O is for Olympics Montessori Inspired Activities and Matryoshka Dolls Too!

Flat out, this one was fun!!  By the end of the week, I may have been having as much planning as they were having doing.  Here's a peek into our week.

Sorting buttons.  This is part of a free printable pack from Chestnut Grove Academy.  The buttons were from Hobby Lobby.

Magnet page, also from Chestnut Grove Academy.  To be honest, the girls weren't too interested in this one.

I had seen a few trays of beading pipe cleaners and then turning them into the Olympic rings.  I decided to just have them try making the rings.  This was only for Mini Cooper (4) and even she couldn't do it.  I need to come up with some creative and interesting ways to teach twisting.

Roll a graph is one of Mini Cooper's absolute favorite activities right now.  So, she was thrilled when this one was put out.  This one also came from Chestnut Grove Academy (it was a great pack).

Both girls enjoyed shadow matching from 3Dinosaurs.  I was really impressed and surprised at how well Explorer did with them!

I pulled out one of my hidden treasures (hidden so they don't get broken).  And, as I suspected they were a huge hit! 

When I switched gears from Olympics to Matryoshka Dolls, I may have gone a bit crazy :).

I found this (free) from Paging Supermom.  I printed 2 sets-a color one and a black and white one.  The idea was to color a set to match the colored one.  

Mini Cooper really loved coloring hers to match.  

Explorer just colored them how she wanted.  Both loved this!

This one was my favorite.  I found a ton of beautiful FREE Matryoshka Doll printables on Hugo Les Cargo.  I printed a couple copies of one of them and wrote numbers on each of the girls to create cards and counters.  

Mini Cooper loved giving them all their princess jewels.

 Instead of making nesting dolls from toilet paper rolls like the creator of this free printable (which would be adorable BTW, I just didn't have time to save rolls), I printed them out and made a matching game.  This was specifically for Explorer and she loved it.  Her favorite were the pink dolls, of course.  This is from Atelier Cherry.

This last one was fun, and Explorer did really well with it. I started with blank dolls (free) from Zakka Life.

Then, I colored in the dolls and traced around buttons that we had.

She loved it!  I was so pleased to not only see her to a great job with it, but to try and say the word heart.  She has a limited vocabulary and it has been growing a lot lately.  I really think it's all the extra activities we have been doing together!

There were a few more activities that we either didn't get to, or they didn't get pictured.  You can see them on my Pinterest board.

It was a seriously fun week.  This next week will probably seem quite dull, comparatively.  In fact, I have yet to plan anything thanks to my evenings being full of watching the Olympics this week.  I'll be stopping by YOUR blogs to get some ideas :).

Hope you have a great week!!

God Bless,

Lisa

Weekly Wrap Up 2014 Week 7

Before I start, I just wanted to thank you for stopping by!  I love having visitors :).

Secondly, something I read this week made me think about the fact that some people think blogs are used to brag about that person's life.  I just wanted say that I only blog to share what we do each week to show that average moms CAN do this homeschool thing, and give ideas to those who are looking for them.  Well, that and to keep us accountable!!

If you are new to this homeschooling thing, just know that if I can do this, anyone can!!  Good luck on your journey!!

With that....we had a so, so, week.  We actually learned a lot, but MAN those late nights watching the Olympics really put a wrench in my routine!  We ended up staying up later, getting up later, starting school later, getting done later....you see the trend, right??  We don't usually watch the TV at night and now I am sure that won't start!!  That's also why my post is 2 days later then I try to post, and school is being trimmed back this next week-I am behind in my school planning!

The Olympics were, once again, our major theme for the week.  Just one more day and we will be moving on.  It's been a great series of lessons, though!

We finished up our A Journey Through Learning Olympics lapbook.  I LOVE how each day there was a little bit of information to read, and then Mustang would have just a few questions or thoughts to write about.  We also finished up Hour of the Olympics.  I'll be honest that *I* found it a little dull, but my 6 year old LOVED it.  He has now determined that he is going to read every Magic Treehouse book ever, so it was well worth the little time we spent reading it each day.  

Each day we went through the medal standings.  This took a LOT of time, but was well worth it.  I had Mustang and Charger take turns finding the country by flag and on the globe.  I am quite sure they really remembered some of these!!  I know I couldn't find the Ukraine when *I* was 6 years old...oh wait, it didn't exist.  Oh well.  We got the medal standing book (Free) from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom.

