Rock Project

Rock Project

Over the last week I have been working on a rock project with my  2 1/2 year old and 5 year old.  The girls have been very interested in rocks and they absolutely loved these activities. 

 

 Sorting

 Little Peanut Sorting Rocks Big and Small
 



 

 

 
 
 

 Sorting by Color
I didn't get a picture of Little Peanut doing this activity, but here is what it looked like when she was finished.

 

 Counting and Measurement using a Scale
Little Peanut is measuring/counting how many cubes her rock weighs. 

 

 

Little Sweets is doing the same thing.  She also had to estimate how many cubes her rock weighed and record her findings on a worksheet.  I got the worksheet here.
 

 

 Writers Workshop- Describing Words
Together we came up with words we could use to describe different rocks.  Little Sweets helped me write the words on the board.  She picked a rock to write about and wrote about it in her journal.  (She usually includes a princess in all her drawings.  This princess had an amethyst jewel in her crown.)
 

 

 

 

 (Shiny, purple, rock)

Sensory Box/ Rock Identification
Little Sweets found rocks in her sensory box.  We used the rocks and cards from her game Rock On.

 

 

 

 We also found some Mica when we were hiking up in the mountains a few weeks ago.  Here she is using a book from the library to identify the rock. 

 

 

Language Arts

 We use guided reading as part of our Language Arts curriculum.  I got these books from Reading A to Z.  The first book was her guided reading book that she read to me.  The second book is also a guided reading book but is intended for third graders.  I used it as a read aloud.  It had tons of interesting facts about gems. 

Writing
 Little Sweets drew a picture of her favorite rock and answered questions about it.  I got the worksheet here.
 

Rock Salt Experiment
The girls are helping me make rock salt.  We are still waiting for the water to evaporate.

 

Geography
Little Sweets has really been into maps lately.  Here she is identifying where gems are found around the world and placing a picture of the gem on the world map.  (She had some help from mommy. )



Spooning Rocks into an Ice Cube Tray
Little Peanut is working on her fine motor skills as she spoons the rocks into the ice cube tray.
 

Counting Cards
Little Peanut is placing a rock on top of the counter on the card.

 

 

 Rocks as Math Manipulatives

  Little Sweets used her rocks to help solve addition problems.
 

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Homeschool Classroom/Playroom

 

 

 

Our Homeschool Classroom/Playroom

This is our classroom/playroom.  My husband built the shelving and the bench for the room. We  got the cabinets from Lowes. We made the bench cushions out of plywood, foam, and fabric. I love it because we store the toys inside the cabinets and it adds extra seating.  I got the idea for the seating here. 

 

 

 

This is where I display the girls work.  I got the idea here.

 

 

 

Little Peanuts Tot Trays

 

 

 

 

Little Sweets Workboxes 

 

We just started using these.  I love them because they keep me organized and are easy to store. I put the items Little Sweets needs to do for each subject in the boxes.  Here is a great tutorial if you want to learn more about workboxes.

 

(These are scrapbooking storage boxes. I bought 4 for about $15.00.  They were on sale and I used my homeschool teacher discount.  I got them from Michaels.) 

 

Storage Closet in the Classroom



 

 

Storage in the Garage.

 

I know it looks messy, but I know where everything belongs.  : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Review of Humble Bumbles Humble Heart a book of virtues

I recieved the book Humble Bumbles Humble Heart a book of virtues  by Amy Meyer Allen courtesy of the Tyndale Blog Network.  This is a great book for young children.  There are nine stories in the book and each story discusses a different virtue.  The virtues that were discussed were humility, love, thoughtfulness, faithfulness, mercy, encouragement, comfort, courage, and joy.  The author starts each story with a definition of the virtue in the story. She does an excellent job of defining each virtue in a kid friendly manner.   The author also ends each story with a bible verse and a question.  The question helps the child think more about the virtue and how it applies to their own life.

 I read the book to my four year old and two year old daughters and they both loved it.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has young children and would like them to learn more about virtues. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Tyndale Blog Network book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here.

Review of Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson

 Review of Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

I received the book Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson courtesy of Tyndale Blog Network.  This was a great book for me to read as I have two young daughters and another on the way.  In this book Dobson uses a research based approach to educate parents on how to raise their daughters.  I think he did a good job sharing information that most parents should know and understand about girls and young women.  I could relate to many of ideas presented in the book.  This is a good book for parents who want better insight on how to connect and understand their daughters better.  I would caution that if you want a book that has many Biblical references this is not the book.  As I stated earlier Dobson supports most of his advice with research and studies.  I agree with much of what Dobson has to say, but as with many authors I do not agree one-hundred percent of his advice.  I was especially frustrated with a question he answered in the book.  The question states that their daughter is a “people pleaser” and asks for advice.  He states that the parent should do nothing about it.  I completely disagree with his advice and am even appalled that he would make this argument.  As a Christian I know that God calls us to be a God pleaser not a people pleaser.  A child who is a people pleaser will fall prey to peer pressure and will also struggle in their obedience with God.  While I don’t want to discredit the rest of the book because I disagree with one thing he has written,  I would caution readers to carefully reflect on what Dr. Dobson has to say and if you are Christian make sure it aligns with what the Bible has to say.   

