Four Seasons Christian Academy

Friday, September 18, 2015

My Father's World: Unit 6 Turtle

MFW: Unit 6 Turtle

I DON'T QUIT; I PERSEVERE

We just love turtles!

Some of our treasures for Letter Tt unit.

BOOKS

Here are some of the books we read for this unit.

WORKSHEETS

Practicing writing the letter Tt and the number 6.

Working with her cuisenaire rods and of course little man wanted to be part of the fun.

Kanani identifying the pictures for the letter Tt while Dartanian plays with the tambourine we made out of paper plates.

Working on our blend ladder , which to my surprise she really took it quite fast. I was so proud of how excited she was.

While Kanani and me worked on her blend ladder Dartanian wanted in on the action. I made a game for him, first just gave him the can with the letters in it. He would take them out and place them back in. Once I noticed he got tired of doing that I gave him an ice cube tray where he placed the letters in each slot; then would dump them out and do it all over again. In the bottom left picture he was clapping and saying "I did it", he was so excited to by doing this activity on his own. Anything to keep him busy while Kanani and me do school work.

Kanani worked on her handing writing and identifying more pictures that start with the letter Tt.

She worked on her math worksheet that was part of the unit and now we are working on letter name concentration.

In this unit we started working on blend ladder, it has helped Kanani with writing words and being able to distinguish the sounds of each letter in the words. It's been so much joy to see how she has enjoyed this.

MATH

We continued on working on hundred units (Lesson 10 in Math U See), she actually did this lesson last week but I felt she didn't quite understand so we repeated the lesson. This time around she understood everything.

We have completed lesson 10 and have started lesson 11 which is where we start Unit Bars. The upper two pictures to the left Kanani is watching the video explaining what the lesson will be about. She does this before every lesson.

Found this balance at a yard sale, we were so excited. Kanani quickly wanted to weigh her stuff animals and various items around the house. The start of many different lessons to come.

After reading "Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss", we played a game with some turtle shapes I cut out and had numbered. She stacked them on top of each other just like in the story. Once she did that we mixed the turtles and then she placed them in order. It was such a cute story and a lesson on how we should treat others and love ourselves for who we are, never compare yourself with others.

To go with the Tt unit we went back to reviewing on telling TIME. She has really enjoyed learning to tell time ever since we bought her a watch.

BADGE

I started to make these puppet like things for each unit using the badge outlines that came with the curriculum. On the back I wrote the memory versus that she is suppose to remember. Placed them in a tin can and wrote the letters on the can. She quickly loved playing with the puppets and telling me what the versus was for each lesson. It's going to be fun to continue to make them for the other units to come.

ARTS & CRAFTS

We made a sun catcher of a turtle using contact paper to hold the tissue paper. Love how cute it came out.

Kanani painted the paper plate blue after we read the story "Yertle the Turtle", just love the color.

This girl loves painting so of course we had to get this cute little turtle for her to paint with our Turtle unit. Once it's completely dry we will hang it on the window.

Of course once Dartanian saw Kanani painting he wanted to paint too. Love watching him paint and seeing the big smile on his face.

ACTIVITIES/GAMES

We grabbed several puzzles that started with the letter Tt.

I made two sections one for the Turtles/Tortoise and the other Sea Turtles, then placed a basket full of different types of turtles for Kanani to separate. She would look at each one and then separate them in the correct one .

Started working in teaching Kanani our last name. It's been tough since it's so long. So we are starting to identify the letters first and then I will divide it by sections. This is how she learned her first and middle name.

After reading the book "The Tortoise and the Hare by Janet Stevens", we went outside and played a racing game. First she would ride her bike fast and I would time it, then slow and I would time again. Kanani really enjoyed this game.

Fast: 9 seconds and then 7 seconds
Slow: 17 seconds and then 14 seconds

I recorded 4 laps but she wanted to continue to play afterwards.

Lace and Trace activity

SCIENCE

Life cycle figurines make the lessons come to life and more enjoyable.

