Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

These cute crafts are courtesy of our local library. We stopped by there today to return some movies we had checked out. There was a craft table set up in the children's department and after picking out new movies - we sat down and put together these little masterpieces.

You probably can't tell in this picture, but the pictures are of log houses made with popsicle sticks. The kids added construction paper doors, windows and grass. And the librarians gave each child a penny to glue on the window - so it looks like Lincoln is looking out of the window - so cute!

Oh, and the hats - the bottom part is supposed to look like Abe's beard. And while the kids were trying on their new "disguises" (that's what they called them), they determined that Abby was Mrs. Abe Lincoln - because, of course "girls don't have beards".

Learning Notes - 11/12-11/16

L/A ~ letter "Q" - and we are now finished with the entire alphabet!, Ryan read a mini-book entitled "A Cub" ; we reviewed all the letter cards and he gave me a word that began with each letter (all sounds that the letter made since we used the vertical phonics approach); we also reviewed all of the sight words that he has learned so far

Math ~ MUS Primer Lesson #10 - watched the DVD lesson together, completed practice page 10A & 10B; practiced writing number 6, 5, 8 & 7

Read Alouds ~ My First Counting Book, The Bunny Book, The Bunnies' Counting Book (all Little Golden Books), Fall Leaves by Mary Packard, The Snail House by Allan Ahlberg, Autumn Days by Ann Schweninger, Edward in Deep Water & Ruby's Beauty Shop by Rosemary Wells, Fresh Fall Leaves by Betsy Franco, The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving Day by Ann McGovern and The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Greene

learning notes 10/29 - 11/2

L/A ~ letters "y" and "v"; sight words "do" and "so"; making words: good, gas, gate, got, dog, grab, grass, gone, wall, well, will, wig, west, wade, wore, wide, yes, yak, yoke, baby, have, save, gave, cry, happy, fly, muddy, vase, vest, love, my, by, sky, live, dove. I have had to get a little more creative with the making words activity so Ryan doesn't get bored: we've used magnetic letters, our WP letter cards, I've made the words and had him read them, he's made the words that I dictate to him and I've had him write them on his handwriting page.
Math ~ MUS Primer Lesson 10 (Hundreds Place)
Read-Alouds ~ Box Turtle at Long Pond, Fishing at Long Pond, Beaver at Long Pond - all by William George; Duck, Duck, Goose by Tad Hills; In the Small Small Pond by Denise Fleming; Month by Month a Year Goes Round by Carol Diggory Shields

learning notes - 10/24 through 10/26

It may look like we've taken a break from learning, but even though we weren't "doing" school, Ryan has still been practicing reading - he's been reading real books to all who will sit still long enough to listen!

This week, however, we did get back into "doing" school:

L/A ~ letters "G" and "W", sight words "were" and "to", making words list: mice, dice, rice, nice, cot, cop, can, lot, pal, look, pool, loot, lake, late, let, good, gas, gate, got, west, wade, dog, grab, grass, gone, wall, well, will, wig

Math ~ MUS Primer 9F - review page; Singapore EarlyBirdK 2A p. 61 - working on tens and ones place

Read-Alouds ~ Beaver Pond, Moose Pond by Jim Arnosky, Old Beaver by Udo Weigelt, Get Busy Beaver by Carolyn Crimi, Beaver at Long Pond by William George, Box Turtle at Long Pond by William George

learning notes - October 1 - October 5

L/A ~ letters "c" and "l", sight words "she" and "are", made lots of words using letter cards, - I say a word to Ryan and he uses his letter cards to spell the word - and boy is he good at it! This week he made over 37 words (dot, cone, late, came, mud, cane...). We also came up with a list of words that rhyme with "pig" to go along with our farm theme - and he wrote the words on his handwriting sheet. Ryan is really getting into reading now - everytime we read a book together he points out words and phrases that he knows and this week he actually read the book Ten Apples Up On Top by Theo LeSieg (Dr. Suess) out loud to Scott and I - he only needed help on a few words!



