Memorizing the Moments

Monday, July 28, 2014

Letter Y Week

Letter Formation/Pre-Writing

Tracing the letters with his write and wipe cards and Letter Tracing Pages from 1+1+1=1

Practicing writing in his sand box.

Practicing writing on his dry erase writing strip.

Concentrating very hard on his Q-Tip Painting (from 1+1+1=1)

Do a Dot Markers on the Dot Letters from Confessions of a Homeschooler. He wanted to use ALL of them.

Using his Build a Letter Templates and HWWT pieces. First he built the letters on the templates, then he built them by themselves.

Letter Maze

(Printable here)

Literacy

Still (slowly) working on All About Spelling (see our post on how we adapted it here).

Cut and Paste Phonics Hunt

(Print it here)

Thinking Skills

Playing with Block Buddies

Super Why Puzzle

Math

I gave him ten pattern block triangles and asked him to see if he could make one big triangle with them. It was harder for him than I expected, but he got it.

Making rows of ten to count some blocks

Playing POP for addition! I took out all the subtraction and let him use his abacus when he gets stuck. I really haven't taught him any addition, but he does pretty well. More importantly, he really likes playing, so I'm happy to oblige!

Science

We're still doing our Alphabet in Simple Science, and this week was Y for Year. I'll post all of our science activities later this week!

Art

Using a makeup sponge to paint.

Fun and Games

I finally won a game of mancala against him!

This Week's Work

Friday, July 25, 2014

X for X-Ray

See what we did for other letters in the Alphabet in Simple Science.

X for X-Ray

Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

Background

As with all topics, we started off by talking about what X-rays are. I actually included two different science notebook pages, depending on how complex of a definition you wanted for your little one. I went ahead and used the more complicated one for Xander (a type of picture of the inside of something taken using electromagnetic waves). I started off asking him how doctors look at peoples' bones when they get hurt. We talked about how skin, muscles, and organs are in the way of seeing bones directly, so doctors use special types of pictures called X-rays.

Of course, we started off reading some books. I picked up X-Treme X-Rays and from the library. Both had real photos of X-rays in them. Unfortunately, my dad took a really fall off his bike this week which resulted in an ambulance trip to the hospital. I literally got the call while we were reading these books. Since Xander went to the hospital with me until I could get someone to take him for the night, we got to have a conversation about CT scans and how they're another way doctors can look inside us.

I picked up this great Your Body puzzle when the price dropped for a little while, and the timing ended up being perfect for talking about X-rays. Xander was able to see how there are many layers/systems of the body. Here he is pointing to some of the bones he knows.

Light Table X-Rays

Materials:

Transparency Paper or Vellum

Laser Printer

Alright, so I'll admit that this week wasn't much of an investigation, but x-rays are difficult! What I really wanted was this animal x-rays set where Xander could match images of the outsides and insides of animals.

Sadly, it just wasn't in the budget (although we have played with them at the local children's museum). Therefore, I decided to make my own x-ray materials for the light table. It ended up being pretty easy. I picked up some clear vellum from the craft store. Then I used Google Images to find some x-ray images and printed them off (it might work with ink jet, but I didn't want to risk ruining the vellum, so I borrowed someone's laser printer). They'd probably be even better on transparency paper, but I didn't have any. I think they turned out pretty well, particularly given how inexpensive they were to make.

Check out my Alphabet in Simple Science Pinterest Board for more ideas!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Preschool and Kindergarten Goals

Before you read these, please keep in mind that these are just loose goals. They give me a trajectory and organization. I can plan activities better when I know what skills I want them to help him practice. There is no pressure on Xander (or me) to accomplish these within a given time frame. I strive to keep him stimulated and challenged, while at the same time make sure learning is fun!

A lot of this list comes from the Iowa educational standards, although I added some things and took away others. I also used the lists of goals that accompany his Right Start Math and All About Spelling programs. I tried to find academic goals that were a natural progression from his current abilities. For better or worse, most of those came from the kindergarten level (which is why I labeled it both preschool and kindergarten goals). I'm not sure what that will mean when he is school age and has to go to school , but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'll just work on keeping him stimulated and LOVING learning.

Literacy Goals

Alphabetizing

From beginning to end
What letter comes next from a random point in the alphabet

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Understand beginning, middle, & ending sounds in words
Sequence events from a story
Be able to write all of the letters
Identify basic punctuation(period, exclamation, question mark, comma, quotes)
Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Identify number of syllables
Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how).
Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.