First Preschool Co-Op

Today Carlee and I attended her first ever Preschool Co-Op. She loved it. I was a little worried about her meeting new kids and wondered how she would do... Needless to say, I worried for no reason. She is definitely a little social butterfly.

The first meeting was set up as a water play day for the kids to meet and get to know eachother. They played in a little pool, had a water table to practice pouring with, a few buckets of soapy water, and then one of the kid's older sister brought out this activity for the little ones to do:

They loved this! Carlee was fascinated with being able to produce that many bubbles! She had a blast socializing with new kids her age, and learning of course. I love this preschool co-op group already!

Unit 1: Lesson Planning/Brainstorming

Sorry about the weird format, I copied and pasted from Word. =) This was a fun unit to start with. My daughter loves farm animals. As an ethical vegan, her loving these animals makes it easy to explain to her why we don't eat them. I filter what info I want to her to have. For example, I never include the false nutrition info that is listed in most of the sites I ran across.

August 2008– “Farm” Animals Unit
Read Charlotte’s Web Book to Carlee throughout month. Promotes attention span, hearing longer sentences, bigger words, speech patterns, quality time together.
“Farm” Animals Unit
· Farm Animal Sanctuary Video
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yiqYvr_4dM
· Farm Animals: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/farm.htm
· Week 1: Pig in “Farm” Animals Unit
o http://first-school.ws/theme/animals/farm/pig.htm
o http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/pigs.htm (coloring, activities, etc.)
o Baby Pig Video
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS_FFmAzcJo
o The Three Little Pigs Story
§ http://first-school.ws/activities/crafts/animals/farm/bagpig.htm (activities)
§ Build/paint a house?
o Charlotte’s Web Movie (*Wilbur ties in with Ww*)
o Pig Songs http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/pigs/songs.htm
o Pig Crafts http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/pigs/art.htm
o Pig Facts (choose what to tell) http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/farmpiggies.htm
· Week 1: Other focus
o Letter: Ww
§ Ww coloring sheet http://www.edhelper.com/kindergarten/Letter_W_Coloring2.htm
§ Writing Ww worksheet http://www.edhelper.com/kindergarten/Letter_W_Writing1.htm
o Number: 9
§ Number 9 Coloring Sheet http://www.edhelper.com/kindergarten/Number_9_Coloring1.htm
o Vocabulary: Piglet – a baby pig, Snout – Pig’s nose,
o Various books from library – Read, Read, Read!
o Review Letters
o Review All Letters Sounds
o Review #s 1-10
o Review Colors
o Review Shapes
· Week 2: Sheep
o http://first-school.ws/theme/animals/farm/lamb.htm
o http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/lambs.htm (coloring, activities, etc.)
o Lamb Video
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vl1QH4ebgw
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC4wK_MI4OU
o Baa Baa Black Sheep Nursery Rhyme
§ http://first-school.ws/activities/nrhymes/baa-baa-black-sheep.htm (activities)
· Week 2: Other Focus
o Letter: Zz
o Letter combo: Sh sound
o Number 10
o Vocabulary: lamb – baby sheep, wool – sheep’s hair,
o Various Library Books – READ!!!
· Week 3: Cow
o http://ourpreschoolhomeschool.blogspot.com/2007/09/cow-and-calf-picture.html
o http://first-school.ws/theme/animals/farm/cow.htm
o http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/cows.htm (crafts, coloring, etc.)
o Baby Cow Video
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX-WtTXWeqc
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BemypzwYhlM
o On the Range Movie
· Week 3: Other Focus
o Letter: Nn
o Number 11
o Vocabulary: calf – baby cow, bull – boy cow, udder – where the baby cow gets milk,
o Various books from Library.
· Week 4: Chicken
o http://first-school.ws/theme/animals/birds/chicken.htm
o http://first-school.ws/theme/animals/birds/rooster.htm (boy chicken)
o http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/chickens.htm (stories, crafts, etc.)
o Videos
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_0HPQgDEwE
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSIppq0pIo
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uosdjxC-CWs (baby chicks)
§ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tof5b1Qs_OE (chick hatching)
o The Little Red Hen Story
§ http://first-school.ws/activities/fairytales/redhen.htm (activities for story)
§ Bake Bread together
o Chicken Run Movie
· Week 4: Other Focus
o Letter: Uu
o Number 12
o Vocabulary: chick – baby chicken, beak – bird’s mouth, rooster – boy chicken, hen – girl chicken
o Various Books at Library.
Activities to Use Whenever
· Animal Sounds exercise – Make a pattern of animal sounds and have Carlee copy them. Use different patterns. “Moo Moo Baa.” “Oink Moo Baa” etc. *Works on Listening and Sequencing.

New Homeschooling Blog

Somehow, I deleted my old blog that I was using to keep track of my daughter's homeschooling activities and learning. So now, I have to start a new one. =)