Flower Week TUESDAY Schedule (plus links to printables!)

Everyday activities:

Study vocabulary words. I like to use Montessori-style nomenclature cards for these. I print and laminate them, then cut them apart and punch holes in the corners. For some reason, my kids love flipping through the cards when they're on a little binder ring. More fun than a flat page I suppose! Download your free flower nomenclature cards HERE. She has a whole bunch of awesome nomenclature card sets for free to download, and I would suggest getting them all! But for this week specifically, scroll down just a smidge and click on "Flowers" under the heading "Nomenclature/3-part cards.

Work on beginning alphabet sounds. This week I chose to use the cards from a set of printables you can download HERE. Many of my resources are coming from that set, so while you're in there, go ahead and get all three parts. Again, I love to laminate these and put them on the binder ring. That way you can use a clothespin to mark the correct letter, or a dry erase marker.

Work on counting skills. I am using the counting clip cards that you can download HERE. I'm also having several of my resources coming from that set. Laminate, put them on the binder ring. Use a clothespin to mark the correct number, or a dry erase marker.

 Practice letter tracing. The set you downloaded for the alphabet sounds (HERE if you still need them) includes three alphabet pages. P for Pots, G for gloves, and S for Seeds. I laminate those as well, and the kids love doing them over and over again.

Scissor or prewriting practice. I found these in the set you downloaded for the counting cards (HERE if you still need them). If you intend on using these for prewriting practice, go ahead and laminate them. If you prefer to use them for your little ones to work on their scissor skills, just print them on regular paper.

Tuesday activities:

Color Flowers. A great science experiment to demonstrate how a plant's root system brings nutrients up from the soil. I chose carnations because they are my favorite (and they usually aren't expensive), but I would imagine any white flower would work. I bought three skinny vases so each of my children could choose a color - but any vase or tall glass would do the job as well. You can find a good tutorial HERE.

Flower Play Doh Invitation. My kids love the stuff - we have enough Play Doh equipment to entertain a preschool class. For today, I will set up a (conveniently flower-shaped) snack tray with Doh and various elements to prompt their creativity. Flower cookie cutters, buttons, pipe cleaners, jewels, and silk flowers. I also found a fondant mold in my stash of stuff. It'll be fun to see where they take the activity. Inspiration found HERE.

Measure Garden Tools. I wanted to introduce my older boys to the concept of measuring. So I made up a little worksheet HERE. I'll have them measure the items and discuss how to read a ruler. It will also help with some number recognition. I found little set at the dollar store that included a small measuring tape and a dressmakers tape - I think those will work nicely since they are always trying to steal mine!






Pattern Blocks. I recently purchased some plastic pattern blocks and the kids love matching them to the printable designs I've found online. Great for working on shapes, colors, and analytical thinking skills. HERE is the link to a ton of free printable designs, and HERE if you want a flower specifically. Don't have any pattern blocks? She also has some printable ones HERE you can use!

Work on your Plant Lapbook. Work on this project one little piece each day, and by the end of the week your child will have their own little display of everything they learned. Great for showing off to family members and for reviewing the information after the theme week is finished. For the assembly of the actual lapbook, see HERE. For today, we'll add a flip book about the parts of a flower to the inside of one of the side flaps. Download your flipbook HERE.

Flower Week MONDAY Schedule (plus links to printables!)

Everyday activities:

Study vocabulary words. I like to use Montessori-style nomenclature cards for these. I print and laminate them, then cut them apart and punch holes in the corners. For some reason, my kids love flipping through the cards when they're on a little binder ring. More fun than a flat page I suppose! Download your free flower nomenclature cards HERE. She has a whole bunch of awesome nomenclature card sets for free to download, and I would suggest getting them all! But for this week specifically, scroll down just a smidge and click on "Flowers" under the heading "Nomenclature/3-part cards.

Work on beginning alphabet sounds. This week I chose to use the cards from a set of printables you can download HERE. Many of my resources are coming from that set, so while you're in there, go ahead and get all three parts. Again, I love to laminate these and put them on the binder ring. That way you can use a clothespin to mark the correct letter, or a dry erase marker.

Work on counting skills. I am using the counting clip cards that you can download HERE. I'm also having several of my resources coming from that set. Laminate, put them on the binder ring. Use a clothespin to mark the correct number, or a dry erase marker.

 Practice letter tracing. The set you downloaded for the alphabet sounds (HERE if you still need them) includes three alphabet pages. P for Pots, G for gloves, and S for Seeds. I laminate those as well, and the kids love doing them over and over again.

