Walking by the Way

Pizza Party!

Another week filled with Download N Go fun! After Chocolate Challenge, Elijah decided that we’ll do all the food studies (so we’ll eventually get to Hoppin’ Popcorn and Crunchy Cookies too!). 

We started this week off with breakfast pizza (something we’ve never tried before). Elijah was also trying out new smiles when I took pictures Monday morning. Not sure what this one is!

Don’t be deceived by the name of this study. Pizza Party is about SO much more than pizza! We learned a ton about Italy. We also were introduced to five famous Italians: Marco Polo, Vivaldi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Galileo. I have a feeling that Elijah might be turning his focus & energy to learning about Galileo over the next few weeks. He was very curious about this Italian astronomer. 

I made an easy tic-tac-toe board for the boys (the link was in the study). So cute and it added a little extra fun for them. 

On Tuesday we had a peanut butter and jelly pizza for lunch (Elijah’s request). If you attempt this, make sure you make the crusts high on the sides. Put the toppings on AFTER you bake it.  

The boys LOVE this pizza ’cause it’s like a warm PB&J sandwich made with super fresh bread. YUM– even if it is ugly and messy!

On Day 4 we did a Yeast Experiment. 

We also made personal pizzas for dinner on Thursday. Simon helped out by chopping up the bacon.

Elijah got to sample some of the new toppings he wanted to try (bacon, sausage, and ham).

Simon put EVERY topping on his pizza!

And, of course, by the final day of our study, Elijah had a notebook to put together. We use spiral bound Bare Books.

Pages 1-2

Pages 3-4

Pages 5-6

Pages 7-8

Pages 9-10

Simon didn’t make a lapbook this time, but I printed an extra copy of the "Pizza Adjectives" pizza and cut it out so Simon could decorate his own paper pizza. That is one HUGE ring of green pepper!

He also had fun helping cook and with our Tuzzles Pizza Fraction Puzzle. 

I think we’ve found our groove with Download N Go! We won’t be doing these studies all the time, but they are nice to use when the topic fits Elijah’s current interest. They are also great for sparking NEW interests! We hope to use Crazy Cartoons, Davy Crockett, Rockin’ Robots, Kite Capers, Crunchy Cookies, Magnificent Moon, and Hoppin’ Popcorn sometime this year.

A few notes about DNG
It took me one hour to plan our week (from start to finish) including printing pages, deciding on recipes & making a shopping list (pizza ingredients, felt for pizza tic-tac-toe), pulling books off my shelves, etc. It doesn’t have to take this long, but I looked through the extra links in the study.

I don’t print every page (that would be 112 pages!). What you see in Elijah’s notebook is everything I printed (about 25 pages this time). We do most of the worksheet pages orally (Elijah narrates answers to me) instead of printing them. 


You can read more about how I get ready for DNG in my Sunny Seashells post.

Story Study Lapbook

I borrowed this book from a friend. Elijah wanted to lapbook it, so we decided to create a simple story study to go with it.

This lapbook includes: Bible Verses about Contentment accordion, A Circular Story wheel, Fairy Tale Detective mini-book, Contentment matchbook, I Am Thankful For list, flap book with questions, a book review (on the back) and a venn diagram comparing this story to "The Fisherman and His Wife" 

This book is an excellent starting point for discussions about needs/wants, contentment, complaining, and greed.

I will upload this lapbook to Homeschool Share in October so others can use it too!

Chocolate Challenge!

Study chocolate? Oh YES!

This was our second time enjoying this rich topic. We briefly touched on it when we studied the rain forest. This time was better because we devoted an entire week to chocolate. Yum.

This is our third Download N Go experience, and I must confess– I heart Download N Go.  Try it, and you will probably heart it too!  The days are planned for you. You don’t have to work the lessons into a plan. You don’t have to go looking for supplemental material. You don’t have to check the links. You don’t have to hunt down fun videos on YouTube or conjure up a supplemental book list.  You don’t have to create a lapbook from scratch, and you don’t have to think of fun project ideas. It’s all right there ready for download!

So, with all that done for me, what DO I do in order to pull off a successful experience with DNG?  

1. I open the ebook, scan through it, and decide what to print. I print the activity pages, the lapbook, and a few other pages. Instead of using the worksheets, Elijah narrates to me each day.

