emma and i worked on putting together a "fall is fun" (she made up the title, not me) lapbook and baked apple pie. both kids had fun raking leaves (well...i did most of the work but i guess it was fun for me too), doing a few nature walks hunting for leaves, acorns, and sticks, and reading plenty of fall related books.
then there was our first attempt at leaf printing...it turned out okay. messy, but we are happy with the finished product. i even let gibson have a go, and after a few turns of smashing down painted leaves on the paper with his hand he just tried to eat the paint. good thing it's non-toxic.
the lapbook provided a very helpful foundation on where to go with the study, and made it easy to incorporate the basic concepts i had listed here. i think she had a great time putting everything together, and continues to use this lapbook as part of her day to day activities.
lapbook highlights:
we went over the 4 seasons and discussed what the weather was like and what we usually wore for each season. emma and dad also talked about their favorite season and why during an impromptu daddy-daughter date at malley's.
the johnny appleseed grace tri-fold sheet was very easy to do. i was quite impressed with the thoughtful list things emma thanked God for, which i wrote down for her on the inside of the tri-fold. we have also changed our meal-time prayer this past week to the johnny appleseed grace pictured...i'm glad that my singing voice is somewhat acceptable.
i added velcro to the apple pattern activity so that emma could do this activity more than once (thanks to living and learning blog for the idea). this also inspired me to do the same for the pumpkin life cycle (this was also a great opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences between a pumpkin and apple life cycle).
one surprising observation i made from doing this study was her fondness of mazes. i printed a rather easy one for her to do to introduce her to the activity and BOOM. she figured it out in no time. i printed 2 more for her to do, which i thought would be more of a challenge for her and BOOM. again, she did them in hardly anytime at all. this is such a change from a mere 6 months or so ago, when i noticed that mazes provided quite a challenge for her. i never pushed her to try anymore at that time, since it was obvious she wasn't quite ready. it's pretty amazing what a little time can do.
*****
giving credit where credit is due...
"fall is fun" lapbook resources i used:
- the old schoolhouse autumn treasures download n' go. i was able to receive this free a year or so back, thanks to granola mom 4 God. i didn't stick to the pre-planned schedule, but used many of the ideas and activities from this e-book (the reading list was very helpful).
- 1+1+1=1 blog. she had excellent photos of their fall lapbook and was a great source for some of the links i used to make our lapbook (the maze and "fall is" mini book).
- dltk's holiday activities. this is where i printed the fall mazes (numbers 2,3 and 4).
- homeschool share johnny appleseed and apples lapbook.
- living and learning blog.
fall-related books we read (i think there were a few more, but i've forgotten what they were):
- 10 red apples by pat hutchins(a gibson favorite)
- leaf jumpers by carole gerber
- johnny appleseed by reeve lindbergh
- the apple pie tree by zoe hall(this was another gibson favorite)
1 comments:
Looks like you had a busy month! Layla has been on a maze kick here too. She found a Kumon maze book and completed the entire book in two sittings. They are simpler than the one you have pictured, but she loves them and asked for another book today. Maybe we'll try the next level this time.
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