PreK - Week 21

This week we started Unit 3 - Abraham and His Descendants. In history we read about how the people spread out after the Tower of Babel. For one of our activities, Samuel had to learn to pack an overnight back and then go on a "journey" just like the people did when they left the Tower of Babel. He liked learning to fold clothes and pack and is looking forward to the next time he goes to Grandma's house and can pack all by himself!

We also read about God calling Abraham to leave Ur and go to the land that He had promised and how God would make Abraham's descendants more numerous than the stars. In science, we learned about stars. We read a few library books about them. We also did an activity where Samuel laid on the floor and shined a flashlight on the ceiling as his star. He made it twinkle by flashing it on and off, made a falling star zoom across the ceiling, and many other fun things. He really liked that activity.

We started memorizing Proverbs 20:11 - Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is good and right. We've talked about how Abraham's actions of following God showed that he was a faithful and righteous man.

We also learned the letter J this week. Samuel has actually been taking his time with his handwriting this week and is doing a great job. We're also still reading and loving The Adventures of Reddy Fox. Samuel gets so excited each day when I pull out the book and can't wait to see what happens next. I've really been suprised at how well he listens and pays attention since there are very few pictures. Adam and I may start trying to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to him at bedtime if he continues to do well with Reddy Fox.

In math, we've started comparing sets and learning about how to figure out one more or one less. Samuel is doing a great job with it and seems to enjoy math.

And now, for the big announcement....Samuel finished Hooked on Phonics 1st Grade this week! He was so excited and called Daddy at work to tell him that he was done with his book. We will be starting Hooked on Phonics 2nd Grade next week.

Working on his J letter sheet

Working on a page in his Rod & Staff workbook (readiness skills)

Packing his overnight bag

Coloring the picture on his handwriting page

Practicing math - I gave Samuel a card and he had to count out the right number of legos and then tell me what number would be one less

Another Rod & Staff workbook page

PreK - Week 20

This week for history, we read about the tower of Babel and how God confused the people's language and told them to spread out. In language arts & handwriting, we started learning the letter D. Samuel did a great job but he does tend to get lowercase d and b confused. I just started telling him to think carefully before he would have to write a d or b and he did a lot better. He still confuses them some when he reads too, but I'm sure he'll figure it out in time. We continued learning numbers 1-10 in math. Once he learns how to write his 2's and 3's the right direction he'll be doing great. He can make them perfectly only backwards. We had a short week of school because of a lot of different stuff going on so I don't have as much to share as usual.

Samuel working on his D letter sheet

Practicing writing D's

Working on phonics

PreK - Week 19

This week we continued with Unit 2 - The People Sin. We read about Adam and Eve's sin, Cain and Abel, and Noah and the flood in history. We also continued working on Ephesians 6:1 as our memory verse this week.

For science, we made a boat out of aluminum foil and floated it in the sink. We added one penny at a time to see how many it could hold without sinking. Samuel's boat held 25 pennies, mine was able to hold 68 before sinking! Then we talked about how boats have to be built a certain way to be able to stay afloat and how God had told Noah exactly how to build the ark so that it could carry Noah, his family, and all the animals safely.

We continued reading about Reddy Fox and found out that his showing off got him into big trouble. He wasn't paying attention and got shot in the leg by Farmer Brown's boy and is now lame. Samuel drew a picture of Reddy Fox and his injured leg.

In math, Samuel has been learning to write the numbers 6-10. He's doing a pretty good job with most of them. He especially likes it when I let him practice on the dry-erase board.

In language arts, we started learning the letter C this week. Samuel is doing a great job with his handwriting and his reading. He is just a couple of weeks away from finishing up the 1st grade level of Hooked on Phonics. In the past couple of weeks he has really taken off and tries to read anything he sees -- food packages, words on signs, any books laying around, etc.

Practicing handwriting
Working on his C letter page

Math - Samuel had to write out certain numbers and then put the corresponding number of stickers next to them

Not sure what's going on in this picture but it cracks me up. The towel was the Garden of Eden and I gave Samuel various directions to follow like walk around the garden, dig outside the garden, be happy in the garden, etc

I think this was him digging or planting outside the garden

Working on Explode the Code workbook

More math - he was gluing the right amount of cheerio's on each number

Writing a sentence about Reddy Fox...

