Kinda Thinking & Planning for the Fall....

Well, today, you get two posts for Monday...

Have been working on planning for the fall and have been toying with how we are going to do things this year and also because tomorrow, I have another blog post ready (am going to announce some award winners, so please be sure to check back tomorrow)...
We have play dates scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, and have to get some errands done on Thursday, so if I didn't give you a two for one day today, I would have had to have held off and posted this post over the weekend...

Well, if you read this and have any input / ideas / suggestions, would just love to hear from you!
Well, to get things kick started for the fall, I asked the boys to tell me what they would like to learn about, as well as any questions, ideas, or themes they would like to explore...
they are used to doing this, as it is something we have done since the very beginning...I actively involve them in the process of what we could / should study...sometimes, we do the good ole' standby, KW L...

What I Know, What I Want to Know, and then, What I Learned...

For the purposes of trying to flesh out what we could do starting in the fall, I had them focus primarily on what they Want to know...

Big Bro:
Have been working on putting things together for Big Bro..he wants to learn about the following:

"Chemistry...I like to do experiments with liquids."

"The Presidents...about the ones who were in when we have had wars and what they decided to do about them."

"The future...about robots and if we will use them and how things will work with more machines"

"Inventions...about all of them, actually...but we need to come up with one that works to clean up the oil spill. I want to come up with one..."

"Machines...from little ones to big ones...what is the smallest machine that can do the biggest job"?

"Native Americans...their homes, their weapons, and where they lived and how they got there...and what life is like on a reservation now versus way back, when they first went to one...and what life was like before reservations."

"Animal homes...how they build them and which ones are predators and which ones are prey."
"The Rainforest...who lives there...what grows there...how long ago did they start making poison darts from poison dart frogs..."

"Italian, Chinese, French, and Spanish...how to say some things in these languages and more about the countries and why other countries have people who also speak these languages."

Little Bro:
Little Bro wants to learn about all kinds of things, too...luckily, some of his interests cross over with Big Bro's interests...

"Frogs"

"Snow cones"

"Polar Bears"

"Penguins"

"How you make toys"

"Stuff in the sea"

"Shells"

"Dogs and the ones that help people"

"What's inside your brain"

"How you make glass and Legos"

"What's inside a wheel and how it works"

"How you make chocolate"

"How you get hot and sweaty from the sun"

"How you make a rainbow"

"How do you find gold"?

"What is inside a turtle"?

"Who lives in a barn"?"

"How does poop work...how does food know to turn into poop...how does it know to go through your body and end up that way..."

"How does your body know which tube things should go in...how does the air go in the right place and what you eat or drink go in the right place and how does your body use the food and the drinks and how does your body use air"?

Now, the poop thing threw me at first, but then, the more he talked, the more I realized that he wants to really learn more about the digestive system...
We will cover the systems of the body and will start with digestion when we do systems.

He is also curious about blood, and this is because he has Von Willebrand's.
Little Bro will have to undergo some additional blood tests soon, so we will discuss how blood flows through the body and a little more about the details of his blood disorder.

Have been working on putting things together to kind of tie in with all of their interests, where possible, as well as what our region has to offer, as far as field trips and other sorts of experiential learning opportunities that would tie in with these concepts...

Am most likely going to do:

Fall / Harvest / Farm
 
Body Systems

Polar Animals - will do both poles, but am going to separate them out, as doing them together makes it confusing for kids...

Will discuss Inuit / Eskimo, dog sledding while we do the Arctic Circle...will tie in French and Inuit language for Big Bro for this...

Rainforest - will tie in chocolate and frogs to this...will tie in Spanish, mostly for Big Bro, with this...will also tie in the future of the Rainforest...we had started this earlier this summer, but have not really done it in depth, as we have had lots of company and have taken off some time to have a more laid back sort of summer schedule...

Sea Life - will tie in beach glass, the future of the Gulf, machines to clean up the oil spill, how sea animals are being treated for Big Bro when we do sea life....

Will tie in snow cones and how toys are made with inventions and simple machines...

Will tie in working dogs ( Sheep Dogs, Border Collies) with Farm

Space - Neither one mentioned space when we were discussing this coming school year, which was almost a shocker, as they both LOVE learning about space...but I will ask them at some point in the future if they don't mention it anytime soon...am sure that we will be doing something about space, but just not sure when or what we will be doing for sure...

