Week 7 - Fall Unit

Last week we took a break from our Letter of the Week and did a Fall theme instead.  It was a nice change of pace and provided more hands-on opportunities, which I think was fun for all of us.

Here's a snapshot of what we did:

Make your own pattern - I started the pattern and then had Jenna finish it. 

How many leaves in the tree?  I picked the number card and then Jenna added the correct number of leaves.

We read the book, Fall Leaves Fall.

We took a trip to a local nature center to observe leaves and their changes in color. 

We stopped at one point for a quick snack.

Jenna took along her clipboard and a Leaf Observation sheet.  She picked two leaves and then observed them - color, shape, smell, feel, etc. 

Shape Silhouette Match-Up.  I laid out the silhouette pieces and Jenna matched the pictures to them.

A candy corn counting activity - I wrote a number on the bottom of the corn stalks and Jenna added the correct number of candy corn.

Her first dot-to-dot.  Drawing straight lines was a bit challenging for her.

Number clip cards - she clipped the clothespins on the correct number.

Another number clip activity

A leaf maze/tracing page (pretty easy for her)

Leaf finger painting craft

I put plastic wrap over the leaves and paint and then they rubbed the paint around to cover the leaves.  The best part - no mess.  The paint was under the plastic wrap so their hands stayed clean.  Love it!  :)

I also added some glitter to the paint so they  had some sparkle to them as well.  This is the finished product the next day after they were dry.

I taped them to our kitchen window so we could continue to admire them.  :)

Leaf sorting

Which is Different paper

Apple counting file folder game - she had to put the apple piece with the correct number of dots over the numbers.

We made Cinnamon Spice play dough one day.  It was my first time making homemade play dough.  I was really impressed with how easy it was and fun for the kids too!  They especially liked getting to sit on top of the counter to help.

A fall-themed sensory bin for them to play in and explore.

A close-up of the bin.  They mostly just wanted to play with the rice.

The play dough after it cooled.

Grant's handprints in the play dough

Jenna used the pumpkin cookie cutter to make pumpkin shapes with the play dough.

Do-a-dot markers

Color-by-number paper - she had to color the apples red, yellow, or green based on the key.

Scarecrow number puzzle - she decided to put this together under the table

Finished product

Colorful tree craft - they covered a coffee filter with dots from their do-a-dot markers.

Then we sprayed them with water to blur the colors.  After they dried we were supposed to glue them on a piece of paper and add a tree trunk to it, but we never got to that part.  Oops!

Apple/Leaf sorting - another one that's too easy for Jenna.

However, Grant really enjoyed it and did a good job with it. 

An idea I saw on Pinterest to work on fine motor skills - use tweezers to "pluck" out the Indian corn kernels.  I really wasn't sure how hard it would be and if Jenna would even be able to do it, but she was able to do it and really enjoyed it.

It reminded me of a dentist pulling teeth.  :)  She worked on it for about 15 minutes that morning and then again in the evening.  I'll have to bookmark that idea for next year.

Week 6 - Letter U

Our letter U activities for the week included:

Our memory verse for the week: "Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks!" - Psalm 75:1

Doing the Starfall computer game for letter U - they both just LOVE it!

Color by number paper.  Nice coloring!

Upper- and Lower-case Letter Match

Letter U puzzle

We moved the play doh activity upstairs this time after Grant got a hold of the blue play doh, dropped some in our carpet and then walked on it.  Ugh!  Thankfully I got it out, but thought it best not to go through that again (if we can help it).  :)

Letter U tracing - She even made a "u" on her own.

Of course, Grant's writing too.

Cutting Page

Patterns - She seems to be doing better with patterns.  She's not able to figure them out on her own yet, but it's not as challenging for her.

Grant wanted to play with the geoboard too.  He didn't quite understand that he had to pull the rubber bands tight in order for them to stay on the board and was getting quite frustrated.  So I helped a little.  :)

Jenna's letter U's

I helped the kids use their body's to make the letter u.  They loved it!

Tracing her numbers.  I tried to get her to write some next to the numbers, but she wasn't interested this time.

I tried something new this week - I filled a ziploc bag with tempera paint so that Jenna could practice writing the letter u.  At first she wasn't pressing her finger down hard enough to move the paint., but when I told her to press harder, she was pressing too hard that the bag was moving around (despite my best effort to tape it to the table).  So after a few attempts, I just let her "draw" whatever she wanted on it.  :)

Easy peasy color matching puzzles - I think I'm going to start skipping this activity for Jenna and passing it on to Grant.  I don't know that he'll sit long enough to do it, but it's worth a shot.

I have an umbrella stamp, so for her alphabet book she stamped the umbrella on the letter U. 

Capital and Lower-case U sorting - another easy activity for Jenna that I just might have to pass on to Grant.

A favorite of theirs - Wikki Stix.  Not sure why the capital U has some curlicues on it.  She's getting artsy with it, I guess. 

I added a file folder game that worked on counting and number recognition. 

Letter U pattern blocks

Letter U magnet page

Letter U poke page - Jenna's friend, Paige was over that evening for a little bit while we did school and wanted to help.  She's 8 years old and enjoyed participating in "school."  So while I was busy with Grant, she took this picture of Jenna after she finished poking the holes.

Clip Cards - Jenna clipped the same number of clothespins as the number on the card.

Letter Hunt - a few extra letters got marked, but overall she did well.

Umbrella lacing card - the yarn got tangled up in her lacing, hence the messiness

For her cut-and-paste activity this week, I encouraged her to cut on the little black line around the shapes.  She really surprised me with how well she did.  I will admit, the umbrella handle was thin and probably confusing to cut out since it was all black.  It got chopped up quite a bit, so we tried to piece it back together the best we could.  :)

Letter U - Do-a-Dots

Shape matching cards - again, another activity I might pass on to Grant.  A little too easy for her.

Size sorting - she surprised me and sorted them all while I was putting another activity away.  I turned around to find the pieces all sorted...and sorted correctly!

She got to put the letter U on our coconut tree after reading the book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

I found some letter writing practice sheets so I decided to start having her give those a try.  She writes very delicately right now, so it's hard to see her writing. 

Focused on her letter writing...and using her left-hand to do it.

Fishing

Back in August Jenna had been begging to go fishing.  We happened to have some fishing gear that Drew picked up from some garage sales a few years back, so we headed to our neighborhood pond one afternoon.  Instead of using worms, we just cut up some hot dogs to put on the hook.  The pond mostly has Bluegill, so that's what we ended up catching both times.  And don't worry, we threw the fish back in the pond once we were done looking at them. 

We caught one!

Jenna even got to hold a fish

An up-close and personal examination of the fish.

Afterward we ate lunch at the park (after sanitizing our hands like CRAZY!). 

A fun, family outing for sure!