Creation Study - Week 2

What was supposed to be a two week unit actually took us 4 weeks to complete. Last week's post was of things we did the week before we went to DC. I just forgot to mention that in my post. After we did week #1 on Creation, we left for our whirlwind trip to DC. The week we got back we all took turns with the flu, so didn't do any school that week. Survival, not school, was at the forefront of my mind that week. If you ever need tips on mess management with very sick kids, I'm the girl to ask! After that week I got LOTS of experience. *sigh* Anyways, we were finally back on track last week, and were able finish our "two" week unit on Creation! The upside to it taking us so long to do, is that even on the weeks we weren't doing activities centered around Creation, we still talked about it a lot, and practiced singing our song. The song is great and really helped Naomi remember what was created on each day!

Each day we read this mini book and the part of this story that pertained to the day we were focusing on.

We used these as sequencing cards. Each day Naomi traced the letters, and put the cards in order. This was a nice way to review the previous days. I would recommend printing these out on card stock.

We also worked in her Kumon Number book. She LOVES this book and it has helped a ton with her number recognition, and writing her numbers.

On Day 4 God created the sun, moon, and stars. I printed this off from here and put it on one of our trays with several choices of glitter glue.

Naomi decorated it with the glitter glue and thought this was great. I had to grab a cue-tip to help her spread around the glitter evenly. You have to have something sparkly to represent the sun, moon, and stars!

We also practiced making shapes using our Magneatos. We haven't had our Magneatos for very long, but we are in love with them! Both Naomi and Nathan enjoy them. I like the fact that they are a toy that both kids can play with in different ways. Jim loves to build with them too!

 

On Day 5 God created the fish and the birds. We drew fish and birds with crayons and then painted over them with watercolors. It worked well for the birds and sky, but the blue paint was too dark and it covered up all our fish. Thankfully I had some fish stickers that we stuck on to show the fish!

 

On Day 6 God created the animals and man. Naomi liked using these foam stickers to represent the animals.

Naomi also drew Adam, Eve, and God. Naomi explained her drawings by saying "God is sideways because he's up in the air in heaven. Eve is little because she is very new. Adam is a man and he has a big nose." SO CUTE! I had to try so hard not to giggle because she was so serious in her explanation.

I wanted to do some kind of animal activity to go along with day 6. I found this fun animal sorting game at Homeschool Creations. Naomi had to sort the little animal cards into three groups: farm, zoo, and ocean. It wasn't hard for her, but it got her thinking and went along nicely with our day 6 activities.

Here Naomi is playing on her Leapster Explorer that her wonderful, Canadian, aunt and uncles got her for Christmas. She needed help using it when she first got it, but can do it completely independently now! I've been very happy with it and feel that the games we've tried are very educational. Her favorite game by far is the Tangled one. It has lots of pre-reading skills that I thought would be way too hard for her, but she has blown me away with her ability to do it!

Putting all her sequence cards in order.

Playing Creation Memory Match using this and this. 

We did this worksheet.

We made a Creation Wheel.

We did an online Creation Create a Scene. It was really cool! We also did a online quiz too that was fun.

Here is a picture of our create a scene.

Finally assembling our lapbook!

The cover of our lapbook. I got the type of folder that you could add pages to so I could include all the art projects we did.

Under each day on the left you can lift the flap like a little book, and see what God created that day. I used the cards from our Memory Match that I linked to above. On the right was our art project for Day 1 (dark/light). I got the ideas for all our creation art projects from this blog. We didn't do everything exactly like they did, but I loved the ideas, and modified them to work for us.

This could have been a mini book, but we cut them apart and used them as sequencing cards. Naomi traced the words each day.

Day 2 - skies and seas

Day 3- land, plants and trees

Day 4 - sun, moon and stars

Day 5 - fish and birds

Day 6 - animals and man

Day 7 - God rested from his works

The creation worksheet we did and the wheel we made. In the pocket I put in the mini book we used, and a copy of the song we learned. All the links are above.

On the back of our lapbook I pasted the story we used.

I couldn't end this post without some pictures of Mr. Cuteness. He got his first black eye this past week. Baby gate meet eye....

This is down in our newly finished basement. I'm excited to do a post and show how I'm setting it all up down there, but I need to finish a few things first! Anyway, I set up our ball house that had been packed away for months and Nathan was THRILLED. Crawling through the tunnel was his favorite part.

Riding on sister's Power Wheels Quad was a big hit too.

Remember this little cabinet that he loved to sit and open? Now that he pulls up on everything, he loves to stand and play. I set up toys for him on the shelf and he has so much fun playing with them, and throwing them down on the ground.

Nathan really likes this rocker I got at a garage sale last summer for $2. He also loves playing in his room, which makes me happy since I had so much fun setting it up for him when I was pregnant.

So there you have it! It has been busy but I'm thrilled with our completed Creation Unit. Next week my parents are visiting so we probably won't be doing much school, but there will be lots of playing, games, and FUN! I've also decided I'm going to have to make these posts shorter, because this took me way too long to do, especially with all the links. When I started this blog, my goal was not to do any posts that took me longer than one or two breathing treatments sessions. The problem is that I love sharing all the fun things we do! :) For the rest of April we will be doing Easter themed activities that I'm really excited about. I have lots of fun plans, and am looking forward to getting all that stuff ready while I have the extra help. Have a great week and be sure to check out what others are doing at 1+1+1=1 and Homeschool Creations!

