4th Week, 4th (and 5th) Day!

Today I prepared two lessons in one day due to a planned field trip tomorrow. Math was an easy one to double up today because Lesson 20 was a Progress Report for Babe. This whole Math section has been a review, so she scored very high marks for this period.

Last night's homework was a little baffling to me. It was a review on flip, turn, and slide, but the middle section, turn, couldn't both answers be correct? She circled the bottom one, which is correct, but to be sure, I cut out one of them and we did our own turning experiment (the second half moon that I cut out is taped to the sheet, but you can see the cutout, with the straight line on top).

Babe was a little confused, but with the visual she was able to see that both answers are correct, it really just depends on how much you turn them.

Right...?

After we were both satisfied, we moved on to the official introduction of 3D figures. Today was just a basic lesson of matching 2D shapes with 3D counterparts. Babe was easily able to find household items that matched each one.

Math. Complete.

We did our Reading Comprehension review of the four stories from this week, and after discussing each, I had her do her normal drawing of her her favorite scene/related image from each story.

From "The Gingerbread Man", her favorite part was when the gingerbread man was being cooked, hence why he's in the oven.

For the book "Here Are My Hands", I asked her to draw her favorite body part. She first drew her hands, then her feet, then opted for her whole body.

"Why did you draw your whole body?"

"Because I can do everything with my body and it's all my favorite."

Her same reasoning went for story three, the wordless book "See What We Can Do." I guess you can't ask her what her favorite thing to do is, because everything is her favorite.

And when I asked her to draw her favorite feeling to feel, I was a little worried when she drew what she did. I asked her why being sad was her favorite way of feeling, and she corrected me.

"I don't like being sad. It's just my favorite feeling to DRAW!"

OK then. Reading Comprehension complete.

By this time it would have been time to hit the library, but I opted out of going. I had all the kids do a Fall craft instead. I handed them each some play dough (Babe played with hers that we made a few days ago using Calvert's recipe) to warm up their fingers. Then I got out the air-dry foam clay for them to knead. Each kid got their own serving, and after kneading it to make it soft, we used leaf cookie cutters on it. Then I showed them all how to texturize it (using plastic flatware) to make it look like a real leaf.

Babe was in awe at this and Z was even doing it awesomely. Bubs was a little off this morning so she wasn't into this craft as she usually is. But Z and Babe each worked hard on theirs, and spent a good hour working. They turned out great! They each made three and when they dry, they will have awesome leaves to paint and turn into magnets!

After lunch, Babe had her Science lesson on sense of taste. Naturally, I set up a taste-testing booth for her.

I blindfolded her and had her try each one. She got every one right! Impressive. We then discussed taste buds, and how there are thousands on the tongue that like different kinds of food more than others. Her Science worksheet explained that sour buds were in the back and sweet and salty buds were in the front.

"Do you think you'd need a tongue in your mouth to taste? Or can your mouth and teeth do it?"

"NO! You need your buddies to help you taste, right?!"

Buddies.

Laughing. Out loud.

That was the end of the official Kindergarten day, but to continue with my own Fall theme, we cooked a Fall treat. I hope to do something like this once a week now to reinforce seasons and to get her in the kitchen more. So today we made baked apples.

"Why do you think apples are considered a Fall treat?"

"Because they fall from the trees in Fall. Get it? Fall, and fall!"

I had no better answer.

While I halved and cored the apples, Babe and Bubs mixed the stuffing.

After I halved the apples, I showed the girls the stars in the middle of the apple. Apparently Babe had never seen such a thing and was, for the second time today, in awe of it. It was pretty cute, her reaction.

So then I cored them and handed them off to the girls to stuff. They did brilliantly!

We each shook one sprinkle of cinnamon over the apples, then there was nothing left to do but wait.

Thirty minutes later, the house was smelling like I was burning a Fall candle, and the apples were ready to come out!!!

*droooooool*

I mean really, don't they look delicious?

Because they were. Babe had two! Z ate his whole one, and Bubs wasn't interested in the apple as much as she was in the ice cream I dolloped on top.

