Dinosaur Unit Preparation

The unit after our Ocean Unit was about Dinosaurs. I was very lucky to find a garage sale where a former teacher was selling TONS of stuff. I found many educational materials and dinosaur materials for only $13.00!

Wahoo! I love garage sale finds!

Next, I researched on the Internet and found some great resources:


Unit Packs:

http://overthebigmoon.com/wp-content/uploads/download-files/DinosaurPack.pdf

http://www.itsybitsyfun.com/uploads/9/8/7/6/9876061/dinosaur_preschool_pack_0315.pdf

LOTS of different choices here: http://www.inallyoudo.net/freeprintables/printables/animal-printables/dinosaur-printables/

Coloring Pages:

http://www.easypeasyandfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dinosaur-Coloring-Pages.pdf

Word Display Cards:

http://prekinders.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/dinosaur-word-cards.pdf

http://prekinders.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/dinosaur-word-cards21.pdf

Letter Activities:

http://www.inallyoudo.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Preschool-Coloring-Pages_FINAL.pdf


I also made a trip to the library for books, materials, and movies about dinosaurs. I printed off the pages and prepared my folders for each day:

Preparing the room was a lot of fun with all of my garage sale finds. The finished product looked like this:

Add a trip to Wal-Mart for a display board. Dinosaur unit is READY! :)

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!

Starting Preschool "For Real"

Today was the first day that I started preschool with Amita "for real", and by that I mean with an organized, set curriculum. Before this I've just been winging it.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I purchased a curriculum called The Learning Box. Just so I'm clear, I have not been paid or coerced in any way to plug their material. I'm going to talk about it because it is perfect for our family.

When it first arrives, it comes in a box like this from UPS with a tracking number:

When you open it up, everything you need for the month is included and organized for every day, including a curriculum guide, visual aids, books, and materials needed for each activity.

I have learned that the actual planning/prep for the lessons still takes a while (due in part to the fact that I have to entertain Ashima during that time too) and the lessons themselves go pretty quickly because Amita can't carry on a very long or in depth conversation.

I chose the 3-day-a-week pack which I think is good for Amita at the moment. She needs to move from one activity to another fairly quickly. I'm also doing morning activities and discussion more than one day (the same activities) so it really sinks in. It also makes it last a week - with about an hour of activities a day. Once Amita gets older I'll switch to the 5 day pack but for now the 3 day is perfect.

One of the themes of the month is to learn about weather. Today we read a book about clouds, finger painted clouds, and made cloud glasses (which Amita LOVED; she's always trying to wear my glasses).

All in all, the curriculum is AWESOME and just what I need. From now on I'll definitely need to spend a little be more time planning (the natives got restless while I found materials and read directions) but that's not too hard to do, right? It's MUCH faster than coming up with this stuff on my own - which never would have happened.

What I Do To Ensure Daily Learning of Major Concepts

In addition to lessons plans, which I don't always have time to plan for, we have certain things we do every day to continue working on main concepts I want the girls to learn. Here are some of the things we do:

ABC banner - I put a chain of letters up down the hall. When we go down the hall, I have Amita point to a letter or sing our ABCs. If she asks for something, I'll tell her she can have it after she points out the letter G, etc. It is a great way to reinforce her letters.

Color banner - This is the same concept as the ABC chain. Sadly, this chain no longer exists as Amita pulled all of the papers off the chain and gave them to Ashima who proceeded to eat them. I am thinking about getting some laminated and trying again.

Bulletin board - On days when Amita seems like she is willing to pay attention, we review many things on the bulletin board: days of the week, ABCs, seasons, months, shapes, and colors.

I will probably change these as necessary during the learning process. Currently, these are the main concepts we are working on so I want the girls to really grasp and practice them daily. It is really nice to always have something I can work on with the girls even when I don't have time for a formal lesson.

Lesson Plan - Making Awesome Alphabet Bracelets

One thing Amita really wants to be able to do is write her letters. Any time she colors she really tries to make out the shapes of each letter.

