Consonant Blends With Candy Land

We have a very reluctant little reader in our house who I always approach with great caution when it comes to her reading.  She loves to be read to and will sit for hours upon hours while I read her a chapter book,  but she instantly clams up and shuts down when she is the one asked to do the reading (even though she can). Usually I come up with creative ways to make our reading time and practice  more fun and to help lessen her anxiety.  This consonant blend Candy Land game was awesome and she really enjoyed playing it! If you are using the Oak Meadow Second Grade Curriculum, these are the blends that you will be asked to review.

First, print the tiles for your game cards HERE   

I apologize in advance, sizing documents properly in word programs is so not my thing,  so please check to make sure it is the right size before you print.  I originally sized this document to fit on a 3x5 index card but the cards would not feed through my printer,  so for my sanity I printed it on regular paper and trimmed up the sides.

After you've printed and trimmed, glue....

...stick the strip on your index card....

...cut between each blend...

And there you have it!  

How we played:

We played the exact same way that we would have played the original Candy Land game but with one added step.  Each time we picked a card we came up with a word for the consonant blend that was on the card before moving ahead.  For example, if I picked "dr" with one yellow square,  my word was "draw" and I advanced to the next yellow square.  If AG picked a double blue with "st" on the card, her word was "star" and she would advance two blue squares.

And thats really all there is to it. Easy way to practice consonant blends and have fun at the same time!

Ant Farm in a Mason Jar

What you will need:

• Two mason jars, one small enough to fit inside the other. 
• About 2 cups of sand or soil 
• Ants 

Directions:

Place the small mason jar inside of the large mason jar upside down or with the lid on.  This will force the ants to tunnel along the outside of the jar and allow you to see their paths! 

Once you have placed the smaller jar inside the larger jar, fill around it with sand just until the top of the smaller jar is covered.  

Search for ants!  From what I've read online it is important to collect ants from the same area because ants from different colonies will fight with each other.  I am defiantly not an ant expert and do not know if this is true, but we did our best to collect ants that were in the same area.  

Hard to see, but we did manage to collect a few! 

Once you have collected your ants, carefully place them in your farm.  This was a little tricky and we did end up losing a few so you should probably do this step outside.  Cover the jar with a piece of fabric and screw on the lid or use the lid of the mason jar, just make sure you poke some holes so the ants can get air!  Once your ants are in their farm, feed them once a week by dropping a few drops of sugar water on the top of the sand/soil!  If you aren't able to make an ant farm, there are plenty online that you can order, although I found them to be a little expensive.  

Have fun!  

Travel Tangram in a Tin

This week in our Oak Meadow second grade curriculum, we learned about Tangrams, a seven piece square that can be rearranged into thousands of shapes!  We had so much fun with the Tangram that was provided to us in our Oak Meadow curriculum that we decided to make our very own teeny tiny Tangram to take with us in the car! Here's how you can make yours at home.

What you will need:

• The following printables.  Please note that I resized these before printing and they may need to be resized on your end as well in order to fit the box that you are using.  

1. "Tangram Puzzle" Printable 
2. Tangram Printable
3. Tangram Diagram Printable

• An empty Altoids tin 
• A sheet of magnetic contact paper (can be found at Walmart, made by Avery)
• Mod Podge 
• Hobby knife

Directions:

Peel the backing off of the magnetic paper 

Stick the Tangram printable to the back of the magnetic sheet and trim the sides.  

Carefully cut along the edges of the shapes within the Tangram. 

I found that you don't have to cut all of the way through the magnet.  Just a light knick and the magnet will bend and snap.  

Brush the inside bottom of the tin with Mod Podge and stick the diagram printable to the bottom.  Apply another coat of Mod Podge over the top of the diagram printable to.

Brush the top of the tin with Mod Podge and lay the "Tangram Puzzle" printable on top.  Apply another coat of Mod Podge over the top to seal. 

When the Mod Podge has dried, your Travel Tangram is ready to use!  

Word Families / Onset and Rime Paint Chip Sliders

Now that we are homeschooling, I try to do everything possible to find exciting ways to teach the kids things that might normally be kind of a bore.  This week AG is reviewing her Oak Meadow word families from the first grade curriculum, so I decided to make some fun (and colorful) sliders for her to review with.  

What you will need:

• Paint chips found at any store that sells paint.  You will need large chips displaying only one color and the long strips that display multiple colors.  The large chips will be for the "onsets" and the long strip will be for the "rimes."
• A large square paper puncher or you can do what I did and make a template and cut the squares using a hobby knife.  
• A black permanent marker. 

Directions:

There really isn't a whole lot to this DIY project.  All you really need to do is make sure that you have a square cut large enough on your "onset" paint chip to display your "rime" paint chip.   Decide how big your hole needs to be, cut or punch (again, I cut by making a template from one of the "rime" chips), and write your onset and rimes accordingly!

