Penguins & Arctic Study

For the past couple months we have been doing Artic Animal study we learned about a lot of different animals, that live in the Artic, but penguins and polar bears were the favorites. My kids really love penguins so we did more activities for this animal then other Arctic animals. At the end of learning about them we watched the movie March of the Penguins. 

This was a craft where you make the outside shape of half a penguin and then fold it in half. To make a whole penguin. Then they used cotton balls to make snow, Ryan's has en egg in his pouch, and Aaron's is in a wind and snow storm, and Ethan's is on an ice burg.

To also help learn some basic "creative" skills we made these stuffed penguins. The boys designed them. I drew it out on packing paper then we used that as a pattern to cut out and sew together our penguins. The boys were really involved with this, I was thinking of doing a basic square or rectangle with the colors of a penguin and we could add a face but noooo, they wanted it shaped like a penguin. Then Ryan said he wanted a pouch to put the egg in, and Aaron wanted a fish to feed his penguin. This project took way way way longer then I had intended, but it was great to see them involved, they also sat with me and help sew them, they stuffed them, and played with them tons, and now sleep with them too. 

one side of the baby is an egg the other side a baby penguin- that was my addition to the ideas flowing... love love love fostering creativity and showing them how they can make things happen. Ethan designed the feet idea too.

not really at all about animals, but just for fun since we were learning about snowy places. Bananas, apple, grape, carrots and raisins. Saw this in family fun magazine, and I did it with out candy :)

We also learned about polar bears this were some cute masks I saw on pinterest, made with a paper plates, Popsicle stick, cotton balls, felt for the nose, and you mix shaving cream and Elmer's glue I think they said equal parts but I just guessed, it did take a long time to dry but was really fun.

we also watched Arctic Tale at the end of our Arctic Study.

M is for....

MOOSE!!!!

we learned about moose, and read if you give a moose a muffin and make orange muffins.

we did other things to but I really can't remember them.... this is what happens when I wait sooo long to post about school.

the boys LOVE LOVE LOVED this activity, we took shirts we had, I did have to buy a couple at Walmart, then we used their foot for the head, there hands for the antlers and then finger for eyes, the end of a paint brush for the inside of the eye and mouth.

the kids LOVE these- I love art that they wear and use, instead of just going on the wall and then into a book or the trash.

F is for....

Here is just a sneak peek into a few things we did this past week - giving a focus on the letter F, as Ryan is learning his letters, and what they say, and mean.

I chose to study both upper and lowercase at the same time. With my last two boys they were taught upper then lower, and I still struggle with telling them to write lowercase. So with Ryan I am teaching them at the same time. A mommy letter and a little letter, with a slight focus on the lowercase because it is used WAY more!

So far it's working well. Also- I pick what letter to work on, based on what will go along with what the other boys are learning. (so it is very random)

the older boys are learning about wet-land's plants, trees, and animals.

So we learned all about Frogs- and did this fun craft. The boys sat on my lap and pushed the petal and helped me sew these- they love them. I got this from a Animal craft book I got on ebay.

F is for Flowers .... we did this experiment in science this week, learning about flowers and how they drink and grow. We got this idea from the kids science book, a book that is part of our science curriculum
the boys working in their science note books drawing a picture of what happened and then writing about it.
F is for Fish... I got these cute printables at Confession of a Homeschooler - love that site. GREAT abc printables- I DO do them all for each letter- I just pick one two. I printed extra little fish so he could practice making patters too. He enjoyed that.
F is for FOOD! we did this really cute lace story hungry Caterpillar from confessions of a homeschooler, and then ate some fancy food that the kids never tried before, like apple-pear, star fruit, and persimmon. This was a great activity for counting as well.

We as always read chick-a-chick-a boom boom and put the letter F f on our alphabet tree.

I try to find books to go along with whatever we are letter we are learning about and if I can't we just keep our eye out for that letter when we are reading. I will say- "Ryan do you see any F's" as we read- it is fun.

Squirrels

we learned all about squirrels this week... and Here is a funny book the kids, like. It did not really teach them anything about squirrels but they laughed. They also liked a book called Those darn squirrels you can see it HERE - just a note I did not like the mans name in the book so I changed it as I read it :) WE did ready many educational books on squires too.

WE also did this experiment to be able to watch squirrels.

we used peanuts, pecans, pop corn and scrambled eggs (after reading about what they like)

it took a few days but we did get to watch many squirrels in our back yard, the most we saw was four at time, and now we see at least two almost every morning, we think they might have a nest in out trees.

O is for Owl

This week we learned about the letter O

Here is just a list of some things we did this week -

again we always start the week by singing chick-a-chick-a boom boom and putting that letter on our alphabet tree- inspired by THIS - I made my own- no pictures yet....

Then each day I try to something involving that letter...

We took a nature walk Outdoors

made the letter O in our squishy bags (see crafts with kids)

Made Orange Muffins - yummy (recipe to come) & played with Orange play-dough

we learned about Owls and made an owl craft. we used the kids hand prints for the wings, and Popsicle sticks for the back and "bones" of the wings. We also had a yummy owl lunch- PB& J with a cheese beak, apple and grape eyes and carrot stick feathers. The boys LOVED this!

Read about Octopus- and planed a game but did not get to it.