Exploring Corn

We went out to my parent's farm for a few days to help with harvesting corn.  Last year we did a few activities with corn, and Parker is pretty sure he knows everything there is to know about harvesting corn, so this year I wanted to introduce him to a different kind of corn - indian corn! 

First we talked about it's differences than field corn - size and color.  Then he tried getting the kernels off the corn, while we talked found the parts of corn - cob, kernel, silk and husk.  

After that, we gathered up some of the kernels, put them in a bowl, and sorted them by color.

Then we looked at what he sorted and decided which color had the most and least.

Next, we did our first-ever beginning math activity.  He rolled the dice, put that many kernels on each cob, and then counted them up to see how many kernels there were altogether.  

We read

and he played in his corn bin.

  

It didn't take long for him to bring his combine, tractor, and semi in to play =)

We also read

Let There Be Light

So this week was our first unit on the specific days of creation.  We learned about light.  We were out of town for part of the week, so it was kind of spread out.  I think I got the point got across.

Day 1

Since we have been singing the Days of the Week song and saying the date everyday, 

we started this week by reading 

 

Then we counted to 40 together, counted to ten in Spanish, and learned how to identify numbers 11 and 12.  We reviewed last week's verse, and then learned our new verse,

"Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." - John 8:12

We sang the first verse of the "God Created" song, and did a little experiment with light.  I cut a hole in one end of the shoebox and Parker looked through it and told me what he saw...nothing....darkness.  

Then I cut a hole in the side, gave him a flashlight, and he said "Let there be light!" and turned on the flashlight.  We talked about how amazing it was that God didn't need to anything except say the words and light appeared for the first time.  Parker played with this for a little while.  The kid love flashlights =)

Then we read

reviewed the Jolly Songs we'd already learned, and did lessons 4 and 5 in our reading book.

Day 2

Today, we did some color clipping 

We read

We brainstormed different light sources and decided whether they were man-made or God-made.

Then we played on the light box.  

I put two strings of christmas lights under the clear bin and put parchment paper on top.  Then I cut shapes out of tissue paper so he could make different pictures with them on top.  

We reviewed Jolly Songs, did reading Lesson #6, and then listened this book on CD.

Day 3

After singing a few silly songs, Parker connected the push pins on the cork board in number order with rubber bands.  He was giving me a hard time earlier that day about not wanting to do preschool, but he sure loved doing this =)

This was something we've never done before, and actually he just came down from his rest time and saw me blogging about this and asked to do it again =)  Score!

Then we played this Rhyming Board Game from this set.

We reviewed Jolly Songs and did Lesson 6 in our reading book.

Finally, we read a bunch of books in the dark with flashlights =)

Days 4-7 of Creation

This week started off with Parker's 4th Birthday!  We had a great day going out to breakfast, playing legos, going to an indoor trampoline place, and meeting up with friends for ice cream.  I can't believe he's already 4!  We started preschool on Wednesday this week =)

Day 1

We started with singing the "Days of the Week" song, and saying the date.  Then we went through the  letter sounds we learned last week, A-W, by saying the picture on the card and the sound that the letter makes.  We learned the sounds of Y and Z, reviewed their verses from last year, recited last week's verse, and then learned our new verse for this week,

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1

We are working on recognizing numbers 11-15, so we went through those a few times and then he clipped 15 clothespins to the card.  

Then we sang through the creation song for days 1-3, and read

We sang the new verse for the fourth day,

"God created, God created,

Sun, Moon and Stars, Sun Moon and Stars,

That was on the fourth day, That was on the fourth day,

It was good, It was good."

I had some dark blue sparkly tissue paper I cut in to squares, and then I drew a sun and a moon for him to cut out.  (If you haven't notice by now, my art skills are REALLY lacking.  I drew three horrible excuses for a moon and then said forget it!)

I thought it turned out pretty cool!

Then we transitioned into our new reading/phonics routine.  I am using this book, 

combined with Jolly Phonics, easy readers, and whatever else I find that encourages phonemic awareness.  I went through and wrote down when we would be learning which letters, so I knew when we would learn the Jolly Songs for them.  First, we learned Jolly Song M and Jolly Song S.  He loved them!  For a kid who doesn't really love silly songs, I was thrilled that he liked these, because I sure do.  We went through the first lesson and will be doing this four days every week until we finish.

I had him put the number 1 in the 100's chart so we can keep track of what lesson we're on, and learn some number patterns while we're at it.

