Yellow Ball {Before FI♥AR}

I was not sure we would get a chance to row The Yellow Ball, since it is out of print and hard to find. But after hearing how much others on the FIAR forums loved this book, I decided to get it through interlibrary loan. It was such a short and simple book that I honestly did not think we would have enough to do. . . boy, was I wrong! Along with the activities and discussion in the manual, here is what we did this week:

Yellow Ball Prints
I used powdered tempera with water and a little cornstarch to thicken it. The cornstarch gave it a textured appearance when dry, but made it unusable for the lap journal (I was going to use it for the back ground of their journal).

Letter Y (Y is for Yarn) Activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler tied in perfectly with our Yellow Ball theme. If you notice, we did most of these activities in one day - it just worked out that way. I set up stations at the table and the kids moved from one station to the next. My plan was to stop when they tired of the activities, but they never did.

Do-A-Dot Letter Y
After last week, I was smart to print 2 Do-A-Dot letters this time. =)

Yarn Ball Sequencing


Lacing Yellow Yarn Ball
(I've always loved the look on her face when she is concentrating).


Lapbook Activities


Create A Memory: Punch Balls
My kids have all enjoyed playing with these.


Math

I made a Yellow Ball Ordinal Numbers activity for Malachi. I did the counting orally with him and wrote the numbers for him and he put the yellow balls in the boxes.
Beach Ball Phonics Toss
Mali is working on vowel sounds. He played several versions of this game with his brothers. They stood in a circle and yelled "short" or "long" and whatever was called out by the thrower, the catcher had to name that sound. Another version, they played where they said all the sounds of the vowel. If their hand did not catch the ball on a vowel, the order reversed. I loved that he played this with his brothers - in fact Mali sits in with the review part of their spelling (All About Spelling) and I think that helps so much.
Throughout the week, Mali did a few pages in his Kumon Numbers 1-30 book and also in Explode the Code 1, lesson 2. First, I gave him a spelling test (Madsen Method style) with the words from the lesson, and then I had him work on a lesson out of his ETC. By having him take the test first, he is spelling by sounding out the words and then the phonics activities in the book reinforce what he knows. (My combination of the two methods). This way I know he can read the words without memorizing or guessing. I can see by his spelling test that he needs work on lower case handwriting, so we also worked on that. Then I had him read the short a three letter words from the lesson.

Yellow Ball Science: Motion, Force and Friction

Force is pushes and pulls. Friction is what slows the ball down. I used this web game to help teach this concept then we explored different ways to move the ball. (Why is the ball moving? Are you using a push or pull?)

Then I had them stand up and drop the ball and we dialogued about it: Did he push or pull it? No, he just dropped it. What pulled it down? Gravity. Then I explain that gravity is a force.
Then I set up a rain gutter and a small yellow ball to demonstrate rolling speeds of the ball, ramp levels, and friction surfaces (carpet versus the laminate floor). I had Malachi make a prediciton and then experiment to see how far the ball would roll. Eliana had fun playing along too!

Ball Coordination Activities:

Dribbling ball with feet, stopping, passing, etc. Mali is playing soccer right now, so this tied in perfectly!


Art Media: Pastels {Chalk}

Mali is recreating the artwork on the cover of the book using chalk. Mali loved this and made several more works of heart after this one.


Lap Journal/Memory Book:


Delightful Links:

2 comments

  1. I have put a request in at our library for that book. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and I love that thinking look as well. How cute is that!!

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