Montessori Spoon Activity

I got this cute little egg cup set at the op-shop (second hand
shop) for 50 cents! The kids all took turns spooning the
soup beans into these little cups and pouring them back into
the bigger bowl.

Colored Match Stick Activity

Delenn enjoyed playing with the colored match sticks
(available in the craft section of our discount store). She's
making a sculpture with styrofoam. I also stuck holes in the
top of a baby food jar so the match sticks could be inserted.
I bet Elora really enjoy that; she's really good at putting
a straw onto plastic string.

Not all activities end as planned

Logan and Delenn decided to make "popcorn" with the styrofoam.
It was a bear to clean up, so Mom and Dad weren't entirely
pleased with their creativity!

Kindermusik, Final Performance for the Dads

We had our final performance for the Dads in Kindermusik.
We sang songs for the Dads and played Kindermusik games.
The boys performed on the glockenspiel while the girls danced
to "The Swan" movement of Carnival of the Animals. Our
final piece was to "The Aquarium" where the kids were dressed
in various costumes. Logan was a fish and Delenn was an
octapus (as was Elora).

Sorting Activity

I had these embroidery patches I had bought in the
States a while back. They weren't being used, so I
pulled them out for Delenn to sort. She sorted
into butterflies, flowers and "not butterflies or flowers."

Another pompom activity

Elora was very proud of herself when she
got the pompoms in. She'd give a little
clap after she got the entire bunch in!

Then she managed to pour the pompoms in too

Cloud Activity

We've added a new twist to our weekly calendar. Now we
observe the clouds in the morning, determine which type
we see and place it in the calendar. Believe it or not, we've
actually HAD clouds this week to observe -- how awesome
is that? (It's normally clear, sunny and "fine" here in the
Outback!)

The cards were free at
https://edutccom.ipower.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=33&osCsid=42f077d8a67a85fb7edd5b878eec5fa1

Yeast Science -- Is it alive?

We got this science experiment idea from

http://www.education.com/activity/article/yeast_is_alive_kinder/

Yeast Experiment -- Adding yeast, sugar and water

We got this microscope free with a magazine
subscription years ago. Logan really enjoys
working with it!!

Teen Board and Montessori Beads

Delenn and I worked on the teen board today.

Word Family Books

Delenn is doing great job with these word families. We cover
the picture and she reads the word (then looks at the picture
to see if she was right). She reads them all confidently!

I printed these out from here:
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/wil/rimes_and_rhymes.htm#This_Week

Kindergarten Math Activities

My friend asked me about the math we've been doing with Logan. I kept meaning to post this info for her. It took a while, but here it is finally! These are some of the things we've done recently for math (we also use the Right Start Math curriculum).

Skip counting: Practice skip counting by 1s, 2s, 3s, etc. up to 200 with these mazes http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes.html I laminated ours so Logan could do them more than once

Time: One activity we did quite a bit was to take a blank clock face (no numbers) and to practice putting the hours (1-12) around the edge of the clock in the correct spot. Once that was easy for Logan, we took a clock with the numerals and then put the five minute increments around the edge of the clock. :05, :10, :15... up to :55.

Here's an online Game Logan does to practice matching the digital time with the analog time http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/draggames/sthec1.html
Clothes pins time game (see picture) http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/TrainTimeClipCards.htm

Addition:
Addition Math War -- a card game. The person with the highest amount wins the round
Popsicle Stick Math Facts -- Place addition math facts on Popsicle sticks with the answers at the bottom. Stick them in sand and have child self check his/her math facts.
Math Fact Card Toss Relay -- Throw flashcard as far as possible, run, pick it up, solve it and race back so the next person can go. Race for 3 (or whatever) minutes solving as many facts as possible.
Mathlines Online Game -- Practice the sums equaling 4 (5, 6... up to 15). You blaster has a number, shoot the ball that gets you 4 (2+2, 1+3) http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-math-lines/addition-10.html
Math Monster Game: Write out the equations you want to practice (5+7 and the answer 12 on a different sheet). (See pictures) Give the child the answer and spread the equations around the back yard. You are the Monster trying to freeze them before they get the correct answer. If you tag them and they think they have the right answer, they check it with you. If they are correct they are free, if not they are frozen until another player sets them free. We play this with Delenn who has to find a number (1 through 12) and tell the Math Monster what number she has. The Math Monster won if she froze all players.

