9.1.1.

Here we go! Last month of the school year! Kindergarten! Almost over!


I'm giving Babe a break from structured Math this week, so next week we will continue with Chapter 5. I will be having her practice her subtraction throughout this week.


We started the day with discussing some literature terms - plot, genre, character, setting, illustrator, author, and title. I brought out four different books, and after I defined each term for her, I had her tell me the answer to each term with each book. She did this really well, and even remembered later on in the day what plot meant, as she was explaining to me the plot of a movie. We will continue this discussion for the rest of the week.


We then jumped to Science, where Babe was briefly introduced to the concept of constellations (after she named the planets in order, of course). I told her that long ago, people looked at the stars and made pictures out of them, and they are known today as constellations. She was in love with this idea, and after she did her related worksheet, I set up a craft that I knew she'd love.

I then set all three kids up with a large sheet of black paper and a bottle of glue. I gave them free reign, only telling them to cover their paper with glue dots. Everyone loves to glue, so this was an easy and fun task for each of them.


I told them this was only part one of this craft, and we would have to wait until tomorrow to finish it. I remember doing something like this when I was in school and loved it, so I'm excited for them to finish it. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what part two is all about. 

 

When we cleaned up, Babe added her last book of April to her Reading Log - "Love Waves" by Rosemary Wells. Babe only got stuck on the word 'mysterious.' I was very impressed. I told her First Grade starts short chapter books!

She gasped.

"Like Harry Potter?!"

ha! She's dying to start reading them but I told her she's still a bit too young to read those. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened sooner than later though.

After lunch, we then headed outside to measure the plants in our Spring Experiment, where the sand cup is growing steadily. Babe made an excellent observation today too. I asked her which plant was tallest.

"The sand cup is tallest, but look, the soil cup's plant is much wider."

And she was exactly right. The bean plant is growing out more in the soil, but the bean plant in the sand cup is growing taller. Very interesting.

And with that, the day was over. I gave them all a quick catnap before dance. Another busy weekend ahead and we have to kick this sickness in the butt!

*8th. 4th. 5th.

NO SCHOOL TODAY.

Sick day.

8th. 4th. 4th.

Today was mostly about Math and making sure Babe fully understands subtraction and how to pull a subtraction sentence out of a word problem.

For the most part, Babe fully understands subtraction and can do it in her head. Quickly. I'm having an issue with figuring out if one of the tactics Calvert has of teaching subtraction is necessary for Babe to know, since she is having a hard time figuring out this part-part-total chart thing when it pertains to a subtraction word problem. So yes, she was having a few issues with worksheets today. BUT, later on in the day, I orally read her the word problems and she was able to tell me each answer within a minute.

So no, I'm not worried about Babe and her subtraction skills. But skipping this might be an issue later on.

Off to do some research!

Field trip tomorrow! Following her Chapter 4 test, of course!

8th. 4th. 3rd.

Today we started off with a field trip! I contacted one of my friends who lives in the neighborhood and she said we were more than welcome to drop by her farm and visit with the animals!


So early morning, we hopped on our bikes and headed down the street. The kids were so excited. We saw tons of horses, tons of chickens, two baby chicks that just hatched, ponies, a donkey, and a huge (tame) wild hog that sits on command! They even got to collect the eggs from the hen nests and ride a horse!

 

 

We all had a blast. We took our four collected eggs home and had breakfast for lunch today! Yum!


After lunch, EVERYONE napped, me included. Apparently the bike ride and excitement knocked us all out.


After we all woke up and came to, I had Babe do a bit of Math to make sure she was solid in subtraction. I know she is very good at it, but we are finishing up Chapter 4 this week and I just need to know she's good.


I gave her a homemade worksheet of some pretty challenging math, but I've been working with her in understanding that all numbers are connected in some way - how a subtraction sentence can be read as an addition sentence backwards, etc. I think this will get her very natural at Math, even more so than she already is.


One the left side of the sheet, I wrote nine groups of three numbers. On the right side, I had Babe use each group of three numbers to write one addition sentence and one subtraction sentence. She did very, very well at this. I was impressed. And so was she. I told her it was "hard Math" and her smile got really big.

And with that, we ended the day. Tomorrow will be another light day and Friday is another big field trip! Stay tuned!

8th. 4th. 2nd.

Babe and I started today by preparing an activity for Bubs and Z. Babe was so proud to be able to help. Maybe I won’t have to work so much at home anymore! Just set aside a time in the morning and do it all with Babe! 

In Math, we practiced a bit more with subtraction and I had her check her work by reading them backwards and checking if the addition sentences were correct, too. She loves doing that. It’s so funny to watch her brain realize what is happening.

I gave her a bit more challenging work today but she wasn’t into it much, so I’ll try again tomorrow.

While Babe was working on Math, I had Bubs and Z practice their cutting skills. Bubs is actually really good at this and followed the line perfectly. Z needed a bit of help snapping the spring-loaded scissors together but the strength is growing.

Once they each had a nice pile of flower cards, I handed them their own big sheet of paper with five boxes on it. I put one of each colored flower in the boxes and then had them glue the matching cards.

