Sonlight Core 1: Week 3

Another week of hands-on activities. Post a link to your own blog here if you're also doing Sonlight Core 1.

Peoples of the World

• Create a Batik shirt
• Look at pictures of coiled pots, then make our own!

From Akebu to Zapotec

• Locate Bhutan on the map.
• Color a picture of Bhutan’s flag to add to Bropka poster.
• Do the “Where are the Himalyans” minibook (From homeschoolshare.com)
• Show picture of plateaus farms. Then use legos build our own. Take pic and add to poster. 

World of Animals

• Watch video of bees dancing
• Read The Jungle Grapevine 
• Watch video of Baby Animals
• Read Even an Ostrich Builds a Nest
• Provide the different materials that different birds use to make nests (cotton, twigs, leaves, rocks, mud, grass) Have the girls try to put a nest together using nothing but the materials and a little mud “glue”. Birds are pretty amazing! While they work, ask them questions 4-6 from activity sheets.
• Another nest craft from Chocolate Muffin Tree

 

Get Free Scholastic Books

This is an exciting deal - I love free books. Go to the Learn & Earn site, then have your child complete several Scholastic activity sheets. Send them in with the redemption form, and you'll receive up to 5 free books. The activities (at least for the 5-6 year olds) look easy, so it's not a complicated process. Enjoy!

Sonlight Core 1: Week 2

Here's the list of hands-on activities we're going to do for week 2. Please e-mail me or leave a comment if you have any further suggestions!

Peoples of the World:

• Read Now We Can Have a Wedding
• Talk about what foods looked good, what foods looked bad.
• From sheets bought at Goodwill, dress up in sarongs, saris and turbans. Take pictures and put in Notebook.
• Paint our faces or coloring book faces, then take pictures! 

World of Animals

• Watch Lights, Camera & Highspeed Action
• Read Hungry Animals
• Place your animal cutouts from the story onto different colored squares. Start with any animal and then put what animal you think would hunt it in the square next to it or place an animal you think it would hunt in the square before it. Do all animals eat other animals (carnivores)? Do all animals eat plants (herbivores)? Do some animals eat both (omnivores)? Now, try putting the animals into three columns according to what kind of food they eat!
• Animals senses: Hearing - Play "What Is This Sound?" and "Guess Who I Am?"
• Senses: Bug eyesight - Make a mosaic picture to illustrate how bugs see

Gardening Unit: Days 4-6

It's been a busy two weeks, so I haven't had time to get the last half of our plants & gardens unit study up. Finally, here it is:

Day Four:

• Circle Time: Look at lapbook and review what we’ve learned so far.
• Read Pumpkin Town and What Kinds of Seeds are These
• Look at pictures of various plants and have the girls circle the stems (flowering plant, herb, cactus, vine)
• Do both “Why Plants Have Stems” experiment (Evan-Moor book)
• Do the “4 Ways Seeds Travel” minibook from HSS
• Explosion: Tear or cut up pieces of scrap paper to make confetti (seeds).  Place the tiny pieces in a lunch bag or baggy or balloon.  Now hold the end of the bag almost closed and blow air into the bottom.  Hold the end closed so that the air doesn't escape.  Now pop the bag.  What happened to the seeds?
• Flying: Make a Whirlygig to show how some seeds travel
• Floating: Put sunflower seeds in water and watch them float!
• People & Animals: Put on an old pair of socks, then walk in burr seeds next door. Notice how they stick on!

Day Five:

• Circle Time: Look at 2 new flower pictures (find ones that are native to NC) and 2 new tree pictures.
• Read I Am a Leaf and A B Cedar: An Alphabet of Trees  and Leaves
• Fill out lab record from yesterday’s experiments (Evan-Moor book)
• Gather leaves from outdoors. Bring them inside and compare them. How are they different? How are they the same? Do some leaf rubbings and put in lapbook. If possible, identify the tree from which they came.
• Draw a plant with green leaves for logbook and write what the purpose of a leaf is!
• Make a seed mosaic with extra seeds. Show pics to give them ideas!

Day Six:

• Go on a nature scavenger hunt at a local park or nature preserve. Bring along a field guide and identify trees, flowers and other plants encountered. For extra fun, bring your digital camera to take pictures. Later, incorporate those picture into lapbook. 

Gardening Unit: Days 1-3

This week we've been doing a garden/plant unit study that I devised with the help of Evan-Moor's Learning About Plants (Grades K-1).  This is the first time I've attempted to do a unit study where everything wasn't already planned out and I've been very pleased with the results so far. It's been incredibly fun and the girls have been learning a lot. Plus, it's been a nice break from our normal school routine...a break I needed! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures as my husband requisitioned the camera for his own use this week.

Here's some of our activities, though I'm withholding the ones that came directly from the Evan-Moor book. (Which, BTW, is totally worth the purchase price. It's packed FULL of great lesson ideas, activities and read-aloud suggestions. It's been a good fit for my 4 & 5 (almost 6) year old, though some of the writing has been a bit much for Sweetness (the 4yo). I just have her dictate the answers to me or help her write something simple.)


Day 1:

• Circle Time: Look at pictures of state tree and state flower. Work on address song.
• Read Pearl’s First Prize Plant & The Rabbit in the Garden
• Learn about characteristics of living things
• Decorate terra-cotta plant holders to use for planting their personal flowers

Day 2:

• Circle Time: Look at pictures of state flower and state tree. Work on last name song.
• Read Sunflower (FR) and Flowers
• Look at a picture of a flower. What are the different parts? See how many the girls can name (flower, stem, leaves & roots).
• Now dissect a Lily. Point out the 4 parts of the bloom (Petal, Stamen, Pistil & Sepal).  

Day 3:

•  Circle Time: Look at state flower & tree pics. Then see if they can describe from memory.
• Read One Bean and Paddington Bear in the Garden
• Examine roots from different outside plants.  Have the girls draw pictures of the roots and put in lapbook.
• Plant beans in clear plastic cup and watch them grow! (EMP-K; Use page 32)
• Fill pots with dirt and plant seeds.
• Make some Coffee filter flowers

Extras:

Parts of a Flower craft 

Review plant part names by playing Make a Salad