Scholastic eBooks for $1.00!

There's a great sale going on at Scholastic.com right now. Through Memorial Day weekend, you can get tons of eBooks for the same price as a cheap toy at the Dollar Store...and much better quality too! I've purchased several of their eBooks in the past and have loved them. And many of the books are regularly much higher priced. So let your fingers run on over there!    To see the books eligible for this sale, you can go here.

Creating a Circle Time Board

As part of our morning routine during kindergarten/preschool, we would fill in dates on a calendar, look at our art picture of the week (from Artistic Pursuits) and memorize a Scripture verse. I transferred this to our bulletin board eventually and it became a mini-circle time.  The girls enjoyed this morning ritual, and the routine of it got us all into "school" mode.

As we're beginning first grade / kindergarten, I've decided to take our circle time routine to the next level! I got quite a bit of inspiration for it from Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations (And quite a bit of material from her free printables!). It took a while for me to figure out exactly what I wanted to include and what wasn't necessary for us at this time.

Once I came up with what our circle time should cover, then it was time to create! I went to Wal-Mart, bought a $8 display board (which my 6yo promptly cracked once I got home - aargh!) and some velcro stickers, then went to work. It took a while to get my layout set, but I'm pretty happy with it overall! It includes:

• Scripture memory poster (We're doing Psalm 1, per Sonlight's suggestion)
• Daily weather chart (from Homeschool Creations)
• A spot for our weekly art study picture
•  Skip-counting facts to review (again, from Jolanthe's site)
• Days we've been in school (Jolanthe yet again - this is to help my girls get a better grasp on 1s, 10s, 100s, etc)
• A spot for the poster we're going to make each week for our unit study based on From Akebu to Zapotec (Another Sonlight curriculum resource)
• Our Chinese vocabulary flashcards
• A spot for my girls to display one of their pictures from the week (they like to show off their work!)

And that's it! Anyone else do circle time? I'd love to see pics and hear more about how you've implemented this type of school routine. 

FIAR: Storm in the Night

Well, the end of my planned school year is upon us. To fill in the time between now and when we start Sonlight, I've decided to do some Five in a Row units, mainly inspired by the incredible creativity of Angela over at Kinderdays. As I looked long and hard to find ideas to to fit my girls' interests and learning level, I thought I might as well share it with all of you.

Day One:

• Read Storm in the Night
• What are the girls afraid of? Talk about, then memorize Psalm 27:1 and paste in lapbook.
• Art: Leaf through the book together and point out the blue darkness contrasted with the white raindrops. Paint different shades of blue on watercolor paper. After it dries, use white chalk to make raindrops.
• Science: Read Like a Hundred Drums & Thunder & Lightning
• Do the Lightning Experiment and the Thunder experiment
• Put the Thunder and Lightning minibook in the lapbook and have the girls tell me what causes it.

Day Two:

• Read Storm in the Night again. This time, look at the expressions on everyone’s face. What does each expression signify?
• Art: Read Walter Was Worried - Then draw our own expressions and put in lapbook.
• Science: Read Flash, Crash Thunder & Roll.
• Talk about what we should do during a thunderstorm, whether inside or out. Put our answers in minibook (on harddrive)
• Using a fan, talk about the different levels of wind.
• Make a weathervane to measure from which way the wind blows
• Go fly a kite!

Day Three:

• Read Storm in the Night. This time have the girls listen for words they don’t know the meaning of. Then we’ll write them in their book, along with a definition!
• Read The Cloud Book by DePaola.
• Make a Cloud art book: http://amy-fun4kids.blogspot.com/2009/02/weather-clouds-and-rain.html
• Talk about the age difference between Thomas and his Grandfather. What is the age difference between the girls and various adults they know? Make a minibook, and use the abacus to record the results!
• Cut out and add this aging pictures to lapbook
• Play Weather Match Three