Tot Tuesday

Riley found the linking blocks in my school cabinet and had a ball playing at the table while we were working on school.

He put them together matching the colors.

He made lightsabers, can you tell we are a Star Wars family?

This is my favorite - I love his smile here:) Have an awesome day.

The Long Winter - Weeks 1 & 2

We have recently started reading the fifth book in The Little House Series called The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We are continuing with our Little House notebook and if you would like to download the pages that I created, see my post HERE. We are using the Prairie Primer as our base and most of the mini books cover questions from the Primer so you will need a copy of it to complete the notebook pages.

The fifth book is a hard read. You get to experience the super long winter with nothing but snow and ice storms with the Ingalls family. You struggle with them when they run out of flour and potatoes as well as coal for the stove and kerosene for the lamp. You can almost feel the biting cold in the mornings as they struggle to survive.

J is working on her notebook pages for the unit. I am finding that the further we get into the Little House books, the less information there seems to be from the Primer. But it is still good information and J still loves it.

The family ran out of kerosene for their lamp so Ma made a button lamp. She used axel grease to light it. We made our own version of a button lamp but instead used a quarter and some muslin. She wrapped cotton thread around the muslin and we dipped the end in olive oil.

Then, she placed the "wick" into a heat resistant dish with some olive oil at the bottom. We went outside to light it because we weren't sure how it was going to react. After a few tries (windy day), we finally got it lit. It was smoky so I am definitely glad I didn't light it inside. And the smell wasn't that great but it did work. We got light! This idea came from Little House Living (link below).

I have had this project on my mind lately and I just so happened upon a free printable from As They Grow Up (link below). I wanted J to be able to experience the braille alphabet with her fingers and this seemed the perfect way to do it. She wrote her name and the names of her brothers and sister using little dots of glue. After they dried, she was able to run her fingers along the raised dots to somewhat "see" how it felt to read braille. Now, I know that Mary isn't in the school for the blind yet, at least not in this book. But it seemed like a good project as any.

It has been on my mind as we have been going through these books that I wanted the kids and their father to build a "little wooden playhouse" in our yard. I had this project in  mind from the beginning of the school year but it is proving to be more difficult than expected. The city is requiring that we obtain a permit for the playhouse and, since we bought the plans online, it requires that we have an architect looks at them for the state seal of approval. I am finding the more we investigate the building of this playhouse, the more walls we run into. It was a noble idea and it would have proved to be an awesome learning experience. I am still hoping to achieve this project but we will see. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Links

Teacher By the Beach - has the idea for the braille name project using glue dots.

Little House Living - has the directions for the button lamp that we used to make ours.

Steve Spangler Science - also has a tutorial on how to make a button lamp.

As they Grow Up - has the free braille printable name activity.

Jedi Reading - AG word family with free printable

My son Kaleb wasn't quite ready for a traditional reading program although he knew all of the letter sounds. I didn't want him to lose that so I created an in-between program that would focus on word families. Each week, he would learn a new word family and hopefully, this would pave the way to a more comprehensive reading program. I named the program Jedi Reading and each word family he conquers, he gains a lightsaber. This week, his word family was AG.

He worked on a word sort - AG words and not AG words. I had him read every card for extra practice. This was found at I Heart Literacy (link below).

Another word sort. He seems to like these. He sorted the raindrops for AG words and AN words. This was a word sort that I found from Shining Little Minds (link below).

This was a review of several word families that I found at The Measured Mom (link below).  He had to read the word and color the correct picture.

He took his Jedi test and passed. We added the AG word family to the word wall and he gained another lightsaber. Yay! f you would like to download the Jedi Reading Pack for the AG family, link below. Enjoy.

Download Jedi Reading Pack for AG word Family HERE.

Links

I Heart Literacy - has a free printable pack for the word family AG.

Grasshopper Apps - has another free printable pack.

Special Adventures - has the free printable AG word family reader as well as some worksheets that we used.

The Children's Museum - has a bunch of flip books that we use for several word families.

My Rainy Day Creations - has another free printable AG pack.

Shining Little Minds - has the free word sorts for short A.

My Father's Dragon - Part 1

For an change of pace, I decided to try a small chapter book for Kaleb's next literature unit. I was looking for a book with some adventure, a strong male character, and some pictures scattered throughout since Kaleb is only in Kindergarten. I didn't want it to be boring and I believe My Father's Dragon fits the bill. I was concerned that Kaleb wouldn't like this book but it didn't take long for him to love it!

He loved the little backpack that he made from the files of Homeschool Share (link below). He liked placing the items that Elmer packed for the journey inside each of the pockets.

He colored the dragon based on the cat's description. He very carefully colored each of the stripes blue and yellow. This was something since he likes to color fast!

We made a simple backpack from a lunch bag. Then he went around the house and placed a few of the items that Elmer packed into it. It won't last too long but it should last for this unit.

Elmer had to jump the rocks to get to Wild Island and that is exactly what I had Kaleb do. I made some rocks from yellow and orange paper and he jumped from one end of the house to the other. HE wasn't allowed to step anywhere except the "rocks."

I think Kaleb's favorite activity, by far, is the making of the map of both the Island of Tangerina and Wild Island. He is making all of the elements for the map. Each chapter we read, he adds what animal we read about.

You can see from his map, he added the tangerine trees and the houses around the dock. He also added the whale that Elmer stepped on by accident while jumping the rocks. The only thing I did for his map is draw the basic outlines of the islands. He has done the rest. It is really beginning to take shape.

I have been quite pleased about how this unit is progressing. I was anxious that this book would be over his head but he loves it. Each day, he asks what the surprise will be...which animal will we meet and what will we use from the backpack? See you soon.

Links

Homeschool Share - has a free lap book for the first book, My Father's Dragon, but not the other two books.

Worldsapart Pinterest for My Father's Dragon

Tot Tuesday

My sweet boy and his full grocery cart. He absconded with J's dolls and decided he needed to go food shopping. Love that boy...always keeping me on my toes:)

Super Heroes!

Thought I would make you smile today - my super heroes! 

Jedi Reading - AM Family with free printable

Kaleb is currently working through a creation of mine for his reading program. He wasn't quite ready for All About Reading but he didn't need another year of letter sounds. I truly wanted to teach him to read this year but he wasn't ready. And I wasn't ready not to do any type of reading instruction...so I began working on word families with him. We started with short A word families and this week, we worked on the AM family.

I try to have at least one beginner reader for the word family, if possible. I am finding that isn't always possible but we make do. Kaleb is working on an easy reader that emphasizes the sight words I and see.

He practiced his word family with the alpha linking blocks. He reads the word on the card and then makes the words.

He worked on this change a letter CVC word mat. You start with a word and then change one letter to make another until you work through the mat.

We played a word family mini game - you read the word and cover it with a bear.

He practiced writing his AM words. He read them, traced them, and then wrote them.

He practiced them by using the letter magnets.

He passed his Jedi test and we hung his lightsaber on the word wall.

And he added his word family cards to the word wall. We take this time to practice the other word families. This is not his favorite thing to do but he does it. I need to think of a review game :) If you would like to download my file for the AM family, link below. Hope you have an awesome weekend! See you soon.

Download Jedi Reading - AM Family HERE.

Links

Kindergarten Mom - has a free AM word family printable.

The Literacy Nest - has a AM/AN word sort.

Mrs. McPherson - has a bunch of AM word family printables for free.

Special Inspirations - has a free printable AM word game.

Hubbard's Cupboard - has a few free printable word family readers.