Week of Oct. 7, 2013: Fall Learning

Soooo we are constantly changing up the way we learn around here.  I'm always working with new ideas, new curriculum, new activities, etc.  Since Katie's so young it's nice to be able to have the freedom to see what works and what doesn't work for us.  I'm also trying to get her into a more structured day now that Audrey's schedule is more predictable.

We started a couple new things last week.  One was a daily notebook for Katie.  Included is any worksheets or paper activities that will fit in the folder, a small piece of paper with the daily/weekly theme, her name to help her recognize and learn to write her name (we usually trace this with our finger as she says the letters out loud), ABC's, numbers 1-10, shapes and colors.  The plan I have for the notebook is to reinforce all the basics she needs to know on a daily basis and to let her have options on what she wants to work on that day.

Since we're working on a better routine and more freedom in daily learning we made a daily board and put together a little themed basket.  The daily board has Today is...., The weather is..., Today I feel, Bible Verse and I am learning about... headings.  All the pieces have velcro on them so Katie can easily remove them and add to her board each day.

This week we did a hodge podge of fall themed activities so in Katie's themed basket I included a few books, some beads and lace and stickers.  During the week we added some more to the basket as we worked on projects.

Our first craft of the week was a coffee ground acorn.  Katie had so much fun with this project and (like all my family) loved smelling the coffee as she painted on glue and coffee grounds.

Then we went on a nature walk to see if we could find more acorns.

We didn't find acorns but we did find a rock, a spider web and a crabapple.

We worked on number recognition with an acorn activity.

Later in the week we worked on number recognition and fine motor skills with a spider web lacing activity.

Uncle Benny came to play for a day while he was off work!  The girls had fun playing in the sandbox with their Uncle and Papa.

We made some pumpkin scented moon sand.  At first Katie and I worked on it together but then Daddy had to step in and use his muscles to stir.  It was really thick and hard to stir together at first.

The end of the week was spent picking out a pumpkin!  We decided instead of a pumpkin patch this year, we would go to the local nursery and pick out a pumpkin.  We also got some beautiful black pansies which I didn't even know existed!  Katie had lots of fun running around the nursery and picking out her pumpkin and flowers.