We're Back!

After months of the computer freezing when I tried to access any blogs, it's finally working again! Yeah! I've got some photos to share about what A18 has been up to in the past several months---unit studies on ice cream, July 4 and the seashore.

Janice Van Cleave Science Books

After checking several of the Janice Van Cleave science experiment books out of the library, I was happy to find a couple in a clearance bin. These are great to have as part of your home library. Many of the experiments use items that you already have around the house. Earlier in the week, we did an experiment that used ice, sand and salt. A17 loves science so we'll be doing more of these.

Katy and the Big Snow

Last week A17 and I started our study of Katy and the Big Snow. This is one of the titles in the Five in a Row curriculum. We have been using FIAR loosely since last spring ( more on FIAR in another post!). The book has been a favorite of A17. I chose several lessons from the teacher's manual and adapted them a bit to fit. A17 colored a picture of Katy and used that to make the basis of his lapbook.

One of the lessons involved reading maps. We changed this a bit. A17 colored pictures of town buildings from the story and we glued them on poster board. I found these by googling Katy and the Snow printables. We worked on the words "above" and "below" instead of more typical directions. For example, the library is below the railroad tracks.

Another lesson had to do with identifying street signs. We read a wonderful DK book called Signs in Our World. Then we made a tab book about signs. We left a spot in the lapbook blank to add a photo of his poster map.

We first started with FIAR because of all the science lessons. This time it was about weather patterns and snow. We did several simple experiments. One involved putting salt or sand on ice cubes then seeing which one melted the fastest. If forgot to take a before picture, so in this one the ice cube is all but melted.

Snow crafts

With all the snow falling A17 and I figured it was time for some snow crafts. The first idea I found online. You make this snowflake print by cutting a bell pepper in half. Dip each half in white paint or use a paintbrush to paint it on. Be sure to cover the parts in the middle too. Press the pepper down on a sheet of blue paper--press hard on the middle. It didn't turn out as well as we had hoped, though A17 thought the pepper was cool! We had to add a little more paint to the center to make it more snowflake-ish.

The second snowlflake was made by putting glue in the center of the paper and using qtips to make a snowflake pattern. Two very quick and easy snowflake crafts!

Christmas Countdown Calendar

A17 has been requesting magnet activities so we made this magnetic Christmas countdown calendar. I found ideas for it here . I modified the ideas to make this easier and cheaper. We bought a cookie sheet at the dollar store as well as mini ornaments. I already had the scrapbook paper, adhesive and magnetic tape.

To make this calendar, cut scrapbook paper to fit the cookie sheet. Mark 25 squares on the middle sheet. Use tape runner or other paper adhesive to glue down the paper. Place number stickers on square . If you don't have number stickers, just use a marker. Embellish with stickers, mini ornaments, etc. Cut small sqares of magnetic tape and adhere to back of counters. I used these presents because they were light weight and stood up so A17 could manipulate them easier.

Enjoy the countdown to Christmas!

Touchmath Cubes--free!

The Touchmath website has some freebies for those wanting to sample the program or add to their curriculum. This fall they added these cubes as a special download for their 35th anniversary. Each month several cubes are available. 1 and 0 will be out in December.

We have used the cubes to play counting games. You can also use them to create simple addition or subtraction problems.

Fall Crafts

A17 loves crafts. He made these leaf decorations with his Grandma. They collected leaves and ironed them between wax paper.

They were hung by punching a hole with a hole punch and tying coordinating ribbon.

He also made these leaf rubbings with his Grandmas. Leaves that were thicker are easier to see when you rub the crayon over them.


These foam and pom pom turkeys were made with a kit I found on clearance after the holiday last year.

Next up--Christmas crafts!