Twinkle Twinkle (part1)

Our space unit has taken us to the stars this week and our core book is a gem - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Kate Toms. This is yet another book that Grandma found for J and it fit in with our study so well. We are also learning the nursery rhyme to go with it. This book is so cute, I just loved the illustrations and the additional verses to sing with the song.

J found all of the "t's" in the nursery rhyme and placed star stickers on each of them.

Since we ware learning about stars this week, I made some constellation sewing cards - great for hand-eye coordination. J is lacing one of the constellations together.

J made a constellation book by placing star stickers - this one is the Big Dipper.

J is sequencing the alphabet star cards that I made for this unit. I wanted to review the letters and sounds of the alphabet with her.

Then for fun, we found animals that went with each letter. Because of that activity, we brought out the Fisher Price Alphabet Zoo we have and matched all of the animals to their corresponding letter. (I love the Alphabet Zoo)

Then just a quick review of animals that lay eggs and animals that have live babies.

We worked with a five frame and some stars that I had. I would place the some of the stars on the frame and ask what was needed to make the number five.

This is J's thinking face, nah, she was just scratching her head. After working more with the five frame, I will start working with the ten frame. These activities help J recognize number patters and will aid in adding and subtracting later.

For fun, we made a shadow puppet theater. It is a little hard to see but in this pic, a shark is getting ready to eat a fish. She thought this was funny. We aren't done for the week, more starry stuff soon. Hope your week is full of star wishes.

Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (part2)

We finished up our moon unit and this is some of what we did.

Using flour and marbles, we conducted an experiment to see why there are craters on the moon. J dropped small and large marbles into the flour and noticed the craters each on made.

The moons we painted finally dried and we labeled the the phases of the moon. I mainly wanted J to remember full moon, crescent, and new moon.

I made moon rocks (squished up tin foil) and buried them in the sandbox. Of course, it had to be the coldest (it felt like it) day and we ended up hurrying so we could get back inside and warm up. 

J cut some tin foil and glued it to a moon page that she was working on. 

And finally, J finished her Hey Diddle Diddle puppets. We used them to practice the rhyme. We had a busy week with visitors and Kaleb being sick but we managed to get it all done. We are off to the stars next, hoping for some warmer weather - trying not to get Spring Fever!

Monday's Discovery

Kaleb has been wanting to be in the middle of everything J and I do for school. The problem is that he just can't do everything that she does. So I decided to give him something he CAN do. I gathered some noodles, a large bowl, some cups and spoons. Then I let him go to town.

He spent quite awhile scooping, pouring, and dumping. I am trying to teach him to stay on the blanket when he plays with the noodles. This ensures that the noodles will be easy to clean up and, if he starts to throw the noodles off the blanket, then play stops and the noodles are put away for awhile. I also used noodles instead of beans because I read that some beans can cause extreme sickness (if not fatal) if they are digested dry. I will use bean later on when I am sure that he won't try to eat them. This was a simple and inexpensive way to give him fine motor practice. He loved it. I will change it up and add different spoons and containers to keep it interesting. And one day, I may even dye the noodles different colors.

Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (part1)

I love Eric Carle, I have probably said that before. Since we are working through a space unit and this week, we were to learn about the moon, it was only fitting to use this book. Problem, though, I don't own this book and the school library was fresh out. What to do? Well, we watched it on youtube. It isn't the same as having the book and being able to appreciate his art work but it will do.

It is hard to read this book and not discuss moon phases. So, we decided to make a moon phase chart using small paper plates. We talked about how the moon looks like it gets smaller but is still there. J painted the plates to follow the phases.

J made a moon phase turn wheel so when we look at the moon, we can discover what phase it is in. She cut the whole thing herself. I love the look of concentration while she cuts on the lines.

We are learning a rhyme about the sun and the moon so J made a sun. She glued tissue paper squares onto a large paper plate.