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Tyndale Blog Network book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here. 

Winter Math Unit

Winter Math Unit

I created a Winter Math Unit for Kindergarten for Little Sweets.

 This unit is filled with 34 pages of fun, winter, math activities. The activities in this unit include;

-Counting by ones, twos, fives, and tens puzzles

-Counting by twos and counting by fives connect the dots pages

-Winter Ordinal Number Sheet

-Penguin Graph

-Snowflake Size Sequence

-Snowflake Addition Cards

-Winter Pattern Activity

-Snowflake Tally Activity

-Snowflake Numerical Order Activity

-Greater Than and Less Than Comparison Game

-Snowman Math Mat with Buttons and Story Problems

You can download this packet here for $3.95

Winter Activities

Little Sweets 4 1/2

Little Peanut 23 months



 Tongs and Cotton Balls

Little Peanut used tongs to pick up cotton balls and place them in snowman shaped ice cube trays.

Winter Sensory Bin

Snowball Sight Word Game
Little Sweets throws a snowball (crunched up piece of paper) at the words.  She reads the words she hits.

Sequencing Activity

Pattern Block  Activity

Little Sweets read the number as she covered it up the shape with the pattern block.  I printed the pattern sheet from the prekinders website.

Little Sweets drew a picture of playing in the snow with daddy.  She is on a sled and wrote, "Dad is plig me. (Dad is pulling me.)

Math Activities from the Winter Math Unit I created
You can download my mini Winter Math Unit for free here.

Adding Snowflakes

Counting by 5's Puzzle

Counting by 5's Dot to Dot

Sight Word Christmas Tree Review Game

 

Christmas Tree Sight Words Review

 

This is a free activity you can use with your child.  You can download it here.

I made this activity as a review for Little Sweets.  She uses a bingo dot marker to fill in the ornaments as I read the sight word.  (Your child can also just color the ornaments with crayons.)

 

 

 

This is a sample of what the tree looks like.  The download has 2 more trees.  Graphics for this activity came from graphicsfactory.com



Winter Math Unit

 

Winter Math Unit

 

 

This is a FREE mini winter math unit I created for Little Sweets.

You can download the mini unit free here.

 

These are just a few activities that can be found in my larger 34 page unit

that is $3.95 and can be found here.

 

 



 

 

Christmas Advent Chain and Bible Study

 

Names of Jesus Advent Chain with Activities

 

This is a great way to count down the days to Christmas and learn about the different names of Jesus.  

 

 

 

My daughter has been asking how many days until Christmas so I decided we needed a way for her to count down the days.  Growing up we always made a chain.  I wanted to do the same thing with my girls, but was hoping to make it a little more meaningful.  I came across this blog post at spell outloud about an advent chain with the names of Jesus and a corresponding Bible study from Easy Fun School. Here is a link to the Bible Study. I thought some of the names and concepts were a little difficult for my 4 year old to understand and decided to make my own advent chain and Bible study.  Some of the activities came from the Easy Fun School Bible study and some I made on my own.  You can download the printable for free.  The link is at the bottom of the page.  Each chain link has a name for Jesus, a Bible verse referencing the name, and the number of days until Christmas.  The Bible study has a corresponding activity to go with each name for Jesus.  If you have older kids I suggest checking out the Easy Fun School Bible Study.  It is a great study.

 

 

Link to Download Bible Study and Chain Links with Verses Here

 

 

 

Here is an example of the chain links included in the download.

 

Chain Links with number of days until Christmas, Name of Jesus, and Corresponding Bible Verse.

 

 



Christmas Tot/Kindergarten Activities 2012

Christmas Tot/Kindergarten Activities 2012

 

 

Little Sweets 4 1/2

Little Peanut 23 months

 

Playdough

Little Peanut helped me make playdough.



Little Peanut and Little Sweets used cookie cutters to make Christmas trees and decorated them with beads. 

 

 Little Peanut sorted squares and circles.  Then she put them on a Christmas tree picture as ornaments.

 

I created a math unit for Little Sweets.  Here are some activities in the unit.  You can dowload the unit for free.  The link is at the bottom of the page. 

Little Sweets put a Christmas puzzle together.  It is a counting by ten's puzzle
 

 

 Here is an ornament addition card she is working on.

 

 This was the graphing activity.  She graphed the number of ornaments on the tree.

This was a size sequencing sort that she did. 

 

These are the math activities Little Sweets did.  You can get this unit for free here.



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