I printed out a copy of the life cycle of a sea turtle to go with our turtle unit. Got these from Suzie's home education ideas, link is below:

http://suzieshomeeducationideas.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/10-ideas-for-learning-about-turtles.html

We studied the inside of turtles and looked at different pictures of turtles. Read the books "Great Pets Turtles by Johannah Haney and Turtles and Tortoises by Renee C. Rebman".

I made a lapbook where we did a diagram of Tortoises and Sea Turtles. At first the diagram was supposed to be for Turtles and Tortoise but there was too much similarity between the two so I made it between Sea Turtles instead of just Turtles and Tortoises. I got the diagram from Suzie's home education ideas, link is below.

http://suzieshomeeducationideas.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/10-ideas-for-learning-about-turtles.html

Went to one of our lovely parks in our area to go to their Nature Center to see their beautiful turtles, but first we played in the park.

Here is some turtle shells the Nature Center had displayed on one of their walls. It was so neat to see the inside of the turtle's shell.

The kids really enjoyed looking at some of the Eastern Box Turtles, they are just like the ones that show up sometimes in our backyard.

Here is another Eastern Box Turtle and a Spotted Turtle.

It's hard to see but there's an Eastern Mud Turtle.

The Snapping Turtle is always so cool.

The nature center has a cute little man made pond with some Eastern Painted Turtles and Yellow Belly Sliders.

SPANISH

la tortuga (turtle)

MEMORY VERSUS

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

~Galatians 6:9~

POEM

THE LITTLE TURTLE

By: Vachel Lindsay

There was a little turtle.

He lived in a box.

He swam in a puddle.

He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.

He snapped at a flea.

He snapped at a minnow.

And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.

He caught the flea.

He caught the minnow.

But he didn't catch me.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Strauss: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

After finishing this unit our love for turtles/tortoise has grown so much more. One thing we have learned is that sea turtles can't go back in their shells, their form of protection is swimming. I always thought all turtles could retract, guess I was wrong.

Hope you enjoy our turtle unit.

GOD BLESS!

PREVIOUS UNITS

Letter N

Unit 5: Nest

Letter A

Unit 4: Apple

Letter L

Unit 3: Leaf

Letter M

Unit 2: Moon

Creation Unit and Letter S

Creation Unit and Unit 1: Sun

Classical Music Composers

Say Hello to Classical Music

Curriculum Organization

Organizing MFW Curriculum

Friday, September 11, 2015

My Father's World: Unit 5 Nest

MFW: Unit 5 Nest

GOD TAKES GOOD CARE OF US

In this unit we studied about the many different types of animal homes.

The letter Nn is so much fun.

BOOKS

Some of the books we read for our nest unit.

WORKSHEETS

Worked on writing the letter Nn and the number 5. Kanani always enjoys working with her cuisenaire rods.

Practicing the letter Nn and the number 5. The right picture Kanani identifies what letter each picture starts with and places a dot on the ones that start with the letter Nn.

Working on her cut and paste plus her counting worksheet.

Drawing worksheet

MATH

Learning the Hundreds Units

GAMES/ACTIVITIES

Placed some of the letters we have already worked on a mat. Once I mixed all the pictures together I handed Kanani the pile for her to place the correct picture under the correct letter.

Bought some animal flash cards at our local Target store. I placed three cards: LAND, WATER, and TREE, she then placed the animal card under where she believed their home was. Kanani really enjoyed this activity and what I loved about this card is that each side has a different animal on it, which meant we did this activity twice. Got this idea from Fun in PreK 1:

http://funinprek1.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-picture-palooza-animal-homes-life.html

I printed out some pictures from clip art and had Kanani match the animals to their correct homes. She did this activity all on her own with no help. She is such an animal lover. You can print off your own copy at :

http://kizclub.com/Clipart/animalhomes(C).pdfd

Here is another activity for Kanani to match the animals with their correct homes. These are smaller cards which she said "Aw look how cute." after she was done she asked if she could carry them around to play with. I'm so glad she had fun doing this activity.

Kanani did some coloring, cutting, matching and gluing for this project.

