United States Puzzle

Another Puzzle As you know, I am not a fam of puzzles but this one was great! Here is out last puzzle. I helped get the outside pieces together and the kids did the entire middle all by themselves! Jake likes to glue to pieces together, frame them, and hang it on his wall.

Leprechaun Magic Part 5

In our Steve Spangler Science Kit we were given some rare Leprechaun eggs. These eggs are so cool because they disappear in water.
Here are the Leprechaun eggs

Brooke says, "Magic Hands" and puts the eggs into the water. They disappear!

Then we can pull them back out and there they are!

The Magic is in the water-absorbing polymer that forms an amazing clear sphere. Due to the refraction in the cup of water, it looks as if the spheres completely disappear.

So what can first, the Leprechaun or the egg?

Leprechaun Magic Part 3

Just as we sometimes get snow in North Carolina, the Leprechauns sometimes get snow in the land of the Leprechauns....and I have some. Now the snow looks like ordinary white snow, but with some Leprechaun Magic, the snow is actually green!





Our container of Leprechaun Snow:

Idea and supplies from Steve Spangler Science.

Leprechaun Magic Part 4

Everyone knows that Leprechauns hide their pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. But we are never fast enough to find the gold! Leprechauns are tricky creatures and, I think, they hide their pots of gold at the end of rainbows we can't see! So, we got some special glasses to help us find the rainbows.

We put on the glasses and rainbows appears all over the house! They were everywhere!

Here is why? The Rainbow Detecting Glasses have special lenses that diffract the light. When light is separated we see red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet - the rainbow!

Leprechaun Magic Part 2

How do Leprechauns catch green fish? They use green worms and we know how to make them.
We added some soduim alginate to a water-calcuim solution. The calcium helps to link the small molecules of the alginate into a polymer, a long chain of smaller molecules......in other words, it makes green worms from worm goo.

Idea and supplies from Steve Spangler Science

Leprechaun Magic Part 1

With St. Patrick's Day soon approaching, we have begun some Leprechaun Magic at our house.

Today we learned the secrets of the Leprechaun Sandwich bag! Leprechauns eat enormous sandwiches at lunch time and we happened to find one of their sandwich bags.

We tied a knot at the end of the bag. I asked Jake to try to blow up the bag. He tried about 10 times and gave up saying it would take forever.

I told Jake that I could blow up the bag with just one breath! And I did! Then we talked about why I was able to blow it up with just one breath and he was not even close after 10 blows.

Here is why:

Here is Jake blowing it up with one breath.

Idea and bag from Steve Spangler Science

Puzzle Time

I HATE PUZZLES. I have never liked puzzles. I think puzzles are hard. But, I do know the value of puzzles: doing puzzles on a regular basis reinforces logic, critical thinking, reasoning, visual, reading, and math skills. Puzzles sharpen kids' visual perception, aid their understanding of logic, and help them learn to simplify complex situations. Doing puzzles builds persistence and creases focus and helps them stick with a task until the end. Children who are avid puzzlers also often find it easier to gather information, assess a situation, and find a quick solution to a problem. So, if I did puzzles maybe I will develop some of these skills too! Therefore, we introduced a Family Puzzle.
We set the puzzle up on the dining room table which we rarely use. Then over the course of days or weeks we slowly work on the puzzle until it is finished!

Kate helped to put the final pieces into the puzzle this morning! Good work Kate - she may be only 4 years old but she is already better at puzzles than I am! This puzzle was 300 pieces - I think we will stick with that amount for a few years - I can't handle any more than a 300 piece puzzle!

Go Togethers

objective:
a. To develop thinking and reasoning skills
b. to increase vocabulary
c. to become aware of relationships between objects
d. to answer questions about objects and reasons

Point to remember:
1. Answering questions is difficult for Brooke. We often have her sister or brother model the answer to the question.
2. Get your cards sorted and paired before you begin the activity with your child.

Lesson:
1. There are 40 cards (20 pairs) in this game. Pick out 10 cards or 5 pairs to use.
2. Set one photo on the table. Ask, "What is this?" and "What do you do with this"
3. Then set out 3 cards, one of which is the match to the first photo and ask, "Which one goes with it?"
For example,
Set out the card with the paintbrushes

and ask, "What are these?" "What do you do with these?" "Do you have these?" "Where do we keep our paint brushes?" and any other appropriate questions to get your child talking
Then, set out 3 cards and ask, "Which one goes with the paintbrushes?"

