Monday, July 28, 2014

Week One in Review

Well, our first week back to school went FAST!  And we got a lot done too.  We took a break on Tuesday to head out to Hamilton to meet up with some friends at a splash pad/park.  Summer library program has started up again, and we joined in on Friday.  It was great to see so many people this week that we haven't seen for a few months/weeks.


My treasure has been very resistant to starting grade two, so I am easing her into the school rhythm this year.  Her first block is getting caught up on the grade one form drawing that we didn't do last year (opps!).  I'm certain that I'm not teaching form drawing right, at all.  But we are trying to get through and learn what we can so we will be ready for the grade two form drawing block later this year.  It is certainly challenging her, making her slow down, concentrate, pay attention...  So, maybe we're doing more right then I think ;)






She is also working on her sight words daily.  She was pretty overwhelmed on day one when she saw the new stack of them in her envelop, but she whipped through them like a superstar.  ALL of her grade two sight words up on the wall before the first week was even over.  She has now chosen to start working through the grade three sight words that I have for her.  Some of them are a little more challenging, but she already has half of them up on the wall.  The awesome thing about her sight words this year, is that she is actually looking at ALL of the words.  REALLY trying to read the ones that she doesn't know.  Listening to me say them, and sound them out.  Sounding them out on her own.  AND, she adding her own sentences to each of them (even when she's unsure of what they mean, which can be quiet comical).




Reading is the last part of her daily "MUST DO" work.  She reads a phonics reader and an emergent reader.  I have a LARGE selection of them.  We put out a few at a time for her to pick from.  Once she is confident and proficient with them, she reads them to Daddy before bed, and then they go away to make room for her new ones.


Silly Joyful is starting our her final Kindergarten year with a block on Shapes.  This week we read Robot Zombie Frankenstein.  What a fun book that was!!  We also focused a one specific shape for 2 days each.  This week we did circle, square, and triangle.  We did tons of work to support our Robot story, and ended the week with some Cherry Pie :)
























Sunday, September 22, 2013

Week Two, Autumn Equinox

Theme for the Week:  Fall/Autumn Equinox

Fiction Book of the Week: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
                                           The Uninvited Guest

Non Fiction Book of the Week: Autumn
                                                   The Autumn Equinox, Celebrating the Harvest

Craft for the Week:  Farmer's Market - Beeswax Candles
                                 Vegetables - Play Dough Vegetables

Field Trip for the Week:  The Zoo
                                         Local Harvest Festival

Baking for the Week:

Current Poem:  Johnny Appleseed/September

Art Study for the Week:  Autumn at Argenteuil by Claude Monet

What a fun week we had.  We kicked the week off at our local "Fall Ball", with face painting, popcorn, ice cream, bouncy castle, and of course story time provided by the library :)  reviewing the seasons, learning all about how fall is celebrated all over the world and how it's been celebrated through out the ages.  We did not pick a letter of the week because it was a "festival week".  Unfortunately the festival part ended up nixed.  We had planned to attend out local Harvest Festival, but the constant rain kept us home.







Fall Ball

Our Seasonal Fairy Story



And the girls rendition of it

Practicing her form drawing

Finally not only able to complete the puzzle, but enjoying it too

Filled in her first book log of the year - 10 books read :)




Our Fall Sensory bin finally came out



The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree




Singing Row, Row, Row your Boat very loudly
Saying good bye to our Elephants before they are moved to California







Sunday, September 15, 2013

Week One, Farmer's Market & Vetetables

Theme for the Week:  Farmer's Market & Vegetables

Letter of the Week: M

Fiction Book of the Week: Farmer's Market - Ox -Cart Man
                                          Vegetables - Tops & Bottoms

Non Fiction Book of the Week: Farmer's Market - We Need Farmers
                                                  Vegetables - Vegetables

Craft for the Week:  Farmer's Market - Beeswax Candles
                                 Vegetables - Play Dough Vegetables

Field Trip for the Week:  Farmer's Market - Local farm with Market
                                        Vegetables - Local grocery store produce section

Baking for the Week:  Carrot Muffins

Current Poem:  Johnny Appleseed

Art Study for the Week:  Sunrise by Claude Monet

Well it was a whirlwind week for us, just starting out and cramming two weeks into one.  It was also a short and "off" week for us, as we had to travel downtown for a specialist appointment on Tuesday, and we had a little visitor join us for Friday.

I decided to merge our scheduled theme of "Farmer's Market" this week, with "Vegetables" that was to be completed at the end of the month.  They seemed to just fit together so well in my planning, and I was happy to see how well they did mix when we sat down to work.

Our field trip turned into a mini adventure, stuck in the corn maze when it stated pouring rain, both girls slipped in the mud, then one of them got a blister....

We didn't get to EVERYTHING that I had hoped to do, but we got through tons.  We finished off the week with watercolor painting of the letter M, with scenes from Simeli Mountain.

Favorite books from this week
We practiced our cutting skills


Joyful delighted and surprised me with this task!  In the past she would just stare at the ceiling or scribble all over the page.  But she did 20 of these sheets!!!!

Treasure started the school year off my mastering her first reader on day one!  She was so proud of herself, and her confidence in reading has greatly increased :)


We read Ox Cart Man and discussed the differences between life in the 1800's and now.  We also read the poem about the "Mallow" fairy for letter M.

We worked through most of the Letter of the Week activities for the letter M

Macaroni collages

Working on ASL


Our beautiful beeswax candles

Form Drawing, straight and wavy lines




"Mum, is this a top or a bottom?"  "Oh, why would someone keep that part?" ;)

Completing our "On the Farm" concept books after our field trip.

Harvesting from our own garden



Enjoying our local Library program



Our carrot muffins