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Showing posts with label preschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preschool. Show all posts

Monday, June 6, 2011

We're Going to Hogwarts!!!

Labels: , , at 12:22 PM

Every summer I try to find something fun to do with the kids.  Something that wil keep us busy and also keep them reading and practicing "school" things.  Sometimes we've done summer camps.  One year we did a reading challenge.  We attend summer events at the library and parks.

But this summer . . . . . We're going to Hogwarts!!!!!

Thing #1 recently got into reading the Harry Potter books.  She's booked through them :) at a record pace.  And now Thing #2 and #3 are reading the first book out loud with me.  They love the magic and mystery of them.  And they thing (and I can't argue with this) that Hogwarts would be the coolest school ever to attend!

Later today, when the children come home from school, they will find a magic "Owl Post" tube containing acceptance letters for each of them to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Summer Correspondence School.  The letter details what they need to do as students and advises them to be on the lookout for more Owl Posts with their assignments.

The first assignment is also going to be in the container - a quiz to fill out so they can be sorted into Houses.  They will work to earn points for their Houses all summer and the house with the most points (or more likely all the children!) will earn a special House Prize at the end of the summer.

The second assignment will come later this week - a note from Hagrid asking them to "write him a lit'le note telling meh what kind o' animal yeh'd like to take care 'o."  They will have to detail howthey will take care of their animal and can choose from: an owl, a turtle, a rat, a cat or a frog.  A few days later (or whenever Momma can find stuffed animals of choice) Hagrid will send them some animals to take care of.

Assignments will follow over the course of the summer from various professors - all by Owl Post.  The letters will be on "parchment" (regular paper dyed light brown in a tea bath), rolled up and tied with a ribbon; different colors for different professors.  The class schedule allows for the study of the followin subjects: Astronomy, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Quill Writing, Spell Writing, and Herbology.  We might even have a game or two of Quiddich!

Mr. CrazyLife is as excited about this as I am.  He's going to help Mr. Ollivander and spin up a couple of magic wands for us.  :)

This is going to be fun!!!!!!

(source)

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Everyday Math

Labels: at 3:29 PM

While we've been on spring break here at CrazyLife, I've been getting some things ready for the next few weeks of preschool for Thing #3 and Thing #4.  While doing this, I've been spending lots of time finding ways to bring school activities into our everyday life.  Since we have such a limited time in the evenings to do school, we have to get as much "bang for our buck" so to speak.


Today I want to talk about everyday math.  How we are finding ways to incorporate math into our everyday play and work here at home.  It's easier than you think and as you go, you'll find more and more ways to encourage your children's math skills!


Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

  1. Make patterns with building blocks, legos, duplos, etc.  Do an AB pattern with two colors, or an ABC pattern with three colors.  Or instead of colors, use sizes of blocks - big/little patterns, two bump/three bump patterns, etc.
  2. Have children divide fruit pieces such as grapes or apple slices into equal parts during lunch.  Give them enough pieces for all the lunch plates and have them decide how many pieces go on each plate to make sure that everyone gets the same amount.
  3. Have children count silverware out for the family while setting the table.  How many spoons do we need?  How many forks?
  4. Measure toys.  How many blocks long is your tower?  How many legos long is your dinosaur? How many legos long is our book?  How many blocks tall are you?  How many blocks long is your foot?
  5. Let children help with baking simple things for dinner and have them measure out ingredients and count as they do.  How many scoops of flour?  Older children can take the fractions and figure out that if I am using a 1/4 C measure, how many scoops do I need to make 1 C?  Let them stir - how many stirs until it is mixed?
  6. As we fold and put away laundry, how many pairs of underwear are there?  How many shirts will fit into our drawers?  Can we make a pattern with long sleeved/short sleeved shirts in our pile?
  7. Have children help sort socks (a double whammy as it helps them with matching and also gets them to do a hated chore for me!) Matching up colors and patterns and sizes.
  8. Look at sizes of objects around the room and play "I spy."  I spy something that is bigger than the chair.  I spy something that has an AB pattern on it.  I spy something that is longer than your foot.
  9. During garden season, have children in charge of one special plant.  They get to plant it and care for it.  Sunflowers and beans are good because they grow well and show lots of change from day to day.  Make a chart and have children measure growth of the plant day to day or week to week.  Let them draw pictures of the plant at those times.  Make a graph of their plant showing the changes.  Or make a graph showing the differences in each child's plant.
  10. Have a rain gauge or snow gauge in your yard.  Let children take measurements from that.  Compare from day to day.
  11. Put up a thermometer in a place the kids can see it.  Let them graph the temperature changes for a week/month.  Take turns with one child being the meteorologist, so they all get a turn to take the temp. In addition to this you can do a guessing game - what will tomorrow be like?  How will we need to dress today?  Etc.
  12. When you buy a bag of beans, candies, soaps, or anything with multiple pieces in one package, have the kids estimate how many pieces are in there.  Write all the answers down, then let them count and see who is closest.
A dozen ideas to get you started. . . how do you do everyday math in your house?
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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Snow Day Science

