Theme Thursday: Spiders

Well, I definitely have fallen short when it has come to doing my Theme Thursday posts.  We still have been doing our theme days, but I have not had the time or energy to post the photos and links and instructions.  Hopefully I will be able to put up a few of these posts in the next week and catch up.  I've got these themes to cover:  spiders, pumpkins, popcorn, pirates, and Thanksgiving.

 

Here on Temporary Insanity, I will be posting Theme Thursdays each week to share what activities we did and what resources we used on our special day. All of the instructions and links will be right here so please feel free to use them. I am including lots of extra ideas as well - no need to do them all, of course! Keep in mind that my activities are tailored to two kindergarteners and one second-grader; you can adjust them to fit your family.  You can find previous themes here.

 

Today's theme is spiders.

Let's get right into the reading.  For this theme day, we spent a lot of time with our books because my children have an intense interest (and fear of!) in spiders.  Oddly enough, the kids are no longer shrieking in fear at every spider they find in the house, probably because they know a lot more about them.

1.  The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani was our choice to begin the day.  It has lots of extra verses so the kids can explore all the places that the spider went.  The older kids helped make up motions for the new verses, and we got our exercise in.

2.  Spider on the Floor by Raffi and illustrated by True Kelley was another action-packed book.  It featured all the lyrics to Raffi's song "Spider on the Floor" and was great for repetition and finding rhythm in a song. As a bonus, it is extremely silly, and all my kids delighted in the outrageous things the spider caught in its web.

3.  Spiders by Nic Bishop is a book full of beautiful photographs and wonderful information on all types of spiders.  We probably spent a good thirty minutes poring over this book and learning all the interesting spider facts.

4.  Spiders' Secrets by Richard Platt was also a book chock full of incredible spider facts.

5.  Freaky Facts about Spiders by Christine Morley was yet another book that taught us new things about spiders.  I let the kids explore this book on their own while they ate their snack. 

 

Some other books that would be fantastic for a spider-themed day would be:

6.  Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott

7.  The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

8.  Ice Cream and Spiders: A Story about Learning Two Times Tables by Professor Paradox





Kitchen Activity:  My original idea was to make these spiderweb brownies with the kids.  We made them the night before because whole wheat brownies are better if they sit overnight.  They were pretty time-intensive so I'm not sure I would recommend them as a theme day activity.  Though, the recipe did give the kids plenty of practice in reading, measuring, and other kitchen skills.  Here's the link to the whole wheat brownie recipe and a link to the method for making the spiderweb on the brownies. 

 The brownies were a bit rich for snack time; so I had the kids help me make these cute little spiders instead.  They are made from round crackers (we like the ones from Trader Joe's), peanut butter, chocolate chips, and small pieces of apple.  You might also want to try making Oreo Cookie spiders following the instructions here.

For our craft, we made these adorable pool noodle spiders.  Earlier in the week, I had used a serrated knife to cut three pool noodles into rings.  I gave them to the kids with long pieces of ribbons so they could string gigantic necklaces and work on their fine motor skills. 

To make the pool noodle spider, you need just one of the pool noodle slices, pipe cleaners or bendaroos, wiggly eyes, and craft glue.  Cut the pipe cleaners into 5 inch pieces.  Loop one through the center hole of the pool noodle piece and twist to secure.  Once your child sees how to do that, let them do the remaining seven legs.  My four-year-old needed additional help with this step.  Then let them choose a set of wiggly eyes and glue them to their spiders.  We actually made these before we did the Itsy Bitsy spider book so we could use our spiders while doing the motions.

Next, I made this worksheet for the kids to practice a variety of skills.  They colored the SPIDER letters and the spider.  All three kids chose to put the red hourglass symbol on the spider to make it a black widow spider.  They learned how to skip-count by eights, and they worked on the phonics sound of "sp in spider".  Finally, they practiced reading all of the spider words that they learned from the various spider books we read.  You can click on the image above and save it to your computer to print out for your own use.

The last thing we did on Spider Day was go exploring.  Since we live in the rainy Northwest, we have lots of garden spiders and house spiders, especially this time of the year.  We had one particular garden spider that had spun a web right outside our kitchen window and had just caught a moth.  The kids got to watch the spider spin its silk around the moth and start liquefying it with its digestive juices.  It sounds gross, but I couldn't have set up a better learning experience if I had tried.

Next Theme Thursday post will be on pumpkins. 

Theme Thursdays - Apples

A few weeks ago, I wrote up my first Theme Thursday, documenting what we do on our theme days in homeschooling.  Here's the next one in the series.

 

Here on Temporary Insanity, I will be posting Theme Thursdays each week to share what activities we did and what resources we used on our special day. All of the instructions and links will be right here so please feel free to use them. I am including lots of extra ideas as well - no need to do them all, of course! Keep in mind that my activities are tailored to two kindergarteners and one second-grader; you can adjust them to fit your family.

This week, the theme is apples.  You can find previous themes here. 

BOOKS:

1.  The Life and Times of the Apple by Charles Micucci.  This read is full of interesting facts about apples and how they grow.  The hand-drawn illustrations are fascinating!

