Classroom Holiday Update

These last four weeks have been a bit chaotic, but we fit in a bit of homeschooling time when we could.  Of course, with Christmas and New Year's, we had to do as much as we could to try to fit in the rest of the lessons.  Here is a quick recap of some of the things we did in the Red Snail Classroom in the last few weeks.

We practiced a bit more on counting change back.  We did a little more with the mock grocery store and it has really help Skylar grasp the concept of home much change should be given back from bigger bills too.

Skylar learned that subtracting and adding money is just the same as with regular numbers.  He was pretty excited that he caught on.  I let him use scratch paper to help out when he needed it.

We even let his dad help out with being the customer and buying items in the grocery store.  We all had a lot of fun with it, and Skylar was counting back change so quick that he wanted to keep doing it all night.  So proud!

We did a bit of grammar practice with nouns and adjectives.  We used some worksheets with this practice.

You can snag these worksheets here:

Worksheet One

Worksheet Two

Worksheet Three

Worksheet Four

Worksheet Five

Worksheet Six

We made a few fun things for Christmas.

Like this paper snowman.  You can search so many wonderful ideas to make winter crafts like this.  

We also made a huge paper stocking to hang from our classroom clothes line. 

Look for more updates coming soon, from the Red Snail Classroom!

Classroom update (November 25-December 6 )

Monday (November 25):  

We started our week off with the new schedule.  Of course with Thanksgiving later in the week, we took Thursday and Friday off, so on Monday we packed in as much as we could.  Who can't use a four day weekend?

We got a new list of spelling words for the month.  We are a bit delayed on the spelling list because of getting into a new routine, with what subjects we do, on what days now.  You can find our full schedule under the "Our Classroom Schedule" tab at the top of the page.

Notice our new board light?  We love it!

Our spelling words for the rest of November:

1. body
2. music
3. color
4. stand
5. sun
6. questions
7. fish
8. area
9. mark
10. dog
11. bargain
12. certain
13. orphan
14. fountain
15. oxen
16. latitude
17. longitude
18. compass
19. absolute
20. equator
21. compensation

Trouble Words from October:

1.  height

2.  tongue

3.  straight

We also covered more on money counting and counting back change.  We did board work for this and will set up a mock grocery store next week to have some fun with it even more.

My diagram is of a grocery store purchase and how much change will come back from a purchase of a soda.  We went over how simple subtraction is all that's needed to give change back.  

Tuesday (November 26):

On Tuesday we covered a bit of history.  We talked about the history of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate in giving thanks.  I let Skylar write down 10 things he is thankful for and we talked about each one.

We also covered a bit more on our continent and animals from that continent in Social Studies.  Skylar has already completed three continents of the seven we are covering.  His animal of continent and animal of choice this time is the panda in Asia.

Wednesday (November 27):

On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, we did some reading and did a Thanksgiving craft.  For our reading we started in on Book 2 of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."  We finished Book 1 a few weeks back and to celebrate we prepared a dish of Puttanesca Sauce. 

For the Thanksgiving craft, we made tee pees to add to our table for Thanksgiving dinner.We ended up using felt sheets instead of foam, and we love how cozy they look.  Skylar went on a hunt for the sticks to use, and we also added these Indian-themed additions to add to the table along with the tee pees.

Thursday (November 28):  Happy Thanksgiving (No class held)

Friday (November 29):  Thanksgiving Break (No class held)

Monday (December 2): 

On Monday, we got back to class with a little bit of math work.  We set up a mock grocery store and had Skylar be the checker that had to give back change to the rest of us.  We had grocery purchases that were made and change was worked into the learning.  We then talked about how hard, or easy the change was and what we could get better at.  Skylar did a fantastic job with this, and we all had a blast!

We also worked in a worksheet for Probability and Data.  We talked about graphs and how they can go from a pie chart to a graph depending on how we wanted to look at the data.

Tuesday (December 3):  

Science:  We talked a lot about the difference between rocks and minerals.  I sent Skylar on a scavenger hunt to find as many rocks and minerals as he could.

History:  We covered a few more things about Thanksgiving and touched a little on Native American Indians.  I let him draw and color his own version of how he saw the first Thanksgiving dinner with the pilgrims and the Indians.

Social Studies:  We worked more on our animal and continent books.  We are currently on pandas and Asia.

Wednesday:  (December 4):  

Spelling:  We took a mock spelling test to determine what words we need to work on.  I have started a new lesson with spelling words:  Writing them three times, then use them in a sentence that he thinks they work best in.  This seems to be a good teaching lesson on working on handwriting as well.

Reading:  We read another chapter in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" book 2 (The Reptile Room) and talked about what we had just read.  The story is getting very interesting.

Writing:  Skylar has been adding to his journal entries that we keep.  He has to draw a picture and then come up with a story line to go with the picture.

Thursday (December 5):

On Thursday, we reviewed everything we had talked about and covered in the days before since Monday.  We also studied over the spelling words to prepare for the test that will come later in the month.  From everything else we go over and learn, the spelling test will come on the last Friday of the month now.  

Music:  I've decided to add in a bit of music lessons into our weekly schedule.  On Thursday, we played with spoons and how to make music using spoons.  Skylar had a blast with this, and it will be something we do again, for sure.

P.E.:  Currently our P.E. time consists of indoor activities due to the rain, and the cold.  Hopefully there will be more to add to this once we get out of the cold spells here in the Willamette Valley area of Oregon.

Art:  For art this week we made snowflakes from coffee filters.  We are going to be working on these in the next few weeks and reveal our creations the last Thursday before Christmas, so stay tuned for that.

Cooking:  We have been working in some cooking learning with this homeschool time.  It's going very well, and it also gives us some great time to spend together in the kitchen too.  This week me made some cupcake brownies that were part of a Valentine's Day gift box that came in February.  

This little kit came with everything we needed to make these cupcakes, so it was a perfect tool to follow in a step-by-step cooking instruction.

First, we melted the butter.

Then, measured and added the water.

Then mixed the batter and added them to the prepared muffin tin.

We baked them up and they were perfect.  We then talked about the small things we had learned from the cooking lesson.  Skylar said that he learned how to read a measuring cup during that lesson, so that is a big plus.  

Friday (December 6):  

On Friday we took our end of the week test on everything we covered in the past four days.  I like to do an end of the week test to determine if we should move on from a lesson or not.  It's also a great way to gauge where we stand on what we are learning too. 

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and look for a classroom update in two weeks.  

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Flag craft

This project could also work great for a Fourth of July craft, or even New Year's craft, as well.  We did this craft for Veteran's Day.  Here is how it's done.

What you'll need:

Empty toilet paper roll/Paper towel roll

White paper/card stock/construction paper

Markers/Crayons/Colored Pencils

Tape/Stapler/Glue

Scissors

Begin by cutting the paper into long, wide strips and cleaning the roll clean of any leftover cotton paper.  We found that a pencil eraser works great on the cotton strips and glue.

Have your child color the paper into their own version of what the flag looks like.  Don't be too picky if it doesn't look exactly like the flag you have in your mind, just let them create what they see.

Let them tape or glue the flag to their own rolls.  If using the stapler, please use caution.  Once the flag is on the roll, they can decorate the roll too, or leave it as is.

Now the flag can sit on their desk or line them up along the windowsill to admire all day during class.  You could even incorporate a lesson plan around the flag for the day, or have them give their understanding of what the flag means to them.

This classroom craft is a super simple craft that can be done in less than 30 minutes.  It was a great craft for us to learn about our country and the flag that represents the United States.  This could also be used for state flags, city flags, or even school flags.