Snow Theme (PreK-1)

Happy New Year! We ended up with a "Frozen" world here in the Great Lakes state.  Hit with an ice storm and so thankful God kept our power on, when everyone around us had lost theirs.  Then this past week we were buried with snow, not sure how much, our ruler got buried and I have no idea where it is anymore?! Roughly around 18" or so of snow.  So to start our first week back into school after the holidays what a perfect time to do a snow theme! With plenty of snow in the yard, a little too cold to play in since arctic chill hit us with -30+ degrees in wind chill, I mean brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, especially for me since I am NOT the snow bunny! I mean I literally despise winter and it's WAY too long in this state.  But just because I don't like it, doesn't mean my kids won't, so snow fun here we go!!!

Here is our circle time board:

Every morning we reviewed the poster board, calendar, weather, read a book about snow, and did our morning discussion.  Here is what we discussed each day:

1. Did you know snowflakes are all different?

2. What can you make in snow?

3. How is snow formed?

4. What are snow caps?

5. How do you build a snowman?

Our Bible time began with our daily prayer each day.  My Funky Monkey has this prayer memorized now, so he leads me in it - which is just awesome!

Our Bible Point is "God's Child is Forgiven!" So, we read the following Bible stories this week:

1. The Prodigal Son

2. Jesus' Death on the Cross

3. Jonah and the Whale

4. Jacob and Esau

We discussed how each story showed us that God's Child is Forgiven.  Taught him what "forgiveness" means and what it looks like.

And we made our verse page to add to our "Bible" Journal, here it is:

And of course he earned his award for memorizing his Scripture.  We are going to make a journal page for each verse this year and review them on a monthly basis.  God is showing me more and more that this is the importance to our homeschool, it's our foundation.  To seep my children in the Word of God!

Here is a glimpse of the rest of the activities we did this week:

Making Snow Cream!

Click HERE for the recipe.

We made both vanilla and chocolate.

Chocolate was his favorite!

Chunky Monkey had no preference, he wanted BOTH!

Snowflake Bead Craft

We got this from Oriental Trading.

First he sorted all the beads out by color.

Then using a pattern, put the beads on each

side of the snowflake.

And voila! Beautiful snowflake!

He chose to hang it in our new school area.

Science Experiment

We talked about what freezing point is.

I gave him a thermometer and had him put it

in different areas to read it.

(1) The window pane to read outside temp of -10*F

(2) The freezer to read temp of -25*F

(3) The refrigerator to read temp of 36*F

Then I asked him if we filled balloons up with water,

would it freeze into ice outside? He said yes, so 

we tested it! Our balloon ended up more like

and ice bowl instead of an ice ball though. But it did freeze!

Our Math Workbox!

We are working on the one's addition facts.

So I have snowman drill cards, giant buttons,

addition puzzles for one facts, and cubes.

We also used this song to help learn the addition

one facts, click HERE for video.

We learned the following for math lessons:

(1) Adding by counting on from the larger number

(2) Adding in any order (1+2=2+1)

(3) Writing addition stories

(4) Problem Solving Addition Stories

Addition Snowman Building Worksheet

He cut out the snowballs to build the snowman.

Each snowman has an addition problem on it,

and he is to put on the correct snowball to answer

the addition problem.

To help him solve the problems, he decided to

use the giant buttons.  So, if a question was 1+2, he

set out 1 button on side and 2 on the other to help

him solve the problem. 

Tens Frame Snowman Building

This worksheet is where he matched a tens frame

picture to the number on the snowman.

I set out a tens frame and he decided to use his cubes.

He placed the number of cubes into the tens frame,

which gave him a picture clue to match to the picture

tens frame on the final snowball to build the snowman.

Language Arts Workbox

Worked on the following:

(1) -ow word family, sentence building, and reading

(2) sight words (down, up, here, go) and reviewing the past 20 we learned

(3) handwriting for letter S and journal prompts 

"OW" Worksheet from Wordway

Writing "OW" and completing words.

Sight Word Search

He used his stampers to find the sight words.