...and a picture of Reddy Fox. The orange thing around his neck is a bandana. Normally Samuel colors really well, but it looks like he scribbled brown all over this one. I asked him about it and he said that is because Reddy has lots of fur.

Making his boat...

...and it floats!

PreK - Week 18

We had another great week with Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG). Since this is a Kindergarten/First Grade program and Samuel is only PreK right now, we have only been doing it 3 days a weeks. We do phonics, handwriting, and math everyday and read library books about whatever we've been studying in history and science on the days we don't do LHFHG.

So, the first part of this week we finished up Unit 1 - The Beginning of History. We read the story of creation and talked about how God had created the world, the animals, and Adam and Eve. For science, we read about several different animals that God has made. We continued learning Matthew 19:14 and Samuel amazed me at how well he could say it! We've still been reading about Reddy Fox for storytime, and Samuel loves the story. Reddy Fox has been showing off and thinking he's smart and has gotten himself into a bit of trouble. One of his assignments this week was to write a note to Reddy Fox warning him about being too bold. Here's what he wrote:

Dear Reddy Fox,
Stop thinking you are so smart. You are going to get hurt by Bowser the Hound. Farmer Brown will be so mad. Don't take the chickens! Bowser the Hound will trap the chicken into the trash can and you won't get any Reddy Fox!
Samuel

At the end of the week, we started Unit 2 - The People Sin. We read about Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating the fruit and having to leave the Garden of Eden. For science, we read about snakes and Samuel picked out a bunch of snake books from the library to read. We also started learning Ephesians 6:1 - "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right" for our memory verse.

In math, we have been working on counting objects which is mainly just review for Samuel. We are also working on writing the numbers 1-5 probably. He's had a bit of trouble with 2's and 3's but I think he's getting the hang of them now.

This week was a review week for our language arts program, so we didn't work on any new letters. Here, Samuel had to pick up a picture, tell me what letter it started with and what sound it made, and then write the letter on the white board.

After reading about God creating animals in the sea and on land for history, and then reading about some of those animals in science, we played a game. The blue paper represents water and the black paper represents land. I named various animals and Samuel had to stand on the correct paper showing if they lived in the land or the water.

Working on his math workbook

Coloring in one of his Rod & Staff workbooks

PreK - Week 17

This was our first week back to school after Christmas break. It was also our first week of Little Hearts for His Glory. Samuel really liked it. After our first day, he said, "Mom, this is like the first school we did. I loved that school!" After asking him a few questions to figure out what he meant, I found out he was talking about when we did Little Hands To Heaven. His excitement made me glad that we had decided to switch back. So, what did we do this week....

Little Hearts is a broad overview of world history from Creation to the present day, so we started this week by learning what history is. We talked about how history began when God created the world, and will end when He returns to take us home. We also talked about how Jesus was the most important person in history and how all history before Him looked towards His death and resurrection, and how all of us now look back to it.

We also have been doing a rhyme and motions called God's Creation that teaches the names of the 7 continents. Samuel loves this and asks to do it several times a day. He even made Daddy do it with us one day when he was home.

Each week, there is a memory verse and devotions that go along with it. This week's verse was Matthew 19:14. I had planned to go over the verses with Samuel, but not really make him work too hard at memorizing it since he has AWANA verses too, but he suprised me on the second day by having the verse completely memorized. The devotions come from the book Devotions for the Children's Hour and Samuel seems to really enjoy them. This week we talked about who God is and where He came from (he has always been).

We also started reading The Adventures of Reddy Fox. Samuel looks forward to finding out what kind of mischief Reddy will get into each day. I've been suprised at how well he listens because the book has very few pictures, but he's done very well.

Here's some pictures of some other things we did...

Samuel waddling like a penguin on Antarctica (it was part of the rhyme we did)
For math, he wrote the numbers 1-5 and then had to glue the appropriate number of Cheerio's next to each one.

Working on his readiness skills workbook

One of the activities to help learn his Bible verse. We played "basketball" with a pair of rolled up socks. Each time we made a basket, we had to recite the verse. He did great!

Another math activity...we filled a ziploc bag with liquid soap. I would set out a certain number of legos and he had to "write" the correct number

Working on an art project to illustrate that Jesus is at the center of history. We tore up black paper and then created a collage for the background. Then we put the cross in the middle.

One of Samuel's language arts worksheets. We've been working on the letter I this week and he had to draw a picture of something that started with I. He drew an igloo. That's the abominable snowman standing in the doorway.