Day: May 14, 2020

Kindergarten Home School Week 9: Thursday

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I actually had to rein Travis in today! He was eager to forge ahead on his 1st grade writing and math books that arrived, but I really intended to use these in the late summer and early fall on the off-chance school is still not in session (sob!). Once I brought him back to age-appropriate Kindergarten materials, we had a productive day.

9-9.30: ELA. His summer workbook page focused on letter I. To extend beyond the handwriting, I had him name a rhyming word for each “i” word on the page. He also did 20 minutes on Lexia. Yes, in the living room, in a “ball pit”.

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9.30-10: Math. The summer workbook page featured adding 10 soccer balls + X more balls, for a number in the teens. We knew how to make this hands-on!

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First we made up math problems with our bag of ball pit balls, and then of course just enjoyed silly play with the balls. Then…

10-10.30: Recess. We extended the soccer theme with real soccer outside. A laundry basket made a handy goal.

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10.30-11: Science. We read Travis’s encyclopedia pages about birds, and watched three QR video links in conjunction. I made things hands-on with a simplified version of an old bird beak experiment. Which bird beak was meant for which food if I gave him: tweezers, a pipette, and a slotted spoon. (Answers: the tweezers are for a sparrow to eat seeds, a hummingbird uses the “pipette” to drink up flower nectar, and a pelican is the slotted spoon for scooping up fish.

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11-11.30: Spanish. This week’s video was about counting fruit. Travis was disappointed it wasn’t very silly and lost interest quickly.

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11.30-12 – Lunch/free play.

12 – Friendship Day. There was a special Zoom “assembly” on the theme, an annual event at his school. Travis lost interest quickly, which made me sad, although I understand that it was hard to feel connected via computer.

1-2: Outside. We headed to the park, both for play and a shape hunt.

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2-2.30: Specials. Travis had to record his voice for the Music teacher. We capped our day off by doing a kind deed: drawing pictures to mail to our cousins!

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Tonight’s bedtime story was the fantastically illustrated What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

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Body Songs

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Body Songs (2)

As soon as I pick her up from the crib each morning, Veronika recites my features to me, almost like she’s checking to make sure everything is still there! “One ear, two ear, nose, eyes…” she says. So today we took special time to recite lots of rhymes about body parts.

First up was a little ditty called Two Little Eyes:

Two little eyes to look around,

Two little ears to hear each sound,

One little nose to smell what’s sweet,

 One little mouth that likes to eat. 

Point to each feature on this one, of course, either on yourself, your child, or a favorite toy.

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Next up we sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, a classic that always gets big smiles!

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We followed this up with Twinkle Twinkle Little… Toes? Yes! To be silly, I sang:

Twinkle, twinkle little toes,

I can touch them to your nose.

Two are big and eight are small.

Count to ten you’ll count them all.

Twinkle, twinkle little toes,

I can touch them to your nose.

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With her toys already up, it was time for a round of This Little Piggy.

We finished with a game not of peek-a-boo, but peek-a-knees! Or peek-a-toes, or peek-a-ears, or any other body part you can cover up with a scarf or bean bag.

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From here, I leafed through a few magazines and cut out pictures showing facial features and other body parts like knees and toes. I added in dog and cat faces, too, because she loves to point out our cat’s ears. “Leg!” she exclaimed with delight, as we looked at the finished poster.

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We glued everything down, which turned it into a mini art project, and then we could sing our favorite body songs and point along as we sang.

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Bonus points: the leftover magazine pages were great for ripping.

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Shape Search

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Shape Search (4)

Chances are you’re looking for ways to keep outdoor excursions new and interesting during this period of social distancing. One easy way is to turn a walk into a shape search.

For this activity, we headed to the park. Though the playground remains off limits for play, we could at least look at it! I challenged Travis to search for simple shapes first: squares, triangles, and circles.

He found examples that ranged from the big (the circle on the ground)…

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…to the small (circles incorporated into the play structure).

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Triangles formed the roofs, and squares were in the platforms and rungs of the ladder.

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Though I hadn’t intended to ask about 3-D shapes, he started to notice those, too. “Mom I see a cone!” he exclaimed. We even stopped by the diamond shapes of a fence on the way back to the car.

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How are you keeping walks different and educational? Please share in the comments!

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