I Love Homeschool - Letter B week

Another really fun week of homeschool is over.

It's hard to believe it was the last week of summer!

We had a great time learning all about letter B things - 

BOAT DAY:

We sang "Row, Row, Row your boat"

We read Three Bears in a Boat and Little Toot

We also watched the Disney short movie of Little Toot

because I love it!

We did quite a few boat worksheets,

talked about buoyancy,  

and had apple and cheese boats for snack time 

Origami boats

But, by far the best part of boat day,

we chose to keep for our Family Home Evening activity.

We made our own boats

    

And raced them!

The kids had so much fun!

BUG DAY:

We sang "All things bright and beautiful" 

and pointed out the all creatures great and small line.

We read "I saw and ant on a railroad track"

and watched a magic school bus about bugs.

We have a wonderful resource here in NJ

called the LRC (learning resource center)

It is only $2 to join for a whole year, 

and it is absolutely filled with amazing games, books, and other school helps.

I brought home two bug games this week.

Ashlynn had a bug sorting center, which she didn't want to stop playing with

And Caleb had a bug graphing set

We also used it for some pattern fun

Both of these games would have been too expensive for me to want to buy,

especially since I would only use them once or twice a year,

but thanks to the LRC, we got to use them for FREE

The Dollar Store is all ready for Halloween,

so I was able to pick up bug math manipulatives for $1

And, of course, we used pattern blocks

Snack was juice with gummy worm ice cubes,

and a "bug" snack mix.

Caleb kept saying,"I found an ant!" whenever he picked up a raisin.

To finish the day off,

we did some bug themed face painting

(yeah, I know, between the twist ballooning and face painting, 

I'm basically a clown...but it's so fun!)

BEAR DAY:

We sang "Teddy bear, teddy bear"

and Papa played "Teddy bears' Picnic" for us on his guitar.

We sang "We're going on a bear hunt"

and then really went on a bear hunt -

They rolled a die, got to look for that many bears, 

and sort them into the correct cups.

Caleb is learning to read and follow directions

on worksheets all on his own.

I put this together for him to try - 

20 bears to color according to the directions.

He did it!

We read "Brown bear, Brown bear, What do you see?"

and followed it up with these fun activity pages

Ashlynn's was simpler, just coloring

and Caleb's had writing practice too

We watched Richard Scarry's "Goldilocks and the Three bears"

while we ate our snack of bear toasts.

Marigold opted for honey instead of peanut butter...so easy and so cute!

We also rolled a die for teddy bear cookies - 

why not practice number recognition and counting during snack?

We read "The Biggest Bear"

and did a craft showing what they would do if they had a pet bear.

Caleb would put his in the zoo - 

he was so proud of it, we had to put it over his bed 

I don't usually talk about Marigold's work,

but she had a lot of fun doing spelling practice on the windows

(with window markers, of course)

And, we finished the day with care bear face paint.

Funshine and Cheer bear

BIRD DAY:

We sang "In the Leafy Tree tops"

We used this number tracing sheet as number recognition too,

by asking the kids to color a certain number a specific color 

(I love twofers)

We learned about what and how birds eat,

and played a fun game using clothespins as beaks, and pipe cleaners as worms.

Then we used seeds we harvested from our sunflowers

To make bird feeders

They coated pinecones with peanut butter and rolled them in seeds,

then we hung them out front.

For snack, we ate like birds, using a recipe 

Marigold found in a cookbook from the library as inspiration.

(I did change the recipe a bit, 

since I don't believe in using wheat flour or olive oil in cookies)

We learned about how birds are born,

and watched a great movie of baby chicks hatching.

Then we played a matching game, using easter eggs with birds inside.

(I stock up on easter eggs when they go on clearance - 

you can do SO many things with them for homeschool)

Then, we learned about what features all birds have,

and a few that make them unique.

We read "Feathers not just for flying"

I highly recommend this book - lots of fun information

about how birds use their feathers in special ways.

Then we used another great kit from the LRC.

Each bird card had a lot of fun facts on the backside,

and an item to go along with it.

All of the kids got a turn using the magnifying glass to get and up close look.

We finished up our day with a cute acorn cap nest craft...so tiny!

BEACH DAY:

We decided to take a day trip on Friday, to review 

some of the things we'd learned about already during the week,

and to see the beach for beach day.

So, we headed down to Cape May, NJ

Our first stop was a review of bird day,

at a viewing platform out in some natural marshlands.

It's so quiet and out of the way-

you feel really transported

We did see a lot of birds, but many were hiding in the reeds,

and only flew for a few seconds at a time

Can you spot the bird in the shot below?

Tide was going out, so we were able to see some fresh prints in the mud

(Heron and raccoon)

I believe that nothing beats life experiences 

to help children retain/more fully grasp information learned in the classroom 

(or living room, whichever)

At the end had a platform you could stand up on to get a really good view.

It was very windy, and just warm enough to forgo jackets

 See how far out the boardwalk goes into the wetlands?

I'm so thankful that there are places like this,

which are so secluded and peaceful.

Such a great place to forget life for a while and get in touch with nature...

and it was FREE

Next, we drove to a marina to see some boats!

The kids really enjoyed walking up and down the docks,

reading all of the names on the boats

Again, there is nothing quite like seeing something up close and in person.

We saw some commercial fishing boats, house boats, and recreation boats.

We even saw a large tour ship leaving the dock with a whale watching group.

Finally, we made it to the beach!

also free because it's off season

Tide was on its way in again,

and they didn't stay dry long

We spent a long time watching the waves roll in

Ashlynn and I stayed back a bit, but still managed to get our legs wet :)

We looked for seashells and Cape May diamonds

before calling it a day

One of my favorite field trips ever :)

Many thanks to my Mom and Dad,

who helped to plan the trip, and also helped with the kids all day!

We couldn't have done it without you.