Kindergarten, Reading, Week 28

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook.

• Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension
• Genres
• historical fiction
• fiction

Friday our activity was Goofy Sentences from Games for Reading -- this game gives your child practice reading words and phrases, and give him an early taste for sentence structure and grammar.

• Sample sentences are provided in the book.
• Write 20 beginnings of sentences on strips of paper or card stock. (example: The little chair) Mix them up.
• Write 20 middle parts of sentences on strips of paper or card stock. (example: was there) Mix them up.
• Write 20 ending parts of sentences on strips of paper or card stock. (example: so I could sit.) Mix them up.
• Set out all three sets of cards. Let your child pick a card from each set and read the sentence.
• You will end up with silly sentences. One we really laughed at was "My cup barked while I ran away."

Kindergarten, Math, Week 28

Monday

• Game: Fast Track, See Math, Week 27 for instructions

Tuesday

• Addition Facts, See Math, Weeks 25, 26, and 27 for instructions
• Game: Number Stories, See Math, Week 26 for instructions

Wednesday

• Game: Fast Track, See Math, Week 27 for instructions

Thursday

• Addition Facts, See Math, Weeks 25, 26, and 27 for instructions
• Game: Uno Math, See Math, Week 27 for instructions

Friday

• Addition Facts, See Math, Weeks 25, 26, and 27 for instructions

Kindergarten, History, Week 28

• Read chapter 32 in Child's History (The Boot Kicks and Stamps)
• Carthage wanted to fight Rome again
• This time, instead of fighting on the sea, the Carthage army went on land through Spain and over the alps into Italy.
• Hannibal (the Carthage general) brought elephants with him
• Hannibal was winning battle after battle
• Rome decided to attack Carthage while Hannibal was away
• Rome beat Carthage
• Read chapter 33 in Child's History (The New Champion of the World)
• Rome was the ruler of almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea
• They needed roads to be able to get to all the parts of their empire
• They wanted the people in the cities to have clean water
• They built big pipes from clean lakes to the cities: aqueducts
• They built underground sewers
• They made fair and just laws
• The cities and towns in the empire had to pay taxes to Rome
• Read chapter 34 in Child's History (The Noblest Roman of Them All)
• There were pirates wanting to rob the ships carrying the taxes to Rome
• Julius Caesar was sent to fight these pirates
• Caesar was captured by the pirates; he told the pirates that when he got back to Rome he would get a fleet and come back and punish them
• Caesar was ransomed by Rome, came back and took the pirates prisoner and crucified them
• Caesar was sent to Spain and Gaul to put down uprisings
• Caesar went to Britain and conquered part of it
• Pompey was a general who was fighting in the eastern part of the Roman empire
• Pompey became jealous of Caesar; he persuaded Rome to order Caesar to give up his army and come back to Rome
• Caesar decided to return to Rome, but not give up his army
• Caesar made himself the head of all Italy
• Caesar conquered Egypt
• Some people thought Caesar was getting too much power and so they killed him
• We worked on our time line

Kindergarten, Science, Week 28

This week we started learning about birds.

Here are the books we read:

• Wild Life Fact File, Section 2: Birds
• When my oldest sister was cleaning out her house she gave me the Fact Files. Sometimes you can pick them up in second hand stores.
• Great pictures; we just looked at as many cards as K. was interested in. I would bring out the different kinds of nests, and the different places they built their nest. K. enjoyed seeing where they lived.
• Hatch! by Roxie Munro
• Realistic paintings; this book shows some eggs and gives clues about what bird they belong to, then on the next page there is a drawing of the bird in its habitat and there is more information about the bird. This text was mostly more than a 5 year old wanted to hear, so I didn't read it all but just picked a couple things on each page to read. What K. did like about this book is that on the habitat pages there is a list of three to five other animals that are pictured in the habitat, and she could search for them. So this book could be used for older and younger children.
• Whose Nest Is This? by Heidi Bee Roemer
• Realistic paintings; on the left page there is a drawing of a nest and four lines of rhymed text about the nest and it's owner. On the right page there is a drawing of the bird (or fish or turtle or mouse or alligator) with the nest.
• Bird Nests by Heather Adamson
• Great pictures; just has six or seven birds with pictures of them with their nests and young. Simple text about the nest and the bird.
• About Raptors: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill
• Realistic paintings; one simple line of text on the left page, painting of a raptor in its habitat on the right page. In the back of the book it gives more information about each bird shown.