Once your child points to the picture, ask her to say the name of the object as well as point.
4. Ask your child, "Why do they go together?" Brooke has a difficult time answering why questions so this is really important to us

Modifications:
1. Use real objects or get picture cards from a memory game to create the pairs.
2. Try playing a game of Go Fish or Memory with the cards but instead of getting matching pairs, you'll collect pairs that go together.

I'm Thinking of an Animal

objective:

a. practice thinking skills

b. practice listening skills as the child listens to clues about an animal

c. promote listening to language and communication skills

points to remember:

1. Only use animals that your child knows.

2. Introduce some new vocaulary such as "paws" instead of feet and "snout" instead of nose

Lesson:

1. Set 4-5 itsy-bitsy minuature animals in front of your child

2. Give clues that helps you child figure out which animal you are asking her to pick

"I am thinking of an animal that is large."

"It is brown"

"It has large paws"

3. Your child will pick the animal

4. To once your child understand the nature of the game, try playing without any visual clues. Take away the itsy-bitsy minatures and play with just auditory skills.

Modifications:

1. This is a great game to play in the car or while away from home.

Objective: To teach your child to
a) listen and understand a sentence with at least 5-6 words
b) listen and understand to at least three critical elements


Points to Remember:
1. Always use longer sentences that use vocabulary the child knows
2. Remember to model the sentences and allow the child to engage in the conversation
3. Make sure the child is "talking" about the pictures and not "showing" the pictures.


Lesson:
1. There should be two players; each player should have the circle with the two hands.
2. I started as the Speaker and keep my circle hidden as I move red hand to a character and the yellow hand to an object on the right. Then I say a sentence, "The boy with the water wings is swimming with the flippers."
3. Brooke (the Listener), in clear view, should move the arrows to match the sentence she just heard.
4. When I see that Brooke has listened successfully, we do a "Match Up!"
5. I say, "1,2,3, Match Up!" and we show our circle boards and make sure they match.
6. After modeling a few times, Brooke is the Speaker and I am the Listener.



A few more sentences:
1. The girl with the blue bathing suit and swim wings wants to build a sand castle.
2. The girl with the green hat with a flower on it goes for a ride in the row boat.
3. The boy with the green hat needs to put on his suntan lotion.



Modifications:
1. Play this game with a friend as the parent observes and helps with vocabulary and sentence structure.
2. Don't worry about the color of the arrows; as long as one arrow is on a character and one arrow is on an object, the color doesn't really matter.
3. Start your sentence with the object and then the character such as, "The beach ball belongs to the boy with the green bathing suit."
4. This can be an activity that you do between turns in a quick turn game like Kerplunk or a dice board game. Have the player listen and move his arrows correclty before he gets a turn.
5. In everyday life, remember to make your sentences longer so they include more details and lists. Having a child remember a list with 3-4 critical elements is an important auditory skill needed for success in school. For example, instead of saying, "Get your shoes on." say "Get on your pink sandals and then stand next to the door." This gives your child more practice with remembering critical elements.

A video of Brooke as the Speaker and me as the Listener

Alphabet Spoons

Objective:
a. review and match capital letters
b. learn and use the order of the letters in the alphabet
c. practice location words such as before and after... "the L comes after the K"

Points to Remember:
1. Make sure your child knows most of her letters before beginning this activity

Lesson:
1. Create alpha-spoons. Use red for lowercase letters. Write the lowercase letter on the spoon side and both the capital and lowercase on the back side of the spoon.



2. Do the same with blue marker for the capital letters.

3. Trace spoon shapes in 4 pieces of card stock. Label each spoon shape with both the capital and lowercase letter.

4. Give your child one set of spoons. We are using the capital letter spoons today. Have your child match the spoon to the spoon shape. This helps your child to recognize the capital letter as well as the letters order in the alphabet.

6. We keep our alpha-spoons in a labeled gallon size bag.

Modifications:

1. Use with capital or lowercase letters.

2. You may want to do this activity together a few times and then have your child complete it independently.

3. Make a number spoon set if you would like to practice numbers.