tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29524871785611526172024-03-17T02:52:48.279+08:00Little Tot StepsAll about the little steps we are taking on our Big Adventure!MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-13967138053352112252012-02-26T07:19:00.001+08:002012-02-26T07:31:15.184+08:00Learning about Habitats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/590/draft_lens17164731module155864762photo_1324173417Girl_in_backyard_with_bir" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/590/draft_lens17164731module155864762photo_1324173417Girl_in_backyard_with_bir" width="320" /></a></div>
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We had a week of exploring the habitats of the world which led to lots of crafty fun. We talked about where we live (in a house, a place we can sleep, be safe and eat) and then I asked the question where animals live and we came up with lots of answers: in a tree, in a pond, in our garden, underground, in the sea, deserts, jungles etc.<br />
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We read the following books as an introduction to our studies:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/See-Kookaburra-Discovering-Habitats-Nonfiction/dp/B001TODNVE/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1330094240&sr=8-12"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61PBRCJJH8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
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This is a simple picture book with six different habitats and vivid drawings of animals that live in that habitat. It is a seek and find book which engages your little one in hunting for the creature.<br />
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We also used this non-fiction title from Bobbie Kalman<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HG6E7EBAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HG6E7EBAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
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Our library didn't have a great selection but there are lots of books out there on specific habitats like the desert, forest, Arctic etc.<br />
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<b><u>Day One: Tree Habitats</u></b><br />
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As we already had this wonderful title <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Ancient-Forest-Carol-Reed-Jones/dp/1883220319/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330094571&sr=1-3">The Tree in the Ancient Forest</a> from our Tree study - It made sense to use it as our starting point for exploring animals that live in trees/forests.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Ancient-Forest-Carol-Reed-Jones/dp/1883220319/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330094571&sr=1-3"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SSMN1AP9L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
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After reading this beautifully illustrated book - I printed off pictures of the animals that live in the tree and we created a tree habitat picture. I sketched a picture of a large tree on a long piece of paper and Adventure-man painted it and then we pasted on the pictures.<br />
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He also played on <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/habitat/">Scholastic's Magic Schoolbus Habitat Match-up</a> and on<a href="http://www.fossweb.com/CA/modules3-6/StructuresofLife/activities/wheredoesitlive.swf"> FossWeb's Where Does It Live?</a> The latter game may work better as a review of different habitats but I used it as a jumping off point for talking about different habitats and animals.<br />
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You can download the clipart and my day 1 plan <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1R04h_ktqmIZTNiUEN0MkpRYW16MlhjdVZudDRydw">here</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Day 2: Desert Habitats</u></b><br />
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We watched these videos on deserts and desert habitats:<br />
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This is a gallery of desert photos: <br />
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This is a video of desert wildlife:<br />
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This is a video on desert cacti:<br />
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We then re-read our book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Desert-Giant-World-Saguaro-Cactus/dp/1578050855/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330119893&sr=8-1-spell">Desert Giant</a> and again I printed out animal images to use for our craft project.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Desert-Giant-World-Saguaro-Cactus/dp/1578050855/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330119893&sr=8-1-spell"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RpgAekvXL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg" /></a></div>
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Our craft was done on cardboard; we painted the sand yellow and sprinkled glitter all over, painted the sky blue and stuck on cotton wool clouds. The cacti were made out of playdough and we stuck little pieces of broken spaghetti onto the cacti for the thorns. And finally we stuck our animals on. It turned out really well and we had fun with this.<br />
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We enjoyed looking for animals in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Animal-Search-Searches/dp/0794526926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330120353&sr=1-1">The Great Animal Search</a>. It is divided into different habitats and is a great way to introduce different animals.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Animal-Search-Searches/dp/0794526926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330120353&sr=1-1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61WVqyrpj-L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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We then played this desert habitat online game from <a href="http://www.exploringnature.org/games/DesertGame.swf">Exploring Nature</a>.<br />
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Other resources:<br />
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<a href="http://www.vtaide.com/png/habitats/index.htm">Food Chains Card games</a> - provides animal cards with relevant information on each animal. Includes different habitats.<br />
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<a href="http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/desert/">Everything Preschool</a>: desert themed resources<br />
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<a href="http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/DesertTheme.htm">Making Learning Fun</a>: more desert themed projects and resources<br />
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<a href="http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/online_field_journal/dr/drdt/drdtmain.html">Make a desert diorama</a><br />
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You can download my Day 2 plan and clip art <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1R04h_ktqmIUUI5OFJHLVpUc3lGZE1RQ2RHVDNJQQ">here</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Day 3 Pond Habitats</u></b><br />
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I have to admit that I chose this because I knew I could get some great resources online.<br />
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So I downloaded some excellent resources from <a href="http://homeschoolcreations.com/pondpreschoolpack.html">Homeschool Creations </a>and <a href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PondLife.html">1+1+1=1 </a>. All the preschool/kindergarten pond resources you could want can be found there.<br />
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There was a nice online game where Adventure-man could <a href="http://www.msnucleus.org/membership/activities/pond2.html">create his own pond </a>and he enjoyed playing that.<br />
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Here's another from the <a href="http://www.snh.org.uk/wildlifecrimeschools/games/pond.htm">Scottish National Heritage pond game</a> you can use.<br />
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Our pond craft was made from a shallow box, painted blue with glitter sprinkled and I printed off templates of lily pads, frogs, ducks and turtles from here and we stuck them on. I made a dragonfly from pipe cleaners and tissue paper. I got the idea from <a href="http://crazymommy.weblogs.us/2008/05/08/fish-pond-craft/">The Lazy Stay-at-Home Mommy</a> - hers is way more attractive and elaborate than ours - so do go to her blog to get some creative ideas for your pond!<br />
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We explored a little more about frogs and their life cycle.<br />
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We watched a couple of helpful videos:<br />
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This is a classic frog live cycle video from Sesame Street.<br />
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This is another good animated version of the frog life cycle.</div>
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This video uses footage of real tadpoles growing into frogs.</div>
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We also made a frog life cycle wheel. Here is a worksheet you can use from <a href="http://havefunteaching.com/">Have Fun Teaching</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://havefunteaching.com/worksheets/science/life-cycle-worksheets/frog-life-cycle-worksheet.pdf"><img border="0" src="http://havefunteaching.com/worksheets/science/life-cycle-worksheets/frog-life-cycle-worksheet.jpg" /></a></div>
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And I've just discovered this great frog race game <a href="http://www.trcabc.com/resources/free-frog-race-life-cycle-game/">here</a>!<br />
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<a href="http://trcabcwww.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/FrogRaceGame_Start_Photo-260x300.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://trcabcwww.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/FrogRaceGame_Start_Photo-260x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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For our active break we played at being animals in a pond - we were frogs hopping from cushion to cushion (exhausting!), pretending to be Kingfishers diving off the trees - they jumped off the sofa and had to catch a ball I threw in the air, they pretended to be dragonflies and fly around at great speed ducking and diving as quickly as possible.<br />
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Some other pond habitat resources and printables:<br />
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<a href="http://www.abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/pond_habitat/">abcteach pond printables</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/pond-cross.html">Exploring pond habitats online</a><br />
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<a href="http://prek-8.com/1stgrade/lessonplan_pondFlashcards1.html">Pond animal flash cards and memory games</a><br />
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<a href="http://prek-8.com/1stgrade/lessonplan_pondanimals.php">Pond printables and ideas</a> from PreK-8.<br />
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<a href="http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mcircle_frog.htm">Circle Fractions Frog craft </a>from DLTK-kids<br />
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<a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/tadpole.pdf">Making a tadpole puppet that transforms into a frog</a><br />
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<b><u>Day 4 The Arctic</u></b><br />
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The last habitat we explored was the Arctic. We discussed what the Arctic was like, looked for it on a map and then watched this video on Arctic animals.<br />
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We sang this song about Arctic animals.</div>
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I printed <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/77347997/Arctic-Control-Matching-Cards">this set</a> of Arctic animal cards (from The Pinay Homeschooler) and we played memory with them.<br />
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Our craft was made out of <a href="http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Salt-Dough-Recipe.html">salt dough</a> (and added glitter to it - yes we love glitter!) rolled it out in a rough shape to represent the snow and ice of the arctic. We had cardboard animals taped onto ice cream sticks and then stuck them onto our Arctic shelf.<br />
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More Arctic habitat resources:<br />
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<a href="http://www.filefolderfun.com/Pages/SecondGradeScience/ArcticAnimals.html">Arctic animals file folder game</a><br />
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<a href="http://stepbystepcc.com/arctic4.html">Arctic themed ideas</a><br />
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<a href="http://bogglesworldesl.com/arcticanimalbingo.htm">Arctic animal bingo</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nickjr.com/printables/diego-arctic-animal-id-cards.jhtml">Diego's printable arctic animal ID cards</a><br />
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<a href="http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/01/12/montessori-inspired-arctic-and-antarctic-unit/">Great ideas from this Montessori inspired post for Arctic and Antarctic activities</a><br />
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<i><b>Here are some helpful ideas or links for a study of other habitats: </b></i><br />
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<b><u>Ocean Habitats</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.prekinders.com/ocean_kids.htm">Prekinders Ocean Page</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/galleries/oceans.html">Learning Page </a>- Great source of Ocean themed worksheets<br />
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<a href="http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/ocean-other.htm">DLTK-Kids</a> - ocean themed craft<br />
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<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/oceantheme">Ocean Themed Squidoo page</a> - lots of colouring, craft and book ideas<br />