2.  Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins.  Fun counting book!

3.  How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food by Chris Butterworth.  We just read the part about how apples are made into apple juice and put in juice boxes. 

4.  Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.  This is the book that gave us the idea for our craft project. 

     Here are some other apple reading suggestions:

5.   How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro

6.  The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

7.  Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta and Rob Bolster

8.  Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg     

 I drew up some pages for the kids to make their own apple book.  They colored the cover, and we worked on the pages together.  We reviewed the sound a makes and made a list of words with a in them.  We labeled the parts of an apple on another page and did some apple math problems on the next.  We talked about how the apple tree changes throughout the seasons and colored a page to go along with that discussion.  Just click on the pictures below, save them to your computer, and then print them out for your apple book activity. 

 ART PROJECT: 
     The kids really enjoyed making star stamps with apple cores.  As you can see in the photos above, we cut an apple in half horizontally, cut out the center, removed the seeds, painted the apple stamp with white paint, and then carefully stamped in on colored cardstock.  When the prints dried, the kids folded their paper and made cards for their grandparents.  (handwriting practice!)
Some other apple-themed arts/crafts:
1.  Fingerprint Apple Tree
2.  Paper Plate Apple
3.  Apple Shrunken Heads

 KITCHEN ACTIVITY:
     We decided to make baked apples for our snack.  Simply take your apples (we used Pink Lady apples) and core them almost down to the bottom.  Make a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon and let the kids fill up their apple with it.  Cut some small pieces of butter to top off the apples.  Put a few inches of water in a pan and place the apples in the water.  Bake for fifteen minutes at 350 degrees. 
Some other apple-themed kitchen activities:
1.  Applesauce
2.  Apple Pie Party Dip
3.  Caramel Apples

HISTORY:
    A natural history study for an apple theme is Johnny Appleseed.  There are lots of printables and other activities on the internet that you can use to learn more about Johnny Appleseed as well as many books available.  The Drama Queen happened to have a story about Johnny Appleseed in her reader that she read aloud to all of us, and then we reenacted his story in the living room. :)

Have fun;  our next theme will be Spiders!

Theme Thursdays - Pigs



In our homeschooling adventures this year, I am seeking to break free of traditional school methods and curriculum.  As a classically-trained teacher, just the thought of shying away from the familiar and the "normal" frightens me.

 

But we are doing it.

 

And the more we venture out of MY comfort zone, the more relaxed and more excited I become.  THIS, I realize, is exactly why - the intangible reason why - I wanted my kids home with me in the first place.

 

As part of our new adventures, we are doing a theme day once a week in which we abandon our regular activities, take up a theme, and focus all of our activities on the theme.  I plan the day in advance to be sure we will get in mathematics and reading and all the important subjects (all in theme of course).  I also plan a kitchen activity and an art project as well. 

 

Here on Temporary Insanity, I will be posting Theme Thursdays each week to share what activities we did and what resources we used on our special day.  All of the instructions and links will be right here so please feel free to use them.  I am including lots of extra ideas as well - no need to do them all, of course!  Keep in mind that my activities are tailored to two kindergarteners and one second-grader;  you can adjust them to fit your family.

 

This week, the theme is pigs. 

 BOOKS: 
      One of my favorite things about theme days is the amount of books we delve into together.  Here's what we read:
1.  Pink Pigs APlenty by Sandy Nightingale (a counting book - great for practicing math skills)
2.  Piggies in the Kitchen by Michelle Meadows 
3.  Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud by Lynne Plourde (lots of onamatopoeia and silly words - fun for new readers!)
4.  If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff
And here are some other book ideas:
5.  Any of the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems.  My daughter LOVES reading these books aloud to her brothers, and her brothers think Piggie is hilarious.
6.  Perfect Piggies by Sandra Boynton
7.  Any of the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo (great for early readers!)
8.  ABC - I Like Me by Nancy Carlson (super cute alphabet book)
9.  Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (just read a few excerpts from this longer book - can't miss with this classic)
10.  Do Not Open This Book by Michaela Muntean
 READING:
     Of course, we read books #1-4 together.  After reading Pink Pigs APlenty, we talked about the letter P and the sound it makes.  The kids helped come up with a list of twenty words that started with P, and the Drama Queen practiced her writing (and spelling!) by putting them up on the white board.  The Drama Queen got to read If You Give a Pig a Pancake  aloud to all of us.  We talked about actions and consequences, and then made up our own "If you...then" story. 
MATHEMATICS:
     The boys are still working on counting and identifying numbers.  So, I told them the story of the three pigs.  Then we made houses out of "sticks" (toothpicks) and counted them, practicing writing the numbers on the paper next to the houses.  The Drama Queen worked on her "skip-counting" with the same project.  I had her focus on counting by twos, fives, and tens. 
KITCHEN ACTIVITY:
   

