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Sample Lesson Plan Activities
For Grades K-2
Weeks 1, 2, & 3
OVERVIEW
These are Sample Lessons of what you would see, each week, as a Subscriber to our online homeschool magazine.
These Sample Lesson Activities are based upon Curriculum Guidelines for Grades K-2. Adapt the ideas to best suit your child's abilities and current skill levels. Weekly lessons build sequentially upon previous lessons as the weeks progress through the year.
Below are Samples for Weeks 1, 2, and 3 only from the Homeschool Year 2005-2006. Subscribers have access to all Weekly Lesson Plans and educational links.
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WEEK 1 LESSONS
WEEK 1: Monday - Friday for Grades K - 2
Week 1 Language Arts
- Take a reading field trip! A good way to start the homeschool year is by taking a reading field trip to the library. The library is one of the homeschooler's best friends!
- Allow children to select books that especially interest them. Quietly read a story together in a corner of the library. Afterwards, have children describe what they liked about the story. Encourage them to retell parts of the story, in their own words.
- Select Apples, by Gail Gibbons, and A Visit to the Apple Orchard, by Patricia Murphy, to focus on the Letter A of the Alphabet. In addition, use these books to learn about Science (Apples) or Social Studies (Apple Orchard).
- Have children trace and cut out large, red, letter A's from red construction paper, with safety scissors. Trace apple shapes on the red construction paper and have children cut those out, too. (For apple patterns and other patterns, Click here.) [Note: Links will open for Subscribers.]
- Have children close their eyes and count to 10, while you hide the red letter A's and apple shapes. But hide a couple REAL apples, too!
- After the letter A's, the apple shapes, and the real apples have been found, use the apples (plus more from your apple bowl) to make an apple pie or applesauce. Baking and cooking together are great fun for the first day of homeschool!
- Use the letter A this week to study other topics: Acorns, Airplanes, Alligators, Animals, Ants, Arms, etc. Use the topics to incorporate Social Studies, Science, and Math, when possible.
- At the library, choose books to complement your "Alphabet" topics. Read together each day, take turns reading to each other, and discuss the stories. Use hands-on activities to make Reading Time fun and memorable.
- Visit the Literacy Center for online Learn-to-Read activities: Click here. [Note: Links will open for Subscribers.]
- For Learn-To-Read worksheets, Click here.
- For Letters and Reading activities, Click here.
- Also, use our Daily Creative Writing Idea (featured on our Home page) each day to stimulate creative thinking, writing, and communication skills on a daily basis.
Week 1 Social Studies
- When reading the above-mentioned books, Apples and A Visit to the Apple Orchard, discuss how and where apples are grown and how they make it to the marketplace and grocery stores.
- Discuss why apples are grown, who eats apples, and why they are good for us. Discuss other foods that are good for us, and consider where they come from, and how they get to the marketplace.
- If possible, plan a field trip to a nearby orchard, to a farm, or to a friend's or relative's fruit or vegetable garden. Pick some of the fruits and vegetables to take home. Explain that if you were a large company, with many trucks, you would be driving baskets full of fruits and vegetables to all the grocery stores across the country.
- Discuss why it is important for some people to grow food, and for other people to sell and provide food. If you did not buy your groceries at the market, how might you get your food?
- Color, trace, or copy the coloring page of the farmer and his bountiful crops. (Click here.) Discuss the farmer's role as you color, and the destination of his crops.
- During mealtimes, discuss the food on your table: where the milk comes from, the eggs, the meat.
- Read the storylines on "Where Does Our Food Come From" by Clicking here.
- Read Roberta Basel's books, From Corn to Cereal, From Tomato to Ketchup, From Milk to Cheese, and others.
- Read Peter Curry's Farmer Doogie, Cynthia Klingel's Farmers, Adele Richardson's Farms, Heather Adamson's A Day in the Life of a Farmer, Carmen Parks's Farmers Market, and others.
