Week 16

Kindergarten Week 16

This week M worked on addition, geography, history, botany, telling time, reading, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, Spanish and art.

Day 65 - Monday

Before PE, we spent some time using the colored bead bars to review the addition facts that M has been practicing. She has a printed addition facts booklet that she's working through. If she knows the answer in her head, she writes it down. If she doesn't know, she can take out the corresponding bead bars and count them to find the sum.

M played "quick ball" at PE today. I'm still hanging around to watch for now to make sure she's comfortable with the program, so I was able to see her get her first hit! She said she really enjoyed playing- yay!

When we got home, M helped me sort the new Photo and Definition Cards for Animals from Pin It! Maps that I'm prepping for co-op. We have a full set of the Pin It! Maps, and they are AMAZING! These cards are absolutely free, and will be a great addition to use with the world map.

Day 66 - Tuesday

In co-op today, we did a group presentation on the globe and land, air, and water. The older kids started using a handwriting journal in which they will copy a sentence (handwriting practice) and draw a picture to go along with the topic of the sentence. Our sentence today was "Our planet is made of land, air and water." M chose to draw a picture of a shark that lives in the water, and added a couple of lines of additional writing about animals and where they live.

At the end of co-op, one of the families shared with us about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We listened to a story, heard about their family traditions, and walked down to a small creek in the back yard to throw pieces of bread to symbolize the "casting off" of sins. The kids took turns blowing the shofar (hollowed out ram's horn).

Later that afternoon, we headed to the property to transplant some apple and avocado seedlings that we had started at the apartment. We transferred them to pots and watered them. Hopefully they'll survive the winter and we can plant them in the ground after we move in!

Before bed, M asked to work with her Golf Tee Clock. She placed all of the numbered golf tees (1-60) around the perimeter of the clock face. She drew in the clock hands on her paper to show different numbers of minutes past the hour.

Day 67 - Thursday

At co-op today, I gave a group presentation on the needs of plants. This was review for most of the kids, but I found a fun little song on YouTube (The Needs of a Plant) that the kids really enjoyed. 

M copied the journal sentence (Plants need sun, air, water, soil and space to grow.) and drew a picture of a flower growing in soil.

She must have been craving some fine motor work, because she chose to work on sewing (sewing a button on felt to make a button bracelet) and weaving. 

 After co-op, we spent time playing outside. I built a little make-shift balance beam from some cinder blocks and scrap wood that was laying around, and both girls had fun walking from end to end.
 

Day 68 - Friday

Today we had Spanish class. We missed last week's class when they learned about primary and secondary colors, but luckily they reviewed colors today as they learned to count from one to ten in Spanish. They practiced with a little Bingo-style game where the teacher called out a color and number (in Spanish) and they had to find the matching combination on their paper.

After Spanish class, we drove home and spent the afternoon playing and exploring in the woods. M has been interested in finding different kinds of leaves and bark and comparing the shapes and textures.

Later, when we returned to the apartment, we completed a couple of reading lessons from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (Amazon affiliate link). M is working on silent letter combinations right now ("gn" like in "gnome" and "kn" like in "knight"). She chose a couple of sentences from the stories she read to copy onto journal paper. She wanted to draw a picture of a knight with his horse, but wasn't sure how to draw a horse. I found an online tutorial, and I was really impressed with how well her picture turned out! I think we need to start looking for some "how to draw..." books at the library!