C is for Cow and Chick

I had planned on starting G for Goat, but then this happened:....

We actually got 6 chicks. You know how Tobin was SO obsessed with taking care of that egg? This is a prime example of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Plus, we know several families willing to take these critters off our hands once they are grown. In the meantime, we will pretend to be farmers together.

Back to the unit study at hand, Tobin decided we needed to do C for Cow... and chick, so we did. Good chance to learn about the "ch" and "ck" sounds too. 

This unit's poem:

I never saw a purple cow,

I never hope to see one,

but I can tell you anyhow,

I'd rather see than be one!

And I found a chick poem:

Peck, peck, peck

on the warm, brown egg.

Out comes a neck,

out comes a leg.

How does a chick,

who's not been about,

discover the trick

of how to get out?

making up cool patterns:

We made butter, which took A LOT of perseverance (see T for Turtle week). Tobin even gave me a little trophy for my hard work, since I did most of the work.

Love this worksheet we do each week. He thinks of what he wants to draw that starts with this weeks letter, and then comes up with words/pictures that go with past letters too. So simple, yet so effective.

 We make letter envelopes each week with pictures of things that start with the same letter. He is suppose to play a game where we compare two of the letters and he matches the cards to the appropriate envelope. He likes to make things more exciting, so we compared 5 letters. He got every card correct too!

 I'm so glad we found this supplement to go with MFW kindergarten from this website: http://mamajenn.com/blog/2010/08/words-to-remember-mfw-kindergarten.html

Now that he can write sentences so well, we will be doing this weekly in lieu of making a badge. 

As you can read above, we focused on the phrase "God's Word helps me grow." This reinforced the reason we read the Bible every day. 

"Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have a taste of the Lord's kindness."-1Peter 2:2-3

We sat outside under the tree with our pretend flowers, and read the story of Ferdinand, the bull who loved to sit under his tree and smell flowers. I love that story! I always use him as an example when the boys just want to wrestle and be rough (at inappropriate times).

 We then had a dairy party:cheese, almond milk (shhhh!), yogurt, and poppy seed chicken casserole since it contains sour cream and cream of chicken soup.

We played farm,

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon,

 and even enjoyed carrots that looked like they were straight from the farm. He chopped up the carrots, made a farmer's market table outside, and sold (gave) them to the neighbors. He's such a good little farmer.

We LOVED this book:

It's about cows that type demands to the farmer and go on strike until the demands are met. It's really funny.

Here's Tobin's creative idea for the cows to demand next time:

Since we have had the chicks and learned so much about farm animals, Tobin has announced he will be a farmer when he grows up. He already has his grandpa promising to give him pigs, goats, and chickens! Life with my boys is always an adventure, and I love it!

P is for Penguin

   Since we took a break from My Father's World K curriculum to do the Olympics study, I decided to skip ahead to the penguin unit while it was still cold outside. Honestly, Tobin could skip to the last unit and do just fine keeping up with the phonics and math. I love it that kindergarten is so easy for him now. We are working on doing the units in 5 days instead of 6, just because he needed the difficulty kicked up a notch. We are also getting more library info books as he loves learning facts about the different animals.


I found this craft idea on pinterest. What better way to get the phrase "I show love to everyone, especially my family" into his head than to make a loving penguin family? Each unit we are suppose to make a "badge" where we cut a little figure for the unit and write the phrase we are learning on it. He has decided that they are too silly for him to wear, so I am trying to find other creative ways of learning through crafts.
   

We learned about Emporer penguins, and that the Daddy actually takes care of the egg. This is how penguins tie into the character learning of loving your family. My 6 year old (he just had a birthday!) is a naturally nurturing child. He LOVES babies. If you need proof, here is the journal entry he did for the week:

I always have him draw and write a sentence each Monday about something cool that happened the week before. Meeting his new nephew trumped a huge snow storm and his birthday!! 

Here they are practicing being Daddy penguins. This didn't last long, but Tobes got OBSESSED about taking care of that egg.

HE put them both in a nest, aka basket of weeds

 My three year old's egg turned into this within minutes:

Tobes made a "don't touch" sign, a little nest, and was listening for babies heartbeat. I told him that it was hard boiled and there was no baby inside, but he insisted that there was. 

Emperor penguins are almost as tall as Tobin! But Fairy penguins are no where near as tall as Jonah.

It's sad, but the only penguin toys we have are Batman related.

 He did this painting without a picture reference to look at. I was impressed.

Our favorite books were about Tacky the Penguin. We found one about the Winter Games even!

We watched Mr. Popper's Penguins....3 times!!!! They LOVED this movie.

As I type this, it is now in the 70's and the windows are open. We finished this unit just before the warmth, though they say another cold front is expected soon. Even so, we are ready to learn more about farm animals now. Bring on the cows, goats, and horses!