Scissor or prewriting practice. I found these in the set you downloaded for the counting cards (HERE if you still need them). If you intend on using these for prewriting practice, go ahead and laminate them. If you prefer to use them for your little ones to work on their scissor skills, just print them on regular paper.

MONDAY:

Go to the library. Have your children ask their librarian to help them find books about plants or flowers. Search for at least one that discusses the life cycle of a plant - something you can use to talk about all the different stages of a plant's development.


Investigate seeds. Take your seed packets, and empty each set of seeds into a snack size ziploc bag with the package. (So no one eats them or dumps them all over the floor) Talk about how flowers start as tiny little seeds and grow! Use your magnifying glasses to examine the seeds. Talk about each seed - ask them which are the biggest, which are smallest. Have you seen these kind of seeds before (such as watermelon seeds). I got the idea from HERE.

(Some more good resources for seeds can be found HERE.)

Plant a bean in a jar or old CD case. A classic science experiment for kids of any age - a great walkthrough of the experiment is HERE.

"Roll a Flower" activity. This looks like a fun game for the kids to play! Roll the dice to see which part of the flower you get to lay down. I may print two sets of this game, so both of my boys can play together. Laminate for extra durability! Found in the set you got the counting cards from (HERE if you still need them).

Flowers in a strainer. Perfect simple activity for my littlest one. Just take your silk flowers (after you cut them into the individual stems) and have them stick the stems into an overturned strainer. Fun, simple, and I know it'll keep her occupied for quite a while! Idea found HERE.








Garden sensory bin. This one you'll probably have to keep up all week, if your kids are like mine! A sensory bin is one of the most anticipated activities for any theme week! Fill a bin with pinto beans, add some small pots or containers, silk flowers, and some kid-sized gardening tools.





Start your Plant Lapbook. Work on this project one little piece each day, and by the end of the week your child will have their own little display of everything they learned. Great for showing off to family members and for reviewing the information after the theme week is finished. For the assembly of the actual lapbook, see HERE. For this first day, we'll work on a mini book for the plant life cycle. Download HERE.

More of the schedule to come!

Flower Theme Week Supplies List

Here is the list of items you'll need if you choose to follow along with all of the activities we will be doing for Flower Week. Remember that some items may be in your house already (if you hoard supplies like me), and I try really hard to get a majority of my supplies at my local dollar store. I will put an asterisk (*) next to any item that I usually can find at my Dollar Tree.

Basic supplies to have on hand for this and any future Theme Weeks:
toilet paper/paper towel tubes
straws*
file folders*
glue sticks*
child size scissors* (preferably one for each child)
markers/crayons/colored pencils/etc*
hole punch*
binder rings*
cardstock and copy paper
laminating machine and laminating pouches (optional but highly recommended)
buttons*
stickers*
pipe cleaners*
dry erase markers*
pompom balls*
paper plates*
large shallow plastic tub to use as a sensory bin

Supply list for Flower Week:
magnifying glass* (preferably one for each child)
3-5 packets of various seeds*
food coloring*
vases* (preferably one for each child)
small thongs or tweezers* (big enough to pinch a pompom ball)
child size garden tools or sandbox tools*
gardening gloves*
silk flowers* (I picked one bunch of each color of the rainbow)
small pots or cups* (I just am going to use empty frosting containers)
plastic strainer*
wood skewers*
Play-doh (or make your own)
pinto beans (enough to fill the bottom of your large plastic tub)
clay (I use the Crayola brand air dry clay found at Wal-Mart)
rubber stamps (optional)
flower and heart cookie cutters* (found these at Dollar Tree)
white carnations (preferably purchased as close to our starting Monday as possible)
inexpensive bouquet of various real flowers

Suggested food list for theme snacks and meals:
cantaloupe
strawberries
kiwi or grapes
bananas
chocolate pudding
oreos
waffles

Next I'll be posting our week's schedule of activities. Keep watching for that so you can get all your links for printables!

Introduction to Theme Weeks at Blue Donkey Diaries

Welcome to Blue Donkey Diaries!

I hope you're ready to do a Theme Week with us!

One of the great benefits of educating our own children is doing school - and life - at the pace that works for us. Another great benefit is doing those things alongside other families that know and understand the excitement, struggles, and joy that comes with the whole process. Since I am doing all this planning for fun themed weeks of school for my little ones, I thought I'd share the process and the links for you to follow along with us! Whether you do it on the same week as my family, or at some other time, I hope you find the resources I've gathered and created here to be useful in your own homeschool environment.