- Plant your own "crops" in individual cups, planters, or a garden, using seeds from apples, oranges, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, corn, etc. Be a farmer, care for the "crops", produce food, and deliver it to the table.
- Read and color farm-related pages. (Click here.)
Week 1 Math
- Use the letter A's and apples, cut from construction paper, as counting manipulatives. Sort the A's into their own pile, and the apples into their own pile. Count the items in each pile. Which pile has more? Which pile has less?
- Add the manipulatives together. How many are there all together? Take a certain number of them away. How many are left?
- Use the seeds for planting your "crops" as counting and sorting manipulatives, too.
- Use real apples for cutting into halves, quarters, etc., to discuss halves and wholes, and related simple fractions. Have children put the halves, quarters, and sections "back together" to form the whole apple again, before eating.
- During mealtimes and food-discussion times, use math skills to count the number of items on plates, then add them together. After mealtimes, count the number of items on the table, subtract them from the table, and see how many items are left on the table, until the table is cleared off.
- Play Bobber's Farm Math Game. (Click here.)
- Use Farm Worksheets for occasional busy-work, such as these: Click here or Click here.
- With your child's help, create your own busy-work math worksheets.
- Sort and count items throughout the course of each day, such as laundry, clothing in closets or drawers, toys, books, crayons, flowers that were picked, groceries that were purchased, letters to be mailed, etc.
- Try the Hands-On Math Activity on Money-Spending Fun. (Click here.)
Week 1 Science
- Explore and observe nature in and around your home, parks, and recreational areas.
- Or go on a "Virtual Field Trip" to a habitat and see the actual animals, birds, reptiles, plants, and flowers. Then follow up with the suggested activities there. Remember to send us a photo, too. (Click here.)
- Discuss the different types of animals, birds, and plants that you see. Discuss "animal homes" and their habitats and environment, such as woodlands and forests, freshwater lakes, salt water oceans, deserts.
- Where might the animal's home be found? In a hole in the ground, a hollowed-out log, a hole or nest in a tree, under a rock, under some plants in the pond?
- Use a sketchbook to draw pictures of nature observations, animals, and habitats.
- Go on a hunt for living and nonliving things. Is a plant a living or nonliving thing? Explain why. Is a rock a living or nonliving thing? How many living and nonliving things can you spot?
- Collect special rocks, shells, leaves, flowers, etc. Start a nature collection and add to it each week.
- Make a forest diorama to complement your animal habitat study. (Click here for instructions.) Use your imagination to create other animal habitat dioramas.
- For busy-work, use printouts, such as Pond Life (Click here). Color or trace animals you might see, such as fish, frog, ducks (Click here), or birds, squirrels, rabbits (Click here).
- Read about Animal Homes (Click here).
- Play an Animal Homes game (Click here).
- Read about Habitats (Click here).
- Read Debbie Martin's Animal Homes, Angela Wilkes's Animal Homes, Emily Stetson's Create a Wildlife Habitat for Urban and Suburban Small Spaces, Marie Hablitzel's Draw-Write-Now: Animals and Habitats, Jim Arnosky's Crinkleroots Guide To Knowing Animal Habitats, Peter Riley's Habitats (Everyday Science Series), and Richard Spilbury's Plant Habitats.
Week 1 Safety & Life Skills
- All children need to know their full name, their address, their telephone number, and their parent's or caregiver's full names.
- Create musical games incorporating the above, so that the musical lyrics are easy to sing and remember.
- Children should also know their age and their birthday. Tell stories about the day they were born, what the day was like, and the feelings everyone felt that day.
- Have children retell the story of their birthday to you, including the date of their birthday, and their current age.
- One of the most important, and delicate, subjects to handle is "stranger danger." It is very difficult for children to know who is their friend, and who is not.
- Contact your local law enforcement about "stranger danger" or "safe kids" programs they might offer. Encourage your community to create a program to help children learn more about protecting themselves.
- As parents, read articles such as "Stranger Danger" (Click here), or "Stranger Safety" (Click here), or "Stranger Danger - Street Proofing Kids" (Click here).