Handwriting Practice

I have these great dry erase journals with

handwriting lines.  I write the capital and lowercase

letter and a sentence for him.  He writes his own

capital/lowercase letter and the sentence underneath

mine.  He is getting better and better with writing!

And he decided to draw a picture for the sentence too.

We studied the state of Alaska this week.

Learned the basic facts (capital, motto, nickname, flower, bird)

And learned some interesting facts too...

(1) the flag was created by a 13 year old boy

(2) has the largest active volcano chain

Science Experiment: Icy Roads

I froze water in a cookie sheet outside and then brought

it inside (again, too cold to go outside, -16*F in the day!)

Of course both my kids are interested in it, right away!

Funky Monkey tried to push cars in a straight line across

the ice and found out real quick that they always spin out.

Chunky Monkey liked dropping cars onto the ice and 

trying to play in it, till he got too cold, then he was done!

Then we talked about freezing point again.  And asked

him what we could use to help the cars drive better?

He said salt - that's my northerner for you!

So, we put salt down and again talked about freezing point

and how salt lowers the freezing point.  And then talked about

how salt doesn't work when it is too cold outside, like the temps

we are experiencing this week outside.  So, what else could we use?

He thought pepper might work, but it didn't.  So, I suggested sand and

he was like, let's see.  So, I gave him "sand", it was actually

cornmeal, since I didn't have any sand on hand.  And that helped

the cars drive much easier across the ice.

Arctic Freeze CVC Center Activity

After turning over his card and spelling out the word

on the game board, he then writes the word into the correct

picture box that matches the card.

Here he is working hard!

He did really good!

Another Oriental Craft - Rhinestone Snowflake!

I got this snowflake shaped dry erase sticker cling

from Oriental Trading.  It's pretty awesome!

And it fits into our winter themes very nicely.

I use it to post the date and our morning question of the day.

Our Snowman and Melting Snow Ball Bath!!!

These 2 had a blast finding all the stuff in their bath

and exploring melting snow balls (shaving cream).

Finally got warm enough to go outside, the arctic air

ceased and we actually got into the 30's!!!

So that meant snow play time and with all this snow

we got to build a BIG snowman!!!

Daddy and Funky Monkey working together!

Patting the snowman's belly! hehe

Awww, he likes WARM HUGS!!!!

That was a glimpse of our snow themed week.  We did cover lots of other stuff too, but I didn't get pictures of everything.  Next week... PENGUINS!

Until next time...

Have Fun and Be a Blessing!

~Bekah

Kindergarten Scarecrow Theme

Scarecrow, Scarecrow... what can we learn?

Scarecrow, Scarecrow... here is what we did!

Our Circle Time Board

We review this every day.

Vowel: short a

Color: Brown and color rhyme

Shape: Circle and shape song

Number: One and writing poem

Vocab: Scarecrow

Sound: -an, -ap, -at

Bible Story: Elijah and the Ravens (1 Kings 17)

Verse: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." Isaiah 41:10a

Books we read in our Circle Time!

- The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

This book is super cute! We did a bath night based

off of this book (post to come soon!).

- Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant

This book is cute, great message about God

creating you with a gift.

- The Scarecrow's Dance by Jane Yolen

This book is fun too and has a message about

God creating you for a specific purpose.

Math Scarecrow Numbers

Learning that numbers can be written in number form

or in word form.  Here he is tracing the word forms.

Math Journal

On the left side he drew pictures and wrote

the number word that matched the number

that is on the right side.

Learning one to one association with numbers and words.

Working in his math book!

We LOVE Singapore Math - very hands on!

Working on Tens Frames

Doing his computer center time!

This was a math game.

Building words with the short "a" vowel.

I printed out scarecrows and used our sticker pumpkins

from our pumpkin week.  On the scarecrows I wrote

different consonants that he could make words with.

Built the word "pan".

Here he is reading the word he built.

Reading Time

This is his reader from Houghton Publishers - it's awesome!

He has to read to Mario or Donkey Kong every day.

This day it was Mario.

Sight Word Time (these came from 1+1+1=1)

Working on the words "love", "mom", "dad", "at"

Here is connecting the word to the same word.

Tracing his words!