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<a href="http://funschool.kaboose.com/globe-rider/under-the-sea/">Funschool</a> - Ocean themed online games<br />
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<a href="http://homeschoolcreations.com/oceanpreschoolpack.html">Homeschool Creations Ocean Preschool Pack</a><br />
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<a href="http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/2011/06/ocean-theme-printables-more.html">1+1+1=1 Ocean printables</a><br />
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Nice introduction to the Ocean<br />
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<b><u>Jungle/Rainforest Habitats</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/">Basic simple information on Tropical Rainforests</a> from Enchanted Learning<br />
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<a href="http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids/games">E-stories and online games</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.livingrainforest.org/kids/">Colouring pages from The Living Rainforest</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/African-Rainforest-Animal-Cards-CCF-5.htm?categoryId=-1">African Animals Montessori 3 part cards</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.rainforestconcern.org/files/education/activitysheet1.pdf">Guess the rainforest animal Dot to Dot</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/fun/deepjungle_flash.html">PBS Jungle journey flash presentation</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.homeschool-activities.com/homeschool-science.html">Rainforest science and activities </a>from Homeschool-Activities<br />
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<a href="http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/2011/08/rainforest-printables-and-more.html">1+1+1=1 Rainforest Printables</a><br />
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Fabulous<a href="http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/03/brazil-rain-forest-diorama-craft.html"> Rainforest Diorama </a>from Confessions of a Homeschooler<br />
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More <a href="http://totallytots.blogspot.com/2010/06/once-upon-book-over-in-jungle.html">Jungle themed art</a> at Totally Tots<br />
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<b><u>Savannah Habitats</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/social_studies/places/africa/">Printables from ABCteach</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=2&detID=1224">Grassland food web printable poster</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/quizzes/kidscorner/animal_games_african_sav_large.html">Savannah animal identification online game</a><br />
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<a href="http://prekinders.com/safari-theme/">Pre-Kinders Safari Theme</a> - lots of resources and helps!<br />
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<a href="http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/support-files/african-animals-alphabet-colouring.pdf">African Animals colouring book</a><br />
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<br />MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-58404430304623050632012-02-18T22:00:00.001+08:002012-10-26T21:30:14.592+08:00Kindergarten Math: Playing to Learn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mathfun1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mathfun1.gif" width="191" /></a></div>
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Adventure-man likes numbers - he likes to count them, add them, write them, looks out for them in books (we once read all the page numbers in a book rather than reading the book itself!). I was surprised by just how much he now understands without any formal teaching from me. He recognises numbers up to the hundreds, can skip count 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 50 and 100s, he can add and subtract numbers mentally.<br />
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I decided that I just had to encourage this love for numbers and math and I wanted to do it by playing lots of games. So here are a bunch of different math games and activities we've been doing<br />
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<b><u>Number Bond games:</u></b><br />
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I downloaded these<a href="http://www.mathsticks.com/resource/1101/flash-card-number-bonds"> number bond flashcards</a> from<a href="http://www.mathsticks.com/"> Mathsticks.com</a> which I used in a variety of ways - we play memory and have to match up cards that add up to 10. He loves the challenge of being timed for some reason (my girls hated it!) - so I time him to see how quickly he can match up the cards that add to 10.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mathsticks.com/resource/1101/flash-card-number-bonds"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://www.mathsticks.com/userfiles/back-to-front-thumb.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We added this <a href="http://www.mathsticks.com/resource/1104/bonds-10-rocket-game">Rocket number bond game</a> to our solar system studies and he really enjoyed it. I just printed out the game board and not the cards (to save ink) and we played using a die. We had counter pieces to move and whatever number we rolled - we had to work out what number we needed to add to it to make ten and then we would to move our piece to that number. A variation on the game was that we had to move to the nearest number which meant we sometimes moved back (it made the game last longer). Click on the picture to go to Mathsticks for more ways to play the game.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mathsticks.com/resource/1104/bonds-10-rocket-game"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://www.mathsticks.com/userfiles/rocket-onehop.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I printed out <a href="http://nrich.maths.org/content/01/04/letme1/192.pdf">these triangles </a>and we used the cards to make a great big triangle where the adjacent numbers had to equal 10.<br />
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A ten frame is a useful visual tool for teaching math facts so I decided to introduce it into our play. I printed out a ten frame with dots representing numbers from 0-10 onto card stock and I made double copies. I showed him the cards and we'd count and say the numbers and then we'd work out how many more dots we need to make ten. We later moved onto played a matching game and snap with the cards and he had to shout out the number on the cards in hope of him becoming more familiar with the numbers each card represented.<br />
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You can print out a set from <a href="http://lrt.ednet.ns.ca/PD/BLM/pdf_files/five_and_ten_frames/ten_frames_four_with_dots.pdf">here</a>. You can also find other ten frame activities <a href="http://teachmath.openschoolnetwork.ca/grade1/documents/TenFrameActivities.pdf">here</a>. In fact <a href="http://teachmath.ca/">Teachmath.ca </a> has a bunch of really helpful looking activities for teaching different grades which I plan on exploring further.<br />
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<b><u>Fractions:</u></b><br />
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I wanted to introduce him to the concepts of halves and quarters and basic fractions. I knew we had use pizza. I found <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Pizza-Fraction-Game/dp/B00009XNTF">this game</a> from Learning Resources - Pizza Fraction Fun. It has many variations of games depending on what concepts you want to teach - so it has the advantage of growing with your child. Adventure-man enjoys it and we play games where we have to make pizzas out of halves, quarters, thirds etc. It is a simply fun way to introduce the concepts.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Resources-Pizza-Fraction-Game/dp/B00009XNTF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329408407&sr=8-1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51413UXClcL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Addition games</u></b></div>
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We love Gamewright's Rat-a-tat Cat. The object of the game is to end up with the lowest value on your cards. There requires some strategy, basic addition at the end of the game, it is a lot of fun and it is a relatively short game to play so it doesn't drag on too long.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gamewright.com/gamewright/index.php?page=game&section=games&show=61"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.gamewright.com/gamewright/Images/Games/Display/GAMEWRIGHT-204.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>
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Adventure-man loves board games so I like to find printable board games where we can practice math skills. There are many printable board games which can be used for all sorts of math skill from <a href="http://www.education.com/worksheets/printable-board-games/">Education.com</a>. More printables here at <a href="http://www.k-3teacherresources.com/primary_school_maths.html">K-3teacherresources</a> and at <a href="http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/addition-board-game.html">Dr Mike's Math Games</a>.</div>
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He also loves Monopoly and Game of Life and his favourite part is counting the money out (and winning, of course!). He has got used to dealing with larger numbers - counting in 20s, 50s and 100s and can even get on with the thousand and ten,fifty and hundred thousand dollar notes in the Game of Life.</div>
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<b><u>Money</u></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.bakerross.co.uk//images/products/medium/Magnetic-Money-Chart-U575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bakerross.co.uk//images/products/medium/Magnetic-Money-Chart-U575.JPG" /></a></div>
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I love this <a href="http://www.bakerross.co.uk/product-Magnetic-Money-Chart-U575.htm">magnetic money chart</a> I bought that has English coins and notes. I purchased from Baker Ross. We use it in a variety of ways:</div>
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I started by introduced English coins and notes to him and then we'd take turns writing amounts on the board and making it with the money. I printed out little shopping cards with pictures of food or toys and they all had price on them. We would take turns drawing three cards and then we'd have to put together the right amount of money and add it all up. He loved it! You can download my cards <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1R04h_ktqmIYzgyNzc1OTQtYTk0OC00YmNmLThhZWEtOTg2OGRmZTUzMjk2">here</a>. (note: <i>The cards look all messed up on google docs but if you download the orginal, they should come out fine.</i>)</div>
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<b>iPhone Apps and electronic games:</b></div>
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I must admit that he played a fair bit on the iPhone and iPad when we were moving countries and had family health issues. I did try to find games that were educational. Here are some math games listed below (I don't tend to like to pay for my apps) so most of these are free or lite versions:</div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-hungry-fish/id483049169?mt=8">Motion Math (addition and subtraction)</a> - we have only used the lite version so far.</div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-hungry-fish/id483049169?mt=8"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/075/Purple/f8/2a/d6/mzl.gxpkwrco.320x480-75.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.funeducationalapps.com/2010/11/park-math-kids-best-math-apps-for-preschool-and-kindergarten-age-1-to-6.html">Park Math</a> - he played with this quite a lot when we first got it (actually I think I paid for this because it looked great) but he doesn't play with it anymore. Nice and attractive. Maybe it just got too simple for him.</div>
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<a href="http://www.funeducationalapps.com/2010/11/park-math-kids-best-math-apps-for-preschool-and-kindergarten-age-1-to-6.html"><img border="0" src="http://blogmarketing.typepad.com/.a/6a010534998f56970b0133f5b5beee970b-320wi" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://mathsnacks.com/pearlDiver.php">Pearl Diver</a> - a number line math game: it is suitable for grades 3-8 and I downloaded it for my older kids but Adventure-man seems to like it a lot. He probably gets the first two level and guesses the rest! </div>
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<a href="http://mathsnacks.com/pearlDiver.php"><img border="0" src="http://apps4ikids.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/PearlDiver-300x200.jpg" /></a></div>
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More suitable for his age group is <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-zoom/id451793073?mt=8">Motion Math Zoom.</a> It covers place value and uses the number line.</div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-zoom/id451793073?mt=8"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/077/Purple/f8/65/08/mzl.snbinszp.320x480-75.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/popmath-basic-math/id295536766?mt=8">PopMath </a>- for practising basic math (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)</div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/popmath-basic-math/id295536766?mt=8"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/045/Purple/ba/29/63/mzl.vstwxdwq.320x480-75.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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An observation I've made when he has played on the Wii (but certainly <u><i>not</i></u> at all an endorsement for using the Wii as an educational tool!) - we allowed him to play an adventure board game on our Wii Party game and there were dice to roll and moves to make and scores to read. I noticed that from the age of 3 - he was recognising big numbers (hundreds and over) and he was adding the numbers on the dice without any difficulty. Now, I wouldn't necessarily encourage everyone to let their little ones play on the Wii for educational reasons but it does go to show how much they will pick up when they are playing.</div>
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So my plan for now is to just keep playing with him and exposing him to all the math facts and skills that he is ready for. </div>
