Week 2

 

Overall, I would say that our second week of school was smoother than our first week.  We're starting to find our groove, but we definitely still need some adjusting.  Some things are working really well.  Some tasks are a struggle.  Here are some highlights:

 

 

Handwriting -Handwriting can be either the highlight of our day or an all out battle.  Luke loves Draw Write Now, but absolutely hates any other copy work.  We've tried switching things around a bit and I've had a discussion with a kindergarten teacher friend about how much a 5 1/2 year old boy should be writing at this point in time.  I'm trying to make sure that he is challenged, but I'm also trying to keep in mind that although he is doing a lot of first grade work, he is still a kindergarten aged boy.  I know he'll mature and soon be able to handle writing a little more. 

 

 

 

Draw Write Now - I may need to buy the next book soon!

Math - Luke has been working on his 5 through 10 sets of number bonds.  Number bonds are the pairs of numbers that add up to a total (example: The number bonds for 5 are 5 and 0, 4 and 1, and 3 and 2).  In reality, he is learning addition and subtraction at the same time.  It seems to make sense to him and I think it will help him understand story problems a little better in the future. 

 

 

Using Bingo markers to find the 6 and 7 number bonds

 

We also reviewed counting money by counting the money in the boys' piggy banks and listening to one of their favorite YouTube songs - Coins in My Hands.

 

Ben was very excited to help put the coins back in the piggy bank.

 

Science - We read about dirt and seeds this week.  One of our projects was to move a stone in our backyard to see what was underneath.  We found an ant colony and all of their eggs.  I think they were as surprised to see us as we were to see them!  They scurried around to move the eggs which was incredibly interesting to watch.



Olivia sat down for quite a while to watch the ants scurry

We noticed how well the ants worked together to move their eggs. 
It was gross and fascinating all at the same time.

We also took a trip to the park to take a nature walk/scavenger hunt.  The kids were supposed to find different seeds or ways that seeds traveled.  Luke took pictures of the seeds as we went.  My sister-in-law and her two boys joined us for a picnic and for our hunt.  Four little boys plus Olivia made for a very loud hunt, but we were pretty successful!


Scattering dandelion seeds

We came across a groundhog!

 

Our science readings this week lightly mentioned
mushrooms and spores, so we enjoyed checking this out!

We also spent some time just hanging around.

 

Language Arts/ Literature - We read a few poems from "The Llama Who Had No Pajama" (the spinning poem was both fun to read and fun to do) and some Mother Goose stories.  We also started "James Herriot's Treasury for Children" which was a book that was new to me.  I appreciate that Sonlight has many of these books which often turn out to be amazing.  Luke was introduced to similes and thought it was fun to write his own (yet another writing assignment that didn't cause a battle). 

This is Rugle.  He is as big as a pirate ship.
He is as stinky as a skunk.  He is as mean as a lion.

 

Music - After borrowing a "Peter and the Wolf" CD from the library, my boys decided they were fans of classical music.  They created clothespin puppets of the characters that were really cute.

 

 

Ben's puppets

Luke's puppets

We also learned about the four types of instruments.  I found pictures from of each type of instrument on the Internet and the boys cut them out and sorted them.

Luke's finished project

Benjamin enjoyed tracing the words and being part of a big kid project.
 

 

Ben's Letter of the Week - Ben was excited to learn about the letter B!

 

Play do B - Next time we'll do this on wax paper!

 



The letter "Bee"



 Unexpected learning -  We came across a deer as we were driving home one day and ended up discussing the words "buck" and "doe"and how to spell "uck" words (which luckily did not take an accidental bad turn).