Now, please keep in mind that my children are all under the age of five, and I plan my school according to that general age range. As they get older, my material and activities will mature - but I am just getting started with this homeschool thing... just like you!

For each theme week, I will be posting a list of supplies and links to download printables. I try to do my school as inexpensively as possible, so you shouldn't have to spend much. Most projects will likely be using basic things you probably already have in the house. Some activities that I post may not be available to you, if the specific toys or games aren't already in your closet full of hoarded school stuff arsenal. I'll post links to Amazon so you can see if that particular thing is something you feel you would get a lot of use out of, but to be honest, I usually find things at my local thrift store. I never pass up a 30.00 game for 4.00 - even if there are pieces missing!

The printables will always be free, and I will post links to the other blogs that offer them. If it is something that I made myself, I will post a link to download them from Dropbox. I will always offer my own created items for free downloads, but you will have the opportunity to purchase some things such as the custom stickers I make from home. No obligation there, though. 

So get your shopping list made, and get printing all those worksheets! Include the kids in as much of the preparation as possible - they love knowing they were helpful. Visit the Facebook Page to post pictures of your family during the Theme Week, be notified when new Themes are posted, and to contribute your own ideas for future Weeks!

Don't feel obligated to do all of the activities I have listed - gosh, some weeks, I don't even get to it all! But I hope you'll find this a good resource and a fun place to share life and school... together!

I will admit that I have not been feeling myself the last few days - with the responsibilities at home, the many projects I have taken on, and the general fatigue that comes with being the vessel to create a new child. I have not been as diligent as I intended in keeping up with my blog posts. Tonight I am still pretty preoccupied with my other projects, but I will go ahead and share with you some pictures from the last few days bird-themed activities.



Working on bird journals



We made "binoculars" so we could bird watch better.



They seem to enjoy them!



We also did a bird themed sensory bin - that was a big hit.



Deker was tasked with "egg cracking", and he did well recognizing his numbers. The hole punch was a little stiff and he mixed up his six and nine, but he wanted to do that activity again and again. He then proudly glued them into his bird journal as proof of his hard work.



A last-minute attempt at a bird lunch.



New bird journal pages - Deker did the ones on top, Miles on the bottom.



And this morning we went to Lowe's for a free bird feeder build. (Seriously, they have great builds every month for free - go to lowesbuildandgrow.com and register your kids for the next one!)
They each wanted their names on them - Deker has his on the bottom, but Miles insisted on having his name right on the front.

And that concluded my week as far as bird work. I still have more that I didn't get around to for some reason or another, so we'll probably continue for a while longer. I'll be sure to keep up with the journals, as that seems to be a favorite. I think the next Lowe's build is a planter of some kind - maybe I'll start planning some kind of botany week for next month ...

Bird Week - Day 2

We spent the first half of the day getting everyone fed and dressed and organized before heading to the library. You really underestimate sometimes how very long it takes to prepare three small kids for the day. Especially if you have to go somewhere.

Story time at our local library is at 11:15, and it's only about six minutes from our house. So naturally, we started to leave at 10:15. And somehow - between mismatched socks, a four-year-old fit about not bringing his own books to the library, a two-year-old fit about not getting his shoes on right but not wanting help, and a little pig-tailed princess who ran off giggling about who knows what - we squeaked into the parking lot at 11:06. Just enough time to play with some toys before they invited us in for stories.

Story time is always fun for the kids, although none of my kids ever participate in the silly songs or movements. We don't get out much with other kids, so I assume that's why. But today was encouraging, as Miles and Teyla both were starting to do as the others did. Deker still needs some prodding, one day he'll come around.

After books were chosen, and the car was reloaded, we met Kyle for lunch in between jobs. It was nice to hang out with Dad a little before heading home for naps.

Again, not a whole lot of birdie things went on here today. Ugh. I'll make it up tomorrow, I promise. But I have to head to town AGAIN in the morning, to hit the post office and get an injection at the doctors office a half hour away. Might have to try to squeeze in some activities before we leave this time. I'm hoping to work on egg and nest related things in the afternoon.

We did begin the boy's Bird Journals after dinner. I made stickers using graphics from exploringnature.org and my Silhouette cutting machine, all of birds that I know are local and we've seen (or hope to see) near our feeder.