Math ~ MUS Primer Lesson 9, Singapore Early Bird K - 2A p. 59-60 - I am going slowly through math - he seems to be getting the whole "tens and ones place" thing - but I don't want to rush it, I'd rather he really know it before we move on.



Read Alouds: Library Lil (2 times), Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five, Beren Bears and the Bad Dream, excerpt from Heidi from Treasury of Classic Stories

learning notes - 9/24 to 9/28

L/A: letters "D" and "U", sight words "of" and "was", making words activity - I ask Ryan to make a words using his letter cards - this week he made 38 words! It's absolutely amazing to watch him learn!


Math: MUS Primer lesson 9 (decimals/tens and ones place), practice page 9B, Singapore Early Bird 2A pg 56-58...this was all new info for Ryan so I wasn't sure how he would do since all of the math we have done so far has been review - but he picked up this new info quickly!


Misc: came up with a list of words that rhyme with "goat", both Ryan & Abby did a cut/paste activity "farm animal parade" and we added each of their "parades" to our farm mural


Read-Alouds: The Quiltmaker's Journey by J. Brumbeau, Beren Bears and Baby Makes Five, Beren Bears and the Bad Dream, G is for Goat by P. Polacco, Oh Look! by P. Polacco, The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown, Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat

learning notes - 9/17 to 9/21

L/A ~ letters "j" and "h", sight words "you" and "and", made our "taking off in reading" words with letter cards - Ryan is really "taking off in reading"! "rhyme time" game in Wow! I'm Reading; Math ~ MUS primer lesson 9 and practice page 9A - this is new info for Ryan so we are working slower - learning about decimals (tens place and ones place); Read Alouds ~ "The Little Match Girl" (such a sad story)


We also visited our local fair this week, the kids had fun looking at the farm animals. We saw cows, goats, chickens, roosters, bunnies and turkeys. We also got to see a mama pig and her one-day old piglets and two baby calves in the fair's birthing center.

Our last stop was to the poultry barn - it was pretty noisy - lots of roosters crowing and chickens sqwauking (sp?)... I never knew there were so many different kinds of roosters...This was the pose that I got after Abby said, "Mom, take our picture in front of the chickens"...

learning notes - Monday 9/10 - Friday 9/14

Maybe I'll switch to once a week updates on what we're learning...

L/A - This week we worked on the letters "o" and "n", practiced handwriting both upper & lowercase of both letters, reviewed their sounds by verbally doing workbook pages in Get Ready for the Code and Jump Right into Reading, made lots of words with our letter cards - some I made for Ryan and I had him read them, other times I would ask him to make a word...and his favorite - he made some words for me! Math - MUS Primer lessons 6 (circles), 7 (number recog), and 8 (triangles) - pretty much review for Ryan. Other - We did a cool activity from Science Play called "Inside Dirt" (p.82); made farm animal riddle book. Read Alouds - Horses by Gail Gibbons, Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit, Beren Bears Forget their Manners, Beren Bears and the Sitter (Abby is on a Beren Bear kick right now), Henry and Mudge and the Snowman, Calling Dr. Amelia Bedelia, Walter the Baker by Eric Carle, September 2007 High-5 magazine, Picnic Farm by C. Morton & S. Barringer, One Whole Day: Wild Ponies by Jim Arnosky (very sweet book), finished Ch. 3 in Mrs. Pigglewiggle's Farm, The Brementown Musicians, What is Love in Happy Days Treasury and Poems: "The Cow", "Humpty Dumpty", "Hey Diddle Diddle".

learning notes - Friday 9/7

Another day of mostly read-alouds: finished The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by R. Dahl - very cute book; The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County; part of ch 3 from Mrs. Pigglewiggle's Farm; and Seven Little Postmen. We also practiced drawing horses based on directions from Sing, Play, Create. After drawing a couple horses, Ryan drew a farm scene with all of the animals we've learned to draw so far: a rooster, a hen and a horse...and he also went ahead in the book and drew a cow! He is definitely eager to learn!