That is how far I have gotten...
Am sure that they will have other interests as the year goes on, but this is what they gave me for starters...the key is for me now to flesh out the "Essential Questions" that tie in with what they Want to know so that it ties in well with what they Need to know...for this, I use some materials by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the creators of the concept of Understanding by Design...here is a pdf that highlights their work.

The exciting news is that friends of ours are also interested in doing some hands-on learning projects with us...
We are going to get together to plan and to try to loosely map out some field trips and other enrichment opportunities...

Friends who live here and are part of our co-op, as well as dear family friends who live in Canada...with them, we will share via Skype, email, phone calls, and photos...so it should be neat to be able to share in different ways...

Am getting geared up to make some hands on materials to tie in with these concepts.
We are going to focus on utilizing a bigger light table this year, too, as the boys liked the very tiny and portable one we had, but a bigger one will give us much more of an opportunity...

Both boys love making shadow puppets.
Both love working with translucent and transparent objects. Both also love working with color, light, and texture, so we will be bringing these into our day to day even more this year.

We used an atilierista (artist / art teacher) this past year, not consistently but for some of the major themes. We will do the same again this year.

Miss Laurie is going to do a end of the summer camp for us, and plans to explore the books and the artwork of Eric Carle, so I anticipate that we will be doing many hands on projects involving collage...can't wait, as I love Eric Carle's books and his artwork!

Laurie is a talented artist in her own right, but thought that doing a themed camp would really pull children into the art...so that is the plan.

Both Big Bro and Little Bro love Eric Carle, so it is going to be fun learning for all!

Well, hope that you all had a happy Monday!

Again, if anyone has some suggestions to go with any of these concepts  / essential questions / themes, would love to hear from you!

Making Memories & Montessori Monday - Our Version of Summer Camp

Peanut butter cup time...this time, our version of summer camp (including some Montessori inspired works), plus some memories in the making...

We are having such an awesome summer! 

Memories in the making, to be sure...

Such fun times with some wonderful friends who came to visit us for a week, as we packed in Disney, the Florida Aquarium, Clearwater Beach...

We also had fun shopping, playing at the pools, parks, and water parks in our area, and going out to eat, plus some fun hanging out, playing at our home, and just kicking back and relaxing a bit, too....

This past week, we had to take it down a notch and get back into our more regular summer groove...namely,  doing our version of "summer camp."

Our summer camp is basically a looser version of our school year.

(Pictured above: bead stair hanger work, counting 0-20 work.)

Both boys still select their work the night before, and they still get started as they normally would during our school year.

(Pictured: sorting shapes work, patterning work, rhyming work with language objects,  counting bead stair extension with frog counters, Draw Write Now Frog art and copywork, dart frogs sorting work and dart frog book, block tower work, sound cylinders work, CVC words with language objects and movable alphabet work)

The main difference is that in addition to our Montessori inspired works, there are more non-Montessori materials such as board games, card games, extra art projects, etc. than we normally have during the school year.

Plus, there is some additional free play time added into the mix, to play outside and to catch and / or observe all of the little critters in our neighborhood, along with some down time to watch a family movie, to do some cooking projects, and to just hang out and relax...

 For us, our summer camp schedule is a much more loose, go with the flow sort of schedule...

We get out and enjoy the sunshine when we can and then, we hang out and relax when either the weather is too hot or humid, or it is a downpour.

Sinus and ear infections have kept creeping back into our summer, so that has necessitated some time to just chill out, as there have been days when we have not felt up to par.

When you feel dizzy, your face, ears, and head feel like they are going to burst, and your sinuses and ears are so full that your teeth hurt, putting in a nice family friendly movie is not all bad...

It actually can be quite calming and relaxing, although we do not do that during the school year. 

(Pictured: Little Bro's art project, cool bilingual English - Spanish card game called Green Alligators, having fun in the sun at the beach, Big Bro and Little Bro eating Popsicle treats, Boys trying to pull out King Arthur's Sword at Disney's Magic Kingdom, having fun splashing at the park in the water fountains, checking out the hot air balloons that fly over our home almost daily each morning, Big Bro and Little Bro catching lizards and frogs, as well as watching a grasshopper and an alligator swimming by at a nearby pond.)

We are enjoying our summer, so much so that the happy times will shine through more than remembering the sinus and ear troubles we have had lately. Ear tubes may make their way back in to the scene, but we know that those aren't all bad, as they worked like charms for both boys the last time around, so if it comes to that again, well, BRING IT ON...

