BIBLE:

Samuel – Listening Ears & An Obedient Heart:

Last week we read the story of God calling Samuel in the night. We talked about how God gave us ears for listening and a heart that’s ready to obey Him.

I folded red construction paper in half and cut out an apple shape for each kid.  Then I folded the paper in half again, this time cutting out a half-heart shape.

The half heart shape looked just like an ear.  I wrote, “God gave me ears to listen” on the outside and “My heart is ready to obey” on the inside.

I stuck contact paper on the left side of each heart and taped them to the table.  The kids added colored contact paper.

Then we glued the two sides together.  We hung them on the window and they looked SO beautiful with the sun shining through them!

Memory Verse:

Parker listened to the “Letter M” 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 glued it in his Bible notebook

HISTORY:

Louis Braille:

This week we read about Louis Braille.  I remember reading this story with Haley when she was in Kindergarten and it’s still a favorite!

While reading about Louis Braille, we took a moment to locate France on the world map.

After reading the story, I gave the boys the braille alphabet along with a personalized secret message to decode.  They both LOVED this activity!

Jordan wrote his spelling words in Braille later that afternoon while waiting for his sister to finish her piano lesson.

The Wild West:

This week we read about the pioneers moving out west.  Jordan marked the California trail, the Oregon Trail, and the Santa Fe Trail on a map of the US we had left over from our Johnny Appleseed lapbook from Homeschool Share.

We read about both the pioneer homes (log cabins and sod houses) as well as the Native American Homes.

I brought out our Native American Homes cards (Montessori For Everyone) and Jordan put together his Lego Teepee.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We didn’t have a new letter of the week, but we continued our phonics activities.

Fall Rhymes:

Monday morning we started our week with Breakfast with Bear.  We read Bear Says Thanks and worked on our Bear Says Thanks Rhyming Pairs worksheet.  You can grab your FREE copy here!

The boys filled in the matching rhymes while we read through the book.

I hid our Autumn Rhyming Cards the night before.  After breakfast, they went on an Autumn word hunt.

Once they collected all the cards, they matched the rhyming words and taped them together on the window.

Later in the week, I gave the boys some additional practice with activities from my new Falling for Grammar – Synonyms and Antonyms pack.

Verb Tenses:

Jordan worked on past, present, and future verb tenses using worksheets from my other new Falling for Grammar – Past, Present, and Future Verb Tense pack.

Spelling Practice:

Since we didn’t have a new letter of the week, we worked on some spelling words.  I collected some of our Montessori Blue Reading picture cards (The Helpful Garden) and dumped our apple letters into a basket.

Parker sounded out each word and built them with the letter tiles.  He did an AMAZING job!

Letter Review:

I printed out a copy of my ABC Leaf Hunt printable and added all the letters we’ve learned so far in our fall sensory bin. 

Using the example from the IG, Parker had to think of someTHING that began with each letter he pulled out of the bin.

I brought out a basket of CVC cards and matching magnet letters.  I instructed Parker to say each word and match it with the letter that makes the same ending sound.  Some were really tricky, but he did a great job!

MATH:

Doubles Math Facts:

Parker LOVES math, so we worked on more addition math facts!  This week we’re focusing on our doubles facts. I laid out our fall foam trees, leaf scatter, and dice for a fun activity to follow a Red%20Leaf, Yellow LeafRed Leaf, Yellow Leaf read aloud.

Parker rolled his dice, and doubled the number.  If he answered it right, he added a leaf.  He really enjoyed this simple and festive way to work on our math skills!

We also brought out our Fall Leaf Sorting activity from Lavinia Pop.  I LOVE the colors and the adorable clipart.  This activity is a PERFECT pair with any Autumn book!

SCIENCE:

Frog Lifecycle:

I planned a few fun froggy activities since the boys were studying the frog lifecycle in science.

I found some inspiration on Pinterest, but I improvised with what we had on hand.  I cut a toilet paper roll in half and gave half to each boy.

First, the boys painted the inside red (for the mouth).

Then they painted the outside green and we set them aside to dry.

While Parker was napping, Jordan watched an episode of the Wild Kratts about frogs from our Core A Playlist.

Later that day, we read through our science lesson and brought out our frog lifecycle cards from PinayHomeschooler.

I also set out our frog Montessori puzzle with our Parts of the Frog cards from the Montessori Print Shop.  The boys used the labels on the puzzle.

The boys added googly eyes, paper arms and legs, and a rolling red paper tongue to complete our froggy craft.

We even had a little yummy frog snack (graham cracker with green frosting, white chocolate eyes, black frosting smile, fruit roll-up tongue, and dried cranberries for flies)!

Pumpkin Exploration:

We finalized our pumpkin exploration this week.

I sliced open our sugar pumpkins and let the kids “explore” the inner cavity before we baked them.  Parker and I pointed to the various parts of the pumpkin to review our lesson from last week.

Haley and Jordan scooped out the pulp and harvested the seeds.

While collecting Parker’s seeds, we noticed one started to sprout.  He wanted to make a sprout house for the seed.  I drew a pumpkin shape and he colored it in.

We taped our ziplock to the back and it’s currently a happy seed in a cute and VERY festive pumpkin house!

I baked the sugar pumpkins in the oven with a little butter and cinnamon and they made the house smell like fall!  I pureed them and put them in the freezer for a future baking adventure!

Butterfly Lifecycle:

Since we were reading about the butterfly lifecycle, I made little popcorn butterfly treats and cups of dried cranberries (Jordan is currently studying Cranberry Thanksgiving – another post for another day).

The kids munched on their snacks while watching a butterfly clip from our Core A Playlist.

We made a simple butterfly craft while learning about symmetry.  The kids added some spots to their butterflies on both sides.

Next, they squeezed a design on to one side and gently pressed the sides together.  We opened them up and saw how the same design appeared on both sides of the butterfly.

Simple, but really cute!  I planned a fun activity with the flower and straw to show how butterflies sip nectar and help pollinate the flowers, but it just didn’t happen this week 🙂

Flowers:

We read about the parts of a flower in science. I brought out our parts of the flower cards (from The Helpful Garden) and our Montessori flower puzzle.

We went through the flower cards and the boys color-coded their blackline flower picture.

SKILL BUILDER:

This week we worked on our scissor skills. I drew some shapes on paper and Parker cut them out.

Week 13 is all done and we’re looking forward to more Sonlight learning after our Thanksgiving holiday break….Next week we’ll finish rowing Cranberry Thanksgiving!