Nature Journals Week 8

We have been super busy lately and not able to do too much nature journaling. These were our last few pages.

Jadyn drew a before picture of her pumpkin and and after picture. She carved a bunny in her pumpkin for her pet bunny. She did a really good job doing it too!

Kaleb drew an alligator catching a fish, another fish, and his pumpkin. I love his alligator!

Tot Tuesday

 Recently, my tot watched as I had my first grader counting to 100 with a 100's chart. I do this for practice and number recognition. We count by 1'2, 2's, 5's, and 10's to keep it fresh. My tot wanted to work along us so he promptly found a second 100's chart that we had and counted along.

I love it! He was counting....8, 9, 10, 25, 22...

I also love that his chart is upside down (if you look closely) but that didn't stop him from counting along with us. Have an awesome day.

Owl Pellet Experience

A year of adventures for this year of schooling. We are excited as this week's adventure/experience was dissecting an owl pellet. We have been studying animals in our Science curriculum and we just finished learning about owls. It was a perfect opportunity to dissect an owl pellet.

We read about owls in our Encyclopedia of Animals book.

Then the fun began - first I had them draw what it looked like before we began. Yeah, I know what it resembles but an owl pellet is not from THAT end of an owl. An owl actually yarps (regurgitates) the bones and fur of animals that it eats. The pellet is then sanitized for your protection.

Kaleb is working on separating the pellet. I was truly amazed at how many bones were actually in the pellet.

J is working on hers. She couldn't believe it either! It took some time but they finally separated the bones and fur from the pellet.

This is what we came away with - a ton of bones. I think each pellet had at least four skull pieces and lots of vertebrae. We soaked the bones in bleach to make them whiter and easier to see. This was an experience that J said she would do again. She loved finding all of the bones, like a mini treasure hunt!

Tot Tuesday

For the last month, my kids have been dinosaur crazy. I found some dinosaurs at the Dollar Store which were just the right size for some great dino play. And we were able to go to Dinosaur World and see life-sized versions of the dinosaurs. My tot - Riley keeps asking me are the dinosaurs ....tinct?  Yes, Riley they are extinct. He also asks whether they are meat eaters or plant eaters. It is so cute! I keep thinking I should create a mini dino unit just for my tot - we will see:) I caught him playing at the school table while I was working with Kaleb.

My dino crazy tot hard at play. Love it:)

Pumpkin Patch Experience

A new school year...a year of adventures - that is what this school year brings. Why? Well, our lives have been on hold for that last few years. We thought we were going back to Turkey and we were working for that. It made life somewhat difficult and we put many things on hold. I wanted to give my kids a different kind of school year - a year of adventures and experiences that were new to us. No more putting things on hold - we are where we are going to be for awhile. It is time to stop being in the holding pattern and start living and learning:) I can do anything for a year, right?

This week's adventure is going to the pumpkin patch. I know that might not sound like an adventure to you but it was to us. Living overseas, we didn't have pumpkin patches. We didn't even have orange pumpkins! There wasn't Halloween or Thanksgiving...at least not like here in America. So, yes, going to a pumpkin patch is an adventure:) (at least to us).

We were enjoying the cooler weather here. I love these pics.

I asked Riley to look up. I meant look up to the camera but he literally looked up. Haha!

The great pumpkin. Loved it. Hope you get to have an adventure today:)

Riley's Rhymes - Hey Diddle Diddle with free printable

If you have been following the blog, you may have noticed that I have a new section called Riley's Rhymes. What is Riley's Rhymes? It is a gentle form of tot school that focuses on nursery rhymes and songs while learning about shapes and colors. While I do not believe in formal education for my tot. I created this for my tot since he was always asking to do "school." Our new Riley's Rhymes mini unit is the rhyme - Hey Diddle Diddle. The shape we will be learning about is the crescent (moon) and the color white.

I included a visual schedule. I am a visual learner and it just helps to have pictures of what I want to accomplish.

I added clothespin cards - match the shape on the plate with the correct shape in the box. Have your child clip a clothespin on the answer.

 I included a two part puzzle that I will make magnetic and a sewing card. Riley likes the sewing cards.

There are spoon number cards. Have your child add glass beads or pom poms to the handle of the spoon while counting.

Sort the moons - large and small moon sort. You could even practice patterning if your child is ready. Enjoy the new mini unit.

Download Hey Diddle Diddle Mini Unit HERE.

Gratitude Journals

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to be more conscious of being thankful. I wanted my kids to be aware and be thankful as well. So, I thought we would work on a gratitude journal for the month of November. I wanted it to be a simple activity to make us think of ways we are thankful. I found a free printable from____ . It was a thankful calendar for the month of November but I took it further. I printed the cards on paper, cut them out, and added them to our Thankful Jar. Each day, one child will choose a card, read it, and then write/draw their answers in a mini gratitude journal. We will complete this activity as part of our Bible each morning.

I found some mini notebooks that I had been keeping. They had 16 blank pages in them and if we used just half a page for each day, there would be enough pages for the month. They made their covers for their journals - Kaleb on left and J on right.

I had the children draw their responses to each of the daily questions. I journaled for Kaleb so we could remember what he was thinking.

Another set of entries - thankful for what color? Thankful for family and friends.

My journal cover ....

And one of my journal entries. May you take some time to be thankful this holiday season. Have an awesome day.