- Engage professionals in law enforcement, child psychology, and child safety who can speak to your homeschool groups on how to handle this topic with children of various ages.
Week 1 Art & Music
- Make a forest diorama to complement your animal habitat study. (Click here for instructions.) Use your imagination to create other animal habitat dioramas.
- Bring art and music into every subject area as often as possible. The more fun and "hands-on" the activities are, the more your children will enjoy them and learn from them.
- For instance, in Language Arts above, children can trace and cut out letters and apples from red construction paper. No doubt, a lot more tracing, and cutting, and pasting will ensue while the safety scissors and construction paper are on the table. Encourage this. The more, the merrier!
- Allow plenty of time for creative painting with water-color paints or tempera paints and good-sized brushes. Use paper bags from the grocery store for canvases. Or paint and decorate the bags to resemble animals you have studied this week.
- When cooking and baking, allow creativeness to flow, making artistic masterpieces of cookies and muffins, of toast and eggs, of sandwiches and vegetables. Allow children to help create interesting plates of food, which will, in turn, make the meal even more appealing.
- Sing as you work, sing as you bake, sing as you learn. Encourage children to compose songs that help them learn. If they're learning to spell in Language Arts or to count by 2s in Math, create a rhythmic pattern that helps them "keep the beat" and retain the information.
- Forgotten the lyrics to favorite children's songs? Search the songs by alphabet and enjoy some daily sing-alongs! (Click here).
- Read "Singing as a Teaching Tool" (Click here) and "The Brain is a Musical Brain" (Click here).
WEEK 2 LESSONS
WEEK 2: Monday - Friday for Grades K - 2
Week 2 Language Arts
- Remember that the library is one of the homeschooler's best friends! Visit each week and continue to allow children to select the books that interest them.
- Discuss your children's favorite books or stories with them. Have them retell the story to you, in their own words. Help them find the words to describe areas that they have difficulty retelling.
- Attend the Preschool or Children's Story Time Programs, Beginning Reader Programs, or Puppet or Theatrical Shows at your local library or bookstore.
- Read interactive stories online, then do the activities. Visit the Preschool Library (Click here) or the Elementary Library (Click here or Click here).
- Print out the activity sheets from the online interactive stories (from above sites). Discuss the stories again, as children do the activity sheets. Revisit the site for more interactive stories.
- Use the letter "B" this week to study topics that begin with "B". For instance, Baseball, Bears, Birds, Bugs, Butterflies, etc. Encourage children to come up with their own "B Topics" that they'd like to read about. Use the topics to incorporate Social Studies, Science, and Math, when possible, too.
- Print a variety of Animal Coloring Pages to complement the "B" topics your child chooses to learn about this week (Click here).
- Wear the letter "B" as a hat this week, while doing "B" activities! Make your own "B" hat or <Click here to print one.
- For printing, tracing, coloring, or cutting and pasting alphabet letters, such as "B", Click here.
- At the library, choose books to complement your "Alphabet" topics. For instance, this week, read the wonderful Berenstains' B Book. Or a book on "Baseball" called H is For Home Run! A Baseball Alphabet by Brad Herzog. Or a book on "Birds", such as Birds Alphabet Coloring Book by Ruth Soffer.
- Continue with your "B" topics by creating your own story, using only words that begin with the letter "B" (like the Berenstains' B Book). If your child is now printing, help him or her compose the story in book format, complete with his or her own illustrations.
- Let your child select a "B" topic to study for each day of the week. For instance, study the "B"-topic "Baseball" on Monday, a "Bears" topic on Tuesday, a "Bird" theme for Wednesday, "Bugs" on Thursday, and "Butterflies" on Friday.
- Select alphabet worksheets and other Learn-To-Read worksheets by clicking here or clicking here.
- Visit the Literacy Center for online Learn-to-Read activities: Click here.
- For Letters and Reading activities, Click here.