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<br />MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com4Leeds, UK55.378051 -3.43597347.0705455 -23.650817 63.6855565 16.778871tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-55535388562983252862012-02-18T21:45:00.000+08:002012-02-18T05:41:05.535+08:00A Fun Study on Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1waIa2rw-8i2vkHsqEdz1_1oz8JoNtD26izFCJopDWz6GquLXoBOpBMeYAgmGwvZ3zgU5UWQopydl70Qd-IypCR_Z75yjzhTirsWZ1Dq1E5IpNVe2Cm_ohq1_-rhyphenhyphenO6ruWOP5sVe5zk/s1600/lone-tree-light-frost-23441280702480QIWY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1waIa2rw-8i2vkHsqEdz1_1oz8JoNtD26izFCJopDWz6GquLXoBOpBMeYAgmGwvZ3zgU5UWQopydl70Qd-IypCR_Z75yjzhTirsWZ1Dq1E5IpNVe2Cm_ohq1_-rhyphenhyphenO6ruWOP5sVe5zk/s320/lone-tree-light-frost-23441280702480QIWY.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It has been a LONG while since I've posted on here - Adventure-Man was 3 when I started and now he's four and a half! My absence from blogging is fully explained <a href="http://a-pilgrims-heart.blogspot.com/2012/01/when-year-doesnt-turn-out-way-you.html">here</a>, so I won't go over old ground again. I'll just get back to the business of recording our days spent learning and playing.<br />
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Being back in England has been great for our nature studies and I decided to ease us back into our homeschooling routine by creating a short little fun unit study on trees.<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515-OOHtgQL._SS500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515-OOHtgQL._SS500_.jpg" width="200" /></a>We started off with making a cover for our tree book using stencils from Dover Press' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Trees-Stencils-Dover/dp/048627215X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328958457&sr=1-1-fkmr1">Fun with Trees Stencils</a>.<br />
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We then read from a selection of books. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trees-Usborne-Beginners-Lisa-Gillespie/dp/0794521568/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328958603&sr=1-1">Usborne's Trees (Beginners) </a>is a great little introductory book from which we learnt the different parts of a tree, that they have different shapes and heights, that their leaves can look very different and about the differences between deciduous and evergreen trees.<br />
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We had a little excursion out to the garden to examine the different kinds of trees - all the while talking and comparing them. It was a great opportunity to discuss the differences in the texture of the bark, about how and why trees lose their leaves in winter, about the shape and colour of the leaves on different trees. I created a task sheet for Adventure-man and we had to look out for and mark on our sheet:<br />
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1. How many tall trees?<br />
2. How many short trees?<br />
3. How many trees with leaves?<br />
4. How many without leaves?<br />
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He made tally marks on the sheet for each tree he found - a great opportunity to practise some math - counting, comparisons and estimating, using math terms like how may more, which is taller/shorter, are there fewer/less etc.<br />
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We then did a comparison between the apple tree and fir tree in the garden. We measured the trunk, estimated the height of the tree, noted the difference in the leaves and the bark and the branches. It was cold work but fun!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLHKW7hvsS5udXqQ5kYaAcTls7DQ1lDxrcBkWcUWTHbso4P1ZTMWe3s0Ta3vRU-Sgb934ACJeY-ljDmLGC_-KzSMaGAu5WfBQkDFv4WHGsEcruEiPAP5Y24AD4e8jbuJh7ldOa17vNbM/s1600/photo-7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLHKW7hvsS5udXqQ5kYaAcTls7DQ1lDxrcBkWcUWTHbso4P1ZTMWe3s0Ta3vRU-Sgb934ACJeY-ljDmLGC_-KzSMaGAu5WfBQkDFv4WHGsEcruEiPAP5Y24AD4e8jbuJh7ldOa17vNbM/s320/photo-7.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daddy and Adventure-man measuring the trunk of the tree</td></tr>
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Other books we read (which very nicely ties into a Habitat unit study I have just put together - post to follow!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Giant-World-Saguaro-Cactus/dp/1578050855/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328959166&sr=1-1"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RpgAekvXL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Ancient-Forest-Carol-Reed-Jones/dp/1883220327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328959044&sr=1-1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G9E4D1XVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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Another great book to introduce the subject:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Plant-Lets-Read---Find-Out-Science/dp/0064451968/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328959341&sr=1-3"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ervq5ik+L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Crafts:</u></b><br />
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We worked on a couple of craft projects but I forgot to take any photos. One simple craft we did was creating a tree out of torn up crepe paper.<br />
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I'm including some links to various tree craft you can use to tie into this study:<br />
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<a href="http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/fall/kids-crafts/standing-fall-tissue-tree.html">Fun standing fall tree made with tissue paper</a><br />
<a href="http://www.craftscope.com/autumn-tree-craft/">Craftscope Autumn leaves</a><br />
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/apple-tree">Following an Apple tree through the seasons craft</a> - scroll down the page to find the craft idea here.<br />
<a href="http://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/crafts/party-activities/?page=7">Winter trees using candy and liquorice</a> - while this is a halloween craft, I thought it could be easily adapted to make a winter tree scene using the liquorice for tree and maybe icing for snow and chocolate chips for rock or stone.<br />
<a href="http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Tree-Crafts-for-Kids.html">More tree craft ideas</a> here from Busy Bee Kids Craft.<br />
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We watched some videos on special trees like the tallest Redwood tree:<br />
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Cherry Blossoms in Osaka:<br />
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Suguaro Cacti in Sonoran desert:</div>
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There is online education game called <a href="http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees2/">The Secret Life of Trees</a> - it is probably better suited for slightly older kids but I think the younger ones can get a lot of it too.<br />
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This <a href="http://woodmagic.vt.edu/kids/index.htm">site </a>is a great resource for lessons too.<br />
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This video is great as an introduction to use as a jumping off point for learning about what trees need to grow (light, carbon dioxide and water), trees as a habitat and it's usefulness (trees for building and making furniture, paper and even when it dies how it decomposes and provides food and shelter for different animals and finally returns nutrients for the soil.<br />
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You could do bean plant experiments to demonstrate the importance of light and water for plants and trees to grow. Ideas can be found <a href="http://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-fair-projects/45956-bean-plant-experiments/">here</a>.<br />
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Here are some ideas for discussing what trees are used for from this <a href="http://www.borealforest.org/school/trees.htm">site</a>.<br />
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You could play a game where your child goes around the house and identifies things made from wood and you can explain how paper is also made of wood. This <a href="http://woodmagic.vt.edu/kids/products/Paper1.htm">site </a>has an explanation and a PDF at the end on how to make your own paper. <a href="http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/recyclingpaper.html">PBS </a>also have an activity where you can turn newspaper to paper - you can explore issues of conservation and recycling further as well if you wanted to.<br />
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Here are some recycling resources at<a href="http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/recycling_for_kids.htm"> Activity Village</a>.<br />
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Here are some books on recycling that might be useful:<br />
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Have fun!MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK53.801279 -1.54856753.726258 -1.7064955 53.8763 -1.3906385tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-17499216287762561922011-03-15T22:40:00.000+08:002011-03-15T22:40:47.213+08:00Letter E and F is for Emergency Services and Firemen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBdDlxDEU9ePQVK2aQ60FlH8nIDdfanl5EY7yXLC8MDfILiO2nnZfEucbSIysUClrb26no4XAzweKTwY1OqIpK8DlUKoxyyz4KhFofZBagyD9rl5X_b7AM_3Xv2lVUi-3HBws80GyrEg/s1600/emergency+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBdDlxDEU9ePQVK2aQ60FlH8nIDdfanl5EY7yXLC8MDfILiO2nnZfEucbSIysUClrb26no4XAzweKTwY1OqIpK8DlUKoxyyz4KhFofZBagyD9rl5X_b7AM_3Xv2lVUi-3HBws80GyrEg/s320/emergency+book.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><br />
We did some fun activities today with a focus on Emergency Services like Firefighters and Policemen. How can little boys not enjoy anything to do with fire engines and firefighters. Magaret Mayo's book "Emergency" is a great book to start with - it has vivid, bold illustrations, fast-paced rhymes and it covers emergency vehicles ranging from fire engines, ambulances and police cars to snow-ploughs, lifeboats and helicopters.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">We focused on firefighters today and had a blast. My favourite activity of the day was when we put on his firefighter helmet and went outside to play a number game. Armed with a spray (which we later changed to a foam water gun for added power!), I would call out numbers 1-20 which I had written in chalk with fire around them and he would run to put out the fire by spraying them. So cute! I got the idea from <a href="http://gironlife.blogspot.com/2010/04/preschool-corner-firefighters-and.html">Along The Way</a> - some nice firefighter activities there.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBPnv38hDiSgxXfu7PVk31XkkV7VilkyWTZoqrT3F28-IWUOrHCUM36ljhjfNuKLbo0VMe2Ia8088SGRNGo5W3xDrpkmvubPvVFblLuaGyM5Epoo7UmRrJUhVnhr3aAKYa4Uet6Xvf1Q/s1600/firefighter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBPnv38hDiSgxXfu7PVk31XkkV7VilkyWTZoqrT3F28-IWUOrHCUM36ljhjfNuKLbo0VMe2Ia8088SGRNGo5W3xDrpkmvubPvVFblLuaGyM5Epoo7UmRrJUhVnhr3aAKYa4Uet6Xvf1Q/s320/firefighter.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
I read him a few books about what firefighters do and about fire-safety :<br />
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Afterwhich we practiced what to do if our clothes are on fire ("Stop, drop, roll") - we did that <i>many </i>times! In fact Adventure-man's older sisters joined in the fun and we all took turns screaming "You're clothes are on fire!" and everyone would fall to the ground and roll around. Yes, we looked very silly!<br />
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I also gave him a play mobile phone and as we were reading through "Emergency!", I would get him to dial 999 to call the police or firemen. It was good fun and by the end of that, there was no way he was going to forget what number to call in an emergency!<br />
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We made yummy fire-engine ladders snacks out of cream cheese, pretzel sticks and crispbread crackers. It worked well with peanut butter and Nutella as well.<br />
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I downloaded a number of activites from <a href="http://www.homeschoolcreations.com/firemanlapbook.html">Homeschool Creation's Fireman </a>preschool pack for Adventure-man's workboxes. It included a fireman puzzle, A fireman colouring page, sequencing cards and matching cards.<br />
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He also spent some time playing games and listening to stories on these sites:<br />
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<a href="http://www.sparky.org/">www.Sparky.org</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.storylineonline.net/">http://www.storylineonline.net/</a> - "What will Firefighter Fran wear"<br />
and "It's Time To Fight Fires"<br />
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We ended our day building Lego fire-stations and trucks.MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-19927377208746342822011-02-25T23:41:00.001+08:002011-02-25T23:49:29.513+08:00Math Fun: Counting, Adding and Playing with Numbers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkb-_lQ38UKGLHB5T7zhIWcI6RWrhhXgYK6tSk1uog2g1rrmYHWOxkd7L3qGljjfwxQNmY2an-l1CwjM1MZJTDjrXmKwkkzoP8NYgCl-qdf4XvNYCcwLzjm7DfHiki7CajXbCapYfk9hc/s1600/sorting+dinosaurs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkb-_lQ38UKGLHB5T7zhIWcI6RWrhhXgYK6tSk1uog2g1rrmYHWOxkd7L3qGljjfwxQNmY2an-l1CwjM1MZJTDjrXmKwkkzoP8NYgCl-qdf4XvNYCcwLzjm7DfHiki7CajXbCapYfk9hc/s320/sorting+dinosaurs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We've had lots of fun finding creative ways to approach math concepts such as counting, sorting, sequencing and even addition and I thought I'd share a few of those ideas.<br />
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The top picture show Adventure-man sorting his dinosaurs by colour using a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine trainer chopsticks. They are really fun to use and great for enhancing motor-skills.<br />
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He worked on putting numbers 1-20 in sequence. We got this cute caterpillar to go with our Letter C theme from <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/10/prek-letter-c.html">Confessions of a Homeschooler</a>. She has a bunch of great resources like a Caterpillar dice game which Adventure-man loved, as well as a number of other sorting, counting and matching printables around the same theme.<br />