And that's the end of Kindergarten for the day.

And that's the end of Kindergarten for the MONTH! Today was our last day of Babe's first month in Kindergarten.

What a ride!

So far.

4th Week, 3rd Day

Today, Bubs and Z got to decorate the board. Babe drew a little train in the corner. See it?

In Math today, Babe first reviewed shapes and how, when put together, can make other shapes.

Enter the infamous square puzzle.

I'm trying to figure out how this is even in a Kindergartner's lesson! I was only able to do it once, then after that I forgot how. Babe couldn't do it at all but she kept trying. When I saw her frustration grow, we put it away and continued with a different part of Math.

We went over the movements of shapes - slide, flip, and turn. She got the hang of it pretty quick, so I had her trace each movement, then "quizzed" her on each one. I had her close her eyes, then tell me what I did for each of the three shapes. She did good! And after I was sure she knew that the shapes to not change shape, just position/direction, Math was finished!

Time for Reading Comprehension with telling another wordless story. She "read" "See What We Can Do" pretty adorably. She picked up on the little illustrated details like she was supposed to, like this hysterical line:

"Mommy look! I can hopscotch with no numbers on the squares!"

I laughed. A lot. In my head.

While we still had some time before lunch I had her do her Writing lesson. We started another list about the function of some body parts, using full sentences. She is getting very good at sounding words out on her own, so I only had to help her minimally today. Babe put three sentences on her list.

After lunch, she did her Checkpoints and then we started a "sense wall". So far, we've learned

about our sense of sight and sense of touch, so for homework on those days, I have her take

pictures of each family member's body part specific to the day. Then Babe writes the sense and lines up each family member's part with that sense. I think it's a pretty good visual, and it'll be something fun for her to mix and match when we have all the parts. She doesn't know that part yet.

After the brief science lesson, we had some time left before nap time got over, so I had her add to her reading log with "A Fairy Tale Fall" by Apple Jordan. This was a VERY tough read for her, but I think mostly because it was towards the end of the day and her brain was tired. But she wanted to keep reading it so I let her. She struggled over some words the first time through, but refused to get frustrated and continued on. After her "practice run", she was good to go for her official read and only struggled over one...word. Actually two words. The sentence started "Everyone wears..." but she skipped reading "wears" because "one" has the beginning sound of /w/. I had to show her that "everyone" is one word, and that "wears" was a totally different word. Phew. She finally got it and finished up the book.

While adding it to her journal, she was very amused that the author's name was Apple.

"What if your name was Banana?!"

And with that, school was done for the day.

4th Week, 2nd Day

If you are reading this daily, I'm sorry for an absent post yesterday! I was recovering from burning a few fingers while making dinner. I will try to remember as much as I can about yesterday, so I apologize ahead of time for a possible shorter post.

In Math yesterday, Babe learned about trapezoids and polygons. She knew what a trapezoid looks like, and how to draw one. Then I told her the definition of a polygon - a shape with no curves. After she was clear on each, we did a listening activity where she drew what I asked her.

I was asking her to draw random shapes, to make sure she knew how to draw each. Then I asked her to draw three shapes in red that are not polygons. Are you surprised that her first one was a heart? I'm not.

When she did really good with that, we practiced counting the sides of polygons. When I asked her to draw a polygon with six sides, she really couldn't figure it out, even though I told her it did not have to be symmetrical, or look even. She didn't care. She was getting a little frustrated that she wasn't able to do it, so I switched it around and had her ask me to draw the shape. Then I asked her to count the sides and label how many sides it had. Before we put this away, I asked her to draw me a three-sided polygon.

"A triangle!"

After that, she caught on. I had her then draw a four-sided polygon.

"A square! Is an eight-sided polygon an octagon?"

Alrighty then. Worksheet. Math Done.

For Reading Comprehension we read "Here Are My Hands" by Bill Martin Jr. It was a quick read and Babe knows the function of all the body parts, so she was getting bored quick and I couldn't ask any more challenging questions, so we were done for the morning.

