N is for Nature


~Malachi is 4 years, 2 months old~
(A few workboxes from our playtime this lesson)


Memory Verse: Sing the Word From A-Z "No man can serve two masters. . ." Matt 6:24
Books: Noah's Ark, by Peter Spier Nine for California, by Sonia Levitin The Napping House, by Aubrey Wood  The Name Quilt, by Phyllis Root No, David! by David Shannon The Nutty Nut Chase, by Kathryn White
Noises in the Woods


Get Set For the Code:
Vocabulary this lesson includes nail, necktie, newspaper, net, napkin, nest, needle and necklace. 
My favorite part of the lesson looks like this: 
"I am thinking of something that birds use for their home. They make it out of grass and weeds; then they lay their eggs in it. What is it? [nest] Put your finger on the nest. Say the sound at the beginning of nest. Color just the eggs in this nest."
As well as phonemic awareness, this also teaches following directions. Mali likes to color so I let him color the nest after he colored the eggs. 
Reinforcement activities looked like this:
I say two words, like toad and turtle, and he has tell me what the beginning sound is.  Then I give him two sets of words, such as silly and sock, or rag and road, and he has to tell me if the beginning sounds are same or different.  He often guesses, so I have to have his attention and sound out the words slowly for him. 

Activities:


Name practice - Malachi is getting better at writing his name. I am teaching him his short name (Mali) and his full first name.  He recognizes the letters in his name, but does not always put them in the right order. He has a desire to learn it, and I love that.  For the longest time, he wrote his name with lines and circles. :-) He writes his name on all of his drawings. 


Newpaper - I gave Mali a newspaper template to color on and write his own news stories.


My Neighborhood

We took a bike ride around our neighborhood. These are some of the sites we saw along the way around the block. We are blessed to live right across the street from the library, right behind a YMCA, a half a block from a beautiful park with bike paths and a fountain, which is across the street from the biggest park in our town . . . we are also a block from historic downtown.


Edible Birds Nests 

 We melted white and milk chocolate chips and added chow mein noodles, formed nests by dropping spoonfuls onto wax paper, and then added bird "eggs" (organic jelly beans).

Noodle N


We used colored glue (from our rainbow lessons) to glue a noodle N, but I'm thinking that taping the noodles to the paper and doing a crayon rubbing would have been fun too.

Noodle Painting (painting with noodles)
We used different shaped noodles to create neat designs with paint.

Noah's Ark Lapbook

I assembled the lapbook and put it in his box for him to color.  He was delighted by the fun shape of the boat (however I explained that Noah's Ark did not look like how it is typically depicted) and the activities inside. 


Science:
Nature Walk
 
We took a nature walk on our land in Montana. We had read the book Noises in the Woods, so we sat and quietly listened for the sounds we could hear in our very own woods. We heard birds tweeting and the sound of an owl (and brothers tending the campfire). We also talked about what kind of animals live in our woods - black bears, coyotes, wolves, deer, elk, wild turkeys, rabbits, mice, etc.  
I am going to work on assembling a nature journal for him to start writing in.


Math:

Number Rhyme: 1, 2 buckle my shoe 3, 4 shut the door 5, 6 pick up stix 7, 8 late them straight 9,10 a big fat hen

Counting by 5's with Nickels
Counting Nine Nests  (the edible ones above). 

We really enjoyed our book selections this time.  They were all fun. We especially enjoyed The Napping House, No, David! and Nine for California.



Delightful Links:
Lapbook Lessons Noah's Ark Lapbook

2 comments

  1. You are doing such an amazing job!! :) Looks like you all had a fun week filled with new learning!

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  2. You are so inspiring! I look forward to your Preschool Corner posts b/c your son is about 8 months ahead of mine, so I can get lots of ideas! :) I left you an award on my blog ;)

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