School Daze.... We begin again..... The Farm....

Ryleigh is 4 years and Braeden is 25 months

At the beginning of September we officially started our year... we began with a farm theme in both classes... I have 4 students in Tot School (ages 2&3) and 5 in K4 (ages 3&4)... we have moved downstairs to our new schoolroom...which is not done yet... and will be a work in progress for a little while....so right now school is in one corner of the basement...

Right now for Tot School...we are just working on getting into a schedule... of playing projects... around the beginning of October I plan to start the Letter/Color/Shape/Number of the week...

Some things that we are doing in K4 that are most likely not portrayed in the pictures.... the girls worked with the sight words: A, And, The, See.... they focused on getting familiar with map of our Country including being able to pick out our State...Handwriting (without tears)...and baking... they made Peach Cobbler the first week and Pudding Pie the second.... we will be baking as a class on Wednesdays... (unless that doesn't work out...)

Our Farm Themed Sensory Bin...

4 out of the 5 girls in the K4 class...
the out-takes for this first day of school picture are hilarious...

Some of the girls doing the Pledge of Allegiance...

They made "Shape" Barns.... a good review of shapes...and following directions...The girls working on baking their peach cobbler...

I got cute tiny pie pans...which they used for the cobbler...

To enhance the farm theme, I organized a Farm field trip with both classes (and some friends 17 in all)... so that we had a tour guide and wagon ride around a farm... the kids had a great time on the wagon and checking out the animals... Braeden would still like to ride a cow/goat...

Ryleigh and Friends before the tour began...

Ryleigh and M on the wagon...

Braeden did great and didn't even try to jump overboard!

Braeden was SO all about the animals...Tot School had fun playing with these Nuts and Bolts that I found in the Target Dollar Spot...

Both Classes did a surprise capsule that turned into a farm animal once put in warm water project... and then used them as sponges for water transfers...

Playing with the Farm Sensory Bin...

Practicing handwriting on our little chalk boards...

Geography...

Ryleigh and L working on the water transfer...

This year in K4, the girls get independent work time...where they get to go pick a project out of their work-box to do (so they may all be working on different projects)... here V is working on an alphabet foam turtle puzzle...

Braeden practicing tracing the items to the barn....I made this in Word...
he Loved it for the tractor...

In K4 they worked on circling animals that were NOT farm animals...
worksheet available below...

In Tot School we used these peg boards for fine motor...building, stacking....playing...

In K4 we used them to build different Letters....

4 out of 5 K4 girls... I have a feeling it may be a bit challenging to get all 5 in a picture together... but hey... there is always next week...

If you would like to download the farm page I made...click here: (or go to Printables at top of page)


Some of the Books that we read for this theme were:

• Giggle Giggle Quack by Doreen Cronin
• Look who's talking on the Farm by Danny Tepper
• The Cow Buzzed by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
• Millie Moo by Camilla Moody
• The Noisy Farm by Marni McGee
• Barn Dance by Patch Hutchins

To see what others did this week check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1; Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations; Mom 2 lil Posh Divas and the Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Wordless Wednesday.... It's a Cow...no it's a Goat....It's a Puppy...no...it's a goat..

We have been studying "The Farm" over the last couple of weeks... so I have brought the kids on a couple of field trips to see the farm and farm animals, tractors, crops, etc. ... Braeden would really like to be able to ride/wrestle/play with a cow, sheep, horse or goat... below is our latest adventure...

Braeden's conversation with the Goat:
Braeden: Hi Cow!!!
Me: Braeden, it's a Goat honey... can you say goat?
Braeden: Moooooo! Ha Ha Ha!
Me: Braeden...it's a goat...it says 'baaaaa'
Braeden: Ha Ha Ha ....Hi Cow!!!! Mooooooo... Baaaaa Baaaa Baaaa
Me: It is a Goat......Ugh!
Braeden (as we move on to the next animal): Bye Puppy!!!!
Me: ???????? (I think he won that one)....

So Excited to be so close to them...he is seriously shrieking with excitement....

For more fun science projects go check out Adventures in Mommydom.....

stART - Reverse Barn Shadows

A Story + Art = a great stART!!!

We have been reading many Farm Themed books over the last two weeks... the book we did this particular day was Barn Dance! by Pat Hutchins..... it is about a Pig, a Cow and a Sheep that get up in the middle of the night to dance while their babies are sleeping... for one reason or another they go back to bed... at which time... the babies decide to dance... my kids really like the rhyming in this...

For our project this week...we did reverse barn shadows...or...I put some painter's tape down on some paper...in what I thought may resemble a barn... the kids painted all over the paper...then we removed the tape...

Braeden loved doing this project...
and was so proud to show his picture to Daddy when he came home!

The girls also did this project in K4... the projects in general came out very similar.. however...it was actually much more messy with the older kids...

Everyone was excited to use the rollers to apply the paint...

The papers eventually got completely (more or less) covered with the paint...

Some of the finished barns...in reverse shadow... after the tape had been removed... you can see it, right? :-)

For more great stART posts check out A Mommy's Adventures!
For more fun projects check out ABC and 123... Red Ted Art and JDaniel4's Mom

stART - The Noisy Farm.... painting with tractors...

A story + Art = a great stART!!!

Last week was our first official week of school.... for Tot School and K4... we have been working with a Farm theme in both classes...so I thought painting with tractors would be fun for them to do...I picked up the tractors 4 for a dollar in walmart...We read The Noisy Farm... a very descriptive book about the different noises found on the farm...

The kids in K4 listening to the story... please excuse the school room... it is a construction work in progress... :-)

Ryleigh had a great time with this activity...

It was neat to see all the different patterns that were made by the tractors....

Braeden painting with his tractor in his Tot School Class... he was very neat... and Loved Painting with it!

For more great stART posts check out A Mommy's Adventures!
For more fun projects check out ABC and 123... Red Ted Art and JDaniel4's Mom

Field Trip.. to the farm...sort of....

Recently we went on a field trip to the zoo...that has farm animals...which is really an ecology center... we have been before and Ryleigh has enjoyed it in the past...it is pretty small and can be done in about an hour...but there are animals to feed...and it makes for a pretty relaxed outing... I thought it would be a great trip to tie into our farm theme...without actually going to a farm...


The kids at the entrance...waiting to go in...Ryleigh looking at the ducks....I took this picture from the safety of the Rabbit cage...don't worry she was with Aunt 'Lissa....

Why is Braeden looking so worried?....

Because he spotted a bear...not that he was afraid of the bear...I think he was more anxious to get out and play with it...

We saw a cow....

This did not seem to phase the children...who were more interested in morning snack...

They both liked the horses...

Although Braeden was more concerned with where his cheerios had disappeared to....

Don't worry...he found them....

Happy Again...

Aunt 'Lissa feeding the goats...

Ryleigh had a great time and is excited to go back and visit again... it is the perfect size for the little ones...with just the right amount of animals to keep their interest...unless it is snack time...