Friends of Ten

I am putting a lot of emphasis on making learning fun especially in the early years.  There will be plenty of time for worksheets later on.  (Although we do our fair share of those too.) So I was happy to add "Friends of 10" to our adding facts games.

To play:

I had Katie count out 10 red beans and I used a gold sharpie to color one side of each of them.  I had Katie write the words Friends of 10 on the top of the paper. I wrote the words red and gold on the paper. We put the beans in a paper cup and I had Katie shake them and poor them out onto a paper.  I had Katie tell me how many red beans there were and how many gold beans there were.  For example one time she had 2 red sided beans and 8 gold beans.  I asked her what 8 + 2 was and she started to count until I asked her how many beans we started with.  Then I asked her again what is 8+2.  This time she got it.  I played around with it telling her these were magic beans.  After a while instead of putting them all back in the cup I just turned one of the beans over.  We did 11 different ways of adding to 10 with whole numbers. As we got to ones that were similar like 8+2 and 2+8 I would have her try to figure out the second number without counting, kind of a pre-algebra type of thing, which I think is part of the premise of singapore math. 

Another day I printed out the sheets from here.  I cut them out and laminated them.  Next we played with the various strips showing again the various ways to take two numbers to add up to 10.  My three and a half year old even enjoyed this.

Free Music Theory Worksheets and Virtual Flashcards

I took several years of piano and I could very easily teach beginning piano.  I was happy to find this website that not only has free music theory worksheets and virtual flashcards but it also has free printable music sheets. 

Go here for the free music theory workbook and virtual flashcards.

Go here for the free printable piano music sheets.

October Learning Record

Every 20 school days I have to have a learning record ready for my educational specialist from the charter school I'm working with.  It only has to be a sentence or so long for each of the following subjects: reading, life skills, history, math, science, special interests/field trips/ classes but I have not done very well with being on time with it.  

I am putting a link to all the content standards for CA here for easy reference.  I also found a nice link for all the kindergarten content standards.

So far my learning record for October looks like this but by no means does it even come close to all we've done.  It is just all that I have typed up.

Reading: Read words with oo as in moon and words with oo as in good.  Words with igh as in night.  Words with ind as in find.


Life Skills: Taking turns, measuring for a recipe



History/ Geography: Read about the 7 continents in What Every Kindergartener Needs to know, directions on a map (north, south, east west)



Math: Friends of 10, beginning addition and subtraction exercises, telling time on the hour and half hour mark, counting by twos.


Science: Planted seeds




Special interests/ Field Trips/ Classes: Pumpkin patch and corn maze






**On a side note I found out today that one of the vendors for our charter school is American girl books and magazines.  I'll have to file that away for later.  Other interesting vendors were:
http://www.learningthroughhistory.com

Book Review of Close Enough To Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul

I recently had the opportunity to review the book "Close Enough To Hear God Breathe."  What an awesome title for a book!  I was looking forward to learning how to be closer to God and hear his voice. I often have a hard time even hearing my own thoughts with 3 kids 5 and under around. First off, my overall impression of the book was that I thought it was a good,  smooth, easy read and that it provided me with some great analogies to help me better understand how God views his children.  This book did deliver what I was hoping for.  I like to read for a little while just before I go to bed and I like to read books that help draw me closer to God. Among other things this book reminded me that it is often easier to hear God's voice when it is still and quiet.  For me that comes when I am walking or just having some alone time.  I like this book enough to take it in one more time and give it another read.  One of my favorite parts came early in the book when the author says, "...now, in these recent days, he speaks to me "in Son."  Whispering through every Scripture, and into the intimate details of my own daily experience-- for it is his life he is abreathing into me, and my life he wants to redeem."

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A prize for Reading and a Preschool Activity

Each time Katie reads a new story in her hooked on phonics books she gets to pick out a prize. I bought some of these at the 99 cent store and others for sometimes even cheaper at Michaels.

While Katie is doing school JD works on various preschool type activities. Here he is doing one of his favorites, using tongs to put dice into an egg crate. Sounds strange but it works for us.

Easy Science Experiment

Today (9/19/11) we did an easy science lesson on chromatography. (Fancy word right?) Basically chromatography is a way of separating mixtures of different chemicals. For example, pen inks are often made up of a range of different colors.

I cut up several paper towels. (I've read coffee filters work great too.) Then Katie and I colored pea sized dots in various colors toward the bottom of the paper towel strip.  I put about a half inch of water in a cup and then we taped the strips to the top making sure the ink did not touch the water but that the bottom of the paper towel did.  Then we watched as the water climbed up the paper towel and separated the ink into different colors. Obviously we were able to see the most colors come from black and brown. We also saw colors separate from purple and grey.  We used this as a chance to talk about primary colors (red, blue and yellow: colors cannot be mixed from or formed by combining any other colors, and they are the basis for making most other colors.)  We even used primary colors in the experiment to demonstrate that we most likely would see no other colors.  There is the possibility of seeing another color but that is if it was not a true blue, yellow or red color.

After we saw what happened with each color I had Katie tell me what other colors she saw come from our dots.  She wrote these colors on a sheet I made.  You can print one here. 

I want to do the experiment again because 1) Katie really seemed to enjoy it and 2) I can make sure Katie grasps the idea of primary colors.

I also thought it would be fun to have her solve some sort of mystery when doing the experiment.  Read more about that here.

*If you do this make sure to use a separate container for each color.
Here is another way to do the experiment.