After lunch, we jumped into Science with the sense of touch. I created a touch box for her and then blindfolded her. Then asked her to first feel everything in the box. When she felt like she had, I asked her to pull out a certain thing (the cylinder, the roughest item, the softest item, the thinnest item).

She had a lot of fun with this, so she asked if she could make a touch box for me. She emptied the box and carried it around the house, picking up random things. Then she blindfolded me and asked me the questions.

"OK, find the crab."

"The crab?"

"Yeah! Well, it's a silly band, but it's shaped like a crab."

I laughed in my head for a long time.

Well, I honestly can't remember what else we did yesterday, but I do know that was the bulk of the day. She had dance so we were done early anyway. And after singing her song in the car on the way, we were officially done for the day!

4th Week, 1st Day

We are already entering into the last week of the first month. How crazy is that!? Time is definitely flying. This week I've decided to start doubling up lessons when I see it fit.

Today, I doubled up Math because it was recognizing certain two-dimensional shapes. Babe was easily able to do it with the specified shapes - square, oval, triangle, and rectangle. I then had her draw each one, something else she was very easily able to do. After she completed her worksheets, Math was done.

We did Reading Comprehension next with "The Gingerbread Man." I read the story aloud and by the second chaser of the cookie, she was reciting along with me the famous saying, "Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the gingerbread man!" After reading the story and free-playing for a few minutes, she was able to recall details and basically retell the whole story, even with the correct order of cookie chasers!

Next was the fun part - decorating gingerbread cookies!!! It was a little weird decorating these specific cookies at the end of September, but it goes right along with her Science lessons, so I guess it makes sense.

I set up each kid's station to minimize the mess as much as possible. Then I let Bubs and Z go to town, but had Babe decorate five specifically.

The first one I wanted her to decorate was the one described in the story, so I asked her if she remembered what the little old lady used for his eyes, nose, and buttons. She remembered perfectly, except we didn't have cherries for his nose, so we used a Red Hot!

She added a green mouth and a brown skirt afterwards.

I then had her decorate each member of her family, using candies to show hair and eye color.

Here she is working on her dad, who has brown hair and eyes. She did very well for the remaining members of her family, but I slacked on photos today...so no pictures...

Z and Bubs were having just as much fun as Babe was.

Here is an example of Z's cookie designs, which is pretty much the gyst of how Bubs decorated hers. Lots of random candies and other edible things piled on top.

Overall, I think they decorated about two dozen cookies. And I have never eaten so much sugar in one day in my entire life.

Tada!!!

This activity took up the rest of the morning, so we waited until after lunch to continue.

I did a quick run through with her on beginning sounds. I had her sort some picture cards by beginning sounds and she did that with ease. After her Checkpoints, it was time for an introduction on "naming words", or nouns.

I showed her that each picture on the picture card had a name, a word that goes with it. I then told her that anything she can point to and name is a noun. So we practiced. We used the cards, then she eventually went around the dining room and kitchen pointing to things and naming them. I used both terms, noun and naming word, while describing them.

We did this activity while transitioning to Science, which was a review on body parts. I taught her the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and how we point to each part.

"So these are nouns too?"

Wow. Yeah, she caught on much quicker than I thought she would with nouns.

We sang the song a bunch of times, getting faster and faster with each turn. Then I asked her which two body parts in the song rhymed. It took her a while to remember which parts were in the song, but she finally yelled "NOSE AND TOES!" It was pretty funny. Then I asked her which two parts in the song had the same beginning sounds.

Without much thought, she said, "nose and knees!"

Awesome.

She had a bit more time left before dance, so I had her catch up in her Reading practice book, which has the student write each letter on specified pages. If you are reading this and are using Calvert Kindergarten home school, I have not been doing the Reading Awareness lessons in Theme 1. She knows all her letters and how to write them, so whenever we have down time, I just have her catch up to the day's letter.

And that's that! She sang "You're a Grand Old Flag" in the car on the way to dance, officially ending today's school day.

Third Week, 5th Day!

Today is the first day of Fall! Who's excited?! I love stuff like this so I had a bunch of Fall-related things to do today after Babe did the required work to keep on track. But not before we prepared the calendar for today! Babe was so excited to change the Summer label to Fall!