But really, when we think back to this summer, we will remember the times spent doing things we love, not times we had to spend laying on the sofa and watching movies.

Well, happy Monday and happy summer to everyone!

Please be sure to check out:

Jennifer's Making Memories Monday link-ups,
Jody's Montessori Monday at Mommy Moment link-ups,
and Nicole's Montessori Monday link-ups.












 Please also be sure to check out my last post about a light table items swap! 

Even if you don't have a light table, if you have a decent light source such as a large window that gets plenty of sun during the day, you could use the items for displaying in your window. 

Light Table Swap! Sound Interesting?

Well, as some of you know, we dabble a little with adding Reggio Emilia inspired elements into our homeschool.

One item that has made its way into Reggio Emilia inspired programs is a light box or light table. Children love to examine items from nature and from their surroundings to see how light and shadow work with these items.

What are light box swap items, you ask?

They are items that play with light or shadow, such as: pressed flowers, thin leaves, etc. as well as man-made items like translucent toys, glass items, shadow puppets, marbles, translucent ice cube blocks, silhouettes, x-rays, tissue paper stars, stained glass items, etc.

I will post some photos soon, but first, wanted to ask folks for permission to post their cool photos on my blog:)

Things we could make would be out of tissue paper, vellum, beach glass, glass or translucent beads and resin, mylar, translucent plastic file folders, marbles, overhead math manipulatives, permanent markers on laminator film, pressed flowers, mirrors, pressed thin leaves, laminate, as well as some x-rays from vets, dentists, radiologists, etc...
You could also do small photo frames filled with collage items...
You could even glue clear hard candies or beads in between a very well sealed shadow box, etc...
Could also do things such as silhouettes, shadow puppets, etc. plus solids that could serve to be extensions to the geometric cabinet, constructive triangles, etc. (so you can have a bit of a Montessori tie in if you wish.)

Anyone who joins the swap will be able to select their own theme, as long as someone who has already joined hasn't already taken that theme...

All swap mates will be invited to be a part of a Yahoo Group to post step-by-step directions, photos, and messages to each other.
Honey from Mondorfment did this same sort of thing with the most recent swap I participated in and let me tell you, it makes a huge difference, as you will get to know everyone in the group and will get to share some ideas, etc.

Everyone will all make their own materials and then, will mail them to me and then, I will re-package the kits and will mail them back out to you like some of us have done in other swap groups...

Also, just as Honey did for our continents swap, I will have you all pay to have your individual boxes to be sent back to you. But this is so much better, as then, you only have to pay to send one box and to receive one completely filled box back...way cheaper than each person mailing them out to everyone's addresses...plus, then, for insurance, tracking, etc. it is super simple.

The sky's the limit with your creative talents!

Should be a fun group and am also sure that the materials we will all make for each other will be awesome.

There will be a limit on the group size...I had tried to send out invites to those who I thought would be most interested, but must not have done something correctly, as no one has said that they got an invite and I know that there are some of you who for sure want to be in on this already...

Here is a link to the group to ask for membership:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/light_table_swap/

I am having everyone ask for membership as to avoid spam problems, etc.
Only those who actually want to make things for this cool swap will be invited, not any potential spammers...

Fabulous Finds Friday!

Talk about Fabulous Finds, 

Target has quite a selection of educational items in their dollar section...and they are literally one dollar each...

The items of interest include:

Personal pocket charts

Flashcards and corresponding activity books for every possible theme  / concept...
Insects, Dinosaurs, Space, U.S. Animals, World Animals, World Landmarks, Time, Same and Different, Numbers, Alphabet, Rhyming Words, U.S. Presidents, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Flags of the World, Phonics I, Phonics II, Colors and Shapes...

Some of these flashcards could work well in continents boxes...
Namely,  U.S. Animals, World Animals, World Landmarks, and Flags of the World.

The Insects, Dinosaurs, Space, U.S. Animals, World Animals, and U.S. Presidents cards could all be easily converted into three part cards if you buy two sets of the cards or if you buy single sets, scan them, and make your own second sets for control of error...

The Phonics II  cards are all blends and digraphs, so if you are needing work for your children that cover blends and digraphs, here you go!

The Numbers cards feature numbers and blue dots so they could work well as an extension after a child has done their Montessori inspired work using their wooden numbers and circle counters...

