Saturday, May 26, 2012

Tot School: Pink, Trees and Sea life -a busy week


This week was kind of hectic. Miss K is finishing up First grade and we had some projects to finish up for an Art and science fair. Instead of having Mini Piwi do separate activities this week she was learning along side big sis. As I should have known, she loved it! Miss K wasn't always so sure but it was an important lesson in patience and tolerance for her. I love watching them hang out!


Monday: Mini Piwi mixed colors like there was no tomorrow on a giant cut up box -she started with a brush when she was trying to be like her big sis but gave in to temptation when I demonstrated the finger painting alternative. The only thing she enjoyed even more was watching the colors in the bottom of the shower when she showered later (no amount of wipes was going to get all that paint off!).
Tuesday: Making a Wilbur mask for Big sis's Charlotte web theme

Tuesday: Pink activity, stickers, glue and cutting paper -some of mini piwis favs!





Wednesday: Nature Study at the park -Mini Piwi collected leaves, made a 'club house' under this pine tree and had her first go doing a  leaf rubbing

Thursday we baked desserts for a homeschool event
Mini Piwi mashes up the bananas for choc zucchini muffins

Friday we took a feild trip to the Sealife where Mini Piwi...
hunted for clues to the quiz

Petted a chocolate chip starfish

Met a decorator crab

Got a very close look at sharks and stingrays -by lying on the glass floor

Friday field trip: Under the sea to meet a Sea turtle

This week we visited Sea life to welcome their new Sea turtle, Hope. We had found out recently that she had been rehabilitated by Florida turtle hospital. Hope was hit by a boat and her injury resulted in her only being able to float. . When we saw her today, she had a white patch on her back which was a weight to help her sink to deeper water. The weights can come off so she can't be released back into the wild. I wish we had got some better pictures of her because she was beautiful!

Thank you to Florida turtle hospital for saving this amazing animal
you can get a virtual tour of the hospital here
We checked out the site and met Tini, he is a tough little guy recovering from a virus AND shark attack.

Some other highlights from the visit were the touch tank, the Sealife quiz card and the shark walk...
touching a chocolate chip starfish


One of the quiz questions scattered around the center

Miss K inside a viewing bubble

Mini Piwi getting a very close look by lying on the ground in the shark walk

One view of the shark and rays

Meeting a decorator crab




Friday, May 25, 2012

Plant unit wrap-up

I wanted to show off all the hard work Miss K put into her Plant unit Study!
Here is the finished (very large) lapbook...


Parable of the sower mini book , collage of plants we eat, definition of vegetable and drawings of favorite veggies


List of what we use plants for, edible plant part match up

Labeling plant parts, observation of a plant (snapdragon)

Definition of a stem, Results from an investigation of water flow through a celery stem

Labeling of a seed, observation of a soaked chickpea

Leaf study

Definition of roots and Chlorophyll minibook

Leaf mini book


Definition of fruit and flowers and drawings of favorites

Types of tree word find, tree part labeling

How maple syrup is made mini book

What I learn't about trees by Miss K



 Resources
I made up most of the lap book parts with the activities and worksheets from this book:
It seems to be out of print but it still looks readily available on amazon, alibris and ebay for less than $10. It is full of great resources for plants, animals, the human body, geology, forces...

Here is a list and the links to of all our activities:
Stems are plant straws: learning how plants transport water
Organic gardening kit -Growing tomatoes and lettuce
Seed germination experiment:
Mini House
Community garden nature study
Deciduous and Evergreen tree hunt nature study
Making seed 'handbags'
 


Online resources we used

Parable of the sower resources (including the mini book we used)
Community garden locator for nature studies
Tree shape printable for poems, writing etc
www.seedsofchange.com
Parts of plant worksheet
TLC Plant activities for kids
Science game for kids -Grow your own plants

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Plant Science Lapbook and Unit study

All the Plant activities the Piwi's did in the last few months have finally come together in a (very large) lap book.

Parable of the sower, plant parts, plant observation and plant uses


Science experiment report, Fruit and flowers, Tree parts and types. The space is for Miss K's tree poem


Seed dissection report and diagram, seed types, leaf studies,


Here is a list and the links to of all our activities:

Mini Green House

Stems are plant straws: learning how plants transport water

Organic gardening kit -Growing tomatoes and lettuce

Seed germination experiment 


Community garden nature study

Deciduous and Evergreen tree hunt nature study

Lap book assembly:

Many of the mini books are filled with the activities and worksheets from this book:
It seems to be out of print but it still looks readily available on amazon, alibris and ebay for less than $10. It is full of great resources for plants, animals, the human body, geology, forces...


You can see all of Miss K's hard work in her Lapbook here in the Plant Wrap up
Online Resources:

Parable of the sower resources (including the mini book we used)
Community garden locator for nature studies
Tree shape printable for poems, writing etc
www.seedsofchange.com
Parts of plant worksheet
TLC Plant activities for kids
Science game for kids -Grow your own plants

Nature Study: Evergreen and Deciduous trees

The week's nature study had the Piwi's searching for Evergreen trees and Deciduous trees.

Cones and needles on an evergreen


Deciduous leaf rubbing

Miss K does a Deciduous bark rubbing and Mini Piwi collects leaves

Tot school: Color mixing

I brought out the paints for Miss K's diorama. Initially, Mini Piwi wanted to paint a box too just like Miss K. However after I demonstrated a bit of finger painting, she couldn't resist! It turned into a full on color mixing episode. By the time Mini Piwi had had enough she looked like the incredible hulk and had a great time watching the paint go down the drain in the shower.



 

About