Exploring School Spaces

Ah, there are such wonderful "ideas" out there and when we were planning on moving, I was browsing all sorts of pics of "school spaces".  I was so so excited with the thought of having a separate school space.  Why?  I had a small house and lots of kids in the house!

My first year with MVCA, a K12 run online public school  I had these kiddos....

the next year I had these... with a baby included by December. 

Where ever we were...we filled up the room.  Most days there were children in all rooms of the house and the bathroom/laundry room was covered in art projects.  We had to clean up at every transition,  AM snack, lunch, supper (in which we needed to find homes for all the materials until the next day).  Things would go from table to counter to floor to table to counter to floor, etc. It was a hassle.  Couldn't walk across the living room without stepping on something or someone.    It was a house bursting at its seams.  However, that being said, this fall when I was entering into applesauce season...I really missed schooling in our kitchen!  I can't supervise school and wash/slice and cook those apples when the kids are in the basement!  LOL  And, yes, the kids do much better with an adult presence.  In the old house, I could be anywhere in the house and hear and know just what was going on and they could hear me.  However, in this house and them in the basement.  Ha!  Yep...it really cuts down what you are able to do during "school hours".  I'm a pretty good multitasker....but set up really makes a difference.  Ha!  Ah, well, as I always say....

PROS AND CONS TO EVERYTHING!

So, back to the "new" house.  We are "making do".  It's lovely to have space where I don't have to clean up and move things every time I turn around.  I really can't put stuff up on the walls like I wanted because of the dampness, temperature at night etc.  Just like at a school I use to work at.  By morning, most things were on the floor.  Oh well.  We were bumbling along.  I'm mainly was with T., the kinder most mornings and I was constantly knocking things off his desk and complaining about lighting so this weekend I got to work and moved this half of the basement around to look like this.

There isn't a perspective to get the whole side...there are shelves along the right side that you can't see...I decided to go ahead and bring in the filing cabinet (even though I don't like it in there) so we had a magnetic surface to work on, right next to the kinder's desk.  :-)  Practicality weighing over appearance.  

I put a table along the back wall...so I would stop knocking everything over.  I moved T.'s computer to the other side of the room so that the lights were directly behind us.  His desk was on the right side but as you can see....the lights were not placed in the middle of the room.  Isn't that interesting? :-D  Today was our first morning like this.  It's not what I ever imagined...some day we'll get custom shelving in there and all the mismatched shelves gone.  More organization but until then...I can live with it.  :-D  I could see everything and I had no issues with knocking things over . That table in the back I just set all his phonics activities in a line and we went from one to another.  No pushing things to the floor to make room for something else, no shuffling through the pile trying to find what I need.   All at our fingertips!

The HIGHLIGHT! 

The dry erase board got mounted!!!!  This was a $12 find at a sale this summer!  YIPPEE!  

My bet is that it's going to get a lot of use!

* This is one side of our basement.  The stair case goes down in the "middle" and so the room is broken up.  On the east side it is mainly storage cabinets and my two older son's desks/computers.  A bit more cozy, but it works.  The kids all play on the west side though....more floor space.

February 3-7, 2014

Miss E. Snapshots

Helping hands!  Typically this is at her free time and so this means even more to me because she (and the others also) are wanting to interact with baby when they could be playing instead.  Such skills and empathy is being learned!  One benefit of schooling at home, for sure!

Preschool

www.makinglearningfun.com for pattern block letters.

Rhyming Cards

These were "clip a rhyme" strips but I provided a transparent chip.  He arranged the strips in front of him, placed a chip on the first picture, then slid the chip across the strip, saying the picture words until he found one that rhymed with the first picture.

 Snowman Ten Frames

He added buttons and wrote the addition problem on the bottom.  I love that now he is talking about adding in his play.  Yesterday, on the way home from the store, he was eating chocolate covered raisins and told me...Mom, 1+2+2=5!  And that same night, as he was feeding baby E. he was doing more random adding. When it starts coming out in their "play", you know they "got it!"

 He created a picture and letters with colored craft sticks and then drew the representation in his sketchbook using the corresponding colored pencils.  

Watercolors and Snow

I saw on Pinterest that someone used watercolors and snow.  I have always used food colored water and eye droppers....so wanted to give this a try.  Can't say it makes the boldest colors but he did enjoy the "science" behind what happens to the snow on the paint brush when he dipped it in the water.  Ha!

Every Friday I try to give him a "whole alphabet" writing task.  It helps me see where he is at with correct letter formation.

Language Arts

Language Arts1 is quite a bit different than last year . It covers the same things, of course, but much more visually appealing and they have a journal this year!  Love it!

Spelling

Had quite a bit of writing to do this day so he just used magnetic letters to build his words and used the Say, Spell, Say method.  

 Spelling Word Train

 Marks on the window is often a kid favorite.  Actually, I've been known to do mini lessons at the door if they are sitting at that computer right there.  Very convenient!

Ha! This makes me smile and I don't even really remember what we were all laughing about.
 