Place Value up to 1000:
Sunny Side Up -- a dice game for learning single and double digits. I wrote about it some time back and will paste that in here again:

Today we played Sunny Side Up -- a great game for those learning the
double-digit numbers. It's an actual game we got from Grams and Gramps,
but could be used with normal dice too. I doctored the game to play with
Logan. Here's how we play: There are 5 dice -- numbers 1-to-5 and a
sunny side (6 could be your "wild" number or you can just make your
numbers include a 6). Each person gets a sheet with 9 numbers on
them between 1 and 55 (using only the digits 1 to 5)
-- I typed the sheets up myself. For example, one sheet has the numbers
41, 54, 32, 13, 43, 25, 4, 5 and 9. Each sheet is different (I made a
whole bunch at once to save for later).

Directions:
1) Roll the 5 dice
2) Determine which numbers you can cross out, you can only use each die one time
3) Sunny Side can be used for any digit

Montessori Math
Right now we are using a lot of Montessori Math materials for practicing place value. These will make more sense if you look at the pictures I posted below.

Here's the site where I got a lot of my free math manipulatives http://www.montessorimaterials.org/math.htm

I got the purple beads in the pictures below at this site, for example.
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/Bead1_10.pdf
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/Beads_Hun_Thou.pdf

I also got the Teen board there--http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/teens-board.pdf.

I got the Stamp Cards (1 units, 10s, 100s, 1000s for practicing place value here http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/stampgame1.pdf -- just print them out on colored paper). My numerals were bought from Right Start math, but you can print them out from Montessori Materials here: http://www.montessorimaterials.org/math1.html

Money -- We also work with US coins, but I don't have time to post much about that at the moment. One activity that has been a big hit has been the candy store (I think I posted pictures a while back). You can print out these cards and have your kids shop for candy (with real coins). Printables are at this website: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MoneyCandyCards.htm

Clothes Pin Clocks

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/TrainTimeClipCards.htm

Addition Game, Monster Math Game

Another addition game we did was to toss the pompom into
the egg carton and add the digits (using the abacus if
necessary).

Below are the cards I made up for our Monster Math (freeze
tag) game.

Teens Board

This board reinforces the numerals 11-19.
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/teens-board.pdf

There's another Montessori counting activity that
goes with this, but I don't have pictures.

Working on place value

Montessori Math -- Place Value, Stamp Card Game

I got the Stamp Cards (1 units, 10s, 100s, 1000s for practicing
place value here
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Math/stampgame1.pdf

-- just print them out on colored paper). My numerals are part
of our curriculum from Right Start math, but you can print them
out from Montessori Matrials here:

http://www.montessorimaterials.org/math1.html)

You can also use these stamp cards to reinforce the fact that
there are never more than 9 units (or nine 10s or nine 100s, etc.). You
throw a bunch of cards out and then trade for a higher place value
card whenever you count 10. So, if you have 23 10s cards you'd trade
10 10-cards for a 100 card, then another 10 10-cards for a 100 card.

Montessori Math -- Place value

Logan has been working on place value.
I printed these bead cards out from
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/math.htm

I even put together some 1000s beads packs
with a brad so that he really got the concept
of a thousand beads.

Toddler Activity (Elora's 15 months)

I read on someone's Montessori blog that the
normal shape sorter which introduces several
shapes at once is often too difficult for the young
child. They suggest introducing one shape at a
time. For this activity I simply took a box, cut
a square in it for the block and a little door to
get the blocks out. She seemed to really enjoy
it and could do it independently, unlike the
3-shape sorter we have. She played with this for
quite some time (for her!).

Such Concentration!

Just ignore the post-nap hair!

