Little Chick's First House Lesson

Just recently I dug out a bunch of old books and genealogy papers and started going through them.  While I was digging, I came across a book that I have had in my possession for a long time.  It is a collection of short stories written by my Great-Grandmother.  She wrote the stories about a year at her home and farm in 1937-1938.

Confession:  I have had this book forever, and NEVER read them!!  I don't know why, but I guess I didn't realize what I had!!  As I started to read them I immediately realized that they deserved a place in our home learning.

We started this last week with Little Chick's First House which is an adorable little tail about a chick hatching from her egg.  And, no, I won't be a tease.  I decided to share the stories with you!!

I started a blog just for the stories:  A Year At Orchard Hill Farm.  And here is the story of Little Chick's First House.  Go read it and then come back and see how we used it in our school day :).

I try to keep our extras to a minimum, and choose just a few good things to supplement our stories.

We found this book, The Life Cycle of a Chicken, by Robin Merritt at our local library and it was perfect!  The photos were vivid and the information was just enough to fill in all the specifics of how a real chick hatches from an egg.

Mini Cooper and Charger cut and paste a life-cycle of a chicken work page that I found on Have Fun Teaching.

We also found this DVD at our local library it is called Our Feathered Friends.  It was absolutely perfect!!  Completely filmed in person at a home chicken farm.  Gives lots of information while keeping the interest of the children.  LOVED it and so did I!

Now, you might like to take your lesson a little bit further.  So, I've started a Pinterest board for this story.  I will be adding more to the board as I find fun things you might like.  Also, if you end up using this story in YOUR home, let me know and I'll add a link to your lesson to this page.

Thanks so much for stopping by and God Bless!

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Home Schooling on the Cheap

Summer Fun Montessori Trays

This week was our last class for our homeschool co-op pre-k group this year.  Next month we will be having parties and taking field trips and then we will be enjoying our Summer!!  We wrapped it up with a learning centers class.  This week I had some help and it really made it way more fun!  I brought 17 activities, and another mom brought 19 activities.  It was great to have so many options.  I hope that I can have help again next year.  

Before I show you what was on my trays, I want to let you know about an AMAZING resource for new Montessori moms (or old ones),  Justmontessori.com.  Thanks to Our Montessori Story, I learned about Just Montessori a couple of months ago.  She has provided her entire curriculum online for free.  I know I *could* make up my own, but hers seems to be perfect for us.  It has made my life so much easier just to follow her lead.  I still have to gather the materials and put my things together, but I don't have to come up with a plan.  So, um, yeah, most of these ideas came from her :).

Sweeping seashell pieces.

Pouring seashells.

Seashell cards and counters.

Exploring seashells.

Land, Air, Water sorting work.  From Montessori For Everyone.  

Ocean animal matching from iChild.co.uk.

Melissa and Doug sea puzzle.

Catching water animals with a 'net.'

Transferring marbles with tongs.

Basting water (shown without water lol).

Scrubbing rocks.

I found the cutest scrubber and just had to make a tray out of it.  It wasn't until the children used the tray that I realized the scrubber was too big for them.  Oh well, I found myself a cute new scrubber.

Open and closing tray.

With new things to open and close.

Living/non-living sort.

From The Helpful Garden.

Plant/animal sort also from The Helpful Garden.

Stamping 1-5 from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Color yourself basket.

I found the people at Hobby Lobby.

Natural Moutrishka (sp??) Dolls (Hobby Lobby).

Last, but not least, construction paper, magazines, scissors and glue.  A few of the kids (especially Mustang) really got into this one.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have found some ideas that you can use with your little ones.  God Bless!

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Winter and Valentine's Activity Trays!!

Tomorrow is my monthly day to 'teach' at our homeschool co-op preschool group.  

Here is what will be on the trays this month:

Snowman addition game.  I found this idea on My Montessori Journey.

It is free for download from Making Learning Fun.

Snowman Colors.  I found out about this great printable from Deb at Pre-K and K Sharing (also LivingMontessoriNow).

It is available at The Kids Place.

Heart patterning.  I downloaded pattern strips from PreKinders.

Then I paired them with the hearts from a pack of candies I got from Oriental Trading Company (not an affiliate link).

Snowman magnet page, also from The Kid's Place. 

I found this through Deb's Pinterest page.

Roll a snowman.

From 2 Teaching Mommies.

How Tall is the Snowman?

Yet another great printable from The Kid's Place.

Matching Snowflakes.

These are from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Tweezing feathers.  I found this idea on My Montessori Journey.

Mini Cooper got into my bin of materials while I was putting together other trays.

She started doing this on her own, so I hope the other kids like it, too.

Felt heart sorting. I made this one up a couple of years ago.

It's nice to have it already made up :).

Lacing beads.

Opening and closing little heart boxes.  There is a little bead in each one.

Red boxes are from the Dollar Tree. 

Heart sticks from the Dollar Tree put into a Parmesan holder (also from the Dollar Tree).  

Penguin pattern blocks from Prekinders.

Heart scratchers I found at Hobby Lobby.  

Water transfer.  I made the mistake of pouring all the water out before I took a picture!  I got this idea from My Montessori Journey.

Spelling puzzles by Lauri.

Matching written numbers to the numeral.

I made these 2 years ago, so they aren't as great as some of my newer printables.  You can find them here.

Count and clip cards.

These are from Nicole at Tired, Need Sleep.

Matching the uppercase snowman to his lowercase hat is one more great printable from The Kid's Place.

It was featured on PreK and K Sharing, which is how I heard about it :).

So there you have it, 20 Activity Trays or Tot Trays as some would call them.  I'm so thankful for the many printables that are shared by wonderful blog mommies out there!  It really made my job a breeze this time!!

Enjoy and God Bless!!

We're linked up!