More preschool fun!

We've had two more weeks of literature unit studies that I (and the girls) have really enjoyed.  First we used Katie No Pocket with Before Five in a Row as our guide.

Monday-found Australia on the map.  Discussed that it is a continent, a country and an island.  We looked at Hawaii and talked about how it is also an island.  I also mentioned briefly that Australia is the smallest continent.  We put a story disk with Katie and Freddy on Australia and colored the Australian flag.

Tuesday-Please forgive me...I cannot remember what we did this day other than color a K for Kangaroo printable!  I think this was the day we talked about kindness to others and giving to those in need like the "man with the apron" did.  We also made a card for a sick friend. 

Wednesday- Art day.  We did a "what lives in a tree" activity.  We looked throughout the book at the pictures of what different things we saw living in trees and talked about what things live in trees.  I cut and pasted a simple tree on some cardstock for each of them.  I also made several small pictures of different things such as squirrels, birds, apples, shoes, and shirts and had the girls choose which things lived in a tree and then paste them onto their tree. 

Thursday- Science.  We printed off the animal cards for the story from homeschool share.  I didn't do a lot with them, but Thea enjoyed laying them out and looking at them.  We talked about the difference between a tortoise and a turtle and I helped her name the animals she could not identify...like the opossum.  We also acted out the different ways that the mother animals in the stories carried...or did not carry their children.  This was lots of fun!  I have fond memories of doing the exact same thing with Ashton and Landon when they were doing BFIAR.

Friday-fun and games...we had a four day week.

Next up I made up my own unit study using The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.  I did this unit with the boys and loved it and I thought my girls would, too.  Each day we did a sheet or two from the pretty bugs free printable preschool pack for cutting, coloring, letters, beginning sounds, etc.  Rather than list what we did each day (i just can't remember exactly) I'll just say some of the fun things we did!

• Learned a poem entitled Bugs, Bugs, Bugs.  I enjoyed hearing the girls randomly recite it as we went about our day.  
• "Count the caterpillar".  I drew a few caterpillars made up of different amounts of circles.  The girls counted the circles.
• Measure the caterpillar.  I drew caterpillars of different lengths on a piece of cardstock and the girls used a ruler to measure them.  They were introduced to the words centimeter and inch and learned how to use a ruler (sort of).  
• Sequencing.  I drew the different phases of a caterpillar's life on 4 note cards.  Egg, small caterpillar, big caterpillar, crystalis and butterfly and mixed them up.  The girls had to put them in the correct order.  This was pretty easy for Thea, but mareea needed some help the first day.  
• Caterpillar color sorting with my homemade hungry caterpillar.

 

• Caterpillar cookies.  I used this recipe from pinterest and we made the cookies right next to each other in the shape of a caterpillar and another in the shape of a butterfly.  You really had to use your imagination to see them, but the girls really enjoyed the baking and making.  
• Sorted junk food and healthy food.  I made cards with pictures of different foods and we sorted them into junk food and healthy food piles.  I've done this with all my kids and it's amazing (and embarrassing) that they don't really know that candy is junk food!  When we did this unit with Ashton he loudly told a man behind us in line at the mini mart that "that's junk food!  You shouldn't eat it because it's not healthy for your body!" and mortified his daddy.  Thankfully the man was a good sport about it and Ashton was three so all was forgiven!  
• hungry Caterpillar hand print craft.  So cute!!
• One thing that I did with the boys and forgot to do with the girls was to act out the caterpillar to butterfly transformation.  Curl up in a ball to be the egg, lengthen into a caterpillar and squirm around eating things, crawl inside a chrysalis (sleeping bag) and stay for a minute, and then come out flapping your wings as a butterfly.  I think I'll do this with them later today.  
• We also read the book From Caterpillar to Butterfly twice during the unit.  This was all so real to them because we had gotten our own caterpillars from Insect Lore and watched them turn into butterflies which we then released.  

Releasing our butterflies

I am looking forward to more unit studies!  We're planning a fall study next week which I will probably follow with an apple and pumpkin week.  We'll see.  I love the flexibility to do whatever is interesting us at the time.