BIBLE:

Gideon & The Fleece

I opened up the Bible to read about Gideon and decided to make this an active story telling.  I grabbed a washcloth (the fleece), a cup of water (the dew), a bowl, and a tray (the ground).

As we read through the story, the boys added the water exactly as in Gideon’s story.

First, they poured water on the “fleece” and left the “ground” around it dry.

Second, they poured water on the “ground” and left the “fleece” dry.

Afterwards, we talked about God and his interaction with Gideon.  He didn’t scold him for asking for another sign.  He patiently waited for Gideon to come around.  What a wonderful, loving God we serve!

Memory Verse:

Parker listened to the “Letter J” verse from his Sing the Word CD, traced his Bible Memory verse using our G-M Bible Verse Printable Pack.

Later in the week, we cut his tracer page apart and added it in his Bible notebook.

HISTORY:

This week we read about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and early Europeans.

Native Americans:

Since we were reading about how the Native Americans dressed, I brought out one of our Thanksgiving crafts.

The boys were SUPER excited to make the Native American head feathers.

Haley took a break from her studies to join in on this craft.  It went well with her new book, Sing Down the Moon.

They turned out adorable!  We’ve been wearing them throughout the week!

The First Sandwich:

We read about some of the new foods in Europe, including the first recorded sandwich.  I brought out our Melissa and Doug Felt Sandwich Set.

The boys took turns making sandwiches.  This was a brief moment in history, but I’m sure they’ll remember the sandwich!

Tea & Pumpkin Cake:

We read about tea, coffee houses, and a new chocolate drink in our Usborne Living Long Ago.   So, I made a quick pumpkin cake and brewed some spice tea.

The kids sat around the table to enjoy this festive fall treat.

Exploring Pumpkins:

I decided to add a bit of pumpkin learning into our week since we were reading about how the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant pumpkins, beans, and corn.

I set up the science craftivity the night before.

For each child, I folded orange construction paper in half and cut out a pumpkin shape (fold at the top), a brown stem, and a green leaf.  I printed the pumpkin lifecycle sheet from http://www.atozteacherstuff.com.

We read Pumpkin Cat and Pumkin, Pumkin which illustrated the pumpkin lifecycle perfectly.

The kids put together their pumpkins and added details (ribs and leaf veins) with crayons.

They also colored their life cycle worksheet.

The second day, I set out cat and mouse construction paper cut-outs for each child with an example for reference.

The older kids cut out their lifecycles.

Next, they put together their cat and mouse.Then they attached their lifecycles on a string.  They turned out adorable!

Language Arts:

Parker continued his letter of the week activities.

He listened to the letter “I” songs I added to our Core A playlist and practiced building and writing in his HWOT workbook.

This week we created an “I is for IG-88” character to add to his ABC Notebook.

Roll-a-Rhyme:

I created both short and long vowel Autumn rhyming cards and inserted them in our education cubes.  Parker LOVED playing this game again this week!

You can purchase your copy here!  There’s also a FREEbie sampler in the Preview.

Sorting Candy:

Our Language and Thinking lesson was about categorizing and sorting.

We dumped out his Harvest Festival candy and thought of several ways to sort them.

Building Words:

I updated our lentil sensory bin with pumpkins, acorns, and leaves for fall.  The kids LOVE the feel of the lentils, because they’re smooth and silky.

I hid laminated sunflower letters (life over c’s) in the bin for Parker to find.  I only used the letters we’ve learned so far (F, B, M, T, R, A, H, P, S, and I).

He dug to his little heart’s content and found each letter.

We laid out the letters and he made several words.  I also showed him how to put some consonants together to make new sounds like ‘th’.

SCIENCE:

Bird Beaks:

Since we were learning about birds, I set up a bird beak tray, inspired by Kristen’s Kindergarten, with adaptation cards from The Montessori Print Shop.

We went through the various types of beaks and the boys tried to find the matching tool.

Birds of a Feather:

We talked about bird feathers and I brought out some craft feathers that were very close to down and flight feathers and we inspected both up close.

We read Owl Babies and created pinecone owls with felt, feathers, and hot glue.

They turned out really cute!

 

Moving Through Air:

Our Usborne Science Activities lesson was VERY active this week.  The boys demonstrated most of the examples in the book.

First, the boys took turns dropping a sheet and a crumpled paper ball.  Each time the crumpled ball would land first, because the bigger the shape, the more air can push against it, slowing it down.

Second, they dropped pyramid shaped paper and found it always landed point first, because the pointed end moves faster through the air than the wide end.  We talked about the shape of planes to illustrate this example.

Last, we made candy parachutes, inspired by a video in our Core A playlist.  We decided to use a plastic bag as the book instructed.  The boys dropped their packages and they safely floated to the floor…..SO cool!

That’s all for week 11….looking forward to week 12!