Labels: , , at 11:32 AM

Yesterday, in light of the Great Groundhog Blizzard of 2011, all members of the CrazyLife Family had snow days from school!! 
Yay!!!

Snow days as a kid were the best. 
As an adult and a teacher . . . well, they are even better! 

Tuesday night the kids came home from school all excited about doing the "Snow Day Dance" and wearing their pajamas inside-outside, putting a spoon under their pillows, and placing ice cubes in the toilet.  Nevermind that school had already been called off for the next day - we did it with gusto!!!

And snow day it was!!!

But what to do with our snowday?  It was too cold to go outside, not to mention blowing and snowing like crazy!  So Mr. CrazyLife and Thing #1 decided to work on a project for her class at school.  She has been studying water in science class.  Mr. CrazyLife decided that they should make "super sand" for her to take into class and explain why it floats in water or clumps into blocks at the bottom.

So we did our own science experient!

And made our own "Moon Sand" in the process.  Ours was very simple, but you could add food coloring to it if you wanted.  Then put it in a tub and let the kids go to town playing!!!  We left quite a bit in the tub as a sensory plaything for yesterday, but also pulled some out to experiment putting it in water and some for Thing #1 to take to school when it resumes.

What you need:
Sand
1 can of Scotch Guard
Patience

Pour the sand into a tub.  Spray it with Scotch Guard.  Let dry. 
Repeat a few times.  Let dry. 
Play and enjoy!

(pictures coming soon - having connection issues with uploading!)
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Preschool at Home

Labels: , , at 6:55 PM

This year we've been doing a homeschool preschool program for Things #3 and #4.  Now, mind you, both Mr. CrazyLife and myself are public school teachers, so we are in no way against public school.  Or are we pro-homeschool.  We just feel that any education either at home or at school is important and that we should do all we can to keep our children on the right path and give them a headstart into life and education.

(source)

Since Auntie CrazyLife has been staying with the wee ones during the day, we decided it was easier to let her homeschool the preschool rather than find a new place for them and add extra running and expense into our day.  She's been trained in early childhood education, so it's a great choice for us.

So far this year, the kids have worked on their letters and numbers, both recognition by sight and sound.  I cut a vinyl alphabet with my Cricut and we hung it on our kitchen wall.  It looks quite nice, if I do say so myself.  =)  Thing #3 can now write his full name and Thing #4 can recognize and say all the letters in her full name.



They have also done units on "All about Me," "Halloween," "Apples," and "Fall."  Our kitchen/dining room is decorated so nicely with all the artwork they've done.  We've added to it with artwork the older children bring home from school.  It's a lovely way to decorate the house!

The children and Auntie also work on the weather and calendar every day.  It's so cute to hear Thing #4 singing the days of the week song all the time!

This past week, the kids and Auntie have been working on shapes and colors.  It's so funny to hear my wee two year old pointing out all the shapes she sees as we drive around town!  She can even draw her own circles and squares!

Next week the topic is Thanksgiving. 

Today we went to the library to find a book on the first Thanksgiving and about the history of Thanksgiving.  The kids will read that and do some answer comprehension questions orally and then draw a picture of what the first Thanksgiving looked like.  We also have some Pilgrim head crafts to make from  HERE.  I also found a printable book there about symbols of Thanksgiving and one about counting.

I also have used my QuickCutz cutter to make some Thanksgiving shapes (Boy Pilgrim, Girl Pilgrim, Boy Indian, Girl Indian, Turkey, Corn, Leaf) which will be used for a couple different things.  The kids will use them for making patterns, counting, color identity, shape identity and of course, storytelling.

So far, this homeschool preschool thing is working quite well.  With Auntie CrazyLife doing the main lesson during the day and Momma and Daddy CrazyLife filling in during the evening and weekend, I really see a lot of progess with the kids. 

Plus, it's been fun putting together units and making all the materials and planning curriculum.  I'm probably kind of a nerd in that way, but I love curriculum!  Look for more homeschool preschool ideas in the future!
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