All things fall

We’re continuing with our Pre-K to 2nd grade level group here to talk about fall/autumn, leaves and trees, seasons, and pretty much anything else you can think of to go along with this time of year. The book work that the kids are doing focuses on grade level math, language, and so on, with a Halloween twist, so for example the 4 year old is learning about numbers up to 100 and her fill in sheets have tombstones, candy corn, or ghosts on them. The most fun thing I’ve seen for the 6 (soon to be 7!) year old is an adjective sheet where the first sentence described a grave as ‘rotting’… I wonder sometimes if that’s too much at her age, but she loves the themed items and it’s good for her language and writing development, so we’re going with it since she seems bored with ‘non-themed’ sheets!

Later on I think we’ll get into apples, pumpkins, and then monsters and Halloween stuff and I’m hoping to throw in some things about color for the 4 year old and fashion for the 6 year old. Anyone else struggling with ‘what is appropriate for you to wear when it’s 50 degrees outside’… with their kids? Constant struggle here with the fluctuating temperatures. Anyway, here’s this past week in a jiffy:

Art: We did our modified version of this pin of a fall tree, seen above.

Hands-on: My mom brought down a pecan in a shell, a hazelnut cluster, and a hickory nut for them to check out. They spend a lot of time outside checking out the leaves, seeds, climbing the trees, and so on. The oldest helped to clear out the strawberry plants of grass and straw them over for the winter.

Worksheets:
6 yo: working on articles, nouns and adjectives, addition review and beginning subtraction plus spelling words, plus she passed all her Kindergarten level words and the first unit of ‘spelling’ words listed on the local school’s 1st grade website–I couldn’t remember all the themed words she got last year so I figured if she went through the words with the 1st grade (as they are several weeks ahead) and then on to 2nd and so on that at least she’d be somewhat on target for spelling, even though she KNOWS how to spell a lot of harder words, sometimes the easy ones slow her down.

4 yo: working on recognizing and writing numbers up to 100, simple addition, and sounding out words

4 year old reading together:
About the Zoo by Harding
Rupert to the Rescue by Perle
Clifford the Big surprise by Bridwell
Charlie the Ranch Dog Where’s the Bacon? by Drummond
Thomas and the School Trip by Awdry
Charlie the Ranch Dog Charlie’s New Friend by Drummond
Charlie the Ranch Dog Charlie’s Snow Day by Drummond

6 year old independent reading:
Magic Pony A dream come true by Lindsay
How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse by Cowell
Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist by Kessler
How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale by Cowell
A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons by Cowell
How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm by Cowell

Topical reading:

The Happiness Tree by Gosline
There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves by Colandro
Witzy Jumps into fall by Spafford
Back to School? Cool! by Spafford
Splat the Cat Back to School, Splat! by Scotton
There was an old lady who swallowed some books by Colandro
The Four Seasons by Williams
The Four Seasons for Little People by Parramon
The Autumn Princess by Page
The Lonely Scarecrow by Preston

 

Linking up with homeschooling linky:  http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/weekly-wrap-up/