Volcano

This is a VERY simplified volcano model. We could have jazzed it up, and actually BUILT a volcano of clay around the jar, but we've had a busy week and didn't get to that but I still wanted to do the 'hands on' part of the unit.

*I wanted to add: Two was very unsure of herself, and didn't like that I was video taping her. But, in the end, decided I could use it here anyway.*

Our New Look

Just wanted to point out our new banner! WOO HOO. A friend from a message board made it for me (and 2 others to choose from, so I may change them up every now and then!), and I'm thrilled. :)

A Beginning Taxonomy Project

(As a reminder: all children will be referred to as a number, their birth order from here on out)

One is learning about taxonomy. As a beginning project, she went out and collected several different types of plants. This is a teaching idea from the Core Knowledge Teacher Handbook (which I LOVE). Here she is examining her choices, to select how they will be grouped.



Now, she has sorted them according to leaf shape (her choice), and is affixing them to a small poster board.





Now, she is trying to decide which describing word to use for that last group.



And, her completed work:

Two is working on cooking, and learning her way around the kitchen. Last week she assisted me in making bbq chicken sandwiches from leftover roasted chicken. Last night she helped me make smoked sausage with pasta. She insisted I take a picture, since I was taking pictures of what her sister was doing. Here she is cutting celery (and while I was blogging this...she asked if she could help with tonight's dinner!):

New Year

Last Monday we started our new school year. The first day was ROUGH...Four was not a happy camper most of the day making it difficult for me to get what I needed to get done, done. After that first day, I was frazzled. I was hopeful though too. I hoped day 2 would go better, and it was a little better. Four seemed to have a rough few days, but we managed to get a lot accomplished anyway. We actually got everything finished that I had scheduled, except one project. We started the project, but it didn't go smootly. The project dried slowly and ended up a mess! Overall, I give us a grade of B+ for the week. Not a bad start.


My personal goal is to blog at least once a week. I thought I would do once a day, but then I realized I was more likely to meet my goal if I set if for once a week. So, I will strive to do more, I'll be happy with once a week.

To simplify my life, I ordered all the materials available from Core Knowledge this year. In years past, I've used the student book and did all the legwork myself. I have to say, I love having the Teacher Handbook and Day by Day planner! We are using Math Advantage for math again this year (this textbook works well for both girls, so I plan on sticking with it). I just bought a new curriculum for spelling, as both girls tested poorly in spelling on their end of the year evals. It is Recipe for Spelling, and so far so good. It has games, and those are always a hit around here.

Four is screaming. More to come (including pics).

Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day. This morning I'm going to share just a couple things we'll be doing.

Yesterday we had our 4H club meeting, and the topic was weather. Two (from here on out all children will be referred to as a number, based on birth order :)) was VERY interested in this meeting, and learned a lot, as well as really sparked her interest. She decided upon coming home that she wanted to do her first 4H project on weather because she really wanted to learn more. So...I'm going to tie that into our Earth Day study.

Today we're going to make a rain gauge. There are many good links if you simply google make a rain gauge. Here is the one we are specifically doing: http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/weatherproj2/en/docs/raingauge.shtml
We'll make this gauge and place it on our back porch for one month to monitor the rain fall, then she will present it at our next 4H club meeting for show and tell. So, since we'll be learning about and monitoring rain fall...we're going to talk about acid rain. I have a book I picked up somewhere called Looking at the Environment by David Suzuki. It has some good info about acid rain in it. We'll be reading about that, and then talking about filtering water. There is a great project in the book where you filter dirty water. We live on a pond, so finding some muddy water will be an easy task. You simply filter it through a coffee filter (I knew there was a reason I ALWAYS have those on hand...even though no on in my house drinks coffee!). You add a layer of sand, crushed charcoal, sand to the filter, and slowly filter the water through. You should be able to see a big difference in the cleanliness of the water.

We'll also be talking about pH, and testing some common things as well as our pond water, and later our rain sample. Here is a link I'm using: http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/experiments.html

We'll also cover the water cycle. I'm using this page to make a matching game/activity. I'll cut off the paper where it has the "answers" to what the letters are and make it so that the girls have to match the appropriate term with the appropriate picture, using velcro dots. :) http://www.kidzone.ws/water/cactivity1.htm

On each individual page there is an activity. We will do those as well. We've done this set of activities repeatedly over the years....from back when I was doing science classes here in our house (so...Two wasn't even 5 yet, and she's 9 now). But, I think kids learn a little more each time, even from the same activity.

We have a great book titled You Can Save the Planet: 50 Ways You Can Make a Difference. I'm going to have the girls look through the book and see what they can find that we already do to make a difference, and find some new things we can do to make a difference. I'll keep you posted on what they decide.

Acrostic poem, we'll do another acrostic poem on Earth Day as well, because I enjoyed them so much last year. :) I'm not sure the kids did...but hey, part of the perks of being the teacher is they do some of the things *I* want, right???

A new post...hold on to your hat! LOL

I had no clue it had been since October that I had not blogged here. And, I thought I was neglecting the preschool blog. This is beyond neglect. I'm sorry all....I am nearing the end of my 4th (and final) pregnancy, and I've been trying to make sure school is all caught up, projects are completed, etc. So, I've been neglecting my computer...much to the delight of my husband, as our house has never looked better! :) In addition to a lot of housework, I've instituted a new schedule that is keeping our house running very smoothly. Now, in 4 weeks when Four (the nickname of the baby) arrives, I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune.

Now, I'm going to post some stuff we are currently doing....enjoy!

State Capitals Matching Game

I made a very simple game for the kids today. We have some Montessori 3 part cards, but they had a little too much info on them for my younger DD. She is struggling with remembering the capitals, and I didn't want to overwhelm her with more info. So, I made a very simple version.



I pulled out index cards. I took a sharpie and wrote the capital on half the card and the state name on the lower half of the card. I wrote them in the same color, but in hindsight probably should have written them in differing colors. After having written them in the same color I needed some way for it to be easy for the kids to differentiate between which group was which in order to sort the cards before playing. I put a large star on the back of the capital cards (tie in to how capitals are represented on most maps), as well as a small star next to the name of each capital on the front of the card. This way as they pull them out of the container they can sort them quickly.





Then it's just a matching game. Match the capital card with the state card. Again, I have some great montessori 3 part cards that we will use later, but for my younger DD these are great for right now.