Preschool Week of 1/28

This was a quiet week, spent mostly at home. It felt good to have nowhere to rush off to.
For reading, we took a break from Progressive Phonics and read some early readers from the library. This was partly because I ran out of printer paper - aaackk!! - and partly to get Crumpet used to reading real books. He complained a lot - he thinks reading books is hard, but I could see the subtle glow of pride when he finished.
We added a teeny bit of writing to our week. I have held off on this because Crumpet was just not ready. Each week, we did mazes and dot-to-dots. I had him trace large letters in order to strengthen his fingers, and teach him the correct way to make the letters. Lately, I've noticed changes though. He always holds writing utensils correctly. He has a firmer, more confident approach to writing and drawing. So, for the first time, I had him write a few letters freehand on the lined side of our white board. He was very proud of his work, and I'm happy to see that he is coming around to the idea of writing. (I'll admit though that writing just may cause me to send him to school - this is NOT going to be an easy process!!)
Science was fun this week. While they were out one day, Crumpet and Crumpet Sr. picked up a fossil excavation kit. It comes as a big block of clay, a pick and a paintbrush, and you have to dig out the dinosaur skeleton.
Crumpet worked with this for much longer than I expected, and at the end, he helped me assemble the skeleton. He's thrilled with it, and shows it to all of our visitors.
We also did McRuffy's unit on mirrors. We pretended we were mirrors of each other, and we searched for hidden pictures using a mirror. We also talked a bit about symmetry.

We've been working on a few more puzzles, and this week, Crumpet put together most of a 24 piece puzzle on his own. Progress!!
The only down side to our week was that our amazing librarian has transferred to a new library. It's a good distance away, but I'm seriously considering making the trek. He was so much fun, and the new storyteller can't keep Crumpet's attention (or anyone else's - story time has turned into a complete zoo...)

Have a great week. For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations!

Preschool Week of 10/21 - a bit of revamping and some Halloween fun

This was a pretty good week all around.
Parent Participation Preschool provided some interesting insights into Crumpet's mind this week... A few weeks ago, his teacher (the best teacher in the world, I have to say...) told him she was sad that he didn't like school and wanted to know how to improve the experience for him.He told her he needed more vehicles... So every day when we arrive, there are more cars and more learning centers involving cars. I know she gets very little money to run this class, and I can't believe what she has done for my little man. It seems to be working. He did incredibly well last week. He was participating in class more, and interacting with the other children. On Monday this week, he was line leader, which he loves. And, we arrived to find 100 toy cars in a box. All of the other kids have counted to 100 for the teacher, and earned a math award. Crumpet won't go work one on one with her, so no award. She has been racking her brains, trying to find a way to get him to do it. She sat down with these 100 cars, and got him to start counting. But that's where it gets interesting. I know he should be able to get to 100, because he knows all the groups of 10's but I've never managed to keep his attention past 50. While counting for the teacher, he made it to 80, but by the end, he was exhausted. He was talking slow, breathing hard, and yawning. He was physically exhausted by the effort. I think it was a combination of having to focus for so long, and also the stress of interacting with a person he still doesn't know that well. Miss Elizabeth has done a lot of research into children's learning patterns, and she was pretty fascinated by him...
Then on Wednesday, it was school picture day. I had warned him, and he was excited, but when it actually happened, he freaked out because of the change in the school routine. He stormed off, yelling "I'm outta here!" and insisting he would never come back to school. Luckily, I could bribe him into class with the cars, and we just don't have a school picture of Crumpet. (Interestingly, I always hated pictures too, and there are no school pictures of me either...) Hopefully, school will get better again next week.

At home, we had lots of fun getting ready for Halloween. I bought this pumpkin decorating set at Target, and Crumpet was so excited that we had to use it right away. Isn't it adorable? (Do wait til closer to Halloween if you decide to use this set - this pumpkin already rotted, and we'll have to replace it. It's too warm here!)
We also made gingerbread cookies and decorated them as skeletons. I saw the idea in Family Fun magazine.
We did some book work, too, and I decided to change a few things.
McRuffy Reading: Each week, we begin a new reader. There are 5 days worth of lessons for each reader, and by the 3rd day, Crumpet is really annoyed to see the same book. He does NOT like repetition... The work involves some worksheets, reading comprehension questions, creative writing, handwriting, and spelling. I've decided to condense each section into 2 days, and it was totally doable this week. We don't bother with handwriting yet. For spelling, I ask him to spell the words at the beginning of the week. So far, he has been getting them all right. If I keep working on it during the week, he starts making mistakes because he's tired of the same words, and won't focus. So, if he gets them right at the beginning of the week, I won't be testing him again. Also, this week, we had our first unit reading'test'. I skimmed through this with him, but didn't make him answer all the questions. I know what he knows, and did I mention, he hates worksheets and repetition?
Progressive Phonics: Crumpet is zooming through the blends. I'm noticing that he forgets some of what he learned in previous weeks, though, because he won't reread the books. I'm going to have to insist on a little repetition in this area, I guess. I really think we could rely on Progressive Phonics as our sole reading curriculum. Crumpet is already far ahead of the lessons in McRuffy. However, I do like the reading comprehension and other extras in McRuffy, so we'll keep using both for now.
Science: We made our own fossils this week! I'll post more about that for Science Sunday.
McRuffy Math: We revisited number rods and place values, and this time around, Crumpet seemed to understand the idea. Getting him to focus and work with me is a nightmare, but I've explained that I will only have him answer half of the questions, if he pays attention and answers them all right. That's usually enough motivation for him to concentrate...

For fun, we went to the Honolulu Discovery Center (children's museum). This was a great place to spend a morning. They have a pretty good exhibit on the human body.
We also went to the water park, and we went geocaching with a friend who brought along a metal detector. Crumpet was fascinated! He now has a lovely collection of bottle caps...

For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.

Science Sunday - Making Fossils

Crumpet has been talking about fossils a lot lately. When we found this skull last week, he was thrilled to have found his own "fossil".
I decided to show him how a real fossil is made. I found this simple experiment in the book "Backyard Science Experiments" by Q.L. Pearce. We found the book at the thrift store, and it looks like it will be a good resource, especially when Crumpet gets a bit older.
We placed a half inch layer of clay in the bottom of a plastic container, and we smoothed it out. Then we sprayed the clay with cooking spray. Crumpet pressed a seashell into the clay, making a deep impression.
Impression type fossils are called 'trace fossils' or 'cast fossils' and can be footprints, as well as impressions of plants or animals.
Then we made another impression in another container. This time, we mixed up some plaster of paris and poured it over the clay, covering it completely. We let the plaster dry for about half an hour. Then we flipped the container over and released the concoction.
We peeled the clay off of the plaster of paris, and here was the result:
This kind of fossil would have been formed if mud filled in an impression and later dried and hardened. It is called a "mold fossil".
You can use this same process to make molds of footprints found outside, and I think we'll have to try it sometime! Crumpet was very pleased with the results, and now we have even more projects we must save. I spent today checking thrift stores for a cheap bookshelf to house his treasures... They're taking over!!
For more science posts, hop on over to Adventures in Mommydom!