Here are fiction books about birds that we read:

• How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham
• Mostly a picture story (very few words) about a little boy who finds a pigeon with a broken wing. His parents help him bandage the bird. Its wing heals and they release it where they found it. K. likes this book.
• Skylar by Mary Cuffe-Perez
• Story about some pond geese. We are only a couple chapters into the book.

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 27

This week we:

• Memorized Psalm 139:23
• Read stories 154 - 156 in Picture Story Bible
• Other books, stories, videos:
• Sylvester
• Blister
• Muffy
• The Princess and the Kiss
• The Stolen Testament from Missionary . . . Millers
• Prayer
• Song: God of Wonders

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 27

Monday I introduces our final two lower case letters, s and z. K. practiced a line of each letter each day.

Small Muscle Development:

• Googly Eyes, see Writing, Week 11 for instructions

Story Development:

• Game: How Many Words? from Games for Writing -- this game provides children with experience using descriptive language
• You'll Need: spinner, list of words (a chart is provided in the book)
• The Spinner should be marked with numbers 1 through 4
• How to Play:
• First player flicks the spinner. (Let's say they get a 3)
• Player reads the first 3 words in the list. (yellow, swiftly, canary)
• Player tries to make up ONE sentence using all three words. (The yellow canary flew swiftly.)
• If the player is able to use all 3 words, they get 3 points, if their ONE sentence only has two of the words, they get 2 points, if their ONE sentence only has one of the words, they get one point.
• Then the next player flicks the spinner, and picks up in the list where the first player left off.
• Play as many rounds as you like.
• Sentences must be grammatically correct.
• You can just say the sentences out loud, or write them down.
• You could also use these sentences to begin a story.

Writing Practice:

• Game: Rhyme Time, See Writing, Week 19 for instructions

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 27

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook.

• Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension
• Genres:
• nonfiction
• folk drama
• fiction
• poetry

Friday our activity was Rhyming Chain from Games for Reading

• One person says a word and the other person says a word that rhymes.
• You keep taking turns saying words that rhyme with the first word until no one can think of another rhyming word.
• Then a player picks a new word to rhyme.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 27

Monday

• We reviewed our addition facts. I discovered that I needed to make it more of a game for K. I tried a few different things, and finally found this solution.
• I lay out a set of the facts
• As she matches the answers to the problems
• I write out the equations and answers
• Whoever finishes first, with all answers correct, WINS!
• Match your speed of writing to your child's speed of matching, in other words, write slowly enough that your child can win MOST of the time.
• For prizes, I bought a bag of trail mix (nuts and dried fruit). I put a very small amount (about 20 pieces) in a bowl. Whoever one the set got to pick and eat 1 piece. The person who won the most times got to eat the extra pieces. I have put the trail mix away, so it isn't for common consumption, and (1) will be a special treat when we do math facts and (2) will last a LONG time.
• We also practiced adding money.
• I pulled out my bag of coins
• K. took out a hand full
• I had her separate them into their kinds
• Then she counted the total value
• We did it 3 times. The values were $1.13, $1.12, and 14¢

Tuesday

• Game: Fast Track from Games for Math -- the purpose of this game is memorization of math facts.
• You'll Need: game board, math fact cards, a marker for each player, counters to help solve problems (when needed)
• Game Board
• I opened up a notebook folder for the game board.
• Draw a track around the folder.
• Divide the track into at least 37 compartments (squares)
• Label 3 squares "START" and 3 "WIN"
• Label every square with directions such as: double move, lose a turn, go ahead 2 spaces, go back 3 spaces, move to Start, draw again, stay put, go ahead 3 spaces,
• I let K. decorate the middle of the game board.
• Math Fact Cards
• Cut up index cards or manila folders
• Write one math fact you are working on memorizing on each card
• On most of the cards leave the answer blank, such as: 2 + 3 = [ ]
• On some of the cards leave the second number blank, such as: 2 + [ ] = 5
• How to Play:
• Each player puts their marker on one of the starts (every one can pick a different start)
• First player picks up a Math Fact Card and supplies the missing number
• Player moves that number of spaces and does what the square they stop on says to do
• Next player picks us a Math Fact Card . . .
• You win by landing on a "WIN" square.
• K. likes this game so much that we keep playing even after someone wins. The last time we played, she won twice and I won once before we stopped
• She is having difficulty figuring out the missing number second number. If the equation was 2 + [ ] = 4, then we put out 2 shells, and I had her add shells until there were 4. How many did you have to add? (2) So 2 + 2 = 4
• You can see this example at the top left in the picture below.