- Our Daily Creative Writing Idea (featured on our Home page) can stimulate creative thinking, writing, and communication skills. For younger children who are not yet writing, encourage them to come up with ideas, then you can complete the written exercise for them.
Week 2 Social Studies
- Do you know who discovered and settled your city, town, or community? Who were the first settlers in your area? When did they settle there, and where did they come from? What impact did the early settlers have on your area?
- To learn more about the early explorers and settlers in your area, visit your local museum or historic society. Ask the museum's curator if he or she could answer your child's questions about your community's early explorers and settlers. Ask the curator to show you photos, exhibits, and artifacts about early explorers and settlers.
- If allowed in your museum, take photos of exhibits, or ask for flyers about the exhibits. Then help your children create their own photo exhibit of early explorers and settlers from your community.
- For the exhibit, use heavy poster board, cardboard, or foamboard. Mount the photos or flyers on the display board. Help children create descriptive captions on white, or colorful, index cards. Mount the captions beneath or near each photo.
- On white or colorful paper, help children write additional information and interesting facts about your area's early explorers and settlers, when they settled in your area, and why they settled there.
- Take several close-up photos of the completed exhibit, from different angles. Keep the photos and descriptions for your homeschool portfolio. Those who see the portfolio in the months or years ahead will be surprised by all you've learned about your area's history!
- If you need additional information on the early explorers and settlers in your community, visit your local public library. Ask the librarian to show you and your children the section of books about your area. Many are often written by local authors. See if your family can meet the authors, talk with them, and have your child's picture taken with them, to add to the exhibit.
- Determine what else was going on in your country during the time your town was being settled. Read history timelines by clicking here, and sharing the information with your children.
- Help children create their own timeline based on your community's settlements and events through the years. See "How to Make a Timeline" by Clicking Here.
- Read the Early Settlers Series by Bobbie Kalman, such as Early Settler Children, Early Family Home, Early Village Life, or Early City Life.
Week 2 Math
- Use the letter A's and cutout apples from last week, PLUS the letter B's and cutout B-topic themes from this week (such as Bears or Bugs) as counting manipulatives.
- With children's help, make your own manipulatives by printing, reducing, and/or cutting out A-topic and B-topic Coloring Pages (Click Here).
- Trace and paste cutout manipulatives onto poster board or colorful construction paper. Then cut out numerous counting and sorting manipulatives for hands-on adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing practice.
- Sort the A's into their own pile, and the cutout A-topic manipulatives into their own pile. Sort the B's into their pile, and the cutout B-topic manipulatives into their own pile. Which pile has more? Which pile has less?
- Practice addition, by adding the manipulatives together. How many are there all together? How many of which color? How many of which shapes?
- Practice subtraction, by taking a certain number of them away. How many are left? Which pile now has less? Which pile has more?
- Use your manipulatives for guessing and estimating. Have children create their own piles of manipulatives, counting the exact number and writing it down. Children can place their counted manipulatives into a jar or clear container, then have YOU guess how many are in the jar.
- Your turn: You can count and place manipulatives in a jar or clear container, write down the number. Then have children estimate how many manipulatives are in the jar. Weekly practice in estimating a variety of manipulatives helps to increase children's estimating and visualization skills.
- Also use your manipulatives for measurement purposes. Have children use a ruler to measure the counting and sorting manipulatives they've been using. Select one that is approximately 4" or 6". Then use this manipulative to help "guesstimate" the length of other items.
- Have children select items around the house that appear to be about the same size as the 4" or 6" manipulative. Arrange items on the table and compare each to the manipulative. How close were the "guesstimates"?
- Now measure the exact length of each item and write its length on an index card next to the item. Arrange items on the table, from shortest to longest. Have children take photos of their measurement project for their portfolios.
- Continue to "guesstimate" items regularly: Amount of cereal in a bowl, peas in the peas and carrots, groceries in a cart, dollars in a wallet. Guesstimate how long or short items are, how long a timeline should be, how much paper is needed for a craft, etc.