One of the first thing she needs to work on before she can write is her fine motor skills. This means practicing with lots of little "things". One of the things we do is have her put little tiny stickers on paper, another is lacing her cutouts (another post on this to follow). The one I concentrated on today with Amita was lacing beads. Ashima was grief-stricken that she was not also allowed to play with the beads, but alas, she will just swallow them. Instead, she played with blocks and ate blueberries! She also played with her water coloring book.

Steps to the bracelet-making lesson:

1. Put the beads out and talk about each color.
2. Go over the letters on the beads that have letters.
3. Show an example of a bracelet so Amita knows what it is she's making.
4. Help her figure out how to begin beading.
5. Let her go to town with the beads.
6. Put it on her hand and celebrate! Also, talk about how beautiful and wonderful it is and how I have never seen a bracelet better than Amita's. 

The alphabet beads I used

The finished Product:

Skills: letter recognition, color recognition, and fine motor skills.

Strangely enough, as I was getting the activity ready for the girls (while they were napping) I saw a friend posted this link on Facebook (yes, Lindsay, this means you):

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/201402/fine-motor-skills-and-academic-achievement

Apparently this lesson will make the the kids super smart!

Intrigued by the idea of a water coloring book? I really like them - no mess and it lets kids work on their writing skills! They are available here: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Water-Coloring-Book/dp/B009B7F6DO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391820651&sr=8-2&keywords=water+color+books

Lesson Plan - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

The first thing Amita asked to do after her afternoon nap was to play with flash cards. Surprisingly, she likes them a lot and frequently asks to play with them. I have some Dr. Seuss number, letter, shape, and color cards. I think she must have just wanted to be in the dining room, however, because she only played with them for about three minutes. During this time, my sweet Ashima played with a puzzle very diligently.

After that I moved on to the activity I had been planning for today since I already had my audience captive.

One of Amita's favorite songs is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (along with the ABCs and Old McDonald, which she calls EIEIO). She knows all the words and gets really excited whenever she sees a star. A week ago I was in Wal-Mart and I saw some packages of stars and got really excited. Amita was also excited to held the package close to her chest and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the top of her lungs. The other shoppers probably hated me because I did nothing to stop her - I thought it was cute and it made me giggle.

Here is what we did today:

1. I showed the pack of stars and allowed her to pick a color (there were four to choose from).
2. We talked about stars, and where they are located (the sky).
3. We counted the points of a star. Amita can count to 10 all by herself and LOVES to show off her awesome counting skills. 
4. We talked about each of the colors in the pack and identified them.
5. I then wrote Amita's name on one and Ashima's on another. I went over Amita's name with her (she knows all the letters of the alphabet so we are now working on phonemes) and sounding out her name. 
6. I let the girls color their star.
7. I let them put foam stickers on the star. With Amita, we talked about the shape and color of each sticker.
8. We then sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while holding our stars and giggling because that's a funny thing to do (apparently). 
9. Repeat (for Amita) and put stickers in mouth (Ashima). 

 I know Daddy will look forward to seeing the stars when he gets home!

Links and Materials For Homeschool Information

Below is a list of links and descriptions of websites and materials I like or have found helpful.

Materials:

• Waldorf education. I really like the idealism of Waldorf education but I'm not sure that it is academically rigorous enough. http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/#.
• Oak Meadow Education. I think there is a good possibility we will use this or something like this if we decide to do K-12. I really like the structure - something I'm discovering I need to look for in a curriculum. http://www.oakmeadow.com/index.php.
• A Well-Trained Mind. I like this a lot, I wish there was a curriculum you could purchase to go with it. Alas, I've discovered it's only a book with guidelines. While I really like it and agree with most things, I need something more detailed since I'm not sure how to come up with fun and exciting lessons on my own. http://www.welltrainedmind.com.

Websites: 

• http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/homeschooling-information.html. I thought this website was very informational and fair. Many homeschool sites are biased toward homeschooling and it can be difficult to wade through the biases to the actual information. This website also has a GREAT list of pros and cons of homeschooling.
• http://childrensmd.org/uncategorized/why-doctors-and-lawyers-homeschool-their-children-18-reasons-why-we-have-joined-americas-fastest-growing-educational-trend/. This article had some really good reasons to homeschool that I hadn't even considered.

There were MANY more that I looked out but unfortunately I looked at them before I stated blogging. I'll update this list with more as I come across them.