Making Sentences Bigger/Combining Sentences
 Anyway....we made a mistake and did the wrong writing sheet.  I remember thinking...what?!  They expect her to know this already?  Obviously, she didn't.  So after I pulled out the index cards and etc and did a more hands-on approach to using conjunctions (which we have discussed regularly with our whole group grammar talks and they love the SchoolHouse Rock:  Conjunction Junction) and combining sentences I see the sheet were were SUPPOSE to be doing first.  Ah well...it's still a concept that takes practice and we'll be doing just that.  I did want to say though...actually being able to manipulative those words and punctuation marks....made a world of difference!

Math3:  Elapsed Time

This is relative easy for C.  Actually, most math is.  However, he loved using "his" clock to work his problems....made it a bit more enjoyable.  Same for using his calendar for elapsed time on a calendar.

Misc. Pictures

Happy Birthday to my eldest boy...11 years old already!  A quick celebration because we'll be celebrating with the rest of the family on the weekend.  :-)

 

We had left over cupcakes that the children could decorate, if they wished, for snack.  :-)  Below, A. is working with his brand new microscope and sharing the experience with the 2nd grader!

I commented that I had learned that Lincoln was actually sitting in the memorial on the back of the penny.  Then a couple of comments were made to make me feel like I should have known that already.  Well, I didn't and I wonder how many more people do not know it.  Yes, in the actual Memorial, Lincoln is sitting there...hard to miss....but in the Memorial on the back of the penny...did you know?  It's very hard to see if you aren't looking for it..but we did find it with the microscope!  

 She finished her sewing project!  She as very proud of her stuffed kitty cat and I was quite pleased with her willingness to work a little here and there and complete the project.

My 2nd oldest kiddo...this is a typical sight.

Art 

 Art1:  Vincent VanGogh
We decided to do a different approach to the art project.  :-)  "Fingerpainting".  :-D


 Art2:  Cityscape

 These are awful snapshots of their end products.  I hadn't flattened them and water color on this particular brand of construction paper always dries wrinkled.  You'll have to take my word for it that, in person, they are quite lovely!  :-)

1st grader and preschooler, pretty similar to my demonstration...the 1st grader did a reflection.

2nd grader and 5th grader above and 3rd grader below.  Hard to see, but they all did reflections.  Older two were very specific in stating they were planning on creating abstract art.  :-)

 We initially were attempting to do the Usborne approach to using oil pastels and then pressing the print on the other half...didn't work, no matter how hard we pressed those oil pastels.

Science

Science3:  A Science Class Connect w/ experiment of which material conducts heat the best.  

Science5:  A bombed science experiment......but he had fun distracting us with the balloons. 

It's always good for an experiment not to work every once in awhile...it helps them think critically about why it didn't and they'll learn from that the next time.  

Science2:  Three Types of Rocks

Sedimentary- L. and C. layered sediment and added pressure.

It turned into a yummy treat on yogurt and pudding.

Our sediment was 

crushed pb cereal, coconut, hammered chocolate chips, white chocolate chips

T. and K. created metamorphic rocks by layering various types of chocolate chips, graham crackers and marshmallows.  We baked it (added heat) and then added pressure.

Definitely a very yummy slop!

 A. created igneous rock- white chocolate chips and red food coloring.  He then created rocks on wax paper that cooled very quickly and they also enjoyed snacking on.  Talk about a sugar overload day!

We explored, sorted, classified rocks.  Magnify glasses are what we usually use but this year we had the microscope for the first time!  FUN STUFF!

Here is a nice visual for the 3 types of rocks!

Science 2:  Fossils!

 THEY LOVED THIS!

 T. decided he was going to explore more with play dough during his work time!

I had gone looking for a dough recipe for this and lo and behold, found someone else who had done the same project.  Ha!  

The Imagination Tree is where I got the salt dough recipe from and she also used shells.

For the 5 kids I mixed

2 C. flour

 2 C. salt

1 C. water

I mixed it all together at once, so it as a bit "salty" as we were working with it.  She suggests mixing the flour and salt together first then adding water.  Then kneed until no longer sticky.  This amount allowed them to create 4 different fossils.  We baked at 200* for about 2 or so hours, then flipped them over and baked another hour or so.

Science2:  Earth's Layers

 Rolling out the dough and creating the layers by folding them up over top of the original ball-inner core.  

 Getting a little help from the fifth grader who absolutely loved this idea of a project.  Unfortunately, this project takes a hoard of play doh so he just helped the 2nd grader instead of making his own.  (We did use play doh as we really didn't have enough colors of clay.  Really, it was much easier for L. to manipulate than the clay would have been and it turned out just fine!

Science1:  Animals

Aw!  Didn't she do a great job creating a tree frog?  It really is just a paper craft...good scissor skill practice.  Wish we had time to do more of it.  K. does the most because she usually has more time than the other kiddos.  You can find the link to this pattern at Learn Create Love.

Science3:  Human Body

C. went through his human body unit on his own and now we are going to spend a few weeks doing group lessons/activities with all the systems since every grade level does SOMETHING about these wonderful bodies of ours!  :-)