Letters B and C

We didn't get to completely finish B because we were sick and this week was supposed to be letter C. So we worked on both today.

We made B's out of black beans. Jolie needed a little help. Kaycie worked very hard all by herself and placed every single bean.

Next, the kids got mad at me because I didn't have an art project planed for C. I guess Coloring wasn't good enough. So we made cookies. And "C is for cookie and that's good enough for me."

November Projects

My friend's mom gave me a even more preschool projects. We are going to do one a week. This week we made turkey door knob hangers.

Free the Butterflies!

The weather is too cold to let the butterflies go outside. They would die. We felt bad for them in their little butterfly house so we set them free in OUR HOUSE. It's pretty fun having the butterflies fly around. We set them out food around their little flower set up. They drink sugar water off tissue paper.

Butterfly Drinking

Today we learned about how butterflies use a proboscis to drink sugar water off the flowers. They also like to drink orange juice off orange slices.

5 Little Butterflies

All the butterflies are out. I tried to catch one coming out on video but they are just too fast. I saw this one come out. See how the wings are curled up.

Also, this is something interesting we learned about butterflies. Any extra pigment that they do not use when making their wing color they spit out. It look like blood. Do you see all the red on their home.

The First Butterfly!

Welcome to the family little butterfly.

Preschool Overhaul

I have made some major changes to our preschool. The girl I visit teach has a mom that actually does have a real preschool. She sent me huge box full of preschool activities. I am so excited to use all the stuff. The new preschool schedule is as follows:

1.) Coloring: they get to color papers that show a particulat season, activity, or holiday and we talk about the paper. They must write their name and last name on the back of the paper.

2.) Letter of the Week: We sing our ABC's and sign them in ASL. We make a giant picture project of that letter in the begging of the week. For example, this week we make the Ark and hung animals from the Ark. The sentence on the Ark that we read everyday is Aa is for Ark and Animals. Each letter will have a different picture project. We learn about a letter and color a paper with that letter and pictures of things that start with the letter. They must circle all the letter of the week letters in the words on the paper. Then they must right the letter upper and lower case and a word starting with that letter on the back. I stress the lowercase letters more than the upper case because they read more lower case than upper case.

3.) Science Time: They all get to pick a Magic School Bus Book. We read it. There may be a science project also. Right now our main science focus is on our growing butterflies.

4.) Reading: They all pick one or two sight word books that they must read them selves and point to the words.

5.) Our Earth: We are learning our states, continents, and already know many of our countries. We identify the North and South poles and the equator. We are learning how to read maps and a globe. We are also learning the planets and their position from the sun. You will be surprised how easy it is to teach young children these things. They already know so much.

6.) Reader Rabbit: They get to pick between doing reader rabbit math or reading.

7.) Sometimes we will do art projects.

Almost There

One of the chrysalis has become much darker than the others. I have heard that they become dark before they come out.

They Are All Ready

They all made their chrysalis' last week. It took me awhile to get around to posting it. This post was supposed to be made the same night as the last post.

Here is a little video we took of what a caterpillar does once his skin splits. He wiggles and spins to get in the proper shape.


Once they were all ready, we moved them into their new home.

Did a Little Research

I have seen a caterpillar make a cocoon, but I did not know how they made a chrysalis. I looked for videos on youtube because I keep missing when our caterpillars do it. Apparently it doesn't take very long. Did you know that they actually peel their own skin off to reveal the chrysalis underneath. There are some long videos on youtube if you are interested in looking at the full thing. This is a short video of snap shots of the caterpillar changing.

Naughty Caterpillars

People think caterpillars are so sweet. But they are not. I have even seen them fight with each other. This morning when we woke up we found that they were all hanging upside down except for the one that already formed his chrysalis yesterday. I am suspicious that the other four where jealous of the early bird (maybe that's not such a good analogy since they are worms and all) and knocked him down. He will be okay. No worries. He just didn't the prime spot he wanted. But he looks good.

The other ones are all hanging upside down and getting ready. It is so weird to watch a caterpillar turn. They hang upside down for almost 24 hours, not moving at all, like they are dead. They must turn into a chrysalis super fast because I never see it. Already three of them have turned. One of them was a regular hanging caterpillar a half an hour ago and now he has a full out chrysalis. Weird huh? I don't know how they do it either because I am pretty sure they don't actively make it (not like making a cocoon) because they don't ever move. Here is a picture of some of them hanging.

One is Making a Chrysalis!

Only one so far. We are anxiously waiting for the others. It is also exciting to see the transformation process from caterpillar to chrysalis.

Caterpillars

Here are Kaycie's caterpillars. They are growing bigger and bigger everyday. We are so excited.

Halloween Projects

I haven't been posting any of our projects recently because most of them have been to prepare for the Halloween party. We have been making a big ghost pinata and ghost pops. I didn't take any pictures though. All of out other school subjects have continued.