Wednesday

• We practiced our Math Facts
• Game: What Did I Do? -- See Math, Week 26 for instructions

Thursday

• Game: Fast Track -- See above for instructions

Friday

• We practiced our Math Facts
• Game: Uno Math -- I'm sure this game isn't original with me, but I don't know where it came from
• You'll Need: deck of  Uno cards
• How to Play:
• Remove all the non-number cards from the deck and put them in a pile
• Divide all the number cards evenly among the players
• Pick a number (until you teach subtraction, the number should be 9 or higher) we used the number 10, so for this example I'll use 10
• Players take turns putting down 2 (or more) cards that equal 10
• For example: a 9 card and a 1 card, or a 7 card and a 3 card. On one of K.'s plays she put down one 5, three 1's and one 2.
• When the cards a player is holding can not be used to make the number, they take one of the set aside non-number cards and tell what number it would need to be. For instance, if a player has a 6 card, but no 4 card, they pick up a non-number card and say it is a 4.
• The first person with all their cards gone wins.

Kindergarten, History, Week 27

• Read chapter 29 in Child's History (Wise Men and Otherwise)
• Philip was king of Macedonia (find it on a map) and wanted to be king of Greece also
• Philip didn't want to fight, thought up a scheme (a tricky plan)
• Offered to lead Greece in conquering Persia
• Philip was killed
• His son, Alexander, became king -- he was only 20 years old
• Read chapter 30 in Child's History (A Boy King)
• Alexander was king of Macedonia and Greece
• Crossed the Hellespont to fight Persia
• Conquered Persia and never lost any important battles
• One Alexandria he founded was in Egypt.
• There he built a great library; books were scrolls (the last great library we talked about, books were clay tablets)
• Built a lighthouse on an island, Pharos
• Alexander traveled into India, conquering peoples
• Taught the Greek language to peoples he conquered (the New Testament was written in Greek)
• Look at pages 56 - 57 in Ancient World
• Read The Great Alexander The Great by Lasker
• Read chapter 31 in Child's History (Picking a Fight)
• Champion countries were: Nineveh (Assyria), Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Macedonia
• Rome became strong, conquered Italy, and began to look around for more countries to conquer
• Rome was jealous of Carthage's wealth
• Carthage didn't like seeing Rome so powerful
• Rome had no ships; Carthage had many, many ships
• Romans found a wrecked Carthaginian ship and copied it to build a fleet of ships
• Romans weren't experienced sailors and knew they wouldn't win battles by ramming holes in ships
• Romans had the idea of hooking their ship to an enemy ship and boarding it to fight. It worked.
• This is called the Punic War, Rome eventually won
• Work on time line if you have time

Kindergarten, Science, Week 27

This week we turned our attention to ponds.

Here are the books we read:

• Life in a Pond by Fowler
• Pictures with just a few sentences on each page
• Pond Life by Stewart and Bergin
• Great realistic drawings; introduces frogs, three-spined sticklebacks, newts, ducks; discusses seasons, mating, and life cycles
• Would You Rather Be a Polliwog? by Worth (a Cat in the Hat book)
• Comical drawings; touches on insects, frogs, ducks, turtles, fish, metamorphosis
• The True Book of Animals of Small Pond by Erickson
• Realistic drawings on each page; true story; follows the beaver, raccoon, mink, otter, and muskrat from winter through autumn
• From Tadpole to Frog by Pfeffer
• Good drawings; life cycle of a bullfrog, which takes 2 years to change from tadpole to frog
• Box Turtle at Long Pond by George
• Realistic drawings; a day in the life of a box turtle
• Pond by Morrison
• Realistic drawings; a pond, from spring to winter; just a few sentences on each page, but it gives additional information about pond plants and animals at the bottom of the page that older children would be interested in
• Pond Life by Greenaway
• Pictures with lots of information; we just looked at the pictures in this book

Other suggested books:

• The Beaver Pond by Tresselt
• Good drawings; follows the life cycle of a beaver pond
• One Small Square Pond by Silver
• If you have a natural pond that you can visit, it gives lots of information and activities to do throughout a year
• The Living Pond by Hester
• Great photographs and information
• Life in Ponds and Streams by Amos
• Great photographs with a medium about of text