Karla

Tot School - Creation Study Week 1

This week we started our two week study on creation! We are going to assemble all our daily projects into a lapbook at the end. Our focus letter this week was K. We are are spending one day on each day of creation, and doing activities centered around what God created that day. In addition, we are singing a super cute creation song I found here. It's got a verse for what God created each day. Naomi loves to sing and it's a fun way for her to learn what God did on each day. I had a hard time getting pictures this week, but I've included what I have. I introduced the unit by going to this link and reading the verses. It was a little over her head, but I thought it was important that she heard the story from the Bible, and not a watered down version to begin with. She liked the music and slideshow too. After that we read the story from her children's Bible, which was much more on her level. I'm also reading this version to Naomi too. Our first day we did activities centered around...

In the Beginning

We talked about how God made the whole world, and how he holds the whole world in his hands. We have "The Whole World" song CD, and book to go with it, so we played that several times, and looked at the pictures. Nathan enjoyed that too. Then she colored this world and hands from here. She's getting so good at her coloring! I cut out the hands but she cut out the world with my guidance.

Doing her "K" Do-A-Dot page from COAH. She can't get enough of these! You can also see where she had been playing with her Lauri stacker pegs. I made a list of all our educational, open ended toys. I use this as a quick reference guide, so I don't have to think. Then, when I'm putting Nathan down for his first nap in the morning, I choose something from the list for her to play with idependently while I put him down. She doesn't HAVE to play with it, but she always does! There's something about me setting a specific item out for her that she really likes. I like it too because 1) it keeps her busy and quiet when I'm putting Nathan down, 2) she's practicing different skills each day through the different toys I choose, 3) all the wonderful, educational toys we have are getting used regularly, instead of sitting forgotten on a shelf. We have lots of stuff, so it's easy for us to forget about things. Not because we don't enjoy them, but because we don't always think about them! This system is accomplishing many goals, requires little thinking on my part, and keeping both Naomi and I happy. :-) I think it's important to mention that, in my opinon, this system wouldn't be nearly as effective if Naomi's room was messy. By setting out one toy in a neat room, it enables her to focus on that one thing. When there are tons of things out, it seems like she drifts amilessly from one thing to the next, without really playing with anything. Not that her room doesn't get messy! It is just part of our bedtime routine to clean it up before she goes to sleep.

Creation Day 1

First we read a mini book version of the creation story. Then I gave Naomi this black sheet of paper and we talked about how in the beginning there was nothing but darkness. Then God spoke and there was light. She was VERY impressed by this! We talked about how after God spoke there was day and night. We kept one side of the paper black to show night, and painted the other side white to represent light and day.

Naomi doing a shape matching activity from 1+1+1=1.

Listening to a Barefoot Book (love these!) on CD. She getting good at listening for the chime and turning the page herself. For us, this was a big step!

Cuteness here joining in on some puzzle fun.

Creation Day 2

Showing how on day two God created the skies and seas. I got this art idea from here. We used cotton balls to make the sky, and then finger painted the sea. To make waves Naomi used the hard tip of a paintbrush.

Tracing the letters in another creation mini book. We do one page for each day. I am going to use these as sequencing cards she can put in order once we get through all the days.

Making music with our various instruments. Nathan was actually really playing the Kazoo! SO CUTE!

"K" is for kite! Naomi had fun making a pattern block kite (from here). Nathan liked exploring the shapes under extremely close supervision!

Creation Day 3

Naomi working with her Lauri foam number puzzles. She really loves these and they are great for counting and number recognition.

God created the land, plants, and trees on day three. This was just a coloring page I printed off. She colored the stems of the flowers and bark of the tree. Then we ripped up little pieces of tissue paper, crumpled them up, and glued them on to make 3D flowers and tree. This was fun! Naomi liked ripping the tissue paper and gluing. I found this idea here. We played a math game online where we counted apples on a tree. It went well with what we were learning this day!

Here Naomi used her Do-A-Dot paint to find the all the letter K's (from COAH). This was a fun twist instead of just circling the letters.

Working on writing the letter K. Naomi likes doing these pages, so I encourage her to continue. I do not think any child should be forced to do worksheets at this age!! She enjoys it, so we do them, otherwise I would not.

Here's a close up of our finished flowers and tree. We were both proud how it turned out!

The main pages I got our printables from were from DLTK and Christian Preschool Printables.

That was our week! We only do planned school activities four days of the week. That gives us a free day for playdates, trips to the library, errands, etc. Also, I always am over enthusiastic in my planning, so by only planning for four days, it gives us one day to finish up anything we didn't get to earlier in the week. We normally do most of our schooling in the morning, and then save our art project for the afternoon. I love schedules and routine, but it does vary from day to day based upon how we are all feeling. If parenting has taught me anything, it is to be more flexible! :)

Check out 1+1+1=1 and Preschool Corner to see what others did this past week! Come by again next week to see the end our our Creation Unit and our finished lapbook.

Karla