Glockenspiel

Going on a Nature Walk with friends

Logan's Soccer

In the last picture below, Logan actually took the ball into
the goal and scored! Logan said to me as I was posting these
pictures "I was running towards the goal and then I tricked
them and kicked the ball sideways into the goal!"

Muffin tin play

Delenn and Elora have been playing a lot with the muffin
tins. I have big pompoms for Elora to put into the tins, while
Delenn used them to put clothes pins on the outside (good
for small motor skills).

More things in Delenn's preschool basket

Geometric shapes--Delenn has geometric shapes (she's doing
an oval, but there's also a star, square, rectangle, etc. that I
made with foam). She traces them into her notebook and
decorates them however she wants.

Paper doily painting

A felt bear and board I made for her to dress up and play with

Children's Concert

Two entertainers came up from Melbourne to put on a
children's concert last Wednesday. It was wonderful, all
three of the kids had a blast! They sang, danced, played
instruments and were thoroughly entertained!

Today we went to Kindergym -- and had enough energy after that

we went for a...

Visit to the Camel Farm

The Camel Museum (with a camel skeleton)

 
 
 

Getting Up Close and Personal with the Camels

 
 
 
 

Logan, Delenn and Elora formed a real bond with the camels!

 
 
 
 

Old Time Cooking and Travel

 
 
 

Looking at the Sheep on the Neighboring Farm

The farm next door to the camel farm had sheep, ponies, horses, chickens and a very pretty peacock. The kids had a blast looking for feathers and both found several large peacock feathers.

The Kids Wanted their Picture Taken With Boomer This Morning

 
 
 

Workbox Wonders

In one of the pictures below you can see the lower part of the stacking drawers Mom got for her birthday. Each evening Mom fills the workboxes with various activities-- card games, science experiments, math activities, reading, phonics games, copywork, or whatever... the kids go through their drawers and have the materials at hand to do what they'd like. This morning even before eating breakfast, Delenn rushed to her boxes and pulled out a couple of activities!

The other morning, Logan had done three activities before Mom had even gotten Elora dressed and ready for the day! I'd say the workbox system is really working well for us. Mom's more organized and the kids have things to do if they're interested.

I've gotten heaps of great ideas from:


http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/ -- For Montessori Preschool Activities
http://www.education.com/activity/all-grades/ -- for some great science experiments
http://filefolderfun.com/ -- for some file folder games (You'll see Delenn doing a bunch of these activities in the pictures below.
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ -- for some online math games such as Math Line 10 (finding pairs that add up to make 10) http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-math-lines/index.html
http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/draggames/sthec1.html -- STOP THE CLOCK! There are five clocks -- Drag the right digital time above the analog time and then stop the clock to see how fast you went!




 
 
 
 

A Morning of Activities

Addition Math War (Delenn always loves to play math games with us!)
ABC Matching
Sandbox fun
Independent Reading (Logan read two stories from Ghosts! Ghostly Tales from Folklore to Delenn today.)


 
 
 
 

Pics around home

The kids spend a lot of time in our make-shift sand box area (where the pool is in the summer months). In the third picture below, Delenn is helping Dad clean the fish tank. Elora is a good eater these days!

 
 
 
 

 

More School Activities (May 11)

Color matching frog game (from www.filefolderfun.com)

Egg Carton Addition: Each person had to toss a pom pom into an egg carton (which had numbers on it). They had to add their two numbers together and the person with the highest number won the round. For some reason, Logan kept winning again and again.

Math Monster Addition Game. First, we went over the addition problems inside.Then went out back to play Monster Math Tag. For Logan I put out the equations on the grass. For Delenn I put out numbers. When it was time to start I game Logan an answer to one of the equations (that were out on the grass). He had to run and find it (Delenn just had to find a number). If the Math Monster tagged someone they could free themselves IF they had the correct answer (if Logan found the right equation for his answer or if Delenn could tell me what number she had picked up). If they were wrong or if they hadn't found a card yet they were frozen and had to be unfrozen by their team mate. If the Math Monster managed to freeze both players, Math Monster won!


 
 
 
 

Bower Bird Nest

 
 


The Bower Bird is a funny little bird because it collects things for its nest. It usually collects items of a certain color -- red, blue or in this case whitish.

