Poetry Lapbook

It is part of Coqui's curriculum to be introduced to poetry. Every day, he has some reading to do, and sometimes, those texts are poems - which I like because I agree to expose children as early as possible to poetry and it's 'magic'. Also, that curriculum provides eight poems that are to be studied and memorized, about a month for each. So far, he has learned four of them, and he liked doing it and reciting them to Daddy.

So for our themed week, we wanted to take a look at the different types of poems, and have the kids come up with their own. I did a ton of research, for once because it has been a while for me, and secondly, I did not grow up over here, so things are simply called differently. I printed a bunch of poems for us to read and talk about, and then I also printed templates for us to work on our own poems.

Three of the four poems that Coqui had to recite for school were from Robert Louis Stevenson - which is now his favorite poet ;-) . So I printed "Bed In Summer" for reading only - he got a good laugh from it. He also liked reading and coloring the poem "All Things Bright And Beautiful" by Cecil Frances Alexander.


But his absolute favorite poem of this week was "For My Brother, On His Birthday" by Kenn Nesbitt from this webpage. It had everybody laughing on presentation day.


Also, I made him memorize a new poem, very short, and really more a Math 'helper' than anything else. But I found it helpful and surprisingly, he still has trouble getting the order right with this one, which is only an eight-liner. (I mean he memorized one with 24 lines!) But it was a great example of teaching the rhythm of a poem that rhymes.

We used this webpage to create poetry online - a little computer class on the side. He wrote a poem about a tiger here:

We also worked on a sensory poem that is a five-liner using all five senses. His object of choice was a fruit, an orange to be more specific. He made it silly and funny, so the orange "looks delicious, smells like stinky feet, and tastes juicy". Go figure - the mind of a six year old....

Personally, I had never heard of a Haiku before (yes, Mami is learning alongside the kids), but I really enjoyed it and helped Coqui to come up with his own, and he did this one all by himself. We worked with a template from KidZone (link is here).  It didn't request a title, and Mami's title would be Spring - he didn't want to give it a title.

We also did an alliteration with his name, which can not be published here for reasons of privacy. Surprisingly, he had alot of trouble coming up with 'good' stuff about himself. But eventually, we created a poem that has some decent lines.

And last but not least, we looked at the bible, specifically the Psalms that are poems written by great men. We read Psalm 23 multiple times, and as an exercise, I made him copy it, but in cursive writing. He hated it! (Sorry, buddy!) He hated it so much that he screwed it all up the first time, and I made him start all over - yeah, Mami did not score big with this one, but I believe in the discipline of working hard to reach a goal, and better learn it now. But this bad Mama came up with a compromise - instead of writing it all in one week, which caused too much frustration, I made it into a month-long project, one that is still in the working:

I couldn't find a template for this one, so I made my own, which you can download for your personal use here. (Link to a second post, sorry for the inconvenience.)

Here is a last picture from the day we presented our lapbooks with our friends:

Columbus, Columbus, sailed across the sea....

..... And found a very special land
That belongs to you and me.

Columbus,Columbus,we celebrate your day,
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two
When you sailed our way.

(you have to sing this to the tune of "sailing, sailing"!)

Well, on a certain Monday a few weeks ago (yes, I am very behind with my blog posts!), we celebrated a special day in honor of a special man. So we took the opportunity to get some history lesson into our curriculum. Our themed week was all about Christopher Columbus.

We went to the library but couldn't find many (or any) books on him - either they didn't have any or they were all gone by the time we got there. So we had to do without a major story. But the internet is a wonderful place for resources, we did without it.

On Friday, we got together and the kids had to present their lapbooks to each other. It is always such a 'battle' to fight who presents first.... Coqui got to go first.....

I am always surprised how much Coqui retains in his little brain. He still has trouble reading some of the stuff, but he is getting better at it. And most of all, we have fun doing it.

Field Trip: Here's How!

We had a hog-killin' time today at our local outdoor pioneer museum!

But let me go back to the beginning. When this field trip was announced, Beth and I decided to make the week prior to the trip a themed week all about Pioneering.
Because I have an entire curriculum to finish by the end of this school year, I knew a lapbook was too much, but I wanted to do all the fun activities we had found online.