- Play counting games together, counting items to 20, then 25, then 50, etc. Write the numerals from 1 to 50, as skills increase.
- Play the Pattern Matching game (Click here).
- Play the Farm Addition game (Click here).
Week 2 Science
- Have a discussion on how parents care for their young. Then consider how animal parents care for their young.
- Read Caring for Young by Daphne Butler, Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies by Mary Batten, and Baby Animals Sticker Book by DK Publishing.
- Go on "Virtual Field Trips" to visit the zoo several times this week. (Click here and Click here.)
- Watch Live Baby Zoo Animal Videos! (Click here).
- What are the names for some of the baby zoo animals? Read more about your favorite zoo animals. Play Zoo Animal Games (Click here).
- Color pictures of baby zoo animals (Click here). Or draw and cut out zoo animals to paste onto poster board or to place inside dioramas.
- Print a variety of Animal Coloring Pages to complement animals that your child chooses to learn about this week (Click here).
- Go on "Virtual Field Trips" to visit farm animals several times this week (Click here).
- What are baby farm animals called? See how many "baby names" you can find for farm animals. Match the farm animal babies to their parents (Click here).
- Color pictures of baby farm animals (Click here). Or draw and cut out farm animals to paste onto poster board or to place inside dioramas.
- Make your own "Animal Matching Game" by drawing and cutting out pictures of baby animals and their parents. Paste their pictures on card-sized construction paper or poster board. Mix up the cards and turn them face down. Take turns, turning over 2 cards at a time, and try to match the baby and the parent. Continue until all matches have been made.
Week 2 Safety & Life Skills
- Talk about your family's Home Safety Rules. Read more on safety and take part in safety activities this week by clicking here.
- Take a Walking Tour through your home and discuss safety tips for each room. Don't forget the porch, garage, yard, or other areas surrounding your home.
- Read the Safe Kids tips (Click here). Use the pictures to inspire poster ideas or bulletin board ideas.
- Create a Safety Bulletin Board in your kitchen or family room. Cover all the areas of safety that you and your child can think of. Include them on your Safety Bulletin Board in a creative, colorful, and helpful style.
- On large pieces of paper, help your child draw representations of each room in your home, as well as areas outside the home. In each room, indicate the areas that present possible safety issues or that need special safety considerations. Discuss how to handle each issue, according to your family's Home Safety Rules.
- Read Home Safety (Adventures in the Roo World) by Pati Myers Gross. Discuss the safety procedures and safety tips to practice in your home.
- Color and discuss the Safety Coloring Sheets listed under Activities for Kids (Click here).
Week 2 Art & Music
- Make a Paper Bag Animal Puppet. See instructions for frogs, raccoons, bears, dogs, and other animals (Click here).
- Make a beautiful "Stained Glass" Butterfly. See instructions (Click here).
- Make interesting paper crafts. Select buildings, houses, animals, and more. Then create your own paper crafts (Click here).
- Print a variety of Animal Coloring Pages to complement Science activities or Language Arts stories (Click here).
- After coloring, reduce the sizes of the Animal Coloring Pages on a copier. Use the reduced images for Math Manipulatives or for pasting onto Game Cards or Trivia Cards that you and your children would like to make.
- Bring art and music into every subject area as often as possible. The more fun and "hands-on" the activities are, the more your children will enjoy them and learn from them.
- Sing together as you work around the house. Encourage children to compose songs that help them learn. If they're learning to spell in Language Arts or to count by 2s in Math, create a rhythmic pattern that helps them "keep the beat" and retain the information.
- Forgotten the lyrics to favorite children's songs? Search the songs by alphabet and enjoy some daily sing-alongs! (Click here).
- Listen to classical music or soothing music when involved in artwork or crafts.
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WEEK 3 LESSONS
WEEK 3: Monday - Friday for Grades K - 2
Week 3 Language Arts
- "Smart Ideas: Smartest Card Campaign." September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. Help to increase awareness and support for your local public library. Visit the Public Library Association by <Clicking Here.