Links

Proverbial Homemaker - has the Thanksgiving Calendar set that I used for our journal jar. I printed each day, folded them, and added to a mason jar. Each day, someone picked one and we journaled the answer to the question.
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Tot Tuesday

I recently read the kids a book called Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. I just had to bring out the tangrams for fun. We read through the entire book and made each animal from our tangrams. Riley didn't want to be left out, as usual.

I started by giving him a regular set of tangrams. He put the shapes together but he had difficulty putting together the animals. Then I remembered that I had just the right thing for him - Tangoes Jr.

I found Tangoes Jr. at Target on sale. I am always on the look-out for games and activities that challenge the mind. These Tangoes were magnetic and had two different levels of difficulty. He was thrilled to have his own set and they didn't move around like the others.

He used the cards that had each shape marked and was able to create the pictures we were creating with our own tangrams. I love when things work out:) It was a good math day!

Nature School

The other day we were blessed with cool weather and we were promised a day with no distractions, field trips, or piano lessons. I just wanted to have a good school day. I looked at my school schedule and saw a ton of lessons and activities that I wanted to complete. This year of adventures is hard on my school plans! But the cool weather was calling us....a day with no sweltering heat....a day to spend at the nature preserve. The kids pleaded...I wavered. I wanted a good, full day of school...but the day was calling us outside. So, I did what any homeschool mom would do...I ignored the schedule and took my kids to the preserve for some Science!

Don't get me wrong, this was a hard thing to do for me. I like getting things done and checking them off my list. This wasn't on my list but I had to think...why do I homeschool? Is it to check things off and stay on track? Or is it to show my kids the love of learning? I want them to love learning. I want them to love school. And this was a perfect day to be outdoors. Not all learning is done at a table:)

We started all bundled up because this weather was chilly to us. We are Floridians and it was cold.

Kaleb had great eyes today - he found a bald eagle in its nest. We sat there for awhile just watching it while the kids learned how to use the binoculars.

We walked the trails and found some wetlands to explore. The kids are learning about wetlands so we made sure to make some notes of animals and plants that live in wetland areas.

I love this picture...they are exploring, observing their environment, trying to find animals and such.

We claimed this "square" as our wetland observation place. We sat and watched our square and wouldn't you know it - Kaleb found a baby alligator that walked right past us into the water. It surprised me so that I didn't get a picture. I just couldn't believe seeing an alligator so close!

And walking back to our car, we came across this library. I love these book houses! I have always wanted to stop and look through the books but I have never gotten the chance. Now, J found a book and when we return, we will have books to place inside. It was a good ending to a great day.

Into the Forest Interactive Science Notebook with free printable

The kids and I are currently working through Winter Promise's Animals and Their World for Science. I wanted to create something to go-along with the study besides the animal notebook pages. I made an interactive notebook for the first unit - Forest. In this notebook, you will find mini books to create as you read each day. There are books for each animal that you read about and your child can fill each book with as little or as much as they would like. This Interactive Notebook can be used alone as well.

I started with a table of contents that your child cane fill out as he goes along the habitat study. There is a tab for each habitat.

Mini books for each topic studied. My J loves to color so there is plenty to color.

Each major animal that we study has a full page to fill out. It covers food the animal eats, whether it is a predator or prey, three interesting facts that they learned, and any adaptations that the animal has to survive;

Any extra activities such as our owl pellet book (which was found on another site) can be added as well.

At the end of the unit there is a board game with markers and cards. As a review, the kids wrote questions based on their unit and using their notebooks. We played this game a few times. At the end of the year, it can be used a a cumulative review by using all of the question cards.

The kids loved making the game and playing it. It helped them to remember the animals they studied.

This is the cover of our Science notebook. We used a black and white composition notebook because I heard they hold up better than the spiral ones. I had them color the cover and I used clear tape to add it to the outside of the notebook. For my first grader, I assemble the notebook without the facts in the notebook for each unit. Then, all he has to do is open to the next mini book for the lesson. For my older student, I just give her the mini book that we are working on for the day and she adds it to her notebook herself. It has been a great addition to our study and the kids like adding their own illustrations throughout the pages. I hope you enjoy.

Download Forest Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Riley's Rhymes - 5 Little Pumpkins

I wanted to have a mini fall unit for Riley and I choose to work with pumpkins. These are a few of the activities that I did with Riley. If you would like the printable pumpkin mini pack, please see my post HERE.

I made a simple sensory bin with black beans and pumpkin erasers. I had Riley find the pumpkins with the tweezers. This fine motor activity is somewhat difficult for him but I have him keep trying.

I made a simple gate and aded velcro to the pumpkin stickers that I found. We added the pumpkins to the gate while reading the 5 little pumpkins rhyme.

We practiced shapes with this cute little pumpkin shape activity. Riley matched each pumpkin to the correct shape outline.

We played with orange play dough and made simple pumpkins adding green pipe cleaner stems.

I made simple shape puzzles that I attached to Mega Blocks. Riley matched the two pieces of the shapes.

Riley separated the color cubes into the correct pumpkin color cups. I had him use a spoon for more fine motor activity.

We practiced number recognition with the pumpkin number cards that are included in my mini pack. Riley added the pumpkin erasers to each number while we counted.

He played with an orange balloon, trying to keep it off the floor. He had fun with the balloon.

He made a pumpkin stamp picture. He stamped orange paint into each circle.

You can tell how much he loves to paint! Love that smile.

Lastly, he made a paper plate pumpkin cutting orange paper and gluing it onto the plate. It was a good unit for October. I hope you enjoy. Stay tuned for our next rhyme unit.