2. I make a supply list and buy a few things when I do my weekly grocery shopping. You don’t HAVE to do this, but I do. I like to do some cooking or a memorable project with my kids as part of the unit. 

3. I grab some books off my shelves. You don’t need extra books, but I hoard books, so we use them. 

Once I have those three things done, I start the unit. 

We began with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, a family favorite. 

We learned about one chocolatier each day. To make this relevant, I purchased chocolate products that matched up with the chocolatiers of the day. 

On Monday the boys split a Hershey Bar. On Tuesday they devoured some Wonka chocolate (Nestle company). On Wednesday they chomped the Cadbury Milk Bar. On Thursday they shared the Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate and Toffee Bar. On Friday we gobbled up some treats made by Lindt. Nobody makes truffles like Lindt! I think the boys are official chocolate snobs. They know the difference between good chocolate and great chocolate! 

Throughout the week, Elijah worked through the activity pages and lapbook. Elijah is working hard here on the lay-out of his notebook.

Here is the final product–a great record of what he learned! 

Page 1- chocolatiers and their products

Page 2- more chocolatiers and their products

Page 3- vocabulary and graph 
*the "What’s in a A Chocolate Bar" is just a small simple fold we made. You can do this too! Just fold a piece of paper in half. 

Page 4
*the Chocolate Candy Bar activity was from Homeschool Share

Page 5- all about cacao (and yes, we know how to pronounce it!)
*again, the two tiny yellow books we made ourselves; we wanted to include this information from the unit in the lapbook without doing the worksheet pages

Page 6 -timeline

Page 7- drawing of a cacao tree, where cacao grows

Page 8- rain forest layers, chocolate treats pop-up, word find
*the green flap book includes the layers of the rain forest; this activity is found in the DNG, but Elijah made it into a flap book 

Page 9- learning about Brazil
*we added four Brazil mini books from Homeschool Share, but this is not necessary

Page 10- more about Brazil and cacoa beans as money

The boys decided that chocolate ice cream topped with homemade hot fudge would be the best way to end our week. This stuff is good. Really good. Make it at your own risk.

My little chef starts the sauce.

Stirring and being goofy!

Elijah takes over with the blender.

Good enough to eat!

If you want to enjoy Chocolate Challenge, it will be released on August 1st. We got a sneak peek since I’m friends with the lapbook designer.  

Learning with LEGO

Elijah spent last week learning with LEGO using the digital unit I prepared for him.  

He spent four days watching videos about LEGOs, completing building challenges and creating a Lap-N-Note ™.

Putting the lapbook together.

Completed Lap-N-Note ™ Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Elijah’s coolest creation of the week–

V is for Vegetables

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me

Our book of the week was Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert.

Alphabet Art- Valentine V

Supplies
V Pattern
cut up valentine cards
glue

Glue the card pieces to the V and you’ll have your Valentine V!

Lessons & Lapbook

I used the lessons and lapbook from Homeschool Share. We also colored and glued some of the V printables from the Alphabet Notebook to the back of the lapbook (not pictured).  

Simon’s garden journal was cute. He told me what to write: 
I planted little seeds. Then it sprouted. Then it became a plant. It is going to have very huge squash on it. I am going to share it and eat it.

Here is a little greenhouse I found at a book sale (yes, I find the strangest things at book sales!).

You can recreate this idea with a plastic bag. You could even use some cardboard to make a frame for the greenhouse. 

You simply tuck a wet paper towel and a few seeds inside the house. Radish seeds are great because they sprout so fast. We’ve actually use this multiple times with different seeds.

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Cooking Vegetable Soup

First, we headed out to the garden to grab some of our home grown vegetables. Then I peeled and chopped and sliced and diced until we had tons of veggies. 

We started with garlic, onion, and olive oil. After it cooked Simon added the broth. 

And lots of veggies (celery, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, and cabbage)!

Book Basket
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
Muncha, Muncha, Muncha by Candace Fleming
Stone Soup (any version)

Shopping List
~ ingredients for vegetable soup
~ seeds
~ plastic bag & paper towel (to create your own green house)

T is for Teddy Bear

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me

Our book of the week was Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom.  

Alphabet Art- Toothpick T

Supplies
T Pattern
toothpicks
glue
markers

Simon colored all over the T with markers. Then I put a strip of glue on in a T shape. He glued toothpicks on the T shape.