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We played a lot of grid games which he really enjoys at the moment. <a href="http://prekinders.com/grid-games/">Prekinders</a> has a nice selection of them to print off in different themes. The game simply requires us to take turns throwing a die, identifying the number and then placing the correct number of tokens (like beads, nuts, buttons etc) on the squares in the grid. One token per square. The first person to cover their board wins.<br />
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This was our favourite of the week - a math game called Add-it! created by Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler (she's amazing!). It was a really fun adding game which Adventure-man seemed really ready to do. We used Dinosaurs and other fun manipulatives and just added them up. We played against each other - collecting number cards to see who could get the most. He particularly enjoyed it when he poached cards from me. So much fun! Download from Erica <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/04/add-it-math-game.html">here</a>.<br />
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We reviewed our shapes in various ways which included playing "Perfection" (I had him name the shapes as we went along). He also enjoyed a shape matching file folder games (<a href="http://yayimadeit.blogspot.com/2010/07/file-folder-games.html">here's</a> a good one) and we just built with blocks and our Magformers.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=apishe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=B00009KX2L" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=apishe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=B000HDC3QE" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
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Other number activities this week: I drew numbers outside on our patio and Adventure-man threw beanbags onto the numbers as I called them out. We also played hopscotch. And we practiced our counting to 20 as we threw a ball/beanbag/balloon back and forth.<br />
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We also practiced our number writing with these cute rhymes from <a href="http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Number_Poems.PDF">Hubbards Cupboard</a>. We used the whiteboard (most popular), flour, shaving cream (strangely not so popular - go figure!) and traced the numbers with crayons.<br />
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Here are some links to some other fun math printables for preschoolers:<br />
<a href="http://www.homeschoolcreations.com/preschoolmath.html">Homeschool Creations</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolnumberandpremathworksheets.htm">TLSbooks</a><br />
<a href="http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/preschool-shapes-activities.html">Shirley's Preschool</a>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-80077718034198656562011-02-08T23:39:00.001+08:002011-02-25T21:17:36.165+08:00Plans for the New Year: moving beyond intentional play<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">This new year I've decided that I need some kind of curriculum to keep me on track with Adventure-man. Last year, I was coming up with my own ideas and drawing resources together from the internet - this turned out to be too time-consuming and I'd frequently end up not doing anything at all because I hadn't had time to think about it. <br />
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I considered <a href="http://fiarhq.com/fiveinarow.info/index.html">Five In A Row (FIAR)</a> and decided that I would wait on that for awhile as I wasn't sure about it. In the meantime, I found a great free resource - an online Christian curriculum at <a href="http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/pre-kindergarten.html">Hubbard's Cupboard</a> which has all the plans and booklists all ready to use and print out. The site has all sorts of great resources. For the preschoolers - it has a curriculum plan for 2 to 4 year olds. It is bible-based stories, with literature, art, science and music and movement suggestions and lots of varied activities for play. I've chosen to use the 3 year old <a href="http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/bible_and_rhyme.html">Bible and Rhyme curriculum</a> even though Adventure-Man is pretty sure about his letters and numbers up to 10. I wanted to go through the bible stories and projects in the curriculum. The four year old <a href="http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/character.html">Joyful Heart curriculum</a> is based on biblical character and values. It seems well-thought through with a scope and sequence sheet, daily planning sheets and an weekly overview. All the resources, bible verses and printables are well organised and therefore are easy to implement. It merely requires me to gather the different materials together a day or two before which is not to difficult. It is a three day week programme that leaves lots of time for one to pursue other activities and play with my preschooler. The only thing I need to be organised about is getting the books from the library beforehand!<br />
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We're into our second week and so far I am liking it - I do enjoy not having to think too hard about what to do for the week.<br />
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This is a quick glimpse into how our week turned out. Week one and two was all about the The Creation Story with Genesis 1:1 as our memory verse.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the morning, 15 minutes before our family devotions - I will have a little devotion time with Adventure-man. My two older girls join in for fun and that makes it really enjoyable for him. I read the story from the different childrens' bible versions over the week and I also use the Beginner's Bible devotional (I didn't have a copy of the devotional that was recommended, so I decided to use what I have). We would then sing some of the related children's praise songs, practice the memory verse and then do a craft (which, this week, was putting together a Creation booklet). We finish it all off with a song and prayer. Some days, Adventure-man will join us for the worship time at the start of our family devotions and some days, he'll want to play. I don't insist on him taking part while the girls and I pray and study the bible.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310714818?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0310714818"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1wOzxZJwPhu1aqVCPOK1aefrDnH-dm4LxDjRgoWkLrLJHDMflxLNNeDhMdIRxwTuWlmeN-iWX1ci0_CVXkla_9bmTScW-PAA2spLr4V6AUgEaO3dvCva2TwdhC-f-IWQBRv-LT1Lh3E/s1600/bible+devotional.jpg" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
After family devotions, the girls will go off and do some independent work and I will have about an hour with him. We'll do the suggested activities which included singing/chanting/stomping the ABCs, talking about the days of the week and talking about the number or colours of the day. We'll then progress to other things like reading a story, going for a nature walk, art and craft and singing some songs. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a snapshot of some of our activities:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">We made a edible creation story using whipped cream (light), chocolate chips (dark), marshmallows (sky), sprinkles ( stars), animal crackers (animals) and gingerbread men (Adam and Eve) - needless to say, that was a hit!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh43ULIrxM49kVwQAJzzVHLvTvjMPXPH-c1jpXDWKNaF4B9jb1mE_69Phmqf1aux4u_zP6smdj-XqsuWGlUIT_UY9CBRp-WOW85A7pVl0ksgARo6KkItjkuRZoFrSJ6xeeXBvVaPFjdk/s1600/Edible+creation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh43ULIrxM49kVwQAJzzVHLvTvjMPXPH-c1jpXDWKNaF4B9jb1mE_69Phmqf1aux4u_zP6smdj-XqsuWGlUIT_UY9CBRp-WOW85A7pVl0ksgARo6KkItjkuRZoFrSJ6xeeXBvVaPFjdk/s200/Edible+creation.jpg" width="198" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NEW59vOS57mIULc4b8_aSfY6c7Jpj-cb8VSojMcp5vdggrwKhyphenhyphen9KHdpQLyZU4Wt_NbXMV5khV-8Jrjhbm6ABdAAy5kAiBEkvH95pcVadWiirKHYrffzGpaL5ryC8OYWnrUIUd1zt70k/s1600/edible+creation+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NEW59vOS57mIULc4b8_aSfY6c7Jpj-cb8VSojMcp5vdggrwKhyphenhyphen9KHdpQLyZU4Wt_NbXMV5khV-8Jrjhbm6ABdAAy5kAiBEkvH95pcVadWiirKHYrffzGpaL5ryC8OYWnrUIUd1zt70k/s200/edible+creation+2.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br />
We started a creation book - all the creation activities are suggested in Hubbard's Cupboard.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpk1FxFt44qCMV64lIlZYqHO_ao6beUFUMo6j4jUnp0Z7DUp5p42Uueuc3rqZLgYI5b3-qvYlh6cor3wPREKo7kPxPTrrELPKbcY9yNMvb-dK4NSUDiRMp59PWwwLnbKCCogbupSl16I/s1600/creation+booklet+day+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpk1FxFt44qCMV64lIlZYqHO_ao6beUFUMo6j4jUnp0Z7DUp5p42Uueuc3rqZLgYI5b3-qvYlh6cor3wPREKo7kPxPTrrELPKbcY9yNMvb-dK4NSUDiRMp59PWwwLnbKCCogbupSl16I/s320/creation+booklet+day+3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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We also learnt our colours and numbers using art, games and books.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9EhJsex1SnrMqJS25UIVeq6fQREELyNE7JHbNMrdDoWR-_5HJCb3lnh5T2GeiswlXns5cxGgToFsAUYf1pOgwNGeKCxJVl_JU4UL1ljhL6szQtkQHdcfENZzLFFcb25TOBKl5qDiZuQ/s1600/writing+in+shaving+cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9EhJsex1SnrMqJS25UIVeq6fQREELyNE7JHbNMrdDoWR-_5HJCb3lnh5T2GeiswlXns5cxGgToFsAUYf1pOgwNGeKCxJVl_JU4UL1ljhL6szQtkQHdcfENZzLFFcb25TOBKl5qDiZuQ/s320/writing+in+shaving+cream.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writing numbers in shaving cream</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnHtUeSnNqlcqvZxlvoOIz1ysEuDa3pJcLJUJN-Nb2_vx0ta7rUlP6N-wPaUnT8HF4700zqx_gwdT-rP92VjZ-igdKCtVt-NDnSSdU8EXTqO7tiWuaaj290oZ6fCHs-JIdTrIVIbwTS8/s320/counting+objects.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Counting and matching numbers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnHtUeSnNqlcqvZxlvoOIz1ysEuDa3pJcLJUJN-Nb2_vx0ta7rUlP6N-wPaUnT8HF4700zqx_gwdT-rP92VjZ-igdKCtVt-NDnSSdU8EXTqO7tiWuaaj290oZ6fCHs-JIdTrIVIbwTS8/s1600/counting+objects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PnOpcblFGxHpNjbfTUzPzxNIxuvmcVR4AtXJVUZZQrIclXlHoaDQiLjj-_iMNiXcn4a1K3a6yZc4xWtc-2IxUyBASbTXtBOonhBb858Fk-wYfuGmBq6ymvaYWXsGLYzb96Y4Lr0bkds/s1600/making+green.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PnOpcblFGxHpNjbfTUzPzxNIxuvmcVR4AtXJVUZZQrIclXlHoaDQiLjj-_iMNiXcn4a1K3a6yZc4xWtc-2IxUyBASbTXtBOonhBb858Fk-wYfuGmBq6ymvaYWXsGLYzb96Y4Lr0bkds/s320/making+green.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making green with yellow and blue (after reading Mouse Paint)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time, I have scheduled Adventure-man into our homeschool day - in the hope that our day will run a little smoother with fewer interruptions from him when I am teaching the girls.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, as I said, after devotions we will have table time and playtime together while his sisters work independently. Afterwhich, they all have an active break together playing a game or going to the playground and we all have a snack. While they are playing, I'll set out some activities like the sand/water-table, his trains, paints, blocks or his playmobil farm and animals. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've adopted an adapted <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/workboxes">workbox system</a> with him (using filing trays which I already had). So, immediately after the break, I'll encourage him to work through each tray. I fill it with different activities he can do independently. I'm teaching him to complete one tray and to return it before starting a new one. This is an example of some of the things I'm putting in them.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrF02YcoMLFy-Xr6qEkku2KsbPHR7_1XVn03YRtcb3QCj37NmYcyIkk3CT_Xg4dqW_mq-JG4oPeC2U9ox_IoQE6uDOVT_IU_hC09cuLT7x_hzymwR9v0H1jkw6IEXHuOlfptgLSUzWSJk/s1600/worktrays.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrF02YcoMLFy-Xr6qEkku2KsbPHR7_1XVn03YRtcb3QCj37NmYcyIkk3CT_Xg4dqW_mq-JG4oPeC2U9ox_IoQE6uDOVT_IU_hC09cuLT7x_hzymwR9v0H1jkw6IEXHuOlfptgLSUzWSJk/s200/worktrays.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little mismatched as I was working with trays I already had</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1466769966"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGEMn3Zh4jlJpcPuym92Ne0S0JEyTJeUCRr5VWWl14BCYjZw8GRWQ1ZsaX2OGL5OPHTfGIfUh7sKM55Exo32GwumZ8mStMEMmw4e7DYIQaz9RN4nfmEyQETIPjTLVbpOSEPaHAFKF4zU/s200/stones+and+tongs.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free play with stones, tongs and containers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUZLfiA1pNvj5Gcf21kik_aGwgo4GAWHNlw2C9twM0zDBvvay13mlzWLEbuBz4dwhUCOzDnmqWpEQaL-8eVsfYSPvcaSoeghWLO_jz88ZBtQjdEa_e6YVHbWB69edMxG4P8JXmsLw1h0/s1600/puzzles+for+tray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUZLfiA1pNvj5Gcf21kik_aGwgo4GAWHNlw2C9twM0zDBvvay13mlzWLEbuBz4dwhUCOzDnmqWpEQaL-8eVsfYSPvcaSoeghWLO_jz88ZBtQjdEa_e6YVHbWB69edMxG4P8JXmsLw1h0/s200/puzzles+for+tray.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puzzles</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkn3zdhlKhrg3vTbqhxB27L9AHP_XW-9j9TNaf1XDzkWHStLVQaBio7V2W1O1pi51PNTJvstc0eWFCvcQ_Bv9ejZ4aMiUdxjKCkjscVlOPWYjJYL_x_h_VEV0upuE2hukvFoIDXEUwkY/s1600/screwing+toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkn3zdhlKhrg3vTbqhxB27L9AHP_XW-9j9TNaf1XDzkWHStLVQaBio7V2W1O1pi51PNTJvstc0eWFCvcQ_Bv9ejZ4aMiUdxjKCkjscVlOPWYjJYL_x_h_VEV0upuE2hukvFoIDXEUwkY/s200/screwing+toys.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working on motor skills<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Other things I'm putting in there: </span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">beads to string </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playdough and cutters</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Worksheets -tracing, colouring , do-a-dot makers </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sequencing cards</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">paper, glue, glitter, yarn, cut paper, foam pieces for collages</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">stamps and pens</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">animals with coloured rice (admittedly a little messy)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zoobs</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Magformers</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">pattern blocks</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">This seems to work better in holding his interest than if I were to lay these same toys and activities out in front of him. He likes going through the trays in an orderly fashion.</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afterwhich, ideally, I'll try and direct him to the things I've set up like the water play or rice in a tray with cars, Lego etc.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I've also allowed for computer time on something like Starfall (I've just joined More Starfall - which I think is really worth the money) or playing on the Wii, if absolutely necessary.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We read together during the girls break time and depending on the day he might take a nap. I've planned for independent play during our afternoon lessons but that has been less successful - probably because we are all a little tired and cranky! I have to work on a better plan to distract him.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm really pleased about being more organised and spending quality time with Adventure-man playing and learning. The mornings are sorted, it's just the afternoons that are still a little chaotic! Well, there's still some work to do but I'm sure we'll get there (hopefully with a big smile on our faces!).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/jolantheerb/PreschoolCornersidebarbutton210.jpg" /></div><br />