So on Monday, I introduced the theme to the kids, we learned what a pioneer is, where they came from, why they left their own countries and then the Old States, what they wanted to find here in America and out west. We took the world map and the USA map to follow their routes. Coqui liked to learn about the way they traveled (covered wagons) and what they could take with them (their packing list looked quite a bit different than today's list would look like!). Then we talked about life on the trail, especially the life of the children, and compared to the wonderful carefree life of my own kiddos!

On Tuesday, we made our own butter with this recipe. It totally worked. The kids took turns shaking the substance in a baby food jar. And when it was time to try it, Peanut agreed and Coqui ran the other way. We smeared it onto a slice of bread and Peanut ate almost all of it. I guess she really liked it.
For lunch, I made rice and beans (after our own recipe ressembling the Spanish rice) - talking about all the dry rice and beans those pioneers put in their covered wagons. 

Wednesday, we made this shadow clock, to demonstrate that pioneers had no Swatch watches, but read (or guessed) time by the stand of the sun and the shadows it throws on the ground. We started at 8 am with the longest shadow if the day. Coqui's head is somewhere in the grass - you can see a white dot, that's the chalk I left as a marker there. We came back every two hours. The last one was at 4 pm, it's in dark purple and not very visible, but it's there. We forgot to draw another one at 6 pm because the Hubby had come home earlier and parked his car over our clock.....

That same day, we also made home made apple sauce in the crock pot. I followed this recipe. Sadly, the kids did not want to even taste it, but lucky for me, because it was delicious! I am not sure what it is, maybe it's the texture as this is not looking like store-bought, and a little chunkier, too.
Next time, I will use a blender and maybe they'll like it better.

We also worked on a Math puzzle and some other things that had to do with pioneers, like counting tools and flour bags, or measuring things, especially weights.

On Thursday, we met with Beth's kids to do our fun games. If you didn't know (or just have a hard time believing it), but pioneers had no TV, no video games or iphones. They had to come up with stuff to entertain themselves, and others. Children's toys back then were much simpler and made out of wood or other materials like rocks or ropes. Nope, no trip to the local Toys'R'us for the poor children back then! So we played Rolling the hoop and a marble game. At first, they had trouble figuring it out, but eventually, the two big kids got the idea of it.

During the summer, Coqui had found popsicle sticks and we build a log cabin - not knowing that it would come handy later in the school year. So we skipped that activity, but we did talk about it, regarding the difference in heating and cooling compared to today's conveniences, and we talked potty business (which is oh so interesting to our children!).
Here is a picture of our creation: with a removable roof.

It was a fun week for all of us.
Yesterday, we wanted to remind the kids what we had learned, so Beth read a book about the Oregon Trail to the kids. They loved it and sat through the entire story.

Finally today, we went to the local outdoor museum that is about those fun pioneer times. Their exhibitions are mostly originals from around the state, like farm houses and barns, and even some tipis from the tribe that used to live here in this region. The originals were taken apart and put back together piece by piece.

This is a big place - at least when you are walking with a big group of nearly 30 people and children mostly under nine. They have a general store, of course, where you pay the entrance and can buy little nicknacks - we passed very quickly! And moved onto a town building with a smokehouse, an outdoor kitchen, and an outdoor toilet.
We had a lovely elderly man walking us through the house and explaining all the different rooms and tools. People definitely had much LESS during that time, than all the stuff that we fill our house with today!
Here is Coqui trying out an old-fashioned hearing aid.
Also, I think they liked the idea that back then, everyone was home schooled. 

They had a blacksmith there who was actually making a knife - the kids were mesmerized that someone was allowed to 'play with fire' and 'bang' on something!

Next things were the tipis. I was just a bit disappointed with it. I am not sure what I had expected, but more than what was there. I know, I know, I am European and fascinated with Indians....
But the kids had a blast as they were allowed to go inside the tents and explore with touching and playing.

Last but not least, there was a farm house of a poor immigrant family that lived in ONE room with 13 children! Wow. Peeking through the front door, it looked just a tidbit tight in there, trying to imagine to sleep in there with all the kids (not to talk about making those children ;-)). It also had some animals there, and an outdoor cooking station with hands-on stuff for the kids. They got to play there for a while. It was in the shade, so we adults didn't mind.