     We decided to make Perfect Piggie Eggs to learn kitchen skills and make a snack.  Making perfect hard-boiled eggs is a great kitchen skill to learn.  I taught the kids to put the eggs into the pot first before covering them with cold water and a dash of vinegar.  When the water came to a full boil, we removed the pot from the hot burner and covered it for fifteen minutes.  (Science lesson here:  If the eggs cook too long, the iron in the egg yolk and the sulfur in the egg white react to form a grayish-green color.)  After fifteen minutes, the kids helped me move the eggs immediately into ice water to stop the eggs from cooking any further.  Peeling the eggs proved to be too stressful a task for the boys; so I did that myself before we got to the fun part.  We deviled the yolks with a simple mix of mayo, yellow mustard, and salt.  I cut the carrots into ears and nostrils while the Drama Queen cut string cheese into pig snouts.  We put the peas, carrots, cheese snouts, and deviled yolk mixture on the table, and everyone got to creating their pigs.  And eating them. 
Some other kitchen activities to go with a pig theme:
1.  Pigs in a Blanket
2.  Piggie Cupcakes
3.  Pig Cookies

ART PROJECT
     I like to keep art projects simple, especially for the Beast.  He gets easily frustrated with complicated projects.  These paper bag pig puppets were super easy to make.  The kids practiced cutting and gluing skills to make these, and then they had the opportunity to demonstrate their drama skills to their baby sister.
Some other pig art projects you might consider:
1.  Piggy Bottle Bank
2.  Egg Carton Pigs
3.  Balloon Piggy
SCIENCE
     We borrowed National Geographic's Really Wild Farm Animals dvd from the library and watched it during lunch.  The kids learned that farm pigs have relatives in the wild (warthogs) and a host of other pig facts that even I didn't know.
Other science activities in a pig theme:
1.  Fun Pig Fact Website
2.  Experiments based on The Three Little Pigs

The kids loved it.  They can't wait for Theme Day every week!  I usually tell them on Monday what the theme is so they can look forward to it all week. :)

Next week is Apples! 

We Made It!

If you are thinking that the girl in the photo is looking entirely too grown-up these days, I am in complete agreement!  The Drama Queen is 6-going-on-16 some days, I'll tell you!

We started off our first year of homeschooling as a kindergartener.  I took photos of her on her first day of kindergarten, because that's what grade she was supposed to be in.

However, I had purchased first grade curriculum since it seemed a more appropriate subject level for her.  The girl flew through the curriculum with ease.  Therefore, we are considering this past year her first grade year after all.

Her favorite subject was arithmetic for sure.  She learned about money and measurements;  she memorized addition and subtraction families up to 13.  She learned how to carry when adding large numbers, but most importantly, she learned how to apply all her new math skills to real-life situations.

Her least favorite subject was handwriting.  (I love handwriting, but I am pretty sure I am in a very small minority there!)  I had decided to teach her cursive mainly and work on her manuscript on the side.  In retrospect, I think I might have skipped the whole cursive thing.  It was taxing, trying, and agonizing to say the least.  But hey!  The girl can write in cursive now.  Her manuscript letters do need some work; so I know what we will be focusing on this summer. 

The best part of the year for me was watching my little reader blossom!  She started off the year faltering through her favorites like Amelia Bedelia and the Berenstain Bears;  now she eagerly devours anything readable in her sight.  Yesterday she read several pages to me from her new book about the human body, pronouncing words like immune, system, and disease with no trouble.  I know that learning her special sounds in phonics helped a great deal; but I would be remiss if I didn't mention video games as an important tool also.  If the Drama Queen had a productive (and non-whiny) day of school, oftentimes the Nerd would reward her by playing some Legend of Zelda with her in the evenings.  For any of you that may have played this game "back in the day," you will know that it involves a lot of reading the screen to find out what you have to do next.  At first, the Nerd mostly read the directives out loud as they played; now she reads them and excitedly tries to solve whatever problem Link is facing.  She adores the Legend of Zelda (hence the shirt in the picture!) and has branched out to other games as well.  Our local library allows us to borrow select titles for the Wii - I think she has benefited most educationally from the Build a Bear game and the Jump Start game. 

For our first year, I mostly stuck to the curriculum (A Beka Book) that we had purchased.  Now that I have had a little experience with this, I plan on branching out, putting together a curriculum that works best for my three oldest and trying to be a little more creative with my resources.

I plan on having the kids do some review in math, reading, and writing over the summer, but for now we are on "vacation."  Of course, the Drama Queen is busy right now rounding numbers to the nearest ten on her Jump Start game...

(Just realized that it might look like this post was sponsored by the game companies I linked to.  No such luck - I just put the links up in case anyone reading this post wanted to find the games we use.)

Word of the Day

Little Miss Curiosity is all abuzz about words these days! Lately it's been "What does that say, Momma?" or "What does this word mean?"

Last night I took the little genius to the grocery store with me to pick up a few essentials. "Mom, what does standard mean?" she asked after carefully sounding it out.

I glanced at the package she was reading and tried to think of a simple way to define the word standard. "It means 'normal', honey," I finally responded.

"Oh, got it," she said. "Like our family. Our family is standard."

Yeah. Totally. Standard, that's us!

Wordless Wednesday - She's Reading

so mostly for the grandparents and other adoring relatives. . . our preschooler is reading!

just had to brag for a minute. :)

okay, better go check on the kids. they are probably doing something I don't want to brag about.

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...