and a few more pictures at the Utah DWR. This weekend we might head up to Antelope Island State Park so hopefully we see some of these amazing creatures (we want to see the Bison from the round up last weekend).

Friday, October 30, 2009

Autumn Series - Weather

Outdoor Hour Challenge Autumn Series - Seasonal Weather

Because I knew this week would be a variety of different weather days I decided we would keep track of the weather for the whole week. I made us all a chart to put into our journals - the columns were temperature, wind, rain, and describe weather. I wrote out what the weather was like, and my kids drew pictures.


We hung a thermometer by a front window where we hope it will not blow away. So far its still there, and we've had some really windy days.


Of course, we also had snow a couple of days. I know this past winter we learned about snowflakes and Snowflake Bentley, but I couldn't find anything in my past posts so I guess I didn't blog about it.
On the first day it snowed the kids headed out with black paper and magnifying glasses (dressed in pajamas and a costume too!) to closely examine the snowflakes.
Unfortunately, the next day most of us were too sick to continue with the other planned outdoor activities. So we stuck with darting outside in the cold to check the temperature and did the rest of our observations from the windows.