Field Trippin.... Pumpkin Pickin...

To end our unit study on "Farms" and begin our Fall theme, Sarah Beth Academy (What I named our school )... went Pumpkin Picking to a Family Farm.... The kids ages ranged from not quite 3 months to 3rd Grade.... 

 Before the tour began the kids got out some of their energy...

 Braeden ran around in circles...

 The first activity was to go on a tractor pulled wagon ride....

 Ryleigh and Abby in the Wagon...

 Braeden looking at the cornfield as we passed it...

 Andrew... pointing to the cornfield.... 

 The kids were excited to pick their own pumpkin off of the vine...

 They were also allowed to each pick radishes...

 Ryleigh with one of hers....

 Braeden....in the pumpkin field...

 The kids also got to see newborn bunnies... still in their next in the ground...

 The kids got to learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin.... 

 and that a pumpkin is a fruit.... (go figure!)

 and that the ridge on the outside of the pumpkin is called a rib...

 They also learned about the parts of corn...

  Ryleigh listening....

 Picking String Beans....

 At the end they got to play in the very awesome playground... here Braeden is on an actual Fire Truck (Slide off the back)...

  Ryleigh in the giant pumpkin...

 Braeden climbing up a giant stack of hay... he did not want to come down... I actually had to go up and get him... 

To see what others are doing this week or for school check out:
Tot School with 1+1+1=1
Preschool Corner with Homeschool Creations
Weekly Wrap-up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Our Classroom this year.... Fall 2012

This summer I spent a lot of time organizing (with some help!) our school room.... this year Ryleigh is in Kindergarten and Braeden is doing Preschool (I have 6 for his class....half are 3... the other half are 2...so some tot school aspects)... I always like to check out what other peoples rooms look like so I thought I would do a post on mine....

Starting from the edge of the couch (which is the "divider" between the school room and the other half of the basement)... Wire shelves hold "dirty bin"- where we put the dirty paint brushes, etc., trays, tabletop pocket charts, individual games, tot school hands on learning felt alphabet, cones and bean bags.... then the closet that holds my school supplies and curriculum... perhaps a post on that later.... pocket calendar... directly under that curriculum we are currently using, my supply 10 drawer system, and Ryleigh's 10 drawer workbox system...

Calendar (as described above, bulletin board for circle time, flag, storage pencil cases (from the dollar store) that hold weather, number, shape, letter, etc. velcro pieces. under that is where our themed sensory bin lives... and under that is the bin cubby for the kids to keep their supplies in... they have their names and decorations on them... the door in this picture is another closet (not school related)...

 For circle time: weather, seasons, days of the week, sight words, letter, shape, number, letter of the week...

 Wide view of the corner of the classroom... includes Braeden's All About Reading Pre-Level 1 posters...

 Posters, stairs... file folder games.... white door is laundry room (very convenient to throw loads in between directions!)

 Another view of this side of the room...we use carpet pieces from Ikea for our circle and story time...

 The other side of the room.... door is the laundry room... then book area...manipulative storage (more on that below, number pocket chart, sight word pocket chart, Map of NY, Ryleigh's board for All About Reading... Tables for the kids...

 This one includes a view of the Chica Chica Tree...and the USA map.... next to the Chica Tree is a bathroom... very handy for the little ones... and great when they need to wash hands after painting!

 A close up look of our bookshelf... It holds the pencil sharpener, alphabet box, Ryleigh's shoe to practice tying, the mailbox for postcards... underneath it holds music instruments, math manipulative s  handwriting without tears, fine motor skill manipulative s... and our science test tubes...

To see what others are doing this week or for school check out:
Tot School with 1+1+1=1
Preschool Corner with Homeschool Creations
Weekly Wrap-up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Tie Dye and Sand Art ~ Messy Summer Fun Week 3 2012

During the Summer I hold Messy Summer Fun Classes/Workshops/Camp-days...on Mondays. Each session includes a sensory tub, messy craft, ice sculpture to melt, messy gross motor activity and snack....This week for our Tie Dye and Sand Art Messy Fun, I had 22 Children... however, everyone worked together and things stayed pretty organized...and everyone got to make both projects. 

Some of the kids in their finished shirts...

This week's ice sculpture had dice erasers inside...

 With so many kids this week... the 3 sculptures were melted quickly...

 Playing with the water sensory bin....sea life themed...

 Shaving Cream Balloons...

 Relay/obstacle course/ free for all.... shaving cream balloons, hippity hop, hula hoop...lots of mess!

 Hippity hops are fun...but running is faster and means twice as many balloons...

 It actually stayed pretty organized...

 Sand Art.... half of the kids did Sand Art while the other half did their tie dye shirts... 

then they switched... a very organized chaos....

 The kids had 12 colors to choose from....and chopsticks to make fun designs...

Some of the finished bottles...

 Meanwhile at the Tie Dye table..... 

 Ryleigh working on her shirt...

 Ryleigh went with a giant swirl method....

 3 of the finished shirts.... 

We finished off the day with homemade snowcones for snack.... yummy on a hot day!!!

For more fun projects check out ABC and 123... . and Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations;

Messy Summer Fun Week 2... 2012

It's the return of Messy Summer Fun!!! .... I run a 5 week program during the summer which includes fine motor, gross motor and lots of sensory activities... all of which are MESSY!!! This year I have 23 kids ranging from 9 months to 7 years.... here's what we did this week:

We had an ocean life sensory bin.... with water...

 blue stones from the dollar store... a couple of ice cube trays...

 some fish and dolphins.... some containers....and a sponge for diversity...

Our messy craft this week was ice cube painting- I mixed a little bit of water with some washable paint and froze it in an Hawaiin ice cube tray. This is always a big hit.... and so messy....

 The little ones...showing their messy hands...

 After the paint ice cube melted... the paint remains...

I made ice sculptures with numbers frozen inside..in layers.... 
the kids tried to see who could get to the numbers first....

 Melting the ice sculptures....

 Our relay race this week included hippity hops, water balloons, and the sprinkler...

 The kids had to transfer the water balloons from one bucket through the sprinkler to the other....some made it...and some just threw them... either way... good times...

 Sprinkler....

 For this week's snack we had home made snowcones...

For more fun projects check out ABC and 123... . and Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations;