Delk summer school- Day 1

I didn't want to start summer school until after the family vacation and yesterday just wasn't a good day for me to start. So, we started "classes" on a Tuesday and that's OK.

Melissa was a genius and reserved the church's gym every Tuesday morning. This way we have a place to go every week, rain or shine. We have invited other mommies and their kids to join us, and today Kayla and Ansley came. I didn't get any pictures, sorry. Also next week we will come better prepared with jump ropes or something. We had basketballs at the gym, but the kids would have liked something more.

I'm also hoping next week is dry so we can play on the playground outside of the church.

When we got home we did some "lessons".  It was mostly a sit down and focus time.

I got a Summer Program book for Isaac to work through. It's a book of kinder-1st grade activities. Today he worked on the kinder assessment pages.

Then Isaac worked on math. One of the second grade teachers had an extra math workbook from this past year, so I grabbed it up and brought it home with me! Lesson 1-1 Writing Addition Number Sentences.

Our vocabulary words for this lesson. We are going to work on these words- recognizing them, reading them, and using them in context. We made some flash cards and attached them to his chair. He can go over them when he's waiting for lunch and dinner.

The twins worked on 3-letter words. I bought 3-letter word cards a few years ago for Isaac and now it's the twins turn to use them. Abby and Andy put the cards in order, said the word, and wrote the words in their journals.

Abby worked very hard on her letters. She's still working on letter recognition, so when she wrote her letters she had to focus on making the letters look just like the letters on the cards. Honestly, she created her letters the way a painter would create a still-life painting. She looked for lines and curves and wrote to match. When asked if she could read the words without the cards, she couldn't. She was able to spell most of the words, but there was no connection from letters to words yet.

Andy is a different story. He recognized every letter on the card enough to write all of his words in capital letters. After writing the words he was able to read most of the words back to me. He already has a pretty good sight word base. The words he didn't recognize on sight, he also wasn't able to sound out. He knows his sounds, but blending them together isn't there yet.

After reading/ writing practice, the worked on tracing their numbers 1-5.

 Andy did a great job of doing each row in order. He started at the top of each number and followed through to the end.

Abby worked column by column instead of row by row. She also worked backwards, 5-1. She didn't start at the top of each number, she did the curves of the numbers first, then the straight lines. Or, in the case of the 4s, she did the side-to-side lines first, then the up-and-down lines.

I can  tell that I'm going to have a real time teaching Abby. She's more of an artistic learner where I'm not necessarily an artistic teacher. Maybe the best way to describe it is that she and I are both stubborn and are both convinced that our own way is the right way. She hated having to erase her letters when I told her they were backward. She didn't see that the "e"s had to be a certain way to be right. This is going to be fun.

Each kid has his/ her own notebook for their work. I am also documenting their progress each day along with anything I notice about their work.

I'll try to keep everyone posted as to the kids' progress this summer!
The twins are really excited about starting Pre-K this coming school year and I want them to be ready for more structure in their lessons.
Isaac was tested and passed the gifted test last year and will start the program next year. I really don't want him to lose any of his learning over the summer. We will be focusing on his working independently, reading and comprehending directions for himself.

I will be working on creating lessons and activities for my class next year. I'll still be in 3rd grade and my administration wants 3rd grade to be departmentalized. I will be teaching social studies and math small groups. Lord, help me.

Water painting

I remember doing this when we lived in Dickson. I would grab a paint brush and a cup of water and go 'paint' the front porch. Those were the days!

Well, we got bored yesterday, and this seemed like a fun (and cheap) activity. Everyone got a cup of water and some Q-tips. (I'll have to get us some paint brushes)

 Oops! No crying over spilled water! We used it anyway.

Let's spill some more and start finger painting!

It was nice and quiet until the kids realized that water puddles are fun to run through. Whatever. 

And we might have sung a song. 

(sorry about the angle. I forgot that I can't rotate videos when I filmed it.)

Daddy was very impressed when he got home. :)

Car Mats aka- How to Keep the Kids From Killing Each Other

They haven't even been home a whole week and we have already reached that point. My kids love each other- to death. I found an idea on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try. Someone made a race car mat out of a clear shower curtain for her kids to play on. Interesting. Check it out {HERE} Hers is cooler, but I work with what I have!

First I had the kids sit down and color some Community coloring pages. I found them when I was making the Common Core notebooks for K-2. It was with the Kindergarten activities. I can't find the link again, but I will share it if I do. {THIS} is a good site to use as well.

They all had the same pages- no arguing.

I got my supplies ready.

Cheap shower curtain (clear)

multicolor sharpies

clear packing tape

scissors

When the kids were done coloring, I cut the pictures out.

 Then we laid the shower curtain on the floor and the kids placed the pictures all around it. When  everything was in place, I turned the pictures over and taped them to the sc.

Now, there was no way that I was going to make roads through all of this. I'm good, but not that good. So, I cut it into quarters.

4 times the fun! And it won't cause me to have a panic attack!

Then I used the markers to make some roads on the different sections. If I were cooler, I would have used duct tape- it would have made really cool roads. Oh well. 

Here are 2 of the ones I made. (Taped to the wall.)

 Ike wants one of those Hot Wheels things that attaches to the wall, but those are like $30. This is just as good!

We even included Ike's school for next year! I apologize for the lack of pants in these pictures. Since getting back from the baseball trip, the laundry piles are over flowing. If we wear pj's all day, that's less laundry!

And everyone is happy! 

We have one left over, I'm sure we'll figure out something to do with it. :)

They're BAAAAAACK!

It's time for Delk Summer School to resume for the summer of 2012! I know you're excited!

First we started with a search of Pinterest to find some inspiration. Then we took a trip to the Dollar Store and to Walmart. For the most part, it promises to be a colorful summer. Lots of food coloring. Let's get started!

Science- making solutions/ color creating
Skill- patterns/ sorting/ hand-eye coordination
Pinterest link- {HERE}
Title- Coloring pasta made easy!
What we used:

Pasta (1 cup per bag)

rubbing alcohol (2 tbs per bag)

food coloring (3-4 drops per bag)

sandwich bags (1 bag per color)

measuring cup/ spoon

cookie sheet to dry pasta

At the Dollar Store I found these precious aprons for the kiddos. 

 I also grabbed a cheap plastic tablecloth. After this activity, I will be investing in a $3.88 one from Walmart. My kids need things to be sturdy. 

 All ready to go! Andy had to be convinced that this was going to be fun. We had to pry him away from all of his cars. 

Step 1: Mix 2tbs rubbing alcohol and 3-4 drops food coloring into baggies.

 Abby chose pink.

Isaac chose blue.

Andy chose yellow.

Step 2: Add 1 cup of pasta into the baggies and shake baggies to coat all the pasta.

 Abby's did turn pink, but Isaac's blue was more green. Isaac told me, "Mommy the noodles are yellow and yellow and blue is green." Well, I'm glad he wasn't depressed!

Step 3: Spread the pasta out on a cookie sheet for it to dry. I might have confiscated some of Joe's gardening trays for this. But I covered them in aluminum foil so he'll never know!

Step 4- Let them dry! The blog I used said it can dry in an hour, but she left hers overnight. I let it dry while we played some more then ate lunch.

 We aren't going to use these today, but tomorrow we will look at patterns. This can also be used for coloring rice. That would be lots of fun... for another day!

What were we doing while the pasta was drying? Making a mess! I talked to Aunt Jenny before starting this activity and she mentioned letting her kids color some pasta she had and creating some fancy jewelry. Great idea!

I had some pasta left over from the school year. My students created some jewelry for our Kwanza celebration. Basically, I've had a box of extra pasta sitting in my trunk since before Christmas.

 Hard at work! Isaac's counting his first. 

 Pipe cleaners. Bought last year and left untouched until today!

 Isaac took turns putting noodles on one side then the other. Andy made a 'train' out of his noodles.

Finished products! Isaac stopped at making a necklace. Abby and Andy wanted bracelets as well.

Notice how Abby only used pinks for her bracelet.

That would be marker above her lip.

The best part about the necklaces and bracelets- they gave my kids superpowers that turned them into dancing machines! Click {HERE} or watch it below. That's Veggie Tales in the background.

After this was lunch, then NAP! Check back again soon- we're sure to be up to something!