Cranberry Thanksgiving

Cranberry Thanksgiving is one of our all time favorite books.  I don't know if it is because it was one of the first successful unit studies our family did , if it is because of the yummie treat the reading of the story always demands or if it is just the signaling of the changing seasons we enjoy most.  Whatever it is, this story is here to stay and a family classic in our home.

This season I decided to share the story with our homeschool co-op class.  This class was for k and 1st graders.  We started out by identifying the New England States on our maps and coloring them.  I used a printable from Homeschool Shares Unit Study found here.

Then we watched a video from You Tube of the cranberry harvest:

From Bog to Table

I think the children really love seeing all the equipment used to bring cranberries to our table.

After all the background information it was time to read out story:

And of course, we followed it with a tasting of Cranberry Bread:

Here is a good recipe to try from Ocean Spray. I don't have a picture of it but we also cut the berries in half and used them to stamp a decorative border on a copy of the recipe to take home and try.  I really loved how the stamping turned out and gave so much detail of the berry's insides.

After our snack and a bit of play we strung cranberries and popcorn to take home and hang on a tree or bush to feed the birds, chipmunks and squirrels.

That's it.  A quick study for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for stopping by and I am linking up with Montessori Monday.

Leaf Day

A few weeks ago, as we wrapped up our summer/early fall term my oldest declared it leaf day.  What is leaf day you ask?  It was a day to celebrate fall and take a break from our regular studies to enjoy art, baking and a bit of science.

ART
Leaf Day was a day of art with different media.  We started by following this idea for painting a fall tree with q-tips.  As you can see, each child is different and put their own spin on their project.

Then we moved on to some fun with markers from Kathy Barbro. Kathy's site is great fun, with projects for all ages, abilities and intensities.

The last project was also from Kathy's site and a bit challenging for even me. It was a complete the leaf, copy its details and colors activity.

Baking

Between art projects we also pulled out our fall cookie cutters for some sugar cookie making.  Have you ever added autumn spices to your dough or glaze, try it, you will probably like it. Think ginger, nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon.  I love the way the sugar sparkles on the icing.

Science/Nature Study
Finally, we collected all of our Fall books for some reading and learning why leaves change colors.

Why Do Leaves Change Color?
Look What I Did with a Leaf
Fall Leaves Fall !
Fall Is Here I Love It!
Leaf Man

I f you still have leaves on your trees take some time to enjoy there beauty and make it a special day with the children.

Nature Reading Booklist

We love books around here and every afternoon is dedicated to reading aloud and individual quiet reading or book looking.  I like to make lists subject by subject of the books we are going to read for the coming year and check them off as we progress.  I say progress because often our lists are over ambitious and either unfinished or even unused.  That is the case of our nature reading list for 2012/2013.  I made the list last fall specifically to read with K and B but as you can see it was over ambitious and we actually read very little.So this summer as I was planning science work I pulled out the list and we are reading a little at a time.  Our main nature text is A Nature Walk with Aunt Bessie.  Aunt Bessie takes her niece and nephew through her garden teaching about each thing they encounter and that is where our list comes in to play.  If there is a book on our nature list that fits in with Aunt Bessie's teachings we read it, last week we read Spiders.  We also read books from the list when we come upon the topic in our own yard or around town.

Nature Reading

2021-2013

Smithsonian Backyard

Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane

Monarch Butterfly of Aster Way

Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane

Cottontail at Clover Crescent

Ladybug at Orchard Avenue

Gray Squirrel at Pacific Avenue

Canada Goose at Cattail Lane

Mallard Duck at Meadow View Pond

Robin at Hickory Street

Little Black Ant on Park Street

Gail Gibbons

Spiders

Cats

Penguins

The Moon Book

Galaxies, Galaxies

Weather Words

Hurricanes

Tornadoes

The Magic School Bus:

Gets Eaten

Gets Baked in a Cake

Lost in The Solar System

Sees Stars

Thornton Burgess

The Bird Book for Children

The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk

Old Mother West Wind

Lightfoot the Deer

The Adventures of Peter Cottontail

Mrs. Peter Rabbit

The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse

The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon

The Adventures of Reddy Fox

The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack

The Adventures of Buster Bear

The Adventures of Old Man Coyote

The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel

The Adventures of Grandfather Frog

The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad

The Adventures of Prickly Porky

Other

Why Do Leaves Change Colors?

Spiders

I Can Read About Wolves

See How they Grow—Frogs

From the Library

Walking with Henry—Thoreau

Henry David’s House—Thoreau

Henry Builds a Cabin—Thoreau

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg—Thoreau

Here are a few pictures of how we have been spending time in the great outdoors:

Sunday Afternoon walk down by the river.

B riding at the Pump Track.

E and A catching frogs and tadpoles.

E picked wild flowers for little ol' me.

Today is Montessori Monday and I am linking up!

Learning with Centers and File Folder Games

I have been a long time fan of File Folder Games and Take It To Your Seat Centers and over the years I have made and collected quite a number of books, folder sets and websites.  Yet, I found myself not being able to fit them into our schedule but this year I decided to dedicate one morning a week to these great learning tools.  I think Centers and Folders are great tools for learning both new material and reviewing old lessons.