My happy homeschooler! 

The Story About Ping

I have not yet received my FIAR (Five in a Row) guide but I just got some of the books. Since I know the basic premise of FIAR we are starting without the guide (but I can't wait to get it. I have a couple bids going on EBAY.) The reason I wanted to do this curriculum is that I knew I could easily include my 3 year old on some of the activities. So we are starting with The Story about Ping. I remember reading this when I was kid. Both kids seem to like it on the first read through. Katie wanted to know why the last duck would get spanked.

Later, after reading it I was excited to have Katie get started on her first Draw Right Now book. I asked her if she wanted to draw Ping. She did a great job! and was motivated to write one of the sentences. The first duck on the left is Ping in a boat with a flag on top.  The other ducks in the water are Ping's sisters.

Tonight we read the book again and this time I asked questions as I read. I also emphasized how the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and I had both kids do hand motions going from "east" to "west".

Since Katie learned how to draw a duck she enjoyed being able to illustrate "Behold the Duck," by Ogden Nash.  This is such a cute little poem. First I read it to her.  I asked her what animal clucks and made sure she understood the word lacks, dines and sups.  I also asked her why the duck was bottoms up when it ate.  Then I had her repeat it line by line.  Then we read it together.  Finally I asked her if she would like to draw Ping again.  She was happy to do so.  Isn't it cute?

In the above Picture Katie is showing off Ping's family.  This is where we incorporated some math.  She had to color Ping's mother, father, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins.  After coloring the mother and father Katie asked, "how do I count 42?"  Ah.  She realized that when we got to the cousins she'd have to count to 42!  Great memory.  At first I wondered why the sheet did not already say the number of ducks to color but after that I was glad. It forced Katie to recall the number of cousins, aunts, uncles and other family members that Ping had.  She very patiently colored 68 ducks!  She enjoyed doing it too!

Jane Clair, FIAR creator, has used Ping as an example of how to use FIAR. She says, "Ask your student if he knows where China is. If he does, then let him show you on a world map. If he doesn't, then help him find China and the Yangtze River on a world map."
(So a world map will be on my next list of items to order from my charter school.)

Clair says, "Now continue by asking your student if he has ever heard of people living on boats like the one in the story?...Some of the people of China live on their boats and fish for their dinner and eat whatever they catch. Ask your student if he would like to live on a boat and never know what he was going to have for dinner till he went fishing each day."

"Share how the author used a special sentence several times in the story. Read the sentence and ask your student if he can remember where else that sentence was used in the book? If he can't, just find the places in the story where the sentence is repeated and show your student how the author uses the same words in the middle of the story and again at the end. Explain that authors sometimes use an interesting sentence several times in a story to make it fun...we call that repetition (like repeating), etc. An author wouldn't want to use repetition too much, but a little repetition can make a story interesting...

Ask your student if he would like to write a short story (or you can work on it together) using an interesting sentence at the beginning of the paragraph and again at the end? This story can be very simple. The idea is to give your student a chance to try using repetition as the author in The Story About Ping did.

If you are keeping a running chart of "Choices A Writer Can Make," list repetition as one of those choices. You can add to this list each time you have a lesson on "Techniques Used by Writers" and your list also gives you an easy point for review! Later, when your student wants to write a story of his own, he can go over the list and be reminded of the special ways that great authors have created stories that are interesting and enjoyable. You will see him begin to use some of these techniques in his writings, too."

Can you see why I'm loving FIAR and I don''t even have the guide yet!

Printable Activity Guide for The Story About Ping
Resources from the home school mom
Home school share resources
Learn all about Ducks 
Sink or Float Chart

Before we're done with Ping Katie will:
Learn about bouyancy
"Buoyancy is the ability to float in liquid (or air). A ball full of air is extremely buoyant, where a lead ball is not buoyant at all. It's because the ball of air is less dense than the water."(ask kids definition)
Learn that "Yangtze" means "yellow".
Vocabulary : beggar, barrel, scurry, paddle
Learn about obedience and consequences.
Sing "Trust and Obey".
Color a map & flag of China.
Learn about customs of China.
Learn more about ducks.
Learn about repetition as a story element.

Other bloggers on the story about ping:
here


here
here

Even more great ideas

Cut and Paste Days of the Week

Kindergarteners love to cut and paste.  Here is a free printable I found in which you cut out the days of the week and then paste them in order. Click here to print.

While you're at it play this Days of the week song.  It is sung to the tune of the Adam's Family.  Once your kids hear it a couple times they'll be singing it around the house.  (You too.)  Want to know how to sing the Spanish version of this Days of the week song?  Go here.

Easy Science Lesson Plan for Kindergarten

For science this week we are going to use a Lakeshore lesson plan to learn more about the parts of a plant. Here are the objectives for this lesson plan:

• Students will identify the parts of a plant and how plants grow.
• Students will determine what plants need to survive.

The printable activity page has a plant that needs to be labeled by cutting and pasting the following words onto it: leaves, roots, seed and stem.

I think we will also do the extension activity. 

Children's Coins Song

Fun!  A song that helps kids learn the names of coins.  I talked a little about this coin song here.  My kids really liked it.  I made sure each of them had their own penny, nickel, dime and quarter so that when the song said "show me the money" they could hold up their own coin.  My 5 year old has had more practice with coins and had no problem with this.  I needed to help my 3 year old mostly with the nickel and quarter.