- Remember that the library is one of the homeschooler's best friends! Visit each week and continue to allow children to select the books that interest them.
- September is National Literacy Month. The ability to read and comprehend affects children in all areas of education. Try these Reading Skills Books: Learn-to-Read Treasure Hunts: Fifty Skill-Building Games by Steve Cohen; You Read to Me, I'll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman; 365 Phonics Activities by Sandra Fisher; Alternatives to Worksheets: Motivational Reading and Writing Activities Across the Curriculum by Creative Teaching Press.
- Sound matching and phonics: Play Clifford's Sound Match (Click Here).
- Learn to sound out words and read short stories (Click Here).
- For young readers, read along with these online stories, including popular folk tales, fables, myths, and more (Click Here).
- "Story Circle Activity." Cut a large circle out of poster board. Cut into five, equal, wedge-shaped pieces. On one piece, write the beginning to a story of your child's creation. On another piece, write what happens next in your story. On the third wedge, write a problem, or conflict, that occurs in the story. On the next two pieces, write the resolution, and then the end of your story. Put the pieces back together in order, tape them together, and read your Story Circle out loud. Create many more Story Circles over the upcoming weeks.
- Sight words for Pre-Primer through 2nd. Print several of these 220 sight words and let children read them, as they cut them apart (Click Here).
- Use the above sight words to create fun, new sentences each day. As children learn more of the words, print the next level of sight words, and use for constructing sentences.
- Make your own "flashcards" of "sign words" that you see when running errands, shopping, or traveling. Have children take them on errands and trips, and see how many of the "flashcard words" you see on signs, in grocery stores, in businesses, on doors and windows, etc. (Also, make the Box Town described under "Art & Music".)
- Book Report Page. This lined, organized form makes book reports fun. Includes space for Title, Author, Characters, Setting, Main Events, Problem/Conflict, Conclusion, and What I Liked about This Book. Or make your own attractive Book Report Page, with colorful stickers or decorations. (PDF file for printing: <Click Here.)
- At the library, choose books to complement your "Alphabet" topics. Having started with "A" books in Week 1, "B" books in Week 2, you're now ready for "C" books, such as The Berenstains' "C" Book. Or a book on "Crafts" called A-B-C One-Two-Three Craft Book by Phyllis Fiarotta. Or ABC Cat by Connie Sharar, or other "C" animals, such as How the Camel Got Its Hump, or Antelope, Bison, Cougar: A National Park Wildlife Alphabet Book by Steven Medley.
- Print coloring pages on Animals beginning with the letter "C" by Clicking Here.
- Incorporate any "C" books or coloring pages on the "C" animals (camels, cats, cougars, crows) into your Science studies, lessons, and activities, too. (Remember, the more you tie lessons together across the curriculum, the more sense they make to children.)
- Continue to visit the Literacy Center regularly for online Learn-to-Read activities: Click here.
- For Letters and Reading activities, <Click here.
- Our Daily Creative Writing Idea (featured on our Home page) can stimulate creative thinking, writing, and communication skills. For younger children who are not yet writing, encourage them to come up with ideas, then you can complete the written exercise for them.
Week 3 Social Studies
- Holidays and calendars. As Fall approaches, several holidays will be coming up. Have children name some of the Fall holidays, such as Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving. Discuss the history and meaning of each holiday. Discuss the Winter holidays that will follow the Fall holidays.
- See a list of some holidays by Clicking Here or Clicking Here.
- "Holiday Calendar Activity." Have children make a "Holiday Calendar." Mark the holidays they are familiar with, and discuss those that aren't so familiar, or are celebrated by other cultures. Decorate the months of the "Holiday Calendar" with markers, crayons, paints, or stickers relating to each particular month or holiday.
- On the "Holiday Calendar," note the reason for the holiday and how your family -- or other families or cultures -- celebrate the holiday.