Even if you are not normally a big fan of workbooks, if you have to travel or go to a doctor's appointment, these activity books could come in handy, especially the ones like Space, Animals, or Dinosaurs...
If you are a homeschool family who uses Sue Patrick's Workbox System, these activity books might work very well for your family...
In addition to the themed activity books, they also have a few made by Crayola...one activity book in particular allows for open ended creativity called Squiggles and Doodles...
In this book, a child is given a squiggle or a doodle and has to finish it and make their own picture integrating the squiggle or doodle. Could really see a child doing this as they are sitting on a plane or waiting for their turn at the dentist's office...

Weather charts

Cut outs - Weather and Holidays
The cut outs could work well if you need things for your children to do Montessori inspired push pin work.

Foam clocks in different colors
If you are working on time and want an extension to go with time, these clocks could work for you.

Dry erase charts
Again, either for variety or if you have to spend some time waiting to go somewhere, these could come in handy.
Print
Cursive
Spanish
Addition

Classic books for read-alouds / bedtime stories, or for independent reading for older children...

Small balls - would be great for young children to use at the park...

Math manipulatives:
Foam cubes*

*The foam cube math manipulatives come in a plastic bag...I just transferred them to a nice wicker basket...


Straws - to use for counting by tens

Alphabet stickers
Alphabet rubber stamps - the alphabet stamps are very tiny and easily fit onto a tray, along with some paper for a simple stamping work. they are great for developing the pincer grip, as they are so tiny that the only way to hold them is to use a pincer grip.
Would imagine that an older child might enjoy using these, too, as they are tiny and the font is not as babyish as with some stamps...
Could see with an older child, say 6-9, using them to stamp out a sentence to go along with a book they have written or a cartoon that they have drawn.
Would also be a cool tie in if you discuss the history of printmaking, as they are similar to what would have been used as stamps to print headlines for a newspaper years ago.

Magnetic letters and numbers
Ribbons - great for tying or braiding work.

Lined boards for printing practice

Simple easy readers on the following themes:

Big Cats
Scorpions
U.S.  - 50 Great States
U.S. Presidents
Polar Animals
Sea Life

Board books:
All about Me
Pets

Small socks for matching / sorting work or for children to use to clothespin to a small clothesline
Pom poms in rainbow colors and different sizes for dry transfer work, as well as sorting, counting, matching work.

Also, a huge selection of Dr. Seuss items, most notably:
Neat little bags that tie in with the following books: Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Cat in the Hat, and Horton Hears a Who.
The bags are cute, colorful, and seemed quite durable and washable. If you are trying to reduce / reuse /  recycle, these bags could really come in handy...
They could work well as lunch sacks for when you are on the go.
These bags could also work well to carry library books, or even as a small overnight bag or children's carry-on bag.
If your family enjoys reading Dr. Seuss, you might enjoy some of the additional Dr. Seuss items they had in stock, such as the stickers, small notebooks, or the pins.
 
We did not need all of the items I have listed, but we did need a few...so even if you need just a few of these items, it is worth the trip to Target to check out the dollar section.

Fabulous Finds Friday!

While having a great time shopping with a friend who is visiting, I happened to come across some fabulous finds...some wonderful expository tradebooks from the Voyages of Discovery Books series  by Scholastic:
The World of Theater
The History of Actors, Singers, Costumes, Audiences, and Scenery

The Story of Flight
Early Flying Machines, Balloons, Blimps, Gliders, Warplanes, and Jets

Bikes, Cars, Trucks, and Trains 

From Nomads to Wagon Trains to Race Cars: How People Move Across Land

Boats and Ships 
Rafts, Galleons, Pirate Ships, Whalers, Ocean Liners, and Submarines

Now, what is an expository tradebook, you ask?
Basically, an expository tradebook is an informational book written for children.
In the homeschooling world, they are far more accessible than most textbooks, generally more interesting and enticing than a traditional text, and less expensive in many cases.
Expository tradebooks can be used to enhance a textbook if you happen to have a textbook, but they can also be used in lieu of a textbook.

While trying to find some additional information online about this series, a wonderful page appeared in the search:
Helping Children Successfully Read Informational Writing by Joyce Melton Pagés, Ed.D.