Our Scarecrow Numbers

Practicing Writing his First AND Last name now

Social Studies

He learned how the Pledge of Allegiance came to be.

Did you know it was written 400 years AFTER America

was founded? And did you know that when it was FIRST

written it never included "under God" in it? I didn't, so I learned

something new too! Then he did this activity where he drew

appropriate American symbols on the pledge of allegiance...

he drew stars, eagles, and Mario.  I never knew Mario

was an American symbol!!! LOL

Baby brother likes to do school too.

Here he is digging in a circle bin.

He found a CD in a case.

Language Arts Workbok

Working on short "a" and sight words.

I love these fall themed dry erase sleeves that we

got from Oriental Trading. They are SUPER CUTE!!!

And they went perfectly for our scarecrow worksheets.

Here he is doing a worksheet where he traces

"S is for Scarecrow" and colors all the pumpkins

with an "s" on it.

All done!!

This was a math number maze. 

He had to color all the pumpkins in numerical

order 1-20.  He did AWESOME!

Scarecrow counting and writing the number.

Baby brother is usually awake now when we do school.

I bought these cool nut and bolt sets from Oriental Trading.

Wish I had bought more! But he likes to try and turn

them and see if he can get them off and on.  But if he can't get it

they become chew toys or rhythm instruments.

This peg board is also from Oriental Trading.

I had bought it for Jordan, but Cadence LOVES it.

Every time it comes out, Cadence steals it.

So, I have to buy another one! LOL

This is a great toy to keep him occupied while we do school

and it helps him with fine motor skills, stacking,

building, and tearing down.

Or it is just something wonderful to chew on!

I pulled up the music table from our basement.

And this has been a non-stop playing toy for this

little music lover! 

Baby brother thinks he can use a computer too!

Doing a coloring worksheet for Bible Time!

Baby brother got placed in his crib that I turned

into a ball pit to keep him occupied while we did our lessons.

Elijah and the Ravens

Jordan kept saying, "isn't it colorful?!"

Yes! Very colorful it is!

Tens Frame Worksheet

He colored in the cells to represent the number

on the sign the scarecrow is holding.

Then I took it a step further and had him color the sign

of the scarecrow that showed "greater than".

He did AWESOME!

Writing Center!

He told me a sentence about an animal, I wrote it down

on his writing center folder.  And he copied it and drew a picture

in his journal about it.  His sentence was a rather strong one too!

"The cat meows at the dog."

We started learning about Capital Letters

and what should get a capital letter.

So I made this anchor chart!

So proud of his sentence work!

I love his drawing! It's getting better and better

every single day! Such an artist!

This activity I pulled out our magnetic letters.

I said a word to him and he had to build it.

He stuck them to our front door because it's metal!

Tree of Thanks Craft

Each leaf is something he is thankful for...

he said things like, mom, dad, Cadence,

Donkey Kong, Mario, grandma, grandpa,

grandad, nana, etc.

Fall Craft: Bear Scarecrow

I put a bunch of balloons all over the floor

and drew different pictures on them.  Had the boys

find the scarecrow balloon, and look who found it!

Then I made a game for Jordan.

Taped balloons to our door and had him

use his nerf gun to shoot 'em down!

Scarecrow Patterns

I laminated scarecrows and put patterns

on the back of them.  Then printed off 

a blank pattern worksheet.

He had to create the pattern on his worksheet.

Baby brother thought the crayon box was fun

and decided to pull them out and throw

them all over the floor.

This was a great activity and it fostered

independent learning.  I was able to wash dishes

and clean the kitchen while he did this.

And since baby was al into the crayon box

I didn't have to give him a different activity or

keep him distracted.

He cut out all the words and glued them to correct word family.

  

Our scarecrow number line was the BIG hit game!

I just put down painters tape and taped scarecrows

with numbers onto the line.  Then I pulled out our 

foam dice that I got from the dollar store.  He rolled

the dice, added the numbers together, and jumped to

that number on the line.  Then I had him jump to the

number that is 1 more and 1 less than the number

he rolled.  He ended up playing this game by himself

for 30 minutes with his Mario!

Have Fun and Be a Blessing!

~Bekah