- Keep the "Holiday Calendar" on the bulletin board, or on the back of the child's door, for handy reference. When holidays are approaching, begin to discuss the ways you'd like to celebrate them, or to learn more about them.
- Visit the library to find age-appropriate books on the holidays. Make crafts and artwork that reflect the holiday. Bake treats or prepare meals that complement the holiday. Learn and sing songs relating to the holidays.
- Learn more about different holidays with these books: A Time to Keep: Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays; The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library: Hurray for Today! All About Holidays by Bonnie Worth; Celebrations/Celebraciones: Holidays of the USA and Mexico by Nancy Maria Grande Tabor.
- Craft books that you might want to keep on-hand for holidays are Easy-To-Do Holiday Crafts by Sharon Dunn Umnik and
Best Holiday Crafts Ever by Kathy Ross.
Week 3 Math
- Use the letter C's and colored cutouts of "C" animals as counting manipulatives. Use them in conjunction with the "B" manipulatives from last week and the "A" manipulatives from the previous week.
- With children's help, make your manipulatives by printing, reducing, and/or cutting out A-topic, B-topic, and C-topic Coloring Pages (Click Here).
- After tracing and pasting cutout manipulatives onto poster board or colorful construction paper, use for counting and sorting, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing practice.
- Sort "like items" into their own piles, and compare the properties of each. How are they alike or different? Which pile has more and which has less?
- Continue practicing addition and subtraction with the manipulatives. How many are there all together? How many of which color? How many of which shapes? Practice subtraction, by taking a certain number of them away. How many are left? Which pile now has less? Which pile has more?
- By using your "Language Arts" alphabet and cutouts each week, you'll accumulate more and more "manipulatives" over the upcoming weeks. These will provide additional practice for counting skills, counting by 2s, 5, 10s, etc. They'll also increase the amounts being added and subtracted, enhancing your children's math skills incrementally.
- Use your Holiday Calendar from your Social Studies activity for learning more about time, days, weeks, and months. In addition to your Holiday Calendar, create a Weekly Calendar, showing the Days of the Week. Discuss what each day of the week means to your and to your child. What "color" does each day "feel like" to children? Do all the days feel the same, or are some days of the week more fun?
- Read Math for All Seasons by Gregory Tang and solve fun riddles and puzzles, using problem-solving skills. Also, read The Calendar books by Patricia Murphy, and Parade Day: Marching Through the Calendar Year by Bob Barner.
- Play online Math games, such as the Pattern Matching game (Click here) or the Farm Addition game (Click here).
Week 3 Science
- In conjunction with your Social Studies "Holiday Calendar Activity," discuss the approaching end of Summer and the beginning of Fall. Are there already signs of this in your part of the country? Are the crops taller or showing signs of needing to be harvested? Or are leaves drying up, or is the grass losing its green luster? Search for other signs marking the end of the growing season or end of summer.
- Determine when the fall equinox begins (September 22) and mark it on your calendar. Plan a special end-of-summer bash for the last day of summer (September 21). Savor those last minutes of the last day of summer.
- Print out Fall-theme pages for worksheets or activity ideas, such as Acorns (Click here), or Squirrel and Acorns Lined Writing Paper (Click here), or Harvest and Farmer Coloring Page (Click here).
- Study the changing seasons and the reasons for the change. Explain that the seasons change as the earth rotates around the sun. Summer is the time when our area of the world receives more direct sunlight and heat. As the earth tilts away from the sun, we receive less heat, and the earth grows cooler, as we move into Autumn.
- Use a globe to demonstrate the changing seasons. Set the globe in a patch of warm sunlight streaming in through a window, with your area of the world facing the sun. Allow children to feel the warm spot on the globe where the sun touches it. Slowly turn the globe away from the sun. Have children feel how the warm spot has now cooled. This is similar to the earth tilting further away from the sun in the fall and winter.
- Go outside on a warm sunny day, to purposefully experience the warmth of the sunshine. Stand in the sun and have children describe the way the sun heats their skin. Step out of the sun into the shade and have children describe the difference in temperature. Take pictures of this outdoor experiment for remembering and comparing to other days in the season.