As always, we started in Math with an overview of what's to come in Chapter 2. I showed her the difference between a cube and a square, a triangle and a cone, a circle and a sphere, and a rectangle and a cylinder. I reminded her about the spaghetti noodle fiasco from the other day and why it's not a circle, but a cylinder. She completely understands now, as I knew she would. We spent about 30 minutes going over each shape, and then we walked around the house searching for those shapes in everyday household items.

She immediately recognized the candles as cylinders, the toaster as a cube, pots as cylinders, and a birthday hat as a cone. Every now and then though, she'd forget a term. So we'd stop and go over them all again, then continue the house tour. After her worksheets, we were done with Math.

I initially decided to wait until after lunch to do Reading Comp., so I got out the ingredients for craft time - homemade play dough! Babe helped me measure and pour each ingredient into the pot, then she stirred the dough until she couldn't anymore.

After it became dough, I had to knead it while it cooled. It was pretty hot, so I figured I had enough time while it cooled to do Reading Comp. at the same time. We discussed the three stories we read this week, "Mice Squeak, We Speak", "Let's Play!", and "Now I'm Big". She remembered all of them, so I had her get a sheet of paper and split it into three. Then I had her draw her favorite animal from the first book, which was a frog. Then I had her draw her favorite thing to play with on the playground, which is a swing. In the last square I had her draw what she liked doing now that she couldn't do as a baby. She drew a bike and her pool.

Reading Comp. done. Play dough cool.

I split the play dough into three servings and had Babe, Bubs, and Z choose the color they wanted to dye it. Then the fun began! Calvert suggested I bring out gingerbread man cookie cutters to slowly transition into next week's science lesson about body parts, but since today was the first day of Fall, I brought out pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters instead. Everyone had a blast, even me! The homemade play dough turned out so good and smooth and flexible. I loved it. And so did they.

In addition to bringing out the cutters, I also brought out flatware. Z loves poking holes with the fork and Bubs can't get enough of cutting and slicing her dough.

This was a good hour, if not longer, activity. I was having a lot of fun, too, so I think that's what made it last longer. Oops.

After lunch, I had one more Fall activity before Bubs and Z went to bed. I brought out the glue, paint, cotton balls, cotton swabs, and a few fake fall leaves I got at Dollar Tree last night. Then had them each just go to town. I was very impressed with each of their artwork.

Z is getting very good at handling the glue bottle. He's still a little too young to realize that it's OK to get dirty during craft time, so he never lasts long. But nonetheless, I love it.

Bubs loves this kind of stuff, and lately she's been layering her crafts. As in, stacking. As in, making her craft a 3D project. Needless to say, her art is definitely the heaviest of the three.

When I said I let them go to town, that's exactly what Babe did. She gets very involved in all her crafts, so if Calvert doesn't have one to go along with the lesson, I think of something to do. She's very artsy. I never ever want to suppress that!

During naptime, I read Babe "Celebrating the Harvest" by Ellen Jackson. I brought out the world map with it and pointed to the country featured on the page I was reading. We read about the first Thanksgiving in the United States, how China celebrates the Harvest Moon by eating at midnight, and how kids in Angola pick up the last few corns of the fields and play keep-away with them! There are recipes from around the world at the end of the book that I can't wait to cook and taste next week as we continue our Fall activities for its first week.

In keeping with the Fall theme, I surprised Babe with a book she could read for her reading log. She did so with no problem!

She noticed it was number ten, her tenth book since started Kindergarten! I claimed it as a milestone and gave her a gift I bought her from the Dollar Tree. A Tinkerbell jigsaw puzzle. She couldn't stop saying thank you, and she immediately opened it and we put the border together. By this time it was really late in the day, so I knew her brain was almost done, but she kept pushing to do more of the puzzle. We kept working on it until Z woke up from his nap, in which she was done.

"Can I just watch PBS Kids now?"

"Sure! Did you have fun in Kindergarten today?"

"Yeah. That was the best first day of Fall ever."

Happy First Day of Fall, everyone!