 

After everyone was done with their activity, we discussed some signs of Spring. Babe knew them pretty well, so I told them we were now going to make flowers. I set them up with squares of tissue paper, showed them how to accordion-fold...and the rest was history. Apparently I didn’t quite remember how to make these flowers, so I called the craft a bust and brought out the paint.

No one seemed to mind.

Clean up. Outside play. Lunch.

After lunch, Babe and I discussed a few more details of yesterday’s book, “Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash.”

“How could you tell the setting of the story was her backyard?”

“Because I saw her house!”

“You did? Where?”

I knew that none of the illustrations showed her house, but Babe was adamant about seeing it, so I let her flip through the pages. She found the page she thought she saw it.

“Oh. That’s not a house. That’s just a bucket of water. How can she wash clothes with that?”

I then described how people used to wash clothes - with soapy water and a washboard.

“Weird.”

ha!

“OK, if you could ask Sarah Weeks (the author) anything you could about this story, what would you ask?”

“I’d ask her why she didn’t show the house!”

So funny.

I wanted to end the day with writing another poem (Babe’s homework included listing some rhyming words for “fox”), but Babe was so out of it I just skipped it altogether. We had a couple of minutes before dance, so I let her relax with some WordGirl.

Tuesday complete. 

8th. 4th. 1st.

It's late so I'm just going to jump in.

Today started subtraction (review) for Babe in Math. She's pretty well off in subtraction but I'd like her to know all subtraction sentences with the difference of 0-10 by the end of the week, just like with addition. And practice makes perfect. After a few worksheets, I showed her some of the stuff she'd be learning this week. I blew her mind.

I think her brain exploded.

I showed her a subtraction number sentence like 5-3=2. I then showed her that when reading it backwards, she can say 2+3=5.

She gasped.

Then did the same thing for all the rest of the sentences on the worksheet. 

Yeah, her mind was blown. So she's excited to learn that in the coming days.

After Math we did some Reading Comprehension, where I asked her if she remembered the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. After a little reminder of what a tortoise and a hare were, she remembered everything about the story, setting included (which is what the lesson was about). She then read "Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up her Wash" and answered a few questions about that story, setting included. After she completed her worksheets, I got out the iPad.

I showed all three of them different videos about May Day and how people celebrate the first day of May/Spring. After watching people dance around a pole for a few minutes, I told them they were going to make their own May Poles! Babe is dying to do it "for real" so I'm going to try to figure something out for next week, but for the time being, I handed each of them a paper towel tube and some sheets of tissue paper to cut.

They each got to cutting strips of tissue paper ad gluing them onto their May Pole. This craft seemed to create more frustration than anything, but the girls kept at it and ended up with a cool finished product.

We then cleaned up, headed outside, then ate lunch.

After lunch, Babe did her weekly measurement of the Spring Experiment, where the soil plant has taken the lead in height. It's now at 6 inches, with the sand plant close behind at 5.5. Crazy!

I then handed Babe "Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash" again and had her tell me the rhyming words on different pages. She was able to do so, and I told her it was time to make up her own poem about a bear. She named the bear Sandy, and then she thought of four more words that rhyme with bear. She struggled with this a bit, but was finally able to get the words listed.

Then it was time to write her poem.

And what a cute poem it is!!! Complete with illustration.

<3

She ended the day by adding "The Busy Spring" by Carl Emerson to her Reading Log. She's on book 18 of the month! Amazing!

On to Tuesday!

*8th. 3rd. 5th.

I leave for the weekend and blogger.com is all different! Gah! Friday was a while ago so I may forget a few things, but you'll get the jyst.


Friday was "dairy day" where Babe's discussions were on the farm animals that give milk. But first on the agenda was Math, in which Babe completed her Chapter 2 test. Completed them very successfully I might add. So yay! Though her focus was a little lacking, she got through the test, and we moved on.


For the rest of the morning, Bubs and Babe papier-mached. I helped each of them cut long strips of newspaper. When they both had a nice pile of strips, I prepared the glue out of flour and water, showed them how to dunk and wipe the strip, and how to apply it to their balloon.


They. Loved. This.

 

 


















I can't express in words how much fun both of the girls had. And not only did they both have fun, they actually did it really, really well! They have no idea what the outcome is going to be (farm animal masks), but they followed directions and layered their strips onto their balloons. When all their strips were glued, we set them to dry.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon experimenting with two different milks, goat and cow. I first served each of them two unmarked cups and had them taste the A cup first. They both knew right away it was cow milk and finished it to the last sip! I then had them taste the B cup.

 








































After tasting the first two sips, Bubs spoke up first.


"This is not good."


ha! It was so cute. I asked her if she thought that was cow milk or goat milk.


"Goat milk. It's gross."


Another cute one.


Babe seemed to like the goat milk but knew it was different.


"I can't explain how, but it's different than the cow milk. It tastes...I don't know!"


I tasted it too and I agreed with Bubs. It was not good.

Bubs approves of Milk A! haha


After taste-testing the milk, we then hand-made ice cream from each milk. They both loved "massaging" the baggies, too. And surprisingly, they liked the taste of both ice creams. Bubs even sucked down the last drips of her goat milk ice cream! I know it's weird, but I liked the goat milk ice cream too. I guess it's proof you can add sugar to anything and make it taste 100% better!


 

We spent the rest of the day in the pool practicing our swimming.


Hooray for Fridays!