Monday, November 9, 2009

Organization

Our current schedule (yellow paper) is on the wall. In the totes below the schedule I have all the school books we are using divided by day, with each day separated by a colored sheet of cardstock. Each day I pull out the books we will need and then put them back as we complete each subject. For example, on Moday I pull out Famous Men, Backyard Scientist, and the American Tall Tales book. I know from the schedule that we will need to listen to Beethoven during lunch, get out supplies for our science project, and see if there are any people or events from the past week which we need to add to our timeline. We have been listening to the Redwall series in the car, but sometimes we bring the discs inside as well. My school age kids each have their own tote which holds their individual books and notebooks, such as math workbooks, books they are reading, and their notebooks for copywork, history, science, etc.
In our school area we have 4 small bookshelves and they are all covered with books, mostly books the kids can read or look at any time they want, though I have a couple shelves for my notebooks, library books, future books for school, and other totes for several subjects. For example, one tote holds our nature guide books, compasses, flower presses, and anything we might need for nature studies.

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).