To say the least, my kids had a blast running around and learning. We were all dusty, so when we came home we not only enjoyed modern-day's air conditioning but a bath tub with look warm water to rinse of! After a well-earned meal, I needed a break, because I was as I was all dragged out from all that walking and carrying. Because I was walking with a baby strapped to my front, and to top that, I had a backpack on my back. So round about, I had 15 extra pounds on me, and it was just close to 90 degrees again today. Yep, I needed that shower!

All About Me Lapbook

Better late than never, right? So today, I want to show you what we were working on all of last week. It was a lapbook that got all of Coqui's attention - he had so much fun in making a book ALL ABOUT HIM(self)!
It's the perfect timing with it being the beginning of the year. And of course, we as parents get a bunch of keepsakes with this book, like their hand prints and finger prints, pictures, and funny things they say at this age.

Enjoy the pictures.

The cover of the book. When I took the picture, it was not done - but you get the idea.

Open the cover and Coqui is greeting you with a picture of himself, his birthday cake, his hand outlines, and a puppet that he dressed in real fabric. The little flaps reveal things about him like hair and eye color, his age and birthday, his finger prints, and other personal things.

When you open the top part, it talks about where we live, how our house looks like, and such. And on the bottom, we outlined his profile and what he wants to be when he grows up. In case you can't read it, he wants to be a police officer.

When the last flap is opened, the middle reveals all about his family with a family portrait and a picture of his siblings. We worked on a time line as well, from birth all the way up to now, with all his birthdays, his siblings birth, when he first rode a bike, when he started school, and so on....
The bottom part has the following cute things on it, including an interview with him, done by me. It was very interesting to learn that Daddy has a very fascinating job, and that Mommy is doing only 'boring stuff like cleaning and cooking, doing laundry and school' - thanks Buddy!

So here, the kids were asked to say what they would buy for each dollar amount. I was impressed that Coqui really knows the value of money. He was pretty good with his suggestions. In case, it's hard to unscramble his spelling, he buys candy with $1, legos with $5, a new DS game with $20, and he'll go on a flight with $100. I thought, these were very good things to save up HIS money for....

Next, he was asked to name three things that he thought people should know about him..... when he was done, the right side says it all: Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars.... I guess he is a real fan!?! It's a phase and I am praying that it is over soon, because I do NOT want any more new lego star wars sets in my house...

And the last one is so typical for my buy: his heart belongs to GOD! Yeah.

This took us four days to complete, and then we went over to our friends house to present our books to each other. My best friend Beth is homeschooling this year, so we decided to do some themed weeks at the same time. This week was one of them. Presenting their books to us and each other practices public speaking at an early age, and also it makes it more fun.

Chickie presenting her science lesson about her human body.

Coqui presenting his book......

You wonder where Peanut was all this week? Well, she didn't want to participate..... I AM looking forward to making one with her next year, or the year after. The only thing she did was letting me trace her hands and feet....

Native American Indian Week

Before our school year started, I had all these plans. But then a pregnancy happened and out went my plans. I made up a curriculum week by week. If there was a busy week, well, we got a little behind with school. And caught back up during a time when things were less exciting.

So after our Knights Week, I thought an Indian Week would be nice. After all, Coqui is a boy and he needs to know about those Indians. Or maybe, it is because we Europeans are so fascinated by them, and I had way too much fun preparing for this week!!! I don't know, but I think we all liked it.

So we made our first lapbook. If you don't know what that is, it's a book created by the child with everything collected and taught about that specific theme, in our case the Indians, or as they call it here, Native Americans. Here is a link to a 'How Do I Make A Lapbbok' by Charlotte Mason. So we had bought feathers to use for our headband and the lapbook. I printed lots of stuff, pictures and little games off the internet. For example, Coqui had to write a story with only signs.  We learned about the different tribes - I had gotten a few books from the library about tribes like the Comanches, the Sioux, and the Cheyenne. I could tell him that I have personally met people from the Navajo Indians - which was such an event for me (as European)!

Here are the kids cutting and gluing away with their headbands. 

 

They also each made their own tipi. (I had printed this template off the internet as well.) He created his own totem pole, and decorated it. I did not have him make an Indian vest - but alot of sites suggested that. I figured it would just land in the recycling eventually, and Coqui didn't really want to make it. 