Day 2

After the usual beginning activities, we reviewed numbers 11-15 again, and then he did a push-pin activity to continue strengthening his fingers for writing.  

Then we sang the first four verses of the creation song, and read

We learned the Day 5 verse,

"God created, God created,

Birds and Fish, Birds and Fish

That was on the fifth day, That was on the fifth day,

It was good, It was good

For our Day 5 craft, he put bird stickers on the top and sea creatures on the bottom of number five.  This is also a great fine-motor activity.  

For our reading time, we sang Jolly Songs M and S again, did lesson two, and put the number two in the 100's chart.  

Finally, before bed, we started our first ever chapter book, 

  He was really into it and didn't want to stop after we read the first two chapters.  

I think we are all going to love this new bedtime routine.

Day 3

Today we sang, "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands."  

Then Parker did a pattern blocks picture of a dog and a bunny.

We sang the verses for days 1-5, and read

We learned the Day 6 verse,

"God created, God created,

Creatures on Land, People, too

That was on the sixth day, That was on the sixth day,

It was good, It was good"

and the Day 7 verse, 

"Then God rested, Then God rested

From His work, From His work,

That was on the seventh day, That was on the seventh day,

All was good, All was good"

He stuck animal stickers to the number 6 and Ryan drew on a stick-figure Adam and Eve.

And he stamped Z's onto the number 7 to symbolize God resting.  I just love how God didn't actually need to rest after creating a whole universe and everything in it... He just wanted to admire His creation, and He knew we would never rest unless he allowed a special day for it =)  I'm just so thankful for that!

Parker stamped Z's on the 7.

We also read

We learned Jolly Song A and did Lesson #3 in the reading book.  

He read his first word, "am."  This is so much fun!

I'm realizing I need to incorporate some more math, and I would like to do some beginning music activities.  We'll see if I can squeeze that in =)

Days 1-3 of Creation

This week will kick off our "Creation Theme" for the year.  

Day 1

I started out by asking Parker if he knew any of the days of the week.  He said "no."  I said them in order and had him repeat after me.  I sang the "Days of the Week," song and had him clap along.  Then we said the date together.  We will be doing this almost everyday.

We reviewed the sounds for A-F, and he remembered them all!  Yay!  Then we learned the sounds for G-L and recited their verses.

Our new verse for this week was,

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." - Genesis 1:1

He ordered numbers 1-10.

We read the creation story in here,

We went back and looked at just Day 1, and sang this song to help us remember.

(To the tune of "Are you sleeping")

God created, God created,

Day and Night, Day and Night.

That was on the first day, That was on the first day.

It was good, It was good.

We went over to the table for our Day 1 craft.  Parker painted the bottom of the #1 with black water color to represent night, and the rest stayed white for day.

Day 2

After singing the days of the week and saying the date, we sang the Apples poem song from last week.  We reviewed sounds A-L, and then learned the sounds and read the verses for M-Q and reviewed our Genesis verse.

He sorted the shapes into two piles - shapes with straight sides and shapes with curvy sides.  

He made the straight-sided shapes out of popsicle sticks.

We sang the Day 1 of Creation song from yesterday, and then read the creation story in this Bible.

We figured out exactly what Day 2 was, and sang the next verse of the song.

God created, God created,

Sky and Clouds, Sky and Clouds.

That was on the second day, That was on the second day.
It was good, It was good.

Then he painted the  #2 with blue water colors.

 

After it dried, he pulled apart cotton balls and glued them on for clouds.

Day 3
We did the "Days of the Week" song, date, sounds and verses for R-W, Genesis verse,
and then he filled in the blanks of the alphabet.

I loved watching Parker do this.  When he wasn't sure, he went back to the beginning and sand the alphabet until he got to the blank. I think he sang it half a dozen times by the time he was done.  What a great way to figure out the right letter!

Next, he did some cutting strips.

I have to give a shout out to my neighbor for letting me borrow her camera until we purchase a new one.  I'm not quite a pro at it yet, hence some the blurry pictures.

He loves cutting! When he was done, we read the creation story out of our third and final Bible.

We sang the first two verses of our creation song, and then added this one.

God created, God created,

Land and Plants, Land and Plants.

That was on the third day, That was on the third day,

It was good, It was good.

Then he painted the #3 green for land.
I think he was kind of over the whole water color thing since it was our third day of doing it.

Then I gave him some squares of tissue paper, had him crumple them up, and then glue them to the #3  to represent more kinds of plants.

You're doing great, Parker!  I'm so glad we're off to a good start =)