Lessons & Lapbook

I used the lessons for Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? from Before Five in a Row. I used some of the lapbook printables from Homeschool Share and some of the T printables from the Alphabet Notebook.  

Simon loves dressing Jesse Bear in his lapbook. I laminated the pieces and added some Velcro for stickability.

Right side of the lapbook with family book opened and cards out of pockets.

Playing the "Find the Bears Game" was a huge hit! We hid the cards in all kinds of crazy places. Simon never tires of this game.  Here is one hiding in a row of books.

We glued this rhyme to the back of the lapbook. Simon enjoyed acting it out (with and without his teddy bear!).

Simon also had fun with his Bear Family Dress-Up Puzzle.  I found this years ago at a book sale.

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Build-A-(Teddy)-Bear

Simon didn’t have a teddy bear, so we decided to make a special memory this time. Thanks so much to a kind friend who made this possible for us!

Simon’s bear, Chocolate Chip Jesse, is on the left. Elijah’s bear, Paddington, is on the right. 

Note: If you already have plenty of stuffed friends, or if a trip to Build-A-Bear is not something you want to do, you can make a memory by hosting a teddy bear picnic for your child’s furry friends! You can even invite other preschoolers to share the fun.

Book Basket
How Do You Say It Today, Jesse Bear by Nancy White Carlstrom
Happy Birthday, Jesse Bear by Nancy White Carlstrom
Better Not Get Wet, Jesse Bear by Nancy White Carlstrom
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy
Corduroy by Don Freeman
A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman

We also listened to A Bear Called Paddington multiple times. Both boys really like the adventures of this mischief-finding bear from darkest Peru.

Shopping List
~ toothpicks (flat are best for preschoolers)
~ Aleene’s Tacky Glue
~ treats for a Teddy Bear Picnic

X is for Fox

Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here

Read to Me

Our book of the week was Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go by John Langstaff.  Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go isn’t the perfect book for x, but it does mention putting a fox in a box.  I chose it because Simon loves it.

X is a tough letter because we don’t use the true /ks/ sound at the beginning of words. I emphasized the x sound on the end of words. I also had Simon point to the x’s in the words. 

Alphabet Art- X Marks the Spot

Supplies
X Pattern
white crayon
watercolor paint
paintbrush

Without Simon knowing, I used a white crayon to draw X’s all over the X pattern. I gave him some watercolor paints (we love Prang) and let him watercolor all over the X. He was delighted to see the X’s pop out at him.

This inspired more watercolor resist fun. 

Lessons & Lapbook
We used some of the X printables I created for the Alphabet Notebook at Homeschool Share.  

Let’s Make a Memory ~ Treasure Hunt!
I asked Elijah to draw a map of our backyard. I added some color and some words. 

I buried a treasure for Simon at the X. I gave him the map and told him he had to figure out where X was and start digging.

He LOVED this. He knew exactly where to go ("Mom! The mulberry tree!").  Yes, my boys are allowed to dig here all the time which is why it looks like a big pit. 

Treasure found, opened, and (soon after) eaten!

Book Basket
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
Flossie and the Fox by Patricia McKissack
Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney
Green Eggs and Ham (not with a fox/not in a box) by Dr. Seuss

Shopping List
~ watercolor paints
~ treasure for your hunt! I used chocolate coins, but you can use whatever you want.

A Change of Pace

I’ve never helped a child make a complete lapbook in one day.
I’ve never lapbooked with two children at the same time.
And. . . I’ve never lapbooked with girls.

Well, now I’ve done all those things (at once)!

.

The entire morning was a whirlwind of glitter, giggles, and glue. The pink crayons got a workout!

We started off our time together by reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. After our reading, we dove right in to the lapbooks using the templates at Homeschool Share. 

Each lapbook is made of two file folders.

Girlie #1’s Lapbook 

Girlie #2’s Lapbook

The front of the lapbooks had the girls’ names in glitter (why yes, I am CRAZY!) The lapbacks are pictured below:

We had so much fun! Hopefully, we can do this again!

Sunny Seashells

We had a fantastic week using the new Download N Go study, Sunny Seashells! Ever since our Five in a Row Night of the Moonjellies co-op, the boys have been wanting to explore the topic of seashells.