Sequencing worksheet: Kanani placed the pictures in the correct order. In the top left picture I just love her facial expression, not really sure why she was making this face. Once that was complete Kanani glued the pictures to the paper.

Made some picture cards with the name of the pictures of the units we have done. For reading, matching, and identifying game. As we go through more units I'll add more cards to the set. Not pictured: had her write the name of each picture card without looking at the name cards, great spelling practice.

Working on her vowels and matching the correct pictures by what sound they make.

Working on her geoboard forming the letter Nn.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

After reading two wonderful books by P.D. Eastman: "Are you my mother? and The Best Nest" we made some bird nest out of coffee filters and brown bags. She loved making the nests and glueing the pom poms and the feathers in the nest. Saw the idea for the paper bag nest from: Happy Hooligans. We made ours a bit different from hers but it still came out pretty cute.

http://happyhooligans.ca/paper-bag-nests/

Here is a bigger version of the paper bag nest we made.

Cut a paper plate in half then cut some paper in the shape of eggs. We had some brown and green paper cut from a previous project which Kanani used to make the bird's nest.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIRD HOMES

These are just some of the pictures we looked at their were 40 in slideshow we looked it. You can view these pictures and more at the link below:

http://art.ekstrax.com/2013/03/40-beautiful-pictures-of-bird-nest.html

As I was washing dishes I looked out the window and saw a Cardinal picking materials up and pushing things into his feathers. I quickly called Kanani to come and look at the Cardinal doing what it does naturally to build its nest. It was such an awesome experience to be able to witness this with Kanani, it went great with our unit.

SCIENCE

We went around the yard and in the house and looked for different materials for us to make our own bird's nest. I placed everything in different baskets or container and labeled them. We used: Spanish Moss, Reindeer Moss, Floral Moss, Twigs, Pine Straw, Dry Grass, Dry Leaves, Newspaper, Cotton Balls, Cotton Rounds, and Yarn. First we had used a balloon but I believe one of the things Kanani glued on made it pop. She then proceeded to cover a styrofoam bowl with the materials, which came out just fine. Kanani wanted to leave the nest outside to dry and then place in a tree with hopes that a bird will use it for a nest.

Once the nest was completely we placed it in the Pear tree in front of our house. We hope that a bird can use or at least use the materials inside to build a nest.

Made some edible bird's nest. Used jelly beans to represent the bird's eggs. Kanani really enjoyed making them especially with the fact that daddy was home to help. The recipe we used was from Fabulous Fetes the link is:

http://fabulous-fetes.blogspot.com/2011/04/edible-birds-nest-favor.html

We definitely will be making these again.

Went outside to look for birds nest in our front yard. We actually found two: one in the pear tree and the other in the bushes by the pear tree. It was so exciting to find them. Hopefully we'll see some eggs soon in these nest.

After making bird's nest we make some bird feeders to hang in the our pear tree. Love watching the birds and squirrels eat from our bird feeders. Its so easy to make and great hand eye coordination for the kids.

VIDEO

Found a great video on You Tube about Animal Homes, there are about two episodes 53 minutes long. It was a very interesting documentary filled with a lot of information.

SPANISH

el nido (nest)

MEMORY VERSUS

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

~Matthew 6:33~

POEM

THE SECRET

By: Author Unknown

We have a secret, just we three,

The robin, and I, and the sweet cherry-tree.

The bird told the tree, and the tree told me,

And nobody knows it but just us three.

But of course the robin knows it best,

Because she built the-I shan't tell the rest;

And laid the four little-something in it-

I'm afraid I shall tell it every minute.

But if the tree and the robin don't peep,

I'll try my best the secret to keep.

Though I know when the little birds fly about

Then the whole secret will be out.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

#5 Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake ("Dance of the Swans")

This unit has been very interesting and informative. We have learned a lot about the many different homes of animals. Now each time we go outside we look around to observe the animals in their homes. Nature is great and God is even greater. Love how He supplies the animals with their homes.

Hope you enjoy our nest unit.

GOD BLESS!

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