I asked them to color a small page of a bird of their choosing, trying their best to make them look like the actual birds. Matching the bird's colors and markings seemed a little out of their league, but I asked anyway. At two and four, I wasn't expecting much cooperation or a comparable end result - but I was reminded once again that I don't give these kids enough credit some days.

Deker chose to do his cardinals, and Miles chose a woodpecker.



They added a sticker of that bird to the page for reference, and I wrote Deker's observations on his page. I must saw I was pleasantly surprised at the level of attention the two of them gave to this little project.



Do you see how well Deker matched the male and female markings? And he didn't just color in those black eye patches, he drew them first.



More stickers were necessary to decorate the front.

When you lay it all out like this, it doesn't seem like I did much for school today. But I do count the library trip as school, and we did come home with a few new bird books to read. Besides, we barely got through dinner because the kids were constantly screeching when a bird came to the feeder, and telling us all about them and what they were doing. Miles didn't even finish his fruit - now that says something.

All-in-all, today was pretty good. Hoping to have a more interesting Bird Week post for you tomorrow, but we'll just see how things go!

Today started our Bird Week for school. I'm still in the beginning stages of homeschooling, as my kiddos are 4, 2, and 1. I'm still figuring out how I want to structure things, and what curriculum to choose, and how to do a range of ages at the same time - but for now, I am trying to make it fun to learn as much as we can. This week, that means crafts to make and books to read about birds, and hopefully some of the activities will be fun and help the kids recall some of the information I'll stuff into their minds. So, here we go!

Things started last night with a lazy quick dinner of grilled cheese and ramen noodles. Why not make it bird shaped? (I've got a million cookie cutters, may as well put them to use!)

This morning I meant to be super mom and make some form of birdie breakfast, but we ended up with waffles or cereal, since this pregnant momma is tired from the get-go. Once the kids had some independent playtime - aka: time for mommy to sit in her recliner and ponder where she can purchase a little more sleep - I sat them down and began to "do school". Keep in mind, I have no clue what I'm doing, and that all my kids are young. Deker is 4.5, Miles is 2.5, and Teyla is just past 1. It's an interesting set of ages with varying degrees of skill and patience, but I do what I can to make it engaging.

By the time I sat everyone down, it was snack time. So I combined food and education as best as I know how. We were learning about bird beaks and what they eat with those special types of bills. We started with the hummingbird.



We had hummingbird books from Chick-Fil-A, and the reference page I found here:
http://feederwatch.org/learn/identifying-birds/#download-feederwatch-posters



A little red Kool-Aid in a juice glass, a silk flower (with the bottom cut off to make a wider hole), and a straw "beak" made for some fun make-believe as we imagined how a hummer might get his nectar. After that experiment and the reading of the books, we filled our feeder and placed it outside.



Next course for snack was "bird feed". As we read about beaks, we munched on a trail mix that consisted of peanuts, cashews, almonds, raisins, Craisins, and shelled sunflower seeds. The flip cards are of different beaks and a bird that has that type. I found those for free to download here:
http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Animal-Adaptation-Birds-Beaks-SCF-69.htm



Deker took it literally and used his "beak".



Next was an idea that Deker actually helped with. We needed, of course, gummy worms for Bird Week, but as we were shopping for those, he saw new gummy snakes and Swedish fish. Naturally, he reasoned that some birds like worms, but some birds eat snakes and fish, too. Who was I to argue? We bought all three kinds of bird "prey".



Teyla particularly enjoyed the worms.



Lunch today was a birdhouse pizza with a breadstick roof and a cheese bird (using those cutters again!). Sometimes as I'm making these crazy thoughtful themed meals and snacks, I wonder why I'm trying so hard. It's just food. But when you see how excited they are when they are handed that plate, it's not just food. It's a memory. It's a fun thing that doesn't usually happen every day, and that matters. Sometimes it is the small things that stick in their minds the most.

Not much else bird-related was done the rest of the day. After lunch was naps (for all of us), and then a long stretch of outside playtime, since it was 74 degrees and not terribly windy. Then the standard distractions of preparing dinner (which I chose not to do bird themed) and then feeding dinner and then baths and stories and then the day was over.

I'm not too worried, though. Even though we only did a few things, it was still enough to get them talking and thinking about birds. And there was a lot of time spent in front of the window quietly watching our bird feeder and identifying birds with their laminated print outs.

And you know what? They want to do more "bird school" tomorrow.

I count the day as a success.