Kindergarten Week 4

In school this week…

• We learned the letter/sound of “T”
• We stuck labels on things around the house that start with “T”.  We found table, TV, tick tock clock, telephone, Travis, toes, toilet, tub.  And Travis stuck one on me … for “Teacher”
• We learned a new memory verse, Colossians 3:15.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called, and be thankful.
• We continued learning our address and practiced writing it.  I took a new tactic with Heather for this kind of copywork.  She seemed to be having trouble writing that much (letters really sloppy, missing some letters), so I just let her trace the example I wrote out for her.  She did much better.   And we were both less stressed.
• We marked on our calendar the first day of summer, July 4th, and all our family’s September birthdays.
• We did “bathtub" school.  (The kids didn’t know it was school time while I was bathing them.)  We did experiments to see which things would float and which would sink.  We practiced pouring water from one container to another and tried to figure out which cup had more water – the short fat one, or the tall skinny one (they both had the same amount).  We tried to figure out how to carry water in a sieve.  We had read a story about a girl who put moss and leaves in a sieve to stop up the holes so it would hold water.  We tried a wash rag (didn’t work).  Then, two rags (slowed the water down  a bit).  Then two rags doubled over (slowed it down a little more, but not enough to hold for even a few seconds).
• We tried a new tactic for handwriting and math lessons.  I had each child have “individual play time” in separate rooms.  Then, I took 10-20 minutes with each one – playing with Jeffrey with blocks or colored pegs and teaching Travis and Heather their handwriting and math lessons.  It seemed to work really well.  I was less stressed about trying to keep an eye on everybody at one time while making sure they were doing the lessons right.  And they each got time with Mommy alone.  And I got time with each of them alone.  Jeffrey could handle one time period of play alone, then I sent another child to play with him so he wouldn’t be alone so long.
• Travis and I played Battleship.  He won.  But that was because he mistakenly told me one of my guesses was a miss when it was really a hit.

 

Another exercise we did was to write a story about a visitor who came to our house.  The kids made up their stories , I just wrote them down.  Ok, I prompted them with questions such as, “Who came to visit?” and “What did you do with them?”  and “What did you like?”  If you click on the pictures below, it should enlarge the picture so you can read their stories.

The kids played a lot of Starfall (www.starfall.com) which gave them lots of letter and sound practice.  They found some new stories or “movies” about alphabetical order, reading from left to right, vowels, and how to “chunk words”.  On Friday, Jeffrey got left at the computer by himself when I told the others to go wash up for lunch.  Then I was hearing sounds from the computer and realized that Jeffrey was operating the mouse and “doing Starfall” by himself!

Brian turned 27 weeks…

… and doesn’t stay where I put him anymore….

 

After church on Sunday, Heather took Brian’s shoes and socks off  and put them by the front door, lined up with all the other shoes.

Brian can sit up briefly now….this shot caught him tipping over.

Heather loves holding Brian…

Travis lost his second tooth…

We have been reading a book called “Uncle Wiggly’s Storybook” about a bunny rabbit gentlemen who is always finding ways to help the “real boys and girls” in their various predicaments.  This week, we read about Uncle Wiggly’s Picnic where he had carrot bread, nuts, apples, etc.  So, I made carrot muffins, apple slices, nuts, plums, grapes, etc.  and the kids made rabbit ears.  I also made a pear gelatin salad that we saw in a book called “Eating Fractions.”  It was too hot for a picnic outside, so I let them eat at the little table that is usually in the play room.

A duck from the neighborhood lake came visiting on our front porch and flower bed.  He ate a few bites of bread that the kids fed him.  Either he wasn’t very hungry or he didn’t care much for whole wheat bread. :-)

  

Thanks to some friends from church, Ronnie and I got to go on a rare date – dinner and a walk around the park.

We also went bike riding/rollerblading.  I got to try out the new wheels Ronnie put on my roller blades.  Wow!  So much smoother and quieter!  I took pictures, but they disappeared somewhere between the camera and the computer.

Heather had some unauthorized handwriting practice at nap time --- on the wall!  We had a discussion about that.  I took pictures of that too, but they also disappeared.

Brian can get around where he wants to by rolling.  It is fun to watch him looking around, pivoting (aiming) and then rolling.  For most of the week (and last week), he did not sleep well during afternoon naptime and had an uncanny knack for waking up screaming the instant I picked up my Bible to try to have a little Bible study time.  But on Thursday he took a 3 hour nap and on Friday he took both a good morning nap and afternoon nap and I got some refreshing time with the Lord.

Ronnie’s company has been cutting costs drastically lately and this week there were a number of layoff, including several people that Ronnie knows and at least one with whom he has worked closely.  So, we are very grateful that he still has a job.