I have added some things. I am now teaching the kids their planets. We have also added reading the Magic School Bus to our schedule.

Dinosaur Eggs

I have been a total slacker on preschool activities. Not on the normal everyday stuff, but the art and science projects. Here is our latest. Paper machete Dinosaur Eggs. We dipped newspaper clippings in a flour/salt/water mixture, covered a balloon, let dry, painted it, let dry, and then popped the balloon. It was pretty fun. Kaycie tried to stand on her egg later and cracked it. She now is begging me to make a new one.

Not the best picture of the girls, Oh well.

Big Preschool Update

We have been pretty busy so I have been behind on our preschool activities. Last week we had a water balloon fight for an activity.

However, we have kept up with our reading, signing, writing, math, and maps. It is harder to demonstrate these activities on the blog so I wanted to do an update on what the kids are doing. It is going really well.

Reading: Kaycie and Nico are both learning to sight read. They watch Your Baby Can Read and also read books for beginning readers with me. They are doing well and having fun doing it. Jolie has not yet demonstrated to me that she is learning to read words. It is harder for me to determine how much Jolie is learning because she doesn't like to perform on demand. I know that there are a few words that she has learned and I know that she understands the concept of reading being a symbolic language.

Signing: Kaycie and Jolie love signing. They watch signing time every morning. I also sign to them throughout the day. They both easily remember their signs and have a pretty large vocabulary. I have noticed that Jolie loves to sign while she talks now. I have also noticed an increase in the ability to do more complex signs.

Writting: I have the kids write there name and three random words on a white board. Sometimes we use paper and pencil so that they learn how to hold a pencil correctly. Kaycie can write any word she says and is starting to be able to write several words from memory. I thought it was funny the other day when she tried to write Kieffer's name in the sand by memory and wrote KF, "that says Kieffer." Jolie isn't writting words on her own yet but she has become excellent at writting "O's"

Math: For math we use Reader Rabbit. I sit with the kids and help them through the problems. Jolie can count to 20. Kaycie can add when using something to help her such as gold fish. She has a little trouble identifying her numbers but can count to about thirty.

Maps: Map time is always fun. We get out the maps. Sometimes they get stickers for every place they show me and sometimes I have them do some kind of activity before coming up to the map and showing me the place. For example, "Spin three times and show me South Carolina." We also make up songs about some places or funny phrases. I have been really impressed with Kaycie's knowledge of her map. She can list a number of states and countries. She can also tell you how many continents there are and where they are located. (see side for Kaycie's list) Jolie can show me Utah, Australia (because that's where Nemo lives), and where the water is on the map.

Making Puzzles

For our art project this week we took some foam paper and I drew the kids pictures. Then I had the kids color their pictures. Finally I let them cut their pictures into puzzle pieces. I cut Jolie's for her. Kaycie cut hers into so many pieces that I redid her that night so that she would have an easier puzzle to play with. They like putting together their puzzles. I liked this activity. We will probably do it again.

Some Additions

I have added some things to Kaycie and Jolie's (sometimes Nico's)preschool program. I have started teaching them math. I noticed that although Kaycie can count into her 20's (and further with some help), and Jolie can count to 10, neither of them can identify their numbers. So we have started working on writing and identifying numbers. I also bought some reader rabbit games. Kaycie is currently working on "Reader Rabbit I Can read 1st and 2nd grade level" and "Reader Rabbit Math 4-6". These are way too advanced for Jolie so we got her some Preschool level games. I use these games as rewards for completing their preschool work or good behavior. I really like the reader rabbit games. I think the do a good job of teaching school lessons and keeping learning fun. Learning feels more like a game than work. And I think that's how learning should be.

Sponge Art

Sock Puppets!

The making of them was a little hard for the girls but they LOVE playing with them.

Cornstarch Goo

I have never made this stuff before but it is awesome! Just cornstarch and water. It has a fluid like consistency but when you squeeze it is almost becomes solid like clay and as soon as you let the pressure off it just oozes in your hand. So awesome and weird!
Here is the science behind it: "The cornstarch and water mixture acts like a solid sometimes, and a liquid at other times? Actually, this concoction is an example of a suspension - a mixture of two substances, one of which is finely divided and dispersed in the other. In the case of the cornstarch quicksand, it's a solid dispersed in a liquid.

When you punch the cornstarch quicksand, you are forcing the long starch molecules closer together. The impact of this force traps the water between the starch chains to form a semi-rigid structure. When the pressure is released, the cornstarch flows again.

All fluids have a property known as viscosity - the measurable thickness or resistance to flow in a fluid. Honey and ketchup are liquids that have a high resistance to flow. Water has a low viscosity. Newton said that viscosity is a function of temperature. So, if you heat honey, the viscosity is less than that of cold honey. The cornstarch and water mixture and quicksand are both examples of non-Newtonian fluids because their viscosity changes when stress or a force is applied." http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000088

Art Project Catch Up

Things have been busy the last couple weeks so I haven't been good at posting. However, we have still been doing lots of art projects. We are behind in Science projects but we had the fourth of July and played with some small fireworks and last week we went to the zoo. That's got to count as some Chemistry and Biology right?