Our lapbook lesson mentioned that this year's Olympics were being held in Russia for the very first time.  Before, it was held in the USSR.  Me, being the pack rat I am, I still had this book (that's actually very cool and useful) that showed USSR as one country.  So, we were able to compare the current globe and the map from 1990 in my book.  We also looked at the old Yugoslavia.  Turns out, the book was very helpful!

Thanks to an awesome (FREE) printable pack from Every Star is Different, we were able to take our Olympics theme into other areas of our learning.  I present each activity to both of them, together, and then add the work to their workplans.  The one on the left is matching time.  On the right is labeling grammar in sentences. 

Once again, we have continued with our daily dose of Black History month.  These calendar cards are from 1+1+1=1 and I can't say enough about them.  This week we talked about Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Garrett Morgan, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Shirley Chisholm.  Yes, that's more then 5, but we covered some weekend people.  

We also read about Harriet Tubman.

We discussed President James Polk this week, and Mustang chose to work on her booklet about him.  

They both finished their first subtraction strip board books.  I appreciate that, while they may already understand the concept, the boards allow them to 'play' while memorizing the facts.

Charger chose to complete lesson 16 in his All About Spelling book.  He learned about choosing letter k or c at the beginning of a word.

And, like I mentioned before, we watched LOTS AND LOTS of Olympics!!  

This next week will probably be a slower week, finishing up our Olympic medal books, and Black History month. I am looking forward to spending more time with the Montessori materials and less on 'themes' :).

I hope you all have a great week!!!

God Bless, 

Lisa

BTW, I have 2 giveaways going right now if you like to enter that sort of thing.  My Warner Bros. DVD giveaway ends tonight.  (2/23) and my Del Monte Prize pack (coupons and $25 Walmart Card) ends Wed 2/26.

Weekly Wrap Up 2014 Week 6!

We have had a fun and full week here!  I can't believe 6 weeks has gone by.  This year is moving so fast!!

Turns out I took exactly ONE photo this week of my big kids.  Oops!!  I still have some links to share, so I'll go through our week.

Black History Month

Using the calendar cards from 1+1+1=1 we have been learning a LOT about US black history.  This week we learned about Hiram Revels, Mary Eliza Mahoney, Booker T. Washington, The 54th Massachusetts Infantry (which had the added bonus of learning what an infantry is), and Matthew Henson.  I personally had not known about Mathew Henson or Mary Eliza Mahoney, so that was fun even for me.

We also read The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles. Oh man, I loved this story.  I was choking back tears.  What an amazing little girl!

Olympics

We continued our Olympic studies this week, and watched a lot of them on TV as well.

We are using The Winter Olympics 2014 Lapbook from A Journey Through Learning.  It is just $1.00 and is a wonderful resource!

We have been reading Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne. This week we read chapters 3-5. 

Mustang has also been reading the research companion guide.  She completed it this week.

Thanks to this amazing FREE printable pack from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, each day we have been recording the Olympic Medal standings and looking for the countries on our globe.

We are also taking advantage of the free printable pack from Every Star is Different.  This week we used her 3 part cards to discuss the different figure skating poses. 

Math

Here is my one photo for the week-and my kids aren't even in it!!  We had our first presentation of the subtraction strip board.  They are now able to work on math combinations for 10-18.   I purchased the math booklets from Montessori Print Shop and have been very pleased.  We used them for addition and are now using them for subtraction.  $1.89 is worth all the work being done for me!

American History/Geography

We have continued with our state notebook freebie.  This week we added Massachusetts.  

We also read M is for Mayflower.  Really informative book!  I thought it was great how it even touched on The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, pulling our Black History learning.  

Adding to our president studies, we read a little about John Tyler and Mustang worked on her President Layer Book (free from Homeschool Share).

The kids also watched more Liberty's Kids and Mustang was really excited to see Phillis Wheatly (who we talked about last week) in this week's episode.

Bible

We are getting close to the end of this session of Bible Study Guide for all Ages.  We learned about the birth of John the Baptist this week.

In AWANA, Mustang and Charger each completed 3 sections (trying hard to finish those books!!).

Valentines Day

We had a special day of Valentine's fun that you can read about here.  It was a great way to celebrate!