- Go outside on a cool, overcast day, to purposefully experience the lack of sunshine. Recall how warm the sun had previously felt on one's skin. Have children describe what happens to the warmth, when the sun is hidden behind clouds. Take pictures of this outdoor experiment for comparing to much-colder winter days in the months ahead.
- Read and discuss Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell; Seasons (Everyday Science) by Peter Riley; What Makes the Seasons by Megan Montague Cash.
- For fun, make a Paper Plate Sun, with Handprints for sunrays. Trace your child's handprints, then attach to the Paper Plate Sun. See instructions: (Click here).
- Make a leaf collage. Go for a nature walk and identify leaves and trees in your area. Make bark and leaf rubbings. Collect green and yellow leaves to glue onto poster board or construction paper to form your leaf collage. Label the different types of leaves you collect. Use these printouts for identifying leaves and trees: (Click here).
- Put together an Oak Tree puzzle online (Click here).
Week 3 Life Skills, Health, Safety
- Allow children to help prepare meals and provide their own ideas for family meals. If they'd prefer to have pizza every night, explain why that's not healthy.
- Read about the different types of vitamins and minerals that our bodies need in Vitamins and Minerals by Joan Kalbacken
- Also, read Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell; The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy; and Eat Healthy, Feel Great by Martha Sears.
- Visit the "Kids Cooking Club" online or create your own "Cooking Club" (Click here).
- Visit "Peppered Leopard's Kitchen" for some cooking tips and recipes for kids (Click here.)
- For books with cooking tips and recipes, try Cooking with Children: 15 Lessons for Children by Marion Cunningham, and Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual by Klutz.
- Experiment in the kitchen with children's ideas for recipes, as well as their ideas on different ways to present foods for mealtime. Help them with the cleanup process, too, and assign them simple kitchen duties for everyday meal planning and cleanup.
- For a treat and to celebrate your end-of-summer bash, make cupcakes that reflect summertime fun. On the top of one, create a sun. On another, a pink flower. On another, a beach ball. Use creativity to design summertime-fun cupcakes.
Week 3 Art & Music
- Using different-sized boxes and make a colorful Box Town. Then make "signs" for each store and business in your Box Town. Use colorful index cards or construction paper as "sign boards." Print Post Office, Fire Station, Grocery, etc. on each. Attach to the appropriate box. See instructions for making a Box Town by Clicking here.
- Make a Paper Plate Sun, with Handprints for sunrays. Trace your child's handprints, then attach to the Paper Plate Sun. See instructions: (Click here).
- Make a String of Leaves from construction paper to decorate a room or bulletin board. Use the leaves you collected on your nature walks, as patterns. See instructions: (Click here).
- Print end-of-summer harvest-time coloring pages, to complement your discussion of the changing seasons (Click here).
- Print and color the tree, boy, and dog. Then draw red apples on the tree and in the basket. Visit an apple orchard in your area, too (Click here).
- Bring art and music into every subject area as often as possible. The more fun and "hands-on" the activities are, the more your children will enjoy them and learn from them.
- Sing together as you work and play around the house. See Activity Songs, Counting Songs, Food Songs, Holiday Songs, and more by (Clicking here).
- Forgotten the lyrics to favorite children's songs? Search the songs by alphabet and enjoy some daily sing-alongs! (Click here).
- Listen to classical music or soothing music when involved in artwork or crafts.
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More Activities
- Remember to visit these areas, too:
- "Virtual Field Trips" (Click here).
- "Hands-On Activities" (Click here).
- "Worksheets Page" (Click here).
- "Educational Games" (Click here).
- "Fun Games" (Click here).
Time Required for Teaching
For this age group, here's an average of how many minutes per day are normally spent on teaching the core skills: Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science.
Preschool and Kindergarten: About 30 to 60 minutes
Younger Elementary Ages: About 60 to 75 minutes
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