The Long Winter - with free printable

J and I are currently working through The Little House series and we are on The Long Winter. As our spine, we are using The Prairie Primer. The further you go through the books, the less there is available to use as in lap books and such. So I decided to create some note booking pages for the last few books in the series. These pages are used in conjunction with The Prairie Primer - they are not meant to replace this book. J had started The Little House notebook and wanted to continue with it until the unit was done.

Each chapter reading begins with a narration page. J writes what she learned and read at the top of the page. The bottom part of the page is usually an activity or research that she will work on.

This is another page of mini books for our notebooking pages. This one has a teepee on it. She will research the names of the Indian Tribes where the Ingalls Family lived and add them to the image. There is also a mini flip book about the differences between hay and straw.

Here is another sample of some of the mini books that J will be working on through out this unit. She will research Samuel Morse and muskrats. These mini books will be added to her notebook page for the day. I wanted to offer these pages to you if you too are looking for something to complete your Prairie Primer education. Hope these help. Enjoy.

Download The Long Winter Notebook Pages HERE.

CHicka Chicka Boom Boom - revisited

As per Kaleb's request, we had a week of activities for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I know that this book is typically reserved for the beginning of the school year but Kaleb asked and I felt like I had to deliver:)

He colored a coconut tree. I had planned for him to paint this but he asked to use markers.

We explored a coconut. He measured it with his unifix blocks and added it to his coconut senses book from my free download (link below).

He was surprised that it floated! He was so sure that it would sink.

He then helped to crack it open while I precariously hold the screw driver.

His reaction to the actual coconut meat. He wasn't a fan.

His priceless reaction to the coconut water - hehe.

My personal favorite activity this week was the STEAM challenge that I found..... He had to build a tree that would hold the letters of the alphabet using a few blocks, popsicle sticks, and magnet letters. He first built a tall tree and we counted the letters that it could hold - 10 before it toppled over.

He then wanted to try a different tree design to see if he could get the whole alphabet on! He went with a shorter one this time and found it could could more letters but just not enough.

Lastly, he found that the wider the tree, the more it could hold. I think it looks like a bush but he was happy with it. And he fit all 26 letters onto the top. I love how he wanted to try different designs. He drew a picture of each one. This activity was all him. I offered no opinions or suggestions. I wanted him to figure it out and he did. Love it!

If you would like to download my Chicka Mini Pack that I made for Kaleb for preschool, the link his below. We didn't use too much from the pack this time because it was mainly geared to pre-k. But the coconut senses book in in the pack as well a few games.

Download Chicka Mini Pack HERE.

Links

STEAM Activities for Preschoolers - has the free STEAM activity for the book.

Tot Tuesday

Riley played all day in the yard while my family was working on the rabbit cage. No nap, just play. Then, he became quiet....

He played out, dirty as can be, he played out. He took his nap in the swing.

What a sweetie!

Team Work

It is very few times that I get to post things like this but I just had to. I love when days seem to work well - the kids are getting along working towards the common good.

The kids worked all day on repairing the rabbit cage with their father. They painted their hearts out and helped my DH with the other repairs.

It's not that they are painting, it is that they worked all day together and didn't bicker once. They played and worked and played and worked. So, I know that they can get along....now if I just can have this happen every day:)

By The Shores of Silver Lake - Sewing Day

J and I are currently reading through our fourth Little House book in the series - By the Shores of Silver Lake. J has been asking me to find some dress patterns for her American girl doll that looked like her prairie dress. We finally took a whole Saturday and sewed until our hearts were content:)

J wanted a prairie dress and bonnet to make. She was concerned about the sleeves and such so I helped her with the tiny seams. J is cutting out her pattern using a cute blue calico that my mom sent (thanks mom!).

Here is J's prairie bonnet - it turned out cute and was a simple project to sew. This gave us courage to try the dress.

The dress turned out to be somewhat harder that expected. But it turned out pretty cute. But now I know why I don't sew dolls clothes:)

Links

Ag Play Things - has the free patterns for several of the American Girl dolls including the one we used for the bonnet and dress.

Jedi Reading - "AP" Family

Kaleb has been working on his Jedi Reading lesson for the AP family. We worked on this word family all week. Here are a few activities that we did...

The first activity we do is read each card, make the word with letter magnets, and then write them onto a dry-erase poster on the wall. These words stay up in our school room for the whole week for Kaleb to practice.

He worked on some rainbow words. He would read a card and color the word with a different crayon each time he read. This free printable came from Keeping Up with Mrs. Morris (link below).

He made each word with the linking blocks. This was an unexpected activity. I showed Kaleb how he could make an A with the blocks and then he proceeded to make each word with the blocks.

He played a reading game from my Jedi Reading pack. I taped the word targets to cups and he would read the cards and know them over with his lightsaber.

He then played a simple bowling game - he read each cup the was knocked over for added practice.

He is all most done his handwriting program and he made this man from his letter pieces.

He practiced his words using the letter blocks. He is finally noticing the pattern of having a vowel in each word.

After his Jedi test, he places each of the word cards onto our word wall. This is for continued practice.

He passed his Jedi test with flying colors and earned his AP family lightsaber. Go, Kaleb! If you would like to download the games from the Jedi Reading pages, the link is below. Have an awesome day!

Download Jedi Reading AP pages HERE.

Links

Keeping Up Mrs. Harris - has the free ap pages such as rainbow words and color/trace printable.

The Teacher Gene - has the free AP notebook pages.

Mrs. Carr's Corner - has the free nonsense/real word printable.

Valentine's Fun

We had a little Valentine's fun for the holiday. Just thought I would share.

We graphed the conversation hearts. We had to change a few of the colors - it seemed that there wasn't a white heart this year.

We worked on some simple science experiments using the conversation hearts. We tested whether a heart would sink or float. They colored their guesses and then tested their theories.

Then, we read My Heart is like a  Zoo by Michael Hall. The kids made heart shaped animals from construction paper.

Riley even got in the fun and made a simple frog while eating his candy.

Cute frog!

J made a rabbit (big surprise).

Kaleb made a blue jay. This was probably the hardest of all the heart animals chosen. It took us awhile to get the hearts the correct shape.

He was so pleased with his blue jay that he tacked it onto his bedroom wall and then made a tree for it to sit on! A simple Valentine's Day - crafts, books, and some math:) Have an awesome day.