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<a href="http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/">http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/</a></div>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-11784926096050539242011-02-04T18:28:00.000+08:002011-02-04T18:28:34.712+08:00Life Size Aquarium: books we love<div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934734594?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1934734594%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%2241wgLFyPgKL._SL160_.jpg"><img alt="Life-Size Aquarium" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1934734594&tag=widgetsamazon-20" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=widgetsamazon-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1934734594" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every now and then, we'll read a book that "wows" us because it is diverting and enjoyable, engaging both mum and child. I love a book which inspires and informs while we are having fun. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, we generally enjoy non-fiction books about animals but I don't necessarily love very many. I think it is a bit of a balance finding a great book that captivates Adventure-man. Sometimes the books are just too wordy or factual for my tot and other times they are simple but dull. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having found <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934734594?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1934734594%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20src=%2241wgLFyPgKL._SL160_.jpg">Life Size Aquarium</a>, </i>a fantastic book that has charmed both my toddler and myself - I had to recommend it! It is a lovely big glossy detailed life-sized book of sea animals. It is beautiful to look at and fascinating at the same time.<br />
<br />
The layout consists of a two-page spread that is devoted to a life size picture of various unusual animals ranging from a leafy <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1296637060_2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; cursor: pointer;">sea dragon fish</span>, humphead wrasse, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1296637060_3">Dugongs</span> and the tiny Clione (aka Sea Angel). There are even huge fold-out pages for some of the bigger animals.The extreme close-ups in this oversized book allows you to notice some very cool distinctive features of each animal. There is a little sidebar with some interesting facts and occasional questions that encourages a closer observation of the animals.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was entertaining and it had us going online looking for videos and information on the various animals we had just come across. It really has been a wonderful find. Captivating with a lot of scope for learning opportunities. I highly recommended it.<br />
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I'm on the look-out for this companion book!</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 11.1111px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1934734209&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 11.1111px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 11.1111px;"></div>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-37207806540950050732011-02-02T15:04:00.000+08:002011-02-02T15:04:35.587+08:00Oops! Broken links on my blogI've been AWOL for a while with Christmas and travelling over the last two months and as a result, I've just found that my 4Shared account (where I keep my documents for you to download) has been deactivated because I haven't logged in for over a month. How annoying!<br />
<br />
I will be working to upload the documents again and repair the links in due time. So, to anyone who has been trying to get the documents and notes and been unable to - Sorry!<br />
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Hopefully I can get all the links working before long.<br />
:)MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-12927814870629377922010-11-25T22:09:00.000+08:002010-11-25T22:09:25.234+08:00Funny things they say<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzhUJX5r2DML7_7XVYWn04Otyb-U64Xb951obxWk0PJtIDarNDxG_nXRnaimC2GhNuqUVl_sasRSpjXJlb0OE0LR69M8ssyqDSs73MbwzSrsCqreVBmvEKblrI5Y8MjDNLc4GXLNlPF8/s1600/iphone+pics+august+2010+116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzhUJX5r2DML7_7XVYWn04Otyb-U64Xb951obxWk0PJtIDarNDxG_nXRnaimC2GhNuqUVl_sasRSpjXJlb0OE0LR69M8ssyqDSs73MbwzSrsCqreVBmvEKblrI5Y8MjDNLc4GXLNlPF8/s200/iphone+pics+august+2010+116.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><br />
Last night while I was putting Adventure-man to bed and we were talking about not saying bad words, he broke out into this spontaneous prayer, " Dear God, the devil is telling me to say "stupid", please help me."<br />
<br />
Wanting to devour his cheeks at that moment, I prayed with him, affirming his prayer for help and told him that God would indeed help him to do the right thing. He lay down, grabbed his blanket and snuggled down in bed.<br />
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Moments later, he opened his eyes and turned to me asking:<br />
<br />
"Mum, who is Tom?"<br />
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"Who's Tom?" I repeat, obviously not on the ball.<br />
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" You know, Tom and Jerry, is he the cat or the mouse?"<br />
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"...er I think he is the cat."<br />
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Pause. (<i>Obviously not satisfied with my answer</i>)<br />
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" Dear God, who is Tom?"<br />
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Mummy whispering, " I think it is the cat."<br />
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Pause.<br />
<br />
"Oh yeah!"<br />
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The thumb went back into his mouth and he shut his eyes and settled down to sleep again.<br />
<br />
Maybe you had to be there, but it was one of those moments - just adorable! A memory to keep, to dust off when he is older and those sweet child-like moments have passed. A memory to smile at when the days get long, to linger upon as I watch him grow.MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-58392500995778332002010-08-04T22:58:00.001+08:002011-02-02T16:56:03.785+08:00Play time, learning time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool2.gif" /></a></div><br />
We had a long break abroad over the month of June and on our return I had to spend a lot of time planning for our new year of study especially for the older two. So intentional play- time with Adventure-Man has been a little haphazard but here is a little snapshot of a few things we have been doing over the last few weeks.<br />
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<b><u>Our latest memory verse:</u></b><br />
<b><u><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIMjY3ZWI0YzQtMTQwMC00ZTIxLThmMmYtMWViNjFiMzI1MjYy&hl=en&authkey=CPLenKgJ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dc266.4shared.com/img/353488495/5c944e0e/be_strong_in_the_lord.pdf?rnd=0.0021816291729004345" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Be Strong in the Lord</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><u><br />
</u></b><br />
You can download this template from <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIMjY3ZWI0YzQtMTQwMC00ZTIxLThmMmYtMWViNjFiMzI1MjYy&hl=en&authkey=CPLenKgJ">here</a>. We also watched this fun video on youtube.<br />
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<object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BujXD_sksBg&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BujXD_sksBg&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br />
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<b><u>Counting:</u></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMbS192_N8tjLf-UICgHl_cnlKnqNX5Mt2aHpzdE5oebDmeT4g8DDxIgdjrLLJc44Hyd58gLvMpt6mSlw9kkk-WFlKiq9VJj02VKGlkTl3bC1xOscCR9jBRg6nWmddF6GAlYvGtn3Kbc/s1600/counting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMbS192_N8tjLf-UICgHl_cnlKnqNX5Mt2aHpzdE5oebDmeT4g8DDxIgdjrLLJc44Hyd58gLvMpt6mSlw9kkk-WFlKiq9VJj02VKGlkTl3bC1xOscCR9jBRg6nWmddF6GAlYvGtn3Kbc/s320/counting.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I printed out this sheet from <a href="http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolandkindergartenworksheets.htm">here</a> (an amazing resource for printables) and we just used his unit cubes to count.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewsY4-a_70e9re0cnVN2r5ipZ6CJ3mAgIK9wtriPfEaGRW3PLVAW14XriR3xNAfld6wxUpvBASxKAmXiH3zAFkrVRhD7ck20gsW0w4pZR-pcyIgwlGL3ckov3Xte7vhlKk23YE-QzTI8/s1600/vase.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewsY4-a_70e9re0cnVN2r5ipZ6CJ3mAgIK9wtriPfEaGRW3PLVAW14XriR3xNAfld6wxUpvBASxKAmXiH3zAFkrVRhD7ck20gsW0w4pZR-pcyIgwlGL3ckov3Xte7vhlKk23YE-QzTI8/s320/vase.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I made up this counting sheet where Adventure-man had to match the number of flowers to the number on the vases. You can download the template from <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIM2JmZWEzOGUtMTI5Zi00MDA0LTkxNDktZjRmMjAwYmY0M2Q5&hl=en&authkey=COXi79oO">here</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Letters:</u></b><br />
<b><u><br />
</u></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVIL0vqUsoaukC-Y_F9bk5M1wrGEeqVr3Yv0RmfqEapZmFN-ucLOzBR9TgdWtW8NCdYuwHzIo0wztEPAckJjZHZLeuXQ-3LCNVsgGBoy-OKarChpKGWiAz73zaKLBE0v_c5hyphenhyphenRE9xkMg/s1600/vegetables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVIL0vqUsoaukC-Y_F9bk5M1wrGEeqVr3Yv0RmfqEapZmFN-ucLOzBR9TgdWtW8NCdYuwHzIo0wztEPAckJjZHZLeuXQ-3LCNVsgGBoy-OKarChpKGWiAz73zaKLBE0v_c5hyphenhyphenRE9xkMg/s200/vegetables.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colouring our vegetables</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHUvHteVU9jyL7hsXz5I1HwMBwujbYw5Ree6DtVQnkxluzM9db0v-PyrdgAVJI6nge82T_3rVjq66saPi7vGpqCm9KbmWDSZbA_wMi_iDzH04lNc0krjRERp8eD-sj7emTrWVNHq0Yug/s1600/V+is+for+Vegetables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHUvHteVU9jyL7hsXz5I1HwMBwujbYw5Ree6DtVQnkxluzM9db0v-PyrdgAVJI6nge82T_3rVjq66saPi7vGpqCm9KbmWDSZbA_wMi_iDzH04lNc0krjRERp8eD-sj7emTrWVNHq0Yug/s200/V+is+for+Vegetables.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">V is for Vegetables</td></tr>
</tbody></table>You can download the letter template from <a href="http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/marcysabcs.htm">here</a> and I downloaded got some great ideas from <a href="http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com/2010/03/alphabet-fun-letter-v.html">Home Grown Hearts</a> and she has some lovely printables too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13Av4IbdlhhR-pFoLfp_42IZyAHTA7bG6aX6wICqYpaw5WGXeCTakEm_dL3UbD8YsFLDiM8d_LLKpnV3KuzGHz2KcGmKDBCAeKGxgCFD17rixKCLo_NPGJppb75W3aQF1yzR5-T1pusQ/s1600/hammering+letters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13Av4IbdlhhR-pFoLfp_42IZyAHTA7bG6aX6wICqYpaw5WGXeCTakEm_dL3UbD8YsFLDiM8d_LLKpnV3KuzGHz2KcGmKDBCAeKGxgCFD17rixKCLo_NPGJppb75W3aQF1yzR5-T1pusQ/s320/hammering+letters.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hammering letters into his puzzle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><u>Free Play:</u></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil0Q64TS5knrPTu5BTCNBQeEA5q9P1nXhlhZU4DzRnOQgpBXD4zN2mgNqohmtjpoJwreTICoIIZhApyxnh2S6hi4QvmjfS-AFxrcRU7Rwd6jJhyphenhyphencfS0jfMB7wbGEsV-HVEhpjEClsETY8/s1600/rice+play.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil0Q64TS5knrPTu5BTCNBQeEA5q9P1nXhlhZU4DzRnOQgpBXD4zN2mgNqohmtjpoJwreTICoIIZhApyxnh2S6hi4QvmjfS-AFxrcRU7Rwd6jJhyphenhyphencfS0jfMB7wbGEsV-HVEhpjEClsETY8/s320/rice+play.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This was a big hit! Rice and cars. We set up a little slope with his train tracks and let the cars roll down into the rice pile.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2nUwnk0gNtGTI1FruxJmozuUeNo-33XPb7V5OfEmgKzyxxgvevTm9zr1CBA24wufXarEYHO7-Lx90rvNrIkiCvIzdHTyvm3f45nGWcYuTJ-c8u2tylg6RYrMc1ORU76YqrfTyFCwJrQ/s1600/flour+play.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2nUwnk0gNtGTI1FruxJmozuUeNo-33XPb7V5OfEmgKzyxxgvevTm9zr1CBA24wufXarEYHO7-Lx90rvNrIkiCvIzdHTyvm3f45nGWcYuTJ-c8u2tylg6RYrMc1ORU76YqrfTyFCwJrQ/s320/flour+play.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Playing with flour. Messy but satisfying.<br />