The children know that Wednesday mornings are folder and center mornings.  Each child has their own box full of appropriate materials to work on.  The children are required to pick one folder or center from each of these subject areas: Language Arts, Math, Geography and Science.  They are to complete their selections and call me over to check them before they clean-up.  At this point, all the children have to do is complete the folders but in our winter term I am going to ask them to also record in their learning journals what they have worked on.  For Example, in this picture E is working on a Science Layers of the Earth Folder and I would ask her to make a  notebook page for her journal.

I also think having a folders and centers morning breaks up our week, so we don't get bored or run down in our daily lesson routine.  The folders and centers also meets my goal for providing as many hands on learning experiences as possible and cultivates independent learning.

Here are a couple Math examples of folders:

Martian Multiplication

Turkey Feather Addition with an added number line. (It has been so long but I think both this folder and the one above are from File Folder Fun, a site full of free folder games.)

And a couple of Geography Examples:

World Continents from Take it To your Seat Geography Centers.

Land Forms--also from Take It To You Seat Geography Centers.

Here are a few of the Take it to Your Seat Centers we use:

Take it to Your Seat Phonics Centers
Take it to Your Seat Science Centers
Take it to Your Seat Geography Centers
Take it to Your Seat Math Centers
Take it to Your Seat Writing Centers

The Take it to Your Seats come in many grade levels so I did not include them all so be sure to look for the level that is appropriate for you child.

We also use a variety of folder games from Lakeshore Learning:


Science File Folder Fun
Fractions, Decimals and Percents Elementary Folder Games
Puzzle Fun Math Cards

Again, a lot of these folder kits come in a variety of age and subject areas, so be sure to take some time and see if what you are looking for is available.

It is Monday so I am linking up with Montessori Monday.

Have a great week!

Slime Glorious Slime!

I remember getting green slime out of a grocery store vending machine when I was about 8 years old.  I played and played with that gross stuff until it was full of lent and debris. So when I say this recipe I knew we had to try it.

Mixing with a bit of trepidation.

"oh, this is weird!"

"Wow, fun!"

Watch it drip!

Add some trucks or trains.

"Look what I can do, Mom!"

Slime is a great playdough alternative, frugal and sensorial fun for all ages!

For more fun kid craft & concotions check out our Pinterest  board

Today is Montessori Monday and I'm linking up.

Our Human Body Study

We have recently finished studying Anatomy, so I thought I would share what we learned and the resources that we used.  When planning a unit study I always collect a lot of tools, books and ideas and set about the planning with a specific framework and then as we go it morphs into something that is typically better and simpler than I planned.  So as we set about our study I began with a framework from this study at Homeschool Share based on the book Blood and Guts by Linda Allison, supplemented by the book Easy Make and Learn Projects: Human Body by Donald M. Silver.  Well, we quickly abandoned the Allison book but used a lot of the projects from the Easy Make and Learn Projects book.  My favorite project was the Digestive System coloring page seen below being colored by A.  Why did I like it?  I don't know it was just a great graphic to show the digestive track.

Another great hit with the children was the Squishy Human Body by Smart Lab. The kit comes with a fun and informative book on all the human body systems, tweezers to take the body model apart and a matching poster for the body's organs.  I liked that this kit gave good information and a tactile way to experience the human body.  Any child that came to our house during this study was immediately drawn to the Squishy Human Body.  On one visit I was so thankful that the intestines did not get ripped apart by one of our young friends.

The children looking at the guide book and removing the human body parts with tweezers.

The matching poster with some of the organs matched to their pictures.

Putting our fella back together.

 

We also studied the Skeletal System.

We played a lot of  Simon Says to learn the proper names of the bones like patella and femur.

And we enjoyed this giant foam skeleton floor puzzle.

We also talked about cells.

E completing a notebook page on the anatomy of a cell followed by some raw egg cracking for further demonstration. I still remember my own 4th grade teacher using a raw egg during a lesson on cells.

A looking at a cell diagram in a DK book called The Human Body.  I picked this book up quite a few years ago at Costco and debated about buying it because of the section on reproduction and decided to go with it thinking "what is the likelyhood that he will open up to that page anyway?"  Yes, that's right.  I took the book home and that was the first section he opened.  I was pregnant at the time and it brought about a wonderful time to talk about  babies.  All the pictures are drawings of fallopian tubes, uteruses and male pee-pees.  But anyway, it is a good book with colorful pictures and even my husband used it for reference when he recently hurt his shoulder.

We also took a look at the circulatory system. Using this printable to trace the path of blood through the body.  This page was from the Easy Make and Learn Projects book.

And finally we took a look at the Nervous System focusing on the brain using this Brain Game Folder printable.


So in the end we started with a framework, stayed flexible and ended up with a fun notebook (sorry, no pictures) and a lot of hands on learning.  Our study was not exhaustive but was a great overview of the body.  Anatomy could very easily be a year long course of study but for us a month long focus was fun.  


Here is our Pinterest Board for links to some of the other printables we used and  fun projects to try.


However, even after this great study my children recently said "mom, we like when you read to us."  This was said in the context of our current study on Canada using the book Lost in the Barrens and study guide by Queen Homeschool Supply.  In our Anatomy studies I most certainly read to the little people but the material was not in a story format so this provided great insight into what they like and how to plan our future work.


I am linking up with Montessori Monday---Enjoy!!!!!!!!!