This is what Dr. Melton has to say about the Voyages of Discovery books:
Scholastic's Voyages of Discovery books use beautiful, bright, close-up photographs, fold-outs, content-oriented stickers, plastic overlays, and many other special features to complement the interesting writing.   These books also use headings, subheadings, bold face type, captions, and other typographical aids to support student learning.   These science/natural history books are written for children nine-years-old and up, but young children enjoy perusing the interesting pages.

This is what Big Bro has to say about the books:
These are so cool! and beautiful! I want to read Taming Fire first!!!
Then, The Story of Flight...and then, the other ones. They are great! Thanks, Mom!

So, another week of fabulous finds (and this week, fabulous friends too! We are having such a fun day with our friends.)

Ways to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Plastic Caps & Giveaway Reminder

Well, if your family is anything like ours, you probably drink lots of milk and juice.

We go through so many containers and always have a plethora of caps / lids from the various drink containers.

Well, in the spirit of upcoming Earth Day, I thought that I would throw out some great ways to do your part by doing one of the three R's for the Earth, so here is my top ten list for plastic caps:

1. Use them for game pieces for checkers, tic tac toe, or board games.

To do this, sort and see how many caps you have of a particular color.

Make sure that you have enough caps of a color to use for the game pieces.

So, for checkers or tic tac toe, you would need enough of two colors.

For board games, you might only need one cap in four colors.

2. Use the lids for a simple, Montessori style moveable alphabet.
To do this, count out your caps.
You need to have enough of two colors to have one color for vowels and one for consonants.
Add small letter stickers to each cap, 1 letter per cap.

3. Use the white or lighter colored lids as water magnifiers..
To do this, have your child place a very tiny item inside the cap.
Then, cover the cap with a glass slide from a microscope.
Put a couple of drops of water onto the slide. Then, have your child look through the water covered slide at the object below...easy, instant magnification!

4. Use the caps to make three dimensional art collages.
To do this, sort out colors by color family.
Then, draw a simple outline for your work and cover each section of your work with the correct color cap.

5. Use the caps for math manipulatives.
To do this, decide on how many caps you need to represent the math concepts you plan to have your child do, maybe you might need 10 caps, or 20, or 100...
The caps can be used for patterning, sorting, counting, placing into sets, attributes work, ordinal numbers, positive and negative numbers, etc.

6. Use the caps for parts of speech...for example, use red caps for verbs and black caps for nouns. Goes along with the Montessori inspired grammar symbols work.

7. Use as an extension to command cards...
To do this, simply write the command inside the cap with a permanent marker, or you could type out the command and then, glue the commands into the lids.
So, maybe one cap might say to touch your head or to hop on one foot, etc.

8. Use for riddles...
To do this, print out riddles and the answers to the riddles.
Place the riddle on one side and then, the answer on the other side.

9. Use for vocabulary words.
Print out the definition and place on the one side and then, place the vocabulary word on the other.

10. Use the caps for story starters.
Print out story starters and glue them to the insides of the caps.
So, maybe a cap would say:
When I went to the grocery store, I...

Well, there are many other uses for caps and lids...these are just some of the possibilities.



Remember, the drawing for my giveaway for the UBP Earth Day Prize Pack is today, so if you leave a comment about this post, please let me know that you want to enter the giveaway. 

I just need your name, your blog address, and your email address.

The drawing is today.

Below are some photos of what is in the prize pack, in case you are curious...

Prize pack includes:
Planet Earth Coloring and Activity Book
Child sized garden gloves
Child sized garden tools
Recycled paper Earth Day notebook for kid's nature journal
Recycled paper sticky notes
Earth Day themed iron on patches
Alphabet stickers and plastic lids to make recycled moveable alphabet
Earth Day Get Your Green On magnetic notepad for your fridge
In the Garden three part cards
Earth Day magnets
Recycling three part cards
Labels & gift tags for Spa Favors: Organic Chocolate Moisturizing Mask, Organic Sugar Scrub
Idea sheet for reusing plastic lids and coffee filters
Mini Grow Your Own Tree Kit...

Please Note: The Mini Grow Your Own Tree Kit is only available in some states, so if you live outside where I can ship the mini tree kit, this will not be included.

But hey, it is a neat prize pack even without the little mini tree kit, right?

I will post the winner's name tonight by 9 pm Eastern time. 

Remember, the giveaway is open to everyone, with only some restrictions regarding the seeds for the little tree.

The winner will have until Sunday at 4 pm to claim their prize.