Wk 1: L 1 Yellow Circle

Being that this is the first week back I will outline what we did but in general I will probably just post a few pictures and a little explanation.

We are starting this year off doing some preschool type activities.  I have combined my own stuff with 1+1+1=1 Raising Rock Stars and Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week (I like her work but with a little girl I wanted to change some of the letters so I used her ideas a lot) and Totally Tots Now I know my ABCs.  I have also supplemented some other stuff.  Most of the work my daughter does was created by me unless taken from one of these three sights (unless noted otherwise).

Day 1 we began with 1+1+1=1 Raising Rock Stars PowerPoint L lesson off her members only page.   We went through the whole thing even the items that we were not going into more advanced throughout the week but just to introduce her to the concepts so that anything we do not cover we can come back to probably next year. 

When finished with the PowerPoint we pulled out the bible verse (you can find her entire lessons at the bottom of the Raising Rock Stars Preschool page) and read through the verse another time.  We then looked at what the verse means and sang This Little Light of Mine.

Verse: Let your light shine before men, that they may see you good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Next we pulled out 2 books about items beginning with the letter L.  Today we read One Lighthouse, One Moon by Anita Lobel and Look Out, Lion Cub! by Michelle Coxon.  We read both of these books and discussed the stories and that the words lighthouse and lion both start with the letter L.

We then made the Totally Tots L is for Lion.  KPie really enjoys anything that entails gluing and so this was a favorite today.

Next we went back to the 1+1+1=1 curriculum and pulled out the vocabulary cards and went through the pile once very calmly seeing which of the L words she knew and which she didn’t.  When we finished the calmer version KPie decided it would be fun to have each of the items come and attack the mommy.  She would hold each card, tell me what it was (a requirement before getting mommy), and then the would run the two steps at me and I would start tickling her.

After we calmed down a little we pulled out our number cards and large number cards (taken from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week). Our number cards each have a ladybug with the number of dots and a number on them. We really only looked at the first three.  I wanted her to see a written numeral to go with the different numbers and not overload her with too many.  Once we explored the dots and traced the numbers a few times I pulled out the larger number cards where we also pulled out pompoms and placed the correct number of pompoms on each number.

Our final activity today was a magnetic ladybug sheet (also similar to some items you might find onConfessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week) that I made.  Instead of using magnets though KPie placed pompoms on each of the holes.  She enjoyed this very much as well.  She probably did it 10 times before she decided that she was done.

Day 2 began with a little more of our verse work. We looked at our verse and discussed it again. She even told me some things about the verse.  We then sang This Little Light of Mine again.  Her final item to work on the verse was coloring a picture of a lighthouse that I found on the internet (I can’t figure out where I found it anymore though).

Next we pulled out 2 books this time and read them The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle and Scared Lion by Joan Stimson.  After reading there was a little bit of discussion.

We followed it up with some more tickling vocabulary cards by request of KPie.  She did much better with the words and really only had one word this time that she wasn’t able to come up with on her own.

The next thing we did was to pull out our numbers and review both our number cards and large number cards.  This will definitely be something that we review a few more times before it has reached an understanding.  She progressed and knew that they were numbers but definitely needs more practice knowing which number is which.

Today’s big projects had more to do with shapes.  This weeks shape was a circle so we pulled out the bulletin board shape (a large yellow circle that says CIRCLE in the middle on yellow paper) and traced the circle a few times.  We then pulled out a worksheet showing pictures of multiple items that are circles.  Finally we made a large lion out of all circles which I found on DLTK.teach from there Shape Buddies: Other Shape Practice.

We continued back to our letter L work and colored in an L is for Ladybug coloring page (idea from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week).

Next we did a capital/ lower letter sort (idea from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week).  This took a minute for KPie to start to understand but then she got each and everyone correct and quickly too.

Finally we pulled out an L is for Ladybug puzzle which she enjoyed putting together once and told me she was done (also taken from Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week).

Day 3 was sort of a wrap up of our lesson as well as a few other new items.

As each other day we reviewed the verse (I found out that she had memorized it throughout the week), we then discussed it’s meaning, sand This little light of Mine.  We then created a craft that she glued the pieces together to turn into a lighthouse.

Our two books were Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and The Leopards’s Drum by Jessica Souhami.

A little more vocabulary card tickling.

And more number review.  KPie was either starting to understand the numeral idea or really grasped that with these cards number 1 was red, number 2 blue and number 3 yellow.  I will continue to work with her over the next few weeks and bring some numeral activities in without colors so that I can check her true understanding.

The big activities today were based on color.  I pulled out the bulleting board crayon, a large yellow crayon.  We then pulled out a book that I made (an easy reader) showing multiple items that are yellow (i.e. the bee is yellow, the bus is yellow, the banana is yellow, the fish is yellow, etc.).  KPie really enjoyed reading this book and actually read it to herself a few more times.  We then made a yellow chick  which I found on DLTK.teach from there Shape Buddies: Other Shape Practice.

We colored and worked on a letter trace page that I created with both capital and lower case L’s on it.  She really had little interest in drawing L’s as much as she drew across the top and bottom solid line and the dotted line in the middle.  Sometimes she really enjoys this type of sheet and other times she has little interest.  It was mostly just a page to color the L is for Ladybug again at the top and if she had any interest working on the letters OK.

Next we worked on a puzzle that I created for her about Lunch.  She has pulled this puzzle out of my notebook multiple times since I have made it and still loves putting it together.  It has a fork, knife, spoon, glass of milk, cookie, cantaloupe, half sandwich, grapes and baby carrots that lay on top of the placemat/ plate in the right spots.

Our final activity this week was to pull out the PowerPoint to review everything that we had done this week.

We had a very good first week back with only two small issues over what Mom had said.  One resulted in being done for the day, she decided she was good and I was just fine with that being a good stopping point.  The other had a few tears and we figured out nothing was truly wrong she just needed to cry and then she wanted to continue.

Favorite Photo of the Week

Here is one other picture taken during this week.  We got a new trailer for behind our bikes and here she is getting to go on the first ride in it.

To see others Raising Rock Stars Preschool Letter L.

To see others Tot School posts this week.