For the Oak Meadow first grade curriculum, you will need the following twenty-one word families:

• ad
• ag
• an
• ap
• ar
• at
• aw
• ay
• ed
• et
• id
• ig
• ill
• in 
• ip
• it 
• go
• ot
• ow
• ug
• ut

I copied the pages out of the Oak Meadow "Word Families" book so that AG could use the sliders side by side with the story.

Our Homeschool Week In Review: Week Two

If I could sum up our week in one word it would be COLD! Between trying to fight off a nasty cold bug that eventually ended up getting me and being trapped in the house due to sub zero temperatures and even colder wind chills, this week wasn't as productive and exciting as I wish it could have been.  But as I am often reminded, one of the beauties of homeschooling is that we are able to take the time when we need it to heal ourselves and that as unproductive as our days may have seemed, our children were still learning.  A few homeschool veterans have taught me that after having a week like we just had and when you feel as if you just didn't do enough, take a minute to write down all of the things that you did do.  Chances are, you have done plenty.  :)

Remember, we are starting the Oak Meadow First Grade Curriculum midyear.  This week we covered Lesson 2 for everything except science, which was Lesson 14. Here is our week in review!

This week I traced AG on a sheet of butcher block paper and finished it by drawing her face and clothing.  Judging by the flip-flops, shorts and t-shirt I think someone is read for summer. (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

AG and I made these Paper Roll Poinsettias to hang on her Nature Corner Tree (Oak Meadow Curriculum).  For DIY instructions CLICK HERE. 

We also made these beautiful Origami Window Stars.  For DIY Instructions CLICK HERE.

We tried our best to blow bubbles outside and watch them freeze.  All we ended up with were two giant mason jars full of bubbles.  For bubble recipe CLICK HERE. 

Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders were a big hit and so easy to make.  CLICK HERE for the DIY instructions. 

This week AG decided to take the pictures of her letters in a different direction (Oak Meadow Curriculum). 

This week in science we studied the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees.  Unfortunately all of the deciduous trees in our area are naked.  We were able to pull up some pictures online though and talk about the difference between the two (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

This weeks updated nature table, complete with Paper Roll Poinsettias and Origami Window Stars (Oak Meadow Curriculum). 

Another drawing of a person dressed for warmer weather (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

This week we worked on AG's calendar and added some special events, like mommy's birthday :) (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

Bringing the outside inside by making this adorable "I'm Inside a Snow Globe" project.  CLICK HERE for the DIY instructions. 

This week we introduced the four math symbols  (Oak Meadow Curriculum). 

Winter Sun Catcher.  CLICK HERE for DIY instructions. 

Working with word families (Oak Meadow Curriculum). For DIY instructions CLICK HERE.  

Tangibles (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

Our Homeschool Week In Review: Week One

This week was our first week using the Oak Meadow first grade curriculum.  Because we are starting midyear we had to jump around a bit. Just for reference we covered Lesson 1 for circle time, language arts, mathematics, social studies, music and crafts and Lesson 13 for science. We focused a lot on winter and snow this week which was perfect timing after getting over a foot of snow! Autumn said that she "loved" the curriculum which was reassuring.   :)

Here is our week in review:

 This week we were blessed with an almost 50 degree day so the kids and I decided to take a quick nature walk in the back of our house to gather items for AG's seasonal table.  As you can see that quickly turned into mountain climbing and very few items were collected.  

AG setting up her winter seasonal table (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

 Paper snowflakes (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

The winter seasonal table (Oak Meadow Curriculum).

We decided that AG's seasonal table needed a little more color. 

DAY ONE: Waldorf inspired monthly acorn calendar. CLICK HERE for more information.  

Freezing cold temps and over a foot of snow = lots of winter inspired crafts this week.  I love the way these beautiful Ice Eggs turned out.  CLICK HERE for more information.  

Pumpkin bird feeders.  CLICK HERE for more information. 

We made Sparkly Snow Playdough to compliment our study of snow and winter.   CLICK HERE for more information and the recipe.  

AG practicing her recorder (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

Planting and watering our microgreens.  We planted basil, cilantro, rainbow beets and carrots.  CLICK HERE for more information. 

I can't believe that this was the very first time that we have ever made bread.  It was so EASY! CLICK HERE for recipe.

The Four Processes of Math (Oak Meadow Curriculum)

This is an AWESOME website where you can download beginner phonic books totally FREE with zero commitment. The books can be printed or used on your handheld devices.
CLICK HERE to get yours! 

Oak Meadow Curriculum

Additional resources we found helpful:

Snowflakes and Snow:

Wonders of Weather: Snow

Frozen Planets: Filming Snowflakes Forming