Those were the highlights of the week.  Next week, I will have to take more photos!!  Before you go, I'd love to have you stop and enter my Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Hope your week was great!

God Bless,

Lisa

Resources we used this week (this widget contains Amazon Affiliate links) 

Weekly Wrap Up 2014 Week 5!

This week was another great week.  I've been so thankful for these cold and snowy days.  They have kept us inside and focused!  Spring will be a different story, so I'm thankful for successful weeks of school while they last.

Monday

We started out our week by discussing Black History Month.  Carissa at 1+1+1=1 made these really cool calendar cards.  Each day, they highlight another black person in our country's history.  This week we have discussed Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and John Rock.  Even I learned a few new things (or a lot, really).

We read the first half of the book If A Bus Could Talk.  This is a great book about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

We quickly discussed Groundhog Day and talked about predictions.  We each made a prediction about how much snow we would get the next day as part of the huge snow storm that was coming.  We were also fortunate to catch the Wild Krattz episode that went into detail about what groundhogs are REALLY doing when they wake for the spring.  It was great!  We also made some shadow people :).

In Bible, we completed lesson 22 of Bible Study Guide for All Ages and learned about angels visiting Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary to tell of the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus.

Tuesday

When I read about their playdough and water bead landforms on Unschool the Teacher, I knew I wanted to do the same for our landforms review this week.  I made up a batch of brown playdough and we made the landforms on paper plates.  We do own the pre-made landforms, but I wanted the kids to have a chance to make them, too.  I wanted to go and get blue water beads, but due to the snow I had to use the one colorful package we got a Christmas.  

BTW, I had never used the water beads before.  The box said they 'instantly' grow.  What it meant was they instantly START growing then they take about 12 hours to reach full size.  So, our landforms lesson was extended into Wednesday.

Of course, this set Mustang in motion to measure them and the water levels as they changed during the 12 hours.  She didn't make any scientific discoveries or anything, but she enjoyed her research.

We did go ahead and start our landform drawings, so all was not lost.

We also finished If a Bus Could Talk (right on Rosa Park's birthday-not planned).  And, we read about our 9th president William Henry Harrison.

Wednesday

Our water beads were finally ready to use.  Oh man, those things bounce everywhere!  I was glad I had a warning from a friend!  I would not recommend using plates if you want to pour the beads.  But, everyone still enjoyed playing with them.

We began our Olympics studies.  We are using A Journey Through Learning's Olympics Lapbook  ($1.00) for our main information.  I REALLY like the way their Lapbooks are laid out, and I feel they fit in with our Montessori style perfectly.  Just enough information to answer curious minds, and just enough questions to help them formulate thoughts about what they read.  I DO take advantage of the lapbook part, as I really like the way they have the reader make a journal of the information they learned.  Charger is not doing the lapbook part, Mustang is.  

We are also reading Hour of the Olympics from Magic Treehouse.  Mustang is reading the research guide, Ancient Greece and the Olympics.  She has a research journal that she created when she read her first Magic Treehouse guide and she voluntarily adds information from each book she reads.  She's really enjoying this one, too.

Each Wednesday we read a little about a new state. We go in the order they joined the union and this week was Connecticut.  

Our snowstorm finally ended, but our predictions turned out to be a challenge.  Mustang guessed 8 inches, Charger guessed 9, Mini Cooper and I both guessed 10.  Problem is that with the blowing snow, we don't know exactly how much we got.  The weather man said 8-10, so we all won. Our prize was snow ice cream.

Thursday

We talked about the Greeks thanks to our lapbook and read chapter 2 in Hour of the Olympics.  We also brought out these super cool cards.  They have the athlete, sport, and country of various favored athletes in the Olympic games.  I got them free from Every Star is Different (you will see a lot from her pack).  Mustang and Charger REALLY liked these, and they came in super handy when we were watching the figure skating last night.  

I guess that was it for Thursday.  Seemed longer at the time!!

Chosen Work

Mustang worked on her All About Spelling with the moveable alphabet.

Charger was determined to read books, all week, to anyone who would listen.  

And, he also worked really hard on his landforms booklet-which is great since he is not a fan of coloring.

Next week we will be continuing with our Olympics studies, Black History month learning, and adding in a little bit of Valentine's fun.  Hope you had a great week!

God Bless,

Lisa

Resources we used this week (contains affiliate links in this widget).