Ocean Unit -Day Six

Day 6 started like all the other days with my folder ready to go, library books, and an ocean themed music CD for later in the day. 

After reading we did calendar time:

After that we had a break and Amita danced to the Ocean CD:

While Ashima played on her "computer":

I then had Amita work on some worksheets from this book I picked up at Sam's Club for about $10.00. Amita really likes these activities. 

While she was writing her lowercase "a" I noticed she was having some trouble so I picked up some lined paper and had her do some additional practice.

After that she did a cut, glue, and counting activity out of the book:

Then, we had some math problems. These are supposed to be oysters but it was (not so delicately) pointed out to me that they look like poop. On one side I had Amita do addition (putting the right number of pearls in the shell), and on the other side I had a number for Ashima to put that many pearls.

After this Ridhwi needed to run some errands and took Ashima with him, so it was just Amita and myself. We read a book and learned two new sight words:

And put the new words on the wall:

Next we played a game where I said a word from her word wall and Amita had to point to it. If she got it right, she got a bear. If she got it wrong, I got a bear. She won! It was a fun way to review all the words she knows now.

After that Amita made her own book! It involved counting, coloring, writing, cutting, and painting. 

And that took us to nap time!

Making Stained Glass Butterflies

One of the girls' favorite activities during the butterfly unit was making "stained glass butterflies", so I thought I would share the lesson. It is very easy, and lots of fun! We made them three times because the girls loved them so much. I am pretty sure all the window in the house have at least one butterfly on them. This lesson could also easily be changed to fit any subject - cars, trains, etc.

Supplies: contact paper, tissue paper, scissors, and construction paper. 

Skills: fine motor skills, color recognition, and counting

First we read the book Glasswings, A Butterfly's Story by Eliza Kleven. I rented it from our local library. It is about a glass winged butterfly who gets lost in a big city and helps the other animals to grow a garden. 

Next, I took contact paper and cut it to approximately 12 X12, and then cut the outline of a butterfly out of construction paper to fit inside the frame of the contact paper (which I totally eyeballed), making sure to leave the sticky side up - this is where you will attach the tissue paper. I took a few sheets of whatever tissue paper I had lying around and cut it into small squares. Next, I had the girls put the tissue paper on the sticky side of the contact paper until all the space was filled. We talked about the different colors and counted how many pieces of paper were going on the butterfly and whether our butterflies looked like the butterfly in the story.

Amita was very diligent and tried to keep in within the outline of the butterfly

Ashima, not so much, but that's okay. She loved the process!

Then, I put them up on the window. Voila! When the light shines through, it looks like stained glass! So easy and fun with both kids!

Counting and Basic Math

Amita REALLY likes counting. Like, a lot.

Because of that, we count everything. We count the bits of food on her high chair, the butterflies on the wall, the apples in the bowl, etc. She can now count up to 15 on her own and 20 with help (proud mommy moment).

She also really likes using manipulatives to learn and playing with new things. I'm pretty sure that one of her learning styles is kinesthetic. I keep all of my "school" supplies away from her regular toys so it is a big treat for her to get to play with something new.

While she enjoys counting, she does not recognize written numbers. In order to try and implement an activity where she can practice both, I got some popsicle sticks and wrote numbers on them and we practiced counting. First we just counted, then we put them in the correct written order.

It was a very short activity (3-5 minutes) but it helped her! I think repeating it a few times a week and she'll have it!