O for Octopus

"Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them." Psalm 69:34

"Do you think you could make a real octopus? I couldn't either! But it is easy for God. As we are learning about the octopus and all the amazing things God has made, it helps us see that God is really amazing. Even the octopus praises the LORD by showing people how amazing God is."-from our curriculum

How to make a hot dog octopus include fruit and cheese:)

Here are our grape juggling, hairy octopus lunches!

My favorite weekly worksheet:

He thinks of something to color for the letter of the week, and uses past letters in the other blanks to come up with something to draw. He is so creative and willing to come up with cool ideas.

 Octopi (or octopuses) spray ink as a defense to get away from predators, so we experimented with that idea. This activity made it "clear" that ink worked because it made it hard to see the octopus in the water. This turned into an octopus (and other sea life toys) wash-and-play-in-the-sink time.  

We built octopus tambourines with paper plates, beans, wrapping ribbon, and googly eyes. 

 
We listened to and played our instruments to praise music every day. This was medicine to my soul as well.

We read the book Swimmy by Leo Lionni. This would be the first book (that was used for school purposes) that Tobin has asked for AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. He loved the story of that smart little fish. Here is the craft that we did to show the story.

He built an octopus on Minecraft that he was so very proud of . 

Here is a link to a cool video of an octopus fitting through a small hole. Crazy what a smart  invertebrate is capable of.

Octopus Houdini

We also found it cool that they could open jars and open crabs because they actually have a beak! They also have jet propulsion and can regenerate legs! I learned a lot with my kids on this unit. I've always found the octopus to be so creepy, but I didn't realize how intelligent and powerful they were. God is so creative and worthy of praise!

100th Day of School

 The boys had a blast today!

 First... I set up a 100 star path for them to wake up to in the morning....

It was like Christmas morning. 

I woke up to hear Tobin in the hall saying: "Jonah! COME SEE! It's 100 day!!!!"

I bought a bulletin board kit from Oriental trading company. We used the parts for decoration and 100 day hats!

" panda-monium" is a good word for describing our first 100 days:)

My yellow and  "3" obsessed child 

We had to put 1-100 back in order, which was a great learning experience, and then we taped them to our school room door. I am proud of my 5 year. He did really well today. Counting to 100 takes a LOT of patience!

 I said "strike a pose". LOL!

We made fruit loop necklaces with 100 fruit loops. Once again- lots of patience and perseverance!

It helps when you are promised such a sweet reward.

Daddy surprised Tobes with a 100 in Minecraft that had 100 emeralds in a treasure box!

Then I had the idea of skip counting by 10's by fingerpainting their "10 fingers" 5 times each.

 I have a feeling there was more like 1,000 by the end. 

I did count as they painted, but finger paint seems to make them crazy.

Bath followed, so no more pajama party after that adventure. 

I served 100 bites for lunch (they only had 16 left over)

You know you have boys when bulletin board decor is turned into swords, shields, and crowns.

 This says:
         I'd love to eat 100 "grapes", but I'd never eat 100 "grass". - Tobin
         I'd love to eat 100 "itty bitty cookies", but I'd never eat 100 "cars" - Jonah

FINALLY! He wrote a number every day for the last 100 days! He thought that meant no more school, and he was not delighted when I told him we have 80 more days to go.

We had a blast today! Tobin made up songs counting to 100, we made a "100 day" pin, we drew pictures, we went to the library, we went to the playground wearing our 100 day hats, we played dominoes, and we read the book "One Hundred Hungry Ants."

Considering we are also talking about I for insects, and that we have an ant farm we are observing right now, this book was perfect. It also shows how to skip count to 100, so we got some more math in too. Today was a party day, but also a math day. Doesn't get any better than that.

D is for Dinosaur

         So this was back in November... but better late than never! We actually had been taking part of a co-op class on dinosaurs, so I did my best to find projects that differed from what we had already learned.

       Have I mentioned how much I love My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum? Well, I'm going to say it again. I LOVE IT! We started the day singing 5 little dinosaurs (think 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed), and we read the book "What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?" by John Morris and Ken Ham. I'm so glad it came with the curriculum as it is really hard to find a dinosaur book that doesn't begin with "Millions of years ago...". Yes, I belief in God the Creator and that dinosaurs were made on day 6 with all the other land animals. If you want to start a debate with me, just hold yourself back and check out the big debate happening on February 4th!
http://www.answersingenesis.org/outreach/event/Nye-Ham-Debate/

Okay, back on track. We read the creation story in Genesis, and some from Revelation even. As the teacher book explains, "we praise God because He created everything. Big and small, God made them all!"

One of the math related, hands-on weekly projects scheduled in the curriculum is to build pictures that start with that letter with Cuisenaire rods. Here is letter D:

Other fun Dino activities in pictures:

making stuffed dinos with paper bags and plastic bags (inside)

making cast dinos with playdough, dino imprints, and plaster of paris.

and on a seperate note... I am so proud of my little kindergartener! He has been part of a music class, and he took part in a class performance for a nursing home at Thanksgiving. He has had trouble with stage fright (comes running off crying or doesn't even make it on stage) in the past, but he finally went up on stage and he did great! This is his proud expression after it was all over. He has learned a lot this year about animals, Godly character, and even self-confidence. I am so very, very Thankful!

2013 video review - July 2013

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March Madness 2013

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January 2013