Bowerbird

This is a photo of a Bowerbird like the nest we have up the street from us (I did not take this picture though, they were hidden in the bushes by the time the four of us came close!).

 

Desert Park

 
 

Soccer Practice

 
 

A Bit of Sewing

 
 
 
 

Stuff We Did May 6

 
 
 
 

Now on the mend and back in the swing of things

Yesterday (Monday, May 4) was the Bangtail Muster Parade (May Day
celebration). We met up with friends and watched the parade. Afterwards
we went to Araluen playground for a while. At the end of our time
there, I had to get Elora home for a nap (we stayed until 1pm). Logan
told me, "Mommy, I can't breathe." I checked with him several times and
was concerned enough that we stopped into the base clinic to see the
doctor. His oyxgen levels were low (90-93% if that means anything to
you; kids are almost always 99-100%). Anyway, the clinic doctor wasn't
happy with that and sent us to the emergency room since it was a public
holiday and the pediatric ward was closed. Off we went (after dropping
the girls off with Melissa). They weren't all that helpful at the
emergency ward (I didn't have great faith in the doctor as he kept
trying to insist that Logan's oxygen levels couldn't really be that low
and that we should have yet another machine to verify (Logan had already
had 3 different machines that showed his oxygen levels between
89-94%). They sent us home with antibiotics (though his chest x-ray
was clear???). They never did address the low oxygen (when last time
they wouldn't let us leave the hospital until levels had improved. And
when I told them Logan was feeling very sick like he was going to vomit
I was told "Oh, he's probably nervous about being in the hospital.
You're free to leave now." When we got home Logan promptly started
vomiting for the next 6 hours. Poor thing. (I don't think the
breathing issue was related to the vomiting.) Anyway, I was in touch
with our doctor again who gave us a couple other meds. to help with his
breathing/tightness and the wheezing. The next day, Tuesday, Logan was
feeling better.

Elora has had a cold (and a very runny, yucky nose) but is holding up
pretty well. Delenn's had a good week and enjoyed her dance class. We
didn't have Kindermusik as our kids and Tina's kids were sick.

...

Days have now passed by. It's Saturday evening. We had a full day of
sports today. Delenn had her soccer game (a drop in session for 3-4
year olds). She seems to have had fun. Logan scored another goal --
and what was even more precious was his victory dance upon scoring the
goal. SOOOooo cute!! Wish we had had the video camera for that! I
(Liesl) had a hockey game... we lost 8-nil, though I personally enjoyed
the game. I sure enjoy having a run-around with good sporting people.

Dog training continues with Boomer. We had a dog behaviorist come and
to help us last weekend (as Boomer had taken to jumping the fence at any
free moment). We couldn't handle the stress of that and the dog trainer
said Boomer has dominance issues. From things he pointed out to us, we
agree. So, we're working hard with Boomer and she seems to be complying
with some of the new rules and routines... mostly (? or are we just
fooling ourselves?) At any rate, Boomer hasn't jumped the fence this
week and keeps pretty close by.

On a happy note, I placed a nice large order with Amazon... I'm looking
forward to some good books in my future (yes, ALL homeschooling related
in one way or another). Nerdy me!

Hope all is well. We're now doing well here!!

Bangtail Muster Parade (May 4)

 
 
 

Araluen Playground

 
 
 

Weekend Soccer; Elora

Logan is really enjoying soccer this year. He scored two goals today
and felt very proud of himself. He had one in the first game as well.

Elora's picking up new signs daily. She regularly uses more, please,
bird, hat, shoes, cookie (!!), eat, water, all done and our sign for
Logan (I'm forgetting some). She says Mom, all done, no, down and drop
(to Boomer). She jibbers and jabbers and nods/shakes her head knowingly
in conversation. She shakes her head yes and no to questions-- and
points to make her needs and wants known!

Carvan Park Fun, May 2

 
 
 
 

May 1 Outside Fun

 
 
 

Science for Young Children

Here's a good website for doing science experiments with young children:
http://stepbystepcc.com/science.html