Bubble Art/Ball Painting

We tried bubble art and it was a huge failure. I couldn't get the paint to bubble up. If someone has any advice that wound be great. So we did ball art instead. It was wonderfully messy.

Glitter Art

This was fun. Some of the neighborhood kids joined in as well. Kaycie wanted to draw her. name. I thought she did a really good job, especially since writing with glue is a little more difficult. Can you see her name? They both made picture by themselves which are under the pictures of their names. Jolie loved the glitter.

Body outlines and Painting

We outlined our bodies in crayon and then colored faces and clothing on. I watch Nico again so he was there too. Then we painted our pictures, which covered up the original drawings. We also painted our bodies. I probably should have took some pictures of that. We were all very colorful.

Green Shaving Cream

I colored the shaving cream green and let them decorate themselves and the bathtub green. I thought it would dye their bodies green but it didn't. It was a lot of fun. I little dye goes a long way. Sorry, no picture.

Volcano!

Kaycie and Jolie have been learning their states. They love Hawaii and Washington because they have volcanoes. I decided to do a volcano project (thanks Mom C.). Kaycie learned that friction makes rocks melt into lava and the lave comes out of the volcano and when it gets cold again it turns back into rock. Both the kids loved seeing out homeade lava come out of the volcano we made. Even the kids in the neighborhood were excited. They weren't there when we did it the first time but we did it again.

Growing Germs Photo

Cheeses not touched by hands vs. cheese touched by hands.

Tidye Shirts

Today was art day. We made our shirts. I think tidye was a little complicated for the girls. I did most of the work. But they both got to wear gloves and squirt some dye on the shirt. They are very happy about the shirts they made.

FHE

Occasionally I will post some of the games and activities we do for FHE. After last night's lesson we played Don't Eat Pete! It was a big hit. If you have never played before, you have a game sheet that you cover with candy, or in our case cereal. One person is sent away. Everyone else picks one person on the card to be Pete. The person returns and eats the pieces on the card but if they try to eat Pete, everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!" And their turn is up. Here is a picture of the game card.

Growing Germs

Kaycie knows a lot about germs from her Magic School Bus books. If you ask her, she will tell you all about white blood cells and antibodies. So I decided to do a project where we can see the germs. We have one piece of cheese that no one touched. And another piece of cheese that Kaycie put her hands all over. I would have had Jolie do it too but she probably would have ate it. So we will wait to see if we can grow some germs. I didn't label anything but I can tell the pieces of cheese apart. One has dirt on it from Kaycie hands from playing outside. I will post a before and after picture after we get our results.

Social Studies

Kaycie and I got some maps and I decided to add social studies to our morning schedule. I was surprised how much Kaycie enjoys reading the maps. I thought it would bore her. We are currently learning our states and the seven continents. Kaycie can identify Utah, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska. She is also getting very good at identifying her continents. I have her practice looking at realistic pictures of the continents on the earth and then finding them on a map that shows all the continents. Jolie likes to identify the water.

Finger Painting

Today was our art project. We finger painted. We also salted the paintings for texture. Later we will cut out two hands each from one of the paintings. Then we will hide them around the house on Father's Day. When Gregg finds them he will get to collect foot rubs.

Reading and Writing

Kaycie is doing very well with her reading and writing.

The first video is of her reading sentences.


This one is of her writing a sentence.

Are Flowers Boys or Girls?

Kaycie and I learned that sometimes they are both. While showing Kaycie how the red water traveled up the plant veins and into the petals, I decided to teach her some other plant parts. We looked at the stamens and pistil of her rose. I showed her which part is the boy part and which part is the girl part. We also looked at the ovary and learned where seeds come from.

Reading Activites

I want to list some of our daily reading and writing activities.

1.) Matching - I show the word and have them find the word. This has been the most affective way for teaching Kaycie her words.

2.) Find the Object - I show the word and have them find a toy or picture of what the word represents.

3.) White board - I give Kaycie a word and she copies it to the white board.

4.) Sentence Structure - We use magnets with words to learn how to combine words into sentences.
Have any Ideas? I would love to hear them.

First Science Project

Can A Flower Change It's Petals?

This project was to teach Kaycie and Jolie that a flower carries water from it's roots, up it's stem, and into the petal and leaves. Kaycie and Jolie are learning some of the basic parts of plants and flowers.

We took a light yellow rose and put it in a vase of red dyed water. The red dye got carried all the way into the petals.

These are our pictures from Day 1 and 2. I will post another photo when the project is complete.
After one day we could already see some of the dye in the petals.This photo shows Kaycie with Gym Bear. She is Team Leader again this week for preschool. I took this picture of her next to her grass. She grew this grass herself with seeds and lots of love.