But instead, we also made homemade clay in order to make our own pottery. It was super easy, only three ingredients needed: water, baking soda and corn starch. Mix and cook, let it cool down to room temperature, and mold away.... Oh yes, there was food coloring involved as well, that's why ours has a greenish tint to it. That's what he wanted (and what we had in the house).

Coqui really liked this one. We made two baskets, a plate (in form of a smiley face), a fork and a spoon. He had so much fun.
There was barely a mess, and this stuff washed off very easily from his hands. So I would do this again any time.
It is still drying in the kitchen - it's been four full days and it is still not completely dry. The plate has broken, too, but everything else looks great.


This has been a tough week, but so much fun. And by tough, I mean Coqui's willingness to cooperate, and also the long hours we spend on this book. The book has eight pages, so it was alot of work for both of us to finish. But I am so looking forward to another themed week soon.....

More Castle and Knights stuff

Remember, two weeks ago, we had our 'Castle and Knights' week? Well, it got extended far beyond what I had planned....

Well, while Mema was here, we didn't do much school, or say workbooks. It was just way too hard to get him concentrate while he heard his sister having fun upstairs with his most favorite relative. It seemed unfair to me. And so I decided to just cut it out while we had our visitor and we will just have to catch up later....

He did play though. He must have liked that week so much that he came up with his own crown and his own castle. Using simple construction paper, he cut out the crown in yellow - or should I say gold. And then he set to work on the castle.

It was fascinating for me to watch him come up with all kinds of things. Asking him questions seems to not get the right answers out of him. But seeing him work on an actual castle, I realize just how much he absorbed in that one week. He know what a floor plan is, what parts belong to a castle, and what an armor is made out. 

I love the decoration of it. You can see towers, windows, and a flag. On the outside, he included trees and a drawbridge even. I love that. So much imagination.
He pulled out his knights and wooden animals, as well as stuff we have from Playmobil or Lego. I mean it was a big mix of everything.
He played it with Mema over and over. He also learned what canons and catapults do.


He also had some sword fights with us (or his sister). He dressed up in the costume that I made him. And he did his race in a knights costume. So you can imagine that I am ready to move onto something else....

Our Castle and Knights Week

In our home school, we have lots of workbooks to do. Some days, I like it, others I think, that it's a bit much. So I figured, we gonna make each week a little more fun. So this past week, we had castle and knights week. It was a big hit with Coqui - he loved it. And he wore the knight's costume that I made him almost every day to school this week.

I got lots of ideas from other bloggers or homeschooling moms, but I also came up with a few on my own. I printed out a floor plan of a castle with directions to name each room. He had to follow those instructions in order to learn north and south, east and west. So it was geography mixed with art. But really, especially in a homeschooling setting, I need to get away from trying to label our subjects - the beauty of it all should be that we can mix it. That we can do one full day just art, or just geography.

We also learned about the different parts of a castle in German and English, reading the book from the picture. So he learned some new vocabulary, in both languages, such as moat and breastplate and drawbridge. We also read other books about knights.
We learned what makes a knight and what he needs to wear to protect himself (armor). We tied that to bible studies learning the bible verse from Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." I did not really said 'devil' but used the term 'bad guys'. I didn't want to scare him too much.
Then we translated the parts of the armor to God's armor, like the shield is faith and the shoes are peace.

There were other worksheets, like finding the difference or opposites. It was harder to tie it to Math and numbers. But I did find this super-duper cool preschool set from this homeschooling lady Jolanthe - here is the link to the Knight Preschool Pack.  She even came up with a girls' version, in case you don't have a knight but a princess at home. It is a preschool pack, so I only printed a few things that made our day more fun, rather than educational. One of that was a picture 'color-by-number', here it is:

At the end of the week, after being very cooperative with school, even though grandma had arrived in the middle of the week, he got to see a knights movie: "The Backyardigans: The Tale of the Mighty Knights" - he had really earned it.

Today, he made a crown (all by himself) and also got started on a castle. He is getting so crafty.... I got to watch out, soon my house will be filled with arts and crafts and I don't know where to put it!

He also made other crafts with grandma, like a house for Jesus:

Next week is suppose to be our building week where we learn all about different kinds of buildings - you know from one-story houses to skyscrapers. I got a ton of books from the library that I will use (also in order to safe some paper from all this worksheet printing!).