Kindergarten, Bible, Week 33

This week we:

• Memorized Psalm 23:4
• Reviewed Catechism
• Read stories 184 - 194 in Picture Story Bible
• Other books, stories, and videos:
• Sylvester
• They are Going to Kill You from Missionary . . . Millers
• Muffy
• Mrs. R-P and the Chocolate Cherry Treat
• Prayer
• Song: Standing on the Promises

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 33

The practice sentence this week was: I had a fluffy blanket.

Small Muscle Development:

• Game: Jars
• I collected 20 clean, small containers with screw-top lids (10 were Carmex, and 10 were Ensure -- grandparents are great resources!)
• I divided the containers between K. and me (we each had 5 Carmex and 5 Ensure) and put our tub of pinto beans between us.
• How to Play:
• Say "Go"; players unscrew one lid, put a bean in the container and screw the lid back on.
• Then the player goes on to another container.
• The goal is to be the first one to put a bean in each container.
• Once there is a bean in each container, play again by emptying each container.
• Make sure your child wins at least once.

Story Development:

• Game: Egg Carton Tales see Writing, Week 29 for instructions

Writing Practice:

• Activity: Write A Letter see Writing, Week 25 for instructions

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 33

Genres from our textbook were:

• biography
• missionary story
• choral reading
• informational article

Activity: Frumdiddle from Games for Reading -- this activity gives you a fun way to increase your child's vocabulary.

• How to Play:
• Think of an object.
• Give your child one clue -- they get one guess.
• If they don't guess correctly (and it is hard to do with just one clue) give one more clue -- they guess again.
• Keep going until they guess correctly -- at which time you say "Frumdiddle".
• Then it is their turn to give clues about an object and you get to guess.
• You introduce new words by saying "gigantic" instead of "big" or by using "crimson" instead of "red", etc. To keep the game fun, don't introduce more than three or four words in a game.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 33

Monday

• Game: Races see Math, Weeks 25, 26, 27 for instructions, called Addition Facts in these weeks

Tuesday and Friday

• Game: Triangles see Math, Week 31 for instructions

Wednesday

• Game: Fast Track - Subtraction see Math, Week 27 for instructions

Thursday

• Game: Uno Math
• This time I took 5 cards (number cards only) and figured out all the ways I could make 10
• Then I gave K. 5 cards and let her figure out all the ways she could make 10
• We went through the whole stack this way
• Sometimes we had to be creative, for example: 9 + 9 - 8 = 10, but except for the last 4 cards, we were able to make at least one equation that equalled 10 in each 5 cards.

Magic School Bus Videos

K. really enjoys watching Magic School Bus videos, so I thought I'd give a list of the ones that would go nicely with our unit on animals/insects.

• Going Batty
• Spins a Web
• Hops Home
• In a Beehive
• Butterflies!

Kindergarten, History, Week 33

This week we:

• Read chapter 38 from Child's History (A Good Emperor and a Bad Son)
• Marcus Aurelius was a good emperor
• The Traveler's Guide to Ancient Rome by John Malam
• We looked at the City Library and Theater and Music
• Pompeii by Richard Platt
• This book takes you through the history of Pompeii, from its founding through today, visiting the ruins with wonderful illustrations.
• At this age, we are just looking at the pictures.
• We read Rome Antics by David Macaulay again

Kindergarten, Science, Week 33

Here are the books we read this week:

• Amazing Snakes by Alexandra Parsons
• Photographs; we just looked at the pictures in this book
• Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars by Margery Facklam
• Realistic drawings; we just looked at the pictures in this book, too
• A Ladybug's Life by John Himmelman
• Realistic drawings; each page has a picture with one line of text, showing the ladybug's life cycle. Does not go into detail regarding mating.
• What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins
• Illustrations are made from cut paper; covers a variety of animals methods of escaping danger
• From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman
• Drawings of caterpillar/butterfly are realistic; story of children in a classroom watching a caterpillar grow and change into a butterfly. Two to four lines of text per page.
• Thinking About Ants by Barbara Brenner
• Realistic paintings, but the ants are larger than life so you can see them in detail; very interesting book showing ant's lives. K. kept adding information because she enjoys watching the video: Magic School Bus Get Ants in its Pants
• Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bandroft & Richard G. Van Gelder
• Realistic paintings; shows how a variety of animals spend the winter; two or three lines of text per page
• Where are the Night Animals? by Mary Ann Fraser
• Realistic paintings; takes you through the night with a coyote, skunk, owl, opossum, raccoon, frog, bat; two or three lines of text per page
• Snail in the Woods by Joanne Ryder
• Simple, realistic drawings; takes you through the life cycle of a snail; one to three sentences of text per page. This is an "I can read" book.
• How Animal Babies Stay Safe by Mary Ann Fraser
• Realistic paintings; shows how a variety of animals are kept from danger by their parents; two to three lines of text per page
• A Year in the Forest by Bill Hall
• Great color and black/white drawings; starts with Spring and goes through the year following certain animals and their lives.

Just for fun books we read:

• If You Were Born a Kitten by Marion Dane Bauer
• Lovely, realistic, paintings; tells about a variety of baby animals, ending with "Of course, you're not a tadpole. . . . And yet you were born, too. You rode curled beneath your mother's heart, growing and growing. You floated in a salty sea, waiting and waiting. Waiting for us who were waiting for you. "We're ready," we said. And you were ready, too. So you squeezed out, wailing. Naked as a bear cub. Soft as a porcupette. Wrinkled as a deer mouse. Free as a kitten. You."
• Imagine You Are a Tiger by Karen Wallace
• Realistic paintings; takes you from birth to being a full-grown tiger
• A Fawn in the Grass by Joanne Ryder
• Realistic paintings; takes a child on a walk through the woods and all the things they see
• Each Living Thing by Joanne Ryder
• Realistic paintings; talks about watching out for animals and letting them be
• The Very Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle
• Story of a click beetle learning to turn over. About 3 pages from the end you get to hear the "click" of the beetle, which, of course, makes this a very fun book!
• Mr. Carey's Garden by Jane Cutler
• Story of a man who allows the snails to eat his garden so he can see how pretty it is in the moonlight.
• My Father's Hands by Joanne Ryder
• As a father works in the garden, he shows his daughter insects and bugs he discovers.

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 32

This week we:

• Memorized Psalm 23:3
• Read stories 173 - 183 in Picture Story Bible
• Other books, stories, videos:
• Muffy
• The Princess and the Kiss
• Rain Out of the Ground from Missionary . . . Millers
• Sylvester
• Mrs R-P and the Empty Nest
• Gregory
• Prayer
• Song: Standing on the Promises

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 32

The practice sentence this week was: I waved from the exit.

Small Muscle Development:

• We tore pieces of tissue paper and glued them on construction paper to make a picture or design.

Story Development"

• Game: Catch My Silly see Writing, Week 5 for instructions

Writing Practice:

• Game: Make a List from Games for Writing
• You can choose any topic and have your child make a list of 10 items they would need or want.
• I told K. she was going on a rocket tour through the Milky Way. What 10 things would she want to take with her?

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 32

We read from our textbook all week.

• Genres
• historical fiction
• fable
• fantasy

The fantasy story had musical instruments talking, and there were a couple instruments that K. didn't know what they looked like, so we stopped reading and looked at pictures on the internet.