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Tot School is in session!MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-27168868077510461562010-05-11T23:23:00.003+08:002010-05-11T23:28:09.748+08:00Letter O<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM6Uq6VGHjWnbuAMmV5ySKryQ5-vaP9lYF_5WzW3wkuFGCqmif0C17QTuESY5MrmO5xESvmcJcHHSlveYV5qXZqaTHBQ2zDqvU9L1y8tH9_GAdMwU2X_nP0CNjcD8naTDJp3CiYEV5blw/s1600/letter+O+cheerios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM6Uq6VGHjWnbuAMmV5ySKryQ5-vaP9lYF_5WzW3wkuFGCqmif0C17QTuESY5MrmO5xESvmcJcHHSlveYV5qXZqaTHBQ2zDqvU9L1y8tH9_GAdMwU2X_nP0CNjcD8naTDJp3CiYEV5blw/s320/letter+O+cheerios.jpg" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">This week we were looking at the Letter O. We are about to take off on a nice long holiday to see family in the UK, so our activities lasted about two days before I got totally distracted with packing. Having said that, I think we did get some fun things done in those two days. </span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The picture above shows the letter O which Adventure-man decorated with CheeriOs. I think more Cheerios were consumed by him while gluing them onto the O than he would normally eat at breakfast! The letter O was downloaded from <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/04/prek-letter-o.html">here</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGtHEdIe2s6qsb0gt8L9WmFXcM4OL04QlTJRwzkTGP6Cmk946zlc7WPwfadiFqJtmecZ3QoTtWMLudIrVAAihrcXCPa-HozvmYJJUKs8estV9tQaKUCUIaYhA9SkdW2S1f45mJkSp1zU/s1600/letter+O+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGtHEdIe2s6qsb0gt8L9WmFXcM4OL04QlTJRwzkTGP6Cmk946zlc7WPwfadiFqJtmecZ3QoTtWMLudIrVAAihrcXCPa-HozvmYJJUKs8estV9tQaKUCUIaYhA9SkdW2S1f45mJkSp1zU/s200/letter+O+collage.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">We then did a letter O collage downloaded from <a href="http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2009/02/preschool-corner-letter-o.html">Homeschool Creatiions</a>. I had to resist the urge to straighten out the pictures to make them line up. : )</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ003qtihwuBzbm0rgNDx6S7Au8Td5qtLM5kOEECbDP7OPAIh7Y9pkwQCsB1ajdkJEVRn7SHfzTKSCdHwMne1ujYsbMnRfIOIVgqLSp09FYAsOJ1fIJVsWRexhls28-EcH9hrEV7T7Ecw/s1600/letter+O+tracing+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ003qtihwuBzbm0rgNDx6S7Au8Td5qtLM5kOEECbDP7OPAIh7Y9pkwQCsB1ajdkJEVRn7SHfzTKSCdHwMne1ujYsbMnRfIOIVgqLSp09FYAsOJ1fIJVsWRexhls28-EcH9hrEV7T7Ecw/s200/letter+O+tracing+2.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga2ppe22fdT-LWe03l0ibqk6jIzVm5qlZepuw11om_uidYPzj9C8THuxJtLdawY3SBikD3MIGQObrLC0lAX09pJltR8FRIH9jLzQlVdKc-jeM9bI-MEHMl9J1jQNi_jsxreqwLLC8zTAA/s1600/letter+O+tracing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga2ppe22fdT-LWe03l0ibqk6jIzVm5qlZepuw11om_uidYPzj9C8THuxJtLdawY3SBikD3MIGQObrLC0lAX09pJltR8FRIH9jLzQlVdKc-jeM9bI-MEHMl9J1jQNi_jsxreqwLLC8zTAA/s200/letter+O+tracing.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">We made use of more printables from <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/04/prek-letter-o.html">Confessions of a Homeschoole</a>r. We practiced tracing the letter O and I also used the cutting practice sheet as a tracing sheet. Both were laminated so that I can re-use them later on. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2T2X6MZe3NpHecu8Ep5-iF9Nphe-yzaQjY6hMuOKF8IIrH88LLQAb2N8Ezd-K0MZA_i1Gy9zlZsWU9Zom2EUGSl4_a0z0eOUmXO9HjfhFHMZTcsrtZIpFJSg_uIsUBh4e54DnFKOQsXg/s1600/Octopus+counting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2T2X6MZe3NpHecu8Ep5-iF9Nphe-yzaQjY6hMuOKF8IIrH88LLQAb2N8Ezd-K0MZA_i1Gy9zlZsWU9Zom2EUGSl4_a0z0eOUmXO9HjfhFHMZTcsrtZIpFJSg_uIsUBh4e54DnFKOQsXg/s320/Octopus+counting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">We used the Octopus counting sheet to play a number recognition game. Adventure-man would throw the die and he had to find the number he had thrown, place it in the box and then put the right number of Octopodes ( yes, I checked and that is officially the correct plural for Octopus) on the sheet. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wTBgqjm9HibTyVd9c7f-ui7g7n-sqXtztvwSiv5lc73DnCrkrcDDklv6uGJkVPSdnTKFTI04vT5TOKAnCqEk-BCxaK7eZv_j4qVYL63jzJ39fZA0DBmMjrzek_5nkYA1R2adiTYKH8Q/s1600/octopus+craft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wTBgqjm9HibTyVd9c7f-ui7g7n-sqXtztvwSiv5lc73DnCrkrcDDklv6uGJkVPSdnTKFTI04vT5TOKAnCqEk-BCxaK7eZv_j4qVYL63jzJ39fZA0DBmMjrzek_5nkYA1R2adiTYKH8Q/s200/octopus+craft.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmB2-QgNNp8QdnkB-2yRXS8ll1qk0f9EYaHlQhNIRq5tG458rmNv4sXl8d0CaZ-Bt9PTrTe3W2VDWhlcRDKZaUDW0dHi5peQxirciQwdNO-wOn3-9skSglShMsZhV5SmIXe4_cZypBUM/s1600/ostrich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmB2-QgNNp8QdnkB-2yRXS8ll1qk0f9EYaHlQhNIRq5tG458rmNv4sXl8d0CaZ-Bt9PTrTe3W2VDWhlcRDKZaUDW0dHi5peQxirciQwdNO-wOn3-9skSglShMsZhV5SmIXe4_cZypBUM/s200/ostrich.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We did these two crafts over the two days, the first was an octopus (looks more like a wonky sun I know!) and the second is a lovely ostrich. I downloaded the picture of the ostrich from <a href="http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/support-files/ostrich.pdf">Shirleys-preschool-activities</a> and just had Adventure-man paint on the glue and stick these lovely colourful feathers. This is my favourite of the week.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQ-P0ObXxXKHgZ2C0pdvIZZQjapSeihl2laxVcgtFXjemIGmeTD0VL2VvxrAWroKmVUpOfTCBUY13atgJMaiKb2w_aQVWIYLAOWoYbG_dEtH6UkNbWT2VTDfYv9hdyFRAjWEQeFIg5k0/s1600/opposites+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQ-P0ObXxXKHgZ2C0pdvIZZQjapSeihl2laxVcgtFXjemIGmeTD0VL2VvxrAWroKmVUpOfTCBUY13atgJMaiKb2w_aQVWIYLAOWoYbG_dEtH6UkNbWT2VTDfYv9hdyFRAjWEQeFIg5k0/s320/opposites+book.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, we also introduced Opposites by making a little opposites book. I downloaded the pictures from <a href="http://pocketful--of--posies.blogspot.com/2010/01/o-is-for-opposites.html">Pocketful of Posies</a>. Then we read from his favourite book of opposites (Thomas and Friends) and played with his Thomas the Tank Engine Opposites puzzle. I also downloaded a number of cut and paste worksheets from <a href="http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolandkindergartenworksheets.htm">tlsbooks</a> which focused on concepts like <a href="http://www.tlsbooks.com/onandoffjetski.pdf">On and Off</a>, <a href="http://www.tlsbooks.com/overandunder.pdf">Over and Under</a>. I cut the pictures out, he coloured them and pasted them in the right places.</div><br />
Our other non 'O' activities:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrn6zpNvTd8upkWMnmc_8ieek158ZfZuqQsjeXWy9JDc4Haw_GroTozukN5OlnltHqnq9_i74YFa61BuECWH3h1dPfELxO8r9AwGgCR2BfiSGBqtT49E9XNf_YBvQde3wfJa1Cy91OBWQ/s1600/scooping+activity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrn6zpNvTd8upkWMnmc_8ieek158ZfZuqQsjeXWy9JDc4Haw_GroTozukN5OlnltHqnq9_i74YFa61BuECWH3h1dPfELxO8r9AwGgCR2BfiSGBqtT49E9XNf_YBvQde3wfJa1Cy91OBWQ/s320/scooping+activity.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I put soy beans in a box and gave him a variety of spoons and scoops, funnels and jugs and the bottom of a Ferrero Rocher tray. It was messy but fun and then he had a little practice sweeping up with a handheld dustpan and and broom afterwards. You can see him trying to stuff his blanket down the funnel in this picture. He thought it was hilarious!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKsnVNapyHRcMcav_KgusFM8qMLaLfzHHpKZdn9-OInDD77IcOPTGdqdsklH7sCqAT9PDrXsE0_n5WP6HzqgLCV663Z8yMzZXBiKLmHmtDFsuotbMPgG0GFd79AZIj2vZjksrqq87fRQ/s1600/Dinosaur+colour+sorting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKsnVNapyHRcMcav_KgusFM8qMLaLfzHHpKZdn9-OInDD77IcOPTGdqdsklH7sCqAT9PDrXsE0_n5WP6HzqgLCV663Z8yMzZXBiKLmHmtDFsuotbMPgG0GFd79AZIj2vZjksrqq87fRQ/s200/Dinosaur+colour+sorting.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>He sorted his dinosaurs into their colour groups (I put a coloured dot at the bottom of the tray and he sorts it out that way).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PI62UporyU-7lLbv-B-NkR-XdBP-KwioEw5wRbXJaIB-0X2lbJwbG5ZZPADAG_DBg1USA8quFQRgaRyrfveVM3VUIgV0yeq2SnBOGCESIVw2EfpeuE-uQIpX0vUwVd-DbLKlvoMzn08/s1600/puzzles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PI62UporyU-7lLbv-B-NkR-XdBP-KwioEw5wRbXJaIB-0X2lbJwbG5ZZPADAG_DBg1USA8quFQRgaRyrfveVM3VUIgV0yeq2SnBOGCESIVw2EfpeuE-uQIpX0vUwVd-DbLKlvoMzn08/s200/puzzles.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I mixed up his puzzle pieces and had him put them together. He did it all by himself (apart from the more complicated foot puzzle).</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, a pretty productive two days, considering. : )<br />
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Check out Tot School to see what other mums are doing.<br />
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</span></div>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-13503432004024175782010-05-10T17:23:00.002+08:002011-02-02T16:51:17.369+08:00Learning activities for a wide age rangeAdventure-man really likes being part of his older sisters' day and so I've been trying to think of learning activities that we can do together that will benefit all of them.<br />
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<b><u>Numbers and Math facts</u></b><br />
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I printed off numbers from 1 -10 and laminated them. (click on the number 1 if you would like to download the numbers to use). When we use them, I lay them on the floor, sometimes randomly and at other times in order like a circle or in a grid. I ask an age appropriate question and each child gets a turn to jump, wriggle, crawl, roll (whatever takes my fancy at the time) to the answer.<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIOTdmNGY1NGYtMDE3YS00OWNkLTg1ZTYtNGVkMTRlNGM2Y2Fl&hl=en&authkey=CPuG-M8H"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzhG8LyRUhCBo_fscGKBKiGcwSGAr23lFOytDlXwDIi_mahsp2uTzB2EnvaATiIGiXigN0TcrCCzOnIwUhhNj3QHpe8suKoK0cxFRMjnDHO_M7iI-zXIDmntxKXIUAxv_tbIhzHaB7uk/s200/page0001.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIOTdmNGY1NGYtMDE3YS00OWNkLTg1ZTYtNGVkMTRlNGM2Y2Fl&hl=en&authkey=CPuG-M8H"></a>For Adventure-man, it will be something like " Hop to number 3." or "Crawl to the colour blue.". It can get progressively harder depending on his mood and I might say "Wriggle to number 6, fly to number 10 and swim to the colour green." and so on.<br />
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For the girls, I'll give them multiplication or divisions to do and they have to hop on the digits in the correct order. I guess if I wanted, I could give them word problems to work out too.<br />
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This acts as a bit of of a morning wake-up exercise for them and they have a laugh at the same time!<br />
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<b><u>Just Fun Physical activity</u></b><br />
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If the older kids look like they need waking up or Adventure-man has ants in his pants - I pull this out once in a while. It is a little young for my girls but they play along with him quite nicely.<br />
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They are ABC exercise cards which have an action for each letter like "A is for circle your ANKLES", "H is for Hop on one foot", "D is for dance all around the house". I downloaded these from <a href="http://teachmama.blogspot.com/2009/10/action-action-1-2-3.html">Teach Mama</a>. We have a big fuzzy die and I get them to throw it to determine how many times we have to perform the action.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://teachmama.blogspot.com/2010/03/abc-exercise-cards-hooray.html"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnXOSskVtrHF_v7nHKMmShpW9aoz3xq3MpHzFEiIWB1WYEVa9IYTqLsUXb_g0-ppzqqBCdZzffOOE46hjDdSjy4SJjDwBFiYJglgvHimX3JbkwD73crP0_ijMR9jA6AMA3TYc0BRlXok/s320/ABC+exercise+cards.jpg" /></a></div><br />
That's all I have at the moment but I'm still looking for ideas so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-91500084754978918032010-05-08T15:41:00.003+08:002011-02-02T16:49:54.447+08:00Letter M<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ThyphenhyphengzLIsliSnUO4xa7g_DXTOVo60iuegoHcj5ysz3yGHml9o0ovekfslX-avVZZyr83JlyZxfWw3h5s57L6UNQ3j9P3dMb6KPQpCrfmjphTyeIFpgX7KRr1NdPWjKNQGRGMvqsyyU0k/s1600/M&M+colour+match.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ThyphenhyphengzLIsliSnUO4xa7g_DXTOVo60iuegoHcj5ysz3yGHml9o0ovekfslX-avVZZyr83JlyZxfWw3h5s57L6UNQ3j9P3dMb6KPQpCrfmjphTyeIFpgX7KRr1NdPWjKNQGRGMvqsyyU0k/s320/M&M+colour+match.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Letter M was lots of fun because I used these <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/prek-letter-m.html">M&M printables</a> which are so much fun! How could he not enjoy it since he got to consume the M&Ms at the end of the session!<br />
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Here he is sorting M&Ms according to colour. We did many other M&M activities like sorting and sequencing but I haven't captured them on film. You'll find all the other activities on the M&M printables link above.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c5LIFQ97ArgLxEBW6h6kyGu7laYGaoAIIkaPjXwBfMOwT8WnHi7OV0z2FQONExjk3MZAsWwHZXspuLaNDJT0X2P1KLCVNLx9VUsERaKTen3toI9AwgePU7rb9JYfGOQWyphGBQH0FNU/s1600/Letter+M+cubes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c5LIFQ97ArgLxEBW6h6kyGu7laYGaoAIIkaPjXwBfMOwT8WnHi7OV0z2FQONExjk3MZAsWwHZXspuLaNDJT0X2P1KLCVNLx9VUsERaKTen3toI9AwgePU7rb9JYfGOQWyphGBQH0FNU/s320/Letter+M+cubes.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I printed out a letter m template, laminated it and drew squares with a white board marker. I then provided him with unit cubes to place along the letter and I tried to encourage him to alternate colours along the way.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4CNGIN_rTEWusyOmEHL_091VGiSdSMiUU-0fkpe0iULa0AR5SL9prnv04ff6FIEERMLPhlEpfl_vN01xO67TQpKSAaNmahmYVrCT-Byv3ipFcDWazKzcJ-E508mPZ_5MwIhrhuImxs4/s1600/letter+m+lacing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4CNGIN_rTEWusyOmEHL_091VGiSdSMiUU-0fkpe0iULa0AR5SL9prnv04ff6FIEERMLPhlEpfl_vN01xO67TQpKSAaNmahmYVrCT-Byv3ipFcDWazKzcJ-E508mPZ_5MwIhrhuImxs4/s320/letter+m+lacing.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I printed this Capital M, laminated it and punched holes all along and started him off on lacing a string through the holes.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uJRhGeqsCirOa8C3ypC_KU-a-_s9Dytj-oIvurr3kzmsQrGm5OU1YMSM6LHlft_Rz1B05GzD2z-od-sxncZSY-1cQNaJYuHAqHpyWRmEAuZLLMwglULAXpgpSX4KMKnIycDOK7uWh6s/s200/Letter+M+match.jpg" width="200" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu0HTRsjpVXg4lVIq-2xMfk87-3z3fhA1_5VfNHI0Go2TuITUa7HukiRJsrndhjzx28pwPBlHVaZGay531-Tq0VIhJaIi80vORo7g043SGfaputZv2u8oSbxAV5zNtRdkl3re55AfN78/s1600/letter+M+match+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu0HTRsjpVXg4lVIq-2xMfk87-3z3fhA1_5VfNHI0Go2TuITUa7HukiRJsrndhjzx28pwPBlHVaZGay531-Tq0VIhJaIi80vORo7g043SGfaputZv2u8oSbxAV5zNtRdkl3re55AfN78/s200/letter+M+match+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was Adventure-man's favourite! I printed out a sheet of things that begin with the Letter M and laminated it. I then hid those items in a box of pasta. He had to search through the pasta to find the <i>monkey, motorcycle, money and letter M</i>. He wanted to do this several times over.