Week 1- Letter A

Having finished our year working through the alphabet, I have spent a good portion of time working on what's coming up next for Hannah, Ethan, and I.  I think I've just about worked out the kinks.  Here is a quick look at our A week even though I hardly took any pictures, as well as a greater explanation of what we are up to now.

Language Arts- We are working through the lessons in All About Reading Level Per-1.  It broken into three sections uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and finally the sounds each letter makes. In addition to this we have been doing various activities, crafts, and books to go with the letter that we are working.  This may seem a little redundant since we did this last year (a letter matched with various activities) but its for Ethan's benefit as much as its review for Hannah.  

                                         

Checking out our new alphabet chart.

A-Aluminum Foil Art

Reading-We are reading through many of the B4FIAR books in addition to many other great picture books we have at the house and from the library. Our first week we read "The Yellow Ball" by Molly Bang.  

Finding a fun place to read.

Math-This is not math as you typically think.  We are not doing worksheets and things like that.  It is simply games we play that have a focus on numbers  and math concepts.  These games are real and meaningful.  Hannah and Ethan have really enjoyed these activities so far and they don't really know they are learning some math skills.

Counting.

Faith Lessons-This year we are going to spend time each week learning about who God is, who we are as children of God.  We are using (I Am Special-Preschool Age 3) as our framework.  We read lots of bible stories and sing songs all the time so this is nothing new.  But it is my desire to see Hannah and Ethan increase their appreciation and celebration of God's love, and goodness through scripture, song, and prayer.  We talked about how God created us, God loves us, and God knows us by name.

Science-I call it science for lack of a better title.  Its really learning about nature (and as a result learning about our creator).  Taking in the changing world around asking the why questions and exploring.  I loved this article; 8 Reasons To Do Nature Study.

We made sun prints by leaving toys, rocks, sticks, and leaves on some black construction paper for a couple of hours.

Hannah was waiting for me to give her the go to take off all the items.

Our sun prints.

We put a piece of new construction paper underneath 

to compare and see how the paper faded in the sun.