Our rhyme of the week is Hey Diddle Diddle. J colored a mini book as we learned the rhyme. We also watched Goodnight Moon on youtube which ties in with our theme.

We worked on patterning skills by using candy (T version of M&M's). She looks thrilled, doesn't she? She perked up when I said she could eat them!

I found these capsules with space sponges inside at the Dollar Store this summer. You put them in water and they expand. J loved this. She waited patiently for them to pop out of their shells and then she proceeded to play with them like they were fish.

Not too bad for a dollar! We ended up with twelve different space sponges. Another exciting thing we did was use the iPad to see the stars in our hemisphere. Using an app called Star Rover, I went onto our balcony and set my location. The app marked all of the stars, planets, the moon, and the sun for us to see in our hemisphere. We were able to "see" the pictures of the constellations, that has always been hard for me to do. We played around with this for awhile, looking at the stars, amazed at what was in our sky. Cool app.

We still have much to learn about our moon - see ya soon.

Monday's Discovery

This Monday's Discovery is toilet paper. He was bound to find it. He has been waiting for the right time and he found it. I left him in the bathroom while I was putting the clothes away and he reached it.

busy...busy...busy

What he left in his wake....Toilet paper - fun, fun, fun!

Pete the Cat - Rocking my School Shoes (part2)

We are continuing our lessons this week with Pete the Cat as well as our space unit. J is loving space right now. We are reading every book we can get on anything related to space. I gave her space socks that I found in the states last summer (I have been waiting to give them to her) and she has worn them two days in a row. (that's pushing it for me but I will wash them soon!) 

J made a name rocket using foam letters and scrap paper.

Since we are learning about astronauts, we made a jet pack from a cereal box and toilet paper rolls. She is asking for a helmet but I just haven't found anything to create one. Our milk jugs are only one liter so they won't work. I might just have to work on using a large yogurt container, we'll see.

We used our counting blocks to play a game. We tried to throw as many as we could into the rocket ship. Then, we counted by two's to see how many. (yes, she dressed herself, she loves these leopard tights that a friend from church gave her)

We are still working with color words. J is creating a Pete the Cat page using the word orange while writing it in orange (her idea).

J colored Jack and Jill puppets that we used to retell the rhyme. I think our most inspired idea, though, came from J. She said since we were studying about space, Pete the Cat should be an astronaut. So, I roughly sketched out a helmet and, of course, sneakers.

I love it, totally inspired! He looks super cute on our space wall. We are still having fun Rocking in our School Shoes!  

Pete the Cat - Rocking my School Shoes (part1)

This week's book is the next installment of Pete the Cat and he is rocking in his school shoes! It is all good. We are still working with color words and our new rhyme is Jack and Jill. We also started our space unit which has J completely excited.

To start the week off, I made homemade play dough. I wanted an extra special play dough that had lots of glitter. I was really hoping for a deeper blue but this is what I ended up with. I added a whole container of silver glitter as well as little blue stars that I found in Ikea a couple of years ago.

I gave her a Space Ace badge and for every space related activity, she will earn a star on her badge. She though this was cool. She wanted to be a Space Ace.

She received a star for making this rocket. I found a printable astronaut and photo-shopped her picture on it. So she is riding in her rocket.

We made this rocket that had a rubber band underneath and J launched it into the air. While she was launching her rocket, we were practicing counting backwards towards blast off!

I printed some planets and astronauts for our felt board. After I laminated them, I added some velcro to the back so they would stick. She played with these for awhile. We are going to learn about the planets later, this week is for astronauts.

Our rhyme this week is Jack and Jill. J played doctor to Jack and glued bandaids to all of the "boo boo's" that Jack had after falling down the hill. She then proceeded to treat the rest of us (Kaleb, me, and her animals) as Doctor J.

Lastly, she started her Pete the Cat picture. I gave her several different blues and she painted on the cat outline that I printed out. We will add eyes and shoes later when he dries. Pete has to have shoes! We had a busy first day and I have tons of other fun stuff planned. Have a great day!