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can download the sheet from<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIODhkNjM1YjYtMmNlMy00ZjFhLTg1ZjItNjliMGYzMTZjMWYy&hl=en&authkey=CIzrxtYB"> here</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbvuj9Nam5OHpxTZxNJhJtqGBWUQO9zyf9U6cCDTqkQiZedu1gQ3OeW0hYTVF-drBWJrqCnH623Q-MlrzhM1e8KYzgWwIUV9YFGH4XSfRb3DhvuvvmNVeXtT2ePFDnS8_IkTL3cmkp6M/s1600/M+is+for+Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbvuj9Nam5OHpxTZxNJhJtqGBWUQO9zyf9U6cCDTqkQiZedu1gQ3OeW0hYTVF-drBWJrqCnH623Q-MlrzhM1e8KYzgWwIUV9YFGH4XSfRb3DhvuvvmNVeXtT2ePFDnS8_IkTL3cmkp6M/s320/M+is+for+Moon.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I like to download the alphabet sheets from this <a href="http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MagnetPagesbyLetter.htm">site</a>. I'll either give him his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004W3Y4?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004W3Y4">Do a Dot paint pens</a> to dot the circles or in this instance, I gave him circle stickers (available from any stationery store) and he stuck them on.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is his <i>M for magnets</i> tray and this was a big hit too.He loved playing with them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4bU4InzgnxH6ejY3lp10IsVoHtOsxqV9KQCKGpOYQmTpEqCH6i8sockI3aB2L98Ab1NgVzBaLYbLK4DC0G-VrzmKLZxrmebXkrGEumwEIGb4Z1rKTuzGLWC0t94buqqont0ob_qrqPM/s1600/monkey+hang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4bU4InzgnxH6ejY3lp10IsVoHtOsxqV9KQCKGpOYQmTpEqCH6i8sockI3aB2L98Ab1NgVzBaLYbLK4DC0G-VrzmKLZxrmebXkrGEumwEIGb4Z1rKTuzGLWC0t94buqqont0ob_qrqPM/s320/monkey+hang.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is my favourite activity. I printed off these hanging monkeys and wrote numbers on their tummies and had Adventure-man match and peg the monkey to his number hanging on the line.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.makinglearningfun.com/images/Activities/MonkclotheslinemonkeysABC.pdf">Hanging monkey template </a> - I got the template from www.makinglearningfun.com, however, their monkeys have alphabets on them, so I copied the picture of the monkey without any writing on it and printed that off myself and wrote numbers on them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I used the numbers from one of the M&M counting printable <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/prek-letter-m.html">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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There were many other things we did like sing Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a bed. I made my own puppets and we retold the story. If you want a few related activities to do with your tot, this free downloadable activity pack from <a href="http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/5LittleMonkeysTotBook.html">1+1+1</a> is great.<br />
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I also read <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780064430173/Goodnight-Moon=CRajah">Goodnight Moon</a> to him and you can get a lovely free lapbook activity from <a href="http://www.homeschoolshare.com/b4_resources_goodnight_moon.php">Homeschool Share</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780064430173/Goodnight-Moon=CRajah"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://static.bookdepository.co.uk/assets/images/book/large/9780/0644/9780064430173.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780064430173/Goodnight-Moon=CRajah"></a>Letter M is a great letter to do because there are so many different things you can do. I look forward to coming back to it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Click below to see what other mums are doing with their Tots.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-6721143774729939442010-05-06T21:49:00.000+08:002010-05-06T21:49:41.221+08:00A typical day?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW0MvYqBu7Qpesj8rsWGMfVYUBHpIBhM76JgK5Kh9_uOJm35lQiC8I66MJq0tTAennpNub_as6RTUTy6ORls89IapcJoZB0O9EN6SEYmI3IM8zKrlBEmDhn7g3rl66J7_wToT48GvzxY/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW0MvYqBu7Qpesj8rsWGMfVYUBHpIBhM76JgK5Kh9_uOJm35lQiC8I66MJq0tTAennpNub_as6RTUTy6ORls89IapcJoZB0O9EN6SEYmI3IM8zKrlBEmDhn7g3rl66J7_wToT48GvzxY/s320/books.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><br />
I've been asked by a few people now what our typical day looks like - the truth is there is no real typical day for Adventure-man who fits into the routine of the two older girls.<br />
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The plan is that we wake up somewhere between 7.30 - 8am and find our way to breakfast. During this time, if I've had a reasonable amount of sleep, I'll start singing the verses that we are learning together with Adventure-man. My two girls have their separate memory work which they attend to later in the morning but they learn too as they sing along.<br />
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After breakfast, we all get changed and ready. The girls have their usual chores of making their beds and emptying out their laundry baskets. We meet for family devotions on the sofa sometime between 8.30 and 9am (closer to 8.30 if I am on their case reminding them of the time and more like 9am if I decide to take the relaxed approach).<br />
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During that time, we worship along to our favourite worship CDs or sing worship songs together (or do "boogie worship" when requested by Adventure-man or the girls - this consists of energetic dancing, jumping, waving of flags or shaking a variety of toddler noisemakers!). Some mornings, we take the more contemplative approach and just "soak" in the Lord's presence as we play the CDs. They will then record in their journals verses, thoughts and anything they feel the Lord is saying to them at the time.<br />
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Over the past year we have been using <a href="http://www.characterbuildingforfamilies.com/">Character Building For Families Vol 1</a>. I really like it because it is short, involves no preparation and there is no written work. Each day you look at bible verses around a character value like Obedience, Servanthood, Gratitude or Contentment and discuss a variety of questions and it always leads on to how to apply what we have learnt. Each Character study lasts about two weeks.<br />
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During Lent in the run up to Easter this year, we followed a different set of bible readings and devotions - T<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0687062799?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0687062799">he Lenten Tree: Devotions for Children and Adults by Dean Lambert Smith</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0687062799?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0687062799"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41scDdeBj-L._SL160_.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I liked this very much because it had readings and devotional thoughts for both adults and kids and it also had various ideas of hands-on activities that you could do to make the Lenten period more meaningful. I'll definitely use it again next year.<br />
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With our <a href="http://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/connect/jrox.php?uid=chiannrajah&jxURL=http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/year1/">Year 1 Tapestry of Grace</a> History studies we had the opportunity to read through huge chunks of the bible from Genesis to Malachi (sometimes using the bible and at other times using <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780802850119/The-Childs-Story-Bible=CRajah">Catherine Vos' Child's Story Bible</a> for the more obscure parts of scripture or for when we needed a "child-friendly" telling of events). Now, this year, I am looking for something they can interact with actively and have just purchased <a href="http://biblestudyguide.com/">The Bible Study Guide For All Ages</a> and so far they quite like having material to interact with as we read from the bible.<br />
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After reading the bible and discussing the passages, we end with prayer. With devotions done, the girls go off and do their memory work. We have a particular system for this which I will write a more detailed post about soon. During this time, Adventure-man is free to join us in much as he wants to and if he gets a little too boisterous, the trains come out. We often will finish our devotions with a round of kids praise songs just for him.<br />
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While the girls are reviewing their memory work, I play with Adventure-man. I'll spend some time on the <a href="http://littletotsteps.blogspot.com/2010/05/calendar-time-tools-to-help-reinforce.html">Calendar</a> with him and we'll play with the activities I have set up for him the night before. This is what his shelf looks like in his room with different activities laid out.<br />
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I have to admit that his letter related activities probably only get rotated twice a week on his shelves at the moment and the rest of the week we'll do free play, drawing, crafts, tracing, using scissors and other activities like that. As I am now actively trying to include him more in our homeschool day, I will have to be a bit more organised about this.<br />
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The longer we homeschool, the more flexible I am becoming and I feel less and less bound by our schedule. This is a HUGE change for me as a Type A Scheduler! I am becoming as concerned about the quality of their learning experience as I am the quantity we cover in a day. However, if I was to come up with a general picture of what goes on, this would be it:<br />
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Memory work (either personal review or recite to mum)<br />
Math<br />
Break (outdoor) and snack (often I'll read a poem to them or we'll do a picture study while they snack)<br />
Language Arts<br />
Piano Practice/Typing<br />
Lunch<br />
Scheduled Independent reading<br />
tapestry of Grace work which includes History/Literature/Geography/ or we may do Science/Art/ Music Appreciation - one of these in some form<br />
Playdate or scheduled activities (this term: Sewing, Skating, Musical Theatre, Ballet)<br />
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On any given day, this will change but it is what I have in mind to achieve during the day. One morning a week they have Mandarin and Piano lessons. Adventure-Man's afternoons will usually consist of a struggle between myself and him to get an early afternoon nap in and if he doesn't sleep, then as far as possible I try and direct him to independent play while I teach the girls.<br />
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Of course, the beauty of homeschooling is that you can switch things around according to their interests and your time. Being freed from the need to tick off everything on my list has led me into some wonderful avenues of learning with the girls. As usual, I am learning as much as they are.MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-14959421321131777232010-05-05T23:39:00.001+08:002011-02-02T16:46:26.954+08:00Calendar Time: Tools to help reinforce concepts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkxxLMEbc34jHvyUi9RORfcvPaGn6jrhGytljpXjyVr4TRa5SdHlnPaQFCq8oLHMaxhohrtI0YkiJMa2EakRLLQYyzJoaaEQZMkfvdLkE2tjY-BokpdxwsgdPOL28Iu5OWoLwU6mSkSM/s1600/calendar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkxxLMEbc34jHvyUi9RORfcvPaGn6jrhGytljpXjyVr4TRa5SdHlnPaQFCq8oLHMaxhohrtI0YkiJMa2EakRLLQYyzJoaaEQZMkfvdLkE2tjY-BokpdxwsgdPOL28Iu5OWoLwU6mSkSM/s320/calendar.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I have been thinking about ways to consistently reinforce concepts like days and months and our bible verses with Adventure-man. We tend to cover numbers, shapes and letters as part of the play that we do but I was wondering how to fit those other things in. I know he'll pick up most ideas as we talk about them through the day but I wanted to carve out a time where we are focused on learning some new concepts and also our bible verses particularly.<br />
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I stumbled upon the idea of Calendar Time - which I was familiar with in the context of schools. However, seeing how this <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/search?q=calendar">mum</a> and this <a href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Calendar.html">mum</a> incorporated it into their homeschool, I thought it would be a fun way to start our time each day while reinforcing words and ideas.<br />
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<b><u>Learning Bible Verses:</u></b><br />
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I try and pick a bible verse that will loosely relate to the letter we are working on during the week - so this week it was "Love your <i><u>n</u></i>eighbour as yourself". I make up songs and raps and we sing it together (or rather I sing it and he shouts out the parts he has learnt when he feels like it). We also sings the songs over breakfast as a way of reviewing what we have done over the past few weeks (helps wake us up too!).<br />
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These are the verses we have tackled to date:<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmINjVjMjYyODktYWQ4YS00ZGJlLWI2OTYtOGU0YWMzNGYxZmIw&hl=en&authkey=CILGvLIC">I have hidden your word in my heart</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7VSDIpszNSNR0oGgSQqq1E19hOv5lk6TYbbib7mC8icmz5E5Sx079bRvhmxSDa22T_i3J3URn4s9xk-crQgKykDD46FvIURcK3F0KFmwmEtPQxxwOboPf1a3iSLX0hTDosncsMq33qQ/s200/I+have+hidden+your+word.jpg" width="200" /></div>With this verse, I made a heart pocket using two pieces of red cardstock and had him place a picture of a bible in it to visually represent to him the idea of hiding the Word of God in his heart.<br />
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I also used this to talk to him about keeping good things in our hearts - I wrote out on pieces of paper a variety of things like "hitting", "shouting", " hugging", "helping", "kissing", "biting" etc and we went through each one and I asked him which things were good and which were bad. We then put each good thing in our pocket heart and each bad thing I got him to scrunch up and throw it in the bin! He loved it and now whenever we come to any bad behaviour, all I need to say is -"Is that something we want to keep in our heart?" and He'll reply " No, we want to scrunch it up and throw it in the bin." And for most part, the bad behaviour will stop!<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIZmZkMWM2NTgtMzhiMS00OTE2LTg5MWMtNzA4MWE1N2IyMWI1&hl=en&authkey=CO_H1LsM">Heart Shape template</a><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.4shared.com/document/qjOJTQCN/Heart_shape.html"><br />