Books We Read

Gramma’s Walk by Anna Grossnickle Hines
One Small Square Seashore by Donald Silver
Science Nature Guides Seashells (a great book for identifying shells!)
Slugs and Snails (we read this to learn more about mollusks) by Claire Llewellyn
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

I just want to say that we (all three of us!) are loving The Burgess Seashore Book for Children! You will learn so much about the critters living on the seashore. It is the perfect read aloud for this unit.

A Box of Shells!
Monday started off on the right foot. I ordered a small package of shells, and it arrived that afternoon! My kids were pretty excited.

Table Cloth Making
On Tuesday the boys painted an ocean-themed table cloth for our shell party. This is one of the project ideas in the Family Fun section of the unit.

We stamped a few shells and fishy hands, but other than that, the boys just painted whatever they wanted. I had to chant process not product to myself while this was happening! 

Shell Matching Game
The boys used Simon’s shell matching game (from O is for Ocean) to play a few rounds on Thursday. Simon is ridiculously good at this game. 

On Friday we prepared some shell cupcakes for our party! These are easy to make. You can find my tutorial in this blog post. 

Using the Download N Go Unit
Each Download N Go unit comes with a lot of printable pages. A lot. After our test-run DNG, Benjamin Franklin, I decided that the worksheets = too much writing for Elijah. By Day 4, he didn’t even want to continue with the study, and he wanted to learn about Ben Franklin (his idea, not mine). 

However, I was not willing to give up on the product because the videos, the links, the projects. . .everything was really great and would make for some easy (for me!) delight-directed studies.

I decided for our next try, I would only print a few pages for Elijah plus the lapbook. I printed 22 pages total this time. 

It didn’t take much time for me to go through the unit and decide what to print. Then I split the work up by the day in this handy folder (I found mine at Wal-mart). 

Inside it has pockets and more pockets. Each page is a large pocket with a smaller pocket below. This is wonderful for lapbooking. I have it open to Thursday and Friday in the picture below. Thursday’s work (left side) is done. It goes BACK IN the folder until the end of the unit when Elijah is ready to assemble his notebook. Friday’s work (right side) is still waiting on Elijah. 

Elijah knew what to do each day. He pulled his work out of the folder, went through the Download N Go unit, narrated what he learned (instead of filling out all the worksheets), and completed the notebooking/lapbooking pages for that day.

It worked really, really well for us! 

Sunny Seashells Notebook Pictures

Elijah picked a Bare Book to use as the base for his lap/notebook. We did add some copywork pages (see pages 4, 5, & 7 of the notebook) to the unit. You can download these here.

Once Elijah had finished all the work in the purple folder, he laid everything out on the table to start on his notebook lay-out. I always have to leave the room so I won’t put my grubby fingers all over it. I only helped when he asked for my opinion. 

Page 1 

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4 

Page 5

Page 6 (from Draw Write Now Book 6)

Page 7

Page 8

We printed the Tide Pool Activity on cardstock and made flaps out of the creature cut-outs. Elijah wrote the name of each creature under the corresponding flap.

Page 9

You can read about Simon’s week here. 

Sunny Seashells Preschool Style

 
Simon loving his conch shells. His favorite, though, are moon snail shells.

Literature

Here are the books I read to Simon during our shell unit. For Simon, the focus was on animal homes & shells (not just seashells).

Are You a Snail? by Judy Allen
Jenny’s Surprise Summer by Eugenie 
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Craft ~ Ocean in a Bottle
This is super easy (and cheap!) to do.

You need: 
water, a plastic bottle, baby oil, blue food coloring, glue, and shells (I found some fun crafting shells at Hobby Lobby)

Fill the bottle 1/2 full with water. Add baby oil (we probably used 3/4 cup). Drop in small shells. 

Add some food coloring (just 1-2 drops or the color will be too dark).

Add some glue around the top edges and screw the lid on.

After the lid dries, give your bottle a shake, shake, shake! Hold it on its side, and you’ll see waves, foam, and bubbles–irresistible for any preschooler!

Lapbook

His lapbook is based on What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. You can download the lapbook templates & instructions.

Completed Lapbook

Left Side
/sh/ accordion open

Seashells t-book open

Middle of lapbook with a few of the books open

Right side 
decorated snail

Animals Living in Shells hotdog book open

Simon also had fun playing our shell matching game, baking & decorating cupcakes, helping paint our tablecloth, and learning the names of shells. You can read more about his adventure (and his big brother’s adventure, too!) in this post.