</a></div><a href="http://totallytots.homestead.com/InMyHeart2.html">Be kind to one another</a> - you can get a printable for this verse and a whole variety of other verses at <a href="http://totallytots.homestead.com/InMyHeart2.html">Totally Tots</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIYmVkMjRiMGEtMmQ5My00Mzg1LTgwMDItNGRlOTllY2NhMGQx&hl=en&authkey=CLPsiLEP">Love is patient</a><br />
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Do check out the great ideas and printables for 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 at <a href="http://totallytots.blogspot.com/2009/02/simply-made-love-printables.html">Totally Tots</a>.<br />
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We are actually learning the whole of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in portions in the form a rap. We'll rap parts of it during breakfast time and Adventure-man will shout out his favourite bits like "boast!" or "Self - Sleeking!" (yes that is how he pronouces it : ) ) - Well, I was blown away the other day when he started rapping almost half of the entire verse word for word to Grandpa while they were playing with his trains.<br />
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I'm now pretty much convinced that he will learn anything if I put it to some kind of silly song or rap!<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIMjUxYzkyYjQtZjY2Zi00YjVlLTk1NGMtYzIzN2UxZWVhMTE2&hl=en&authkey=CI_7s_4E">Love your neighbour as yourself</a><br />
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I put together a fun activity for him after we read The Good Samaritan from <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781859855881/Stories-Jesus-Told=CRajah">Stories Jesus Told by Nick Butterworth</a> and then we got a poor injured doll who needed to be washed and dried, bandaged and plastered. He enjoyed it and it was particularly funny when he dunked her head first into the pail!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.bookdepository.co.uk/assets/images/book/medium/9781/8598/9781859855881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://static.bookdepository.co.uk/assets/images/book/medium/9781/8598/9781859855881.jpg" width="186" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsTc3wBnRgs1YamDn8-ekyuT0UxQxfNu8csgVaXoNyvt-5Jz9ad6QaSkVW4MK_utCSZe3IFOKY5G3turKJ13pGcPzNqclP2NNbKGKQXkqrtJEK3tvcoocDNeH7VDVgDzb5MLEhVoXVQg/s1600/Washing+baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsTc3wBnRgs1YamDn8-ekyuT0UxQxfNu8csgVaXoNyvt-5Jz9ad6QaSkVW4MK_utCSZe3IFOKY5G3turKJ13pGcPzNqclP2NNbKGKQXkqrtJEK3tvcoocDNeH7VDVgDzb5MLEhVoXVQg/s320/Washing+baby.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<b><u>Weather</u></b><br />
I downloaded the weather template from <a href="http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2010/03/preschool-corner-calendar-time.html">Homeschool Creations</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyecFMAvzusjcjbGqRIiwn4TC5nWmVy7-bbHiuWUm2Z8LsbPkXDRyU0l-HPjK-bneXzGiybha8-LPiTdg8BiiXRF6VyY-fBn7rSY-2yWbTNV-UcPocjb5nggP9Unv97icR-Pq7ny7XxwM/s1600/weather+chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyecFMAvzusjcjbGqRIiwn4TC5nWmVy7-bbHiuWUm2Z8LsbPkXDRyU0l-HPjK-bneXzGiybha8-LPiTdg8BiiXRF6VyY-fBn7rSY-2yWbTNV-UcPocjb5nggP9Unv97icR-Pq7ny7XxwM/s320/weather+chart.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is a great way to discuss Today and Yesterday as well as the different aspects of weather. Of course, where we live (in the tropics) it is usually only sunny, cloudy or rainy. He loves being able to stick things to the board.<br />
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<b><u>Months of the Year</u></b><br />
This is a pretty tough concept for him to get a hang of so we are just chanting the Months and I talk about whose birthday falls in which month. I have made a <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1R04h_ktqmIMzliOTBlZjItYjQzYS00NWQzLWI3YTAtZmMwNzg2MjgwZTVh&hl=en&authkey=CJzGp7QD">visual chart </a>of the months and will be getting stickers or photos to place in our birthday months so I can talk to him about the months that way.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_9dVEPpvau1Gus2ZimuS7bm4pyMobyNdarQ7UO8safmaH1hgZelP_b0X3fsbPBNgbfGg0TK3TzliqMh9oXaawyPTi5uXxn4hnhMvrYIHZhgRvgKw1e_29cCTNZP1utlFwonVoI2CbRs/s1600/months+of+the+year+chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_9dVEPpvau1Gus2ZimuS7bm4pyMobyNdarQ7UO8safmaH1hgZelP_b0X3fsbPBNgbfGg0TK3TzliqMh9oXaawyPTi5uXxn4hnhMvrYIHZhgRvgKw1e_29cCTNZP1utlFwonVoI2CbRs/s200/months+of+the+year+chart.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> I downloaded this template from <a href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Calendar.html">1+1+1.</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbdOxZmr1wGqpZgRKm1f0RRd46qrnYlizYhdhlJTBkwyfZTPf1-X0mr2Zy0GaBnW8nPIlQcxQtcTX3-xHNSNV0MLRYOi73lp6XAUcjnBqsOwXAFv1k1N239PP-uwjVPtB2GCLlSkFXrI/s1600/months+of+the+year.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbdOxZmr1wGqpZgRKm1f0RRd46qrnYlizYhdhlJTBkwyfZTPf1-X0mr2Zy0GaBnW8nPIlQcxQtcTX3-xHNSNV0MLRYOi73lp6XAUcjnBqsOwXAFv1k1N239PP-uwjVPtB2GCLlSkFXrI/s200/months+of+the+year.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br />
<b><u>Days of the Week</u></b><br />
We have a little song we sing and then I lay out the days in order so he can see the words and then I help him choose the right day to stick on on board. We talk about yesterday and tomorrow as well. I made up this template myself and you can click<a href="http://www.4shared.com/file/7SFruwiH/days_of_the_week.html%22"> here</a> to download it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa51Vy0EUd5ZGxauLVm_lBAkuVZmp2VY0GPRWMOL8YNj1micHqr4oMYCka6DW6y_EKThIr2tteIbuTX94-SdGRDPrqaxgU38Zvz755zsHz1JB4ElNWinodLfLx7_MwoOAGrpkI5pJ1_c/s320/dasys+of+the+week.jpg" /></div><br />
Finally, I printed out his name and the names of the family and each day he picks out his name and he is also learning to recognise the names of his siblings too. I got this idea from<a href="http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Calendar.html"> 1+1+1</a> again.<br />
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You'll see from these other blogs I linked to that there are a lot of other wonderful ideas you can incorporate into the Calendar time as your child gets older. I've taken into account Adventure-man's age and attention span and have kept our calendar pretty simple for now. I will probably add it over time.<span id="goog_583746695"></span><span id="goog_583746696"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2952487178561152617.post-89814519602689844912010-05-03T22:26:00.001+08:002010-05-05T23:40:16.504+08:00The first post: What we did today<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">"Where to start?" is running through my mind as I try to decide on my first post for this blog. There are lots of resources and ideas I want to share but maybe just sharing what we did today would be a good start.</div></div><br />
Each day in our homeschooling life often starts with the competing needs of teaching my two older girls and occupying my young adventurer who is not quite three yet.<br />
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I have in the past few months decided to be more intentional in organising activities for him but truth be told, I haven't quite got to the point where we have a regular time together. There is the <i>ideal </i>plan and then there is <i>reality! </i>Focused playtime tends to just happens in the midst of the day when I can catch time with him, usually when the girls are working independently or involved in other lessons like piano or Mandarin (which I don't teach).<br />
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So what did our morning look like?<br />
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We woke up, stumbled half asleep to breakfast and then eventually, after chores were done, we congregated on the sofa for devotions. During this time, adventure-man insisted very loudly and persistently that he wanted the "boogie worship". So, in tried and tested fashion, the loudest got his way. We played his favourite rowdy worship song (which we all love!) and danced around the living room while he used our big footstool as a trampoline shouting triumphantly at appropriate intervals. The only problem being that when we wanted to quiet down and start our devotions, he continued to insist on "boogie worship" and a large amount of my time was spent explaining why we need to be quiet and read our bibles together. By this time, my two older girls were rapidly slipping into a state of sluggish stupefaction. ( Sigh. This was not how I pictured it would be when I first started homeschooling - <i>but to be fair, this is not every day</i> <i>- we do have good days too</i>!).We did eventually get to our devotions after concerted efforts to distract him with his trains.<br />
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It is a Monday morning and I actually had a weekend to dream up some ideas - so what you see following is a pretty productive day on our part in terms of play and learning.<br />
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I have been slowly working through the alphabet with him over the last few months. We started by reading <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781862092228/ABC=CRajah">Letterland stories </a>and using their <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781862092273/First-Reading-Flashcards=CRajah">flashcards</a> to familiarise him with the letters. It worked well with my two girls when they were in their nursery schools (long before we started homeschooling) and I decided to give it a go with him.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781862092273/First-Reading-Flashcards=CRajah"></a>He loves the flashcards and we play lots of games with them - his current favourite game is one where I lay a variety of cards out at the end of the room and we have to race to get the right one. He feels very sorry for mummy who never seems to win! ;) </div><br />
So this week we are up to LETTER N. All the printables I used here were from <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-n.html">Confessions of a Homeschooler</a>.<br />
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Adventure-man started off with sticking "N for Noodles" on our letter Ns and then proceeded to dump glitter all over it. And why not!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qpY1v9VuRHwwRAIa1XRKKLf6VWpiGYu7ULqZ2aKMDg0A90ctX0Lt50akd3RmTRwFY-F8De7n7eAooBCNSli308HC_W5r8cn7Gyy_lxPVuhSPa6AwjpZtTxNFIIcIicG4LOLw_PJKaMY/s1600/Letter+N.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qpY1v9VuRHwwRAIa1XRKKLf6VWpiGYu7ULqZ2aKMDg0A90ctX0Lt50akd3RmTRwFY-F8De7n7eAooBCNSli308HC_W5r8cn7Gyy_lxPVuhSPa6AwjpZtTxNFIIcIicG4LOLw_PJKaMY/s200/Letter+N.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
He then sorted out Big N's and little n's in this activity.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsBMdRjMVwNq_PuEw0EAebcGtUvj2L4rceKtNYJrWsUoPT-u5SPLlU098b5RMH-Mz9tip4FoNxc4OBtEiK8CPCKcxv_IoegUog2GbdiDEdkTiOaKXKU6KX0JD6dqeIUj7BdQlVrrm2Y/s1600/Letter+N+sort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsBMdRjMVwNq_PuEw0EAebcGtUvj2L4rceKtNYJrWsUoPT-u5SPLlU098b5RMH-Mz9tip4FoNxc4OBtEiK8CPCKcxv_IoegUog2GbdiDEdkTiOaKXKU6KX0JD6dqeIUj7BdQlVrrm2Y/s200/Letter+N+sort.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br />
And He used <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004W3Y5?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004W3Y5">Do A Dot</a> paint for this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7anvDX-UD-GYL7NLVnXhBdFwu7lC8c9JcatjzLA-bdfiJhPDIXiY2L_5KXKOypDoeEMrEITbbOgaf8tW_zb5ZV5IOoZmFwCIupI7e0Ekj9Jxau8L8GmBx4bNu8GE-h-gZTJAyOPZS7OM/s1600/Letter+N+Do+a+Dot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7anvDX-UD-GYL7NLVnXhBdFwu7lC8c9JcatjzLA-bdfiJhPDIXiY2L_5KXKOypDoeEMrEITbbOgaf8tW_zb5ZV5IOoZmFwCIupI7e0Ekj9Jxau8L8GmBx4bNu8GE-h-gZTJAyOPZS7OM/s200/Letter+N+Do+a+Dot.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
He practiced his fine motor skills sticking straws into small holes punched into a cereal box. (I got this idea from some of the <a href="http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/TotSchool.html">Tot School blogs</a> - sorry I can't remember where.) And he matched the number of beads to the numbers in his trays with some help from me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsUmsF6nruWNekAqaft4n2nSsftIwWzxcLZ5PvHuIDl44_E9FR6AujnlDBy5AuG1u1ajLM2vqYgT8xK8j4OQX8HR1O6j8mtlLpoF_rYnmPu1E1YLSkvlfc0GcmWZ28etN2GHYmIJr6IU/s1600/straws+in+cereal+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsUmsF6nruWNekAqaft4n2nSsftIwWzxcLZ5PvHuIDl44_E9FR6AujnlDBy5AuG1u1ajLM2vqYgT8xK8j4OQX8HR1O6j8mtlLpoF_rYnmPu1E1YLSkvlfc0GcmWZ28etN2GHYmIJr6IU/s200/straws+in+cereal+box.jpg" width="200" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5C0_xIrJRrDjhxV6TYZAwVUXqYIqyODqzIb3gQwzVDyXbeed3mRDyEC5DWkgjHbZ50DaEpdEnI9Be3Ys1fmkiPtc22-auac44xCitbOdD67H0Odswq5jjkD4kWjrBIHk-gPSuOZmrzVg/s1600/counting+beads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5C0_xIrJRrDjhxV6TYZAwVUXqYIqyODqzIb3gQwzVDyXbeed3mRDyEC5DWkgjHbZ50DaEpdEnI9Be3Ys1fmkiPtc22-auac44xCitbOdD67H0Odswq5jjkD4kWjrBIHk-gPSuOZmrzVg/s200/counting+beads.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
The other things he got to do today were:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSVqw-LinIszu1t0-JGaOPlL6J5ayTYXrpEZBZOF_SHOry7EKDg1PltoE73uQa_RPi5pK3JndiqWUSM7ciXAYWS_ij61gwd5H70lvqwuuEpXmM5PGcQZROyW1pctJtBwpfgP4eqc7hE4/s1600/beanbag+toss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSVqw-LinIszu1t0-JGaOPlL6J5ayTYXrpEZBZOF_SHOry7EKDg1PltoE73uQa_RPi5pK3JndiqWUSM7ciXAYWS_ij61gwd5H70lvqwuuEpXmM5PGcQZROyW1pctJtBwpfgP4eqc7hE4/s200/beanbag+toss.jpg" width="150" /> </a>Tossing bean bags onto numbers called out by me. </div><br />
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</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzklsXw502umQA4Fi4iFi7i0mC6JHCnkQeO_yR505QYWut2DMEmLWSTW_2nUc1kb06Ccn55gIgPToDtXOVqUBXvA879zgmuMwupinVAVtU8T89W8tpA46FKAuJl2fsqUIGG7jjlt1cn-s/s200/playing+with+ice.jpg" width="150" /></div> Playing with coloured ice (A BIG HIT!)<br />
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I got these ideas out of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671317741?ie=UTF8&tag=apishe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671317741">The Toddlers Busy Book</a>.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rest of the day was taken up with general play with trains, reading before nap times, going to the playground and yes, (head hung in shame) watching some TV. It was a happy day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>.MamaChihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05542151653872875808noreply@blogger.com1