Winter 2017




Preston really loves modelling with clay.

When Sariah began learning fractions in January, we tied it into the Norse mythology we had been studying.  Here Preston donned a cape and pretended to be Thor, "fracturing" this lump of dried clay.


Clearly this was a very popular activity!

 We had two big boxes after the washer repairman came, so Sariah and Preston turned them into a very colorful fort.




The came the snow--and sledding (luckily no concussions this year):

One thing he specifically wanted for Christmas was a blue sled.



In February we rolled and decorated candles:










Preston is one of the few people who actually enjoys playing chess with Dallin.  (Maybe because he doesn't care if he loses...  Dallin ALWAYS wins--and loves to gloat about winning.)



Brothers!








For Valentine's Day we wet-felted hearts in cookie cutter molds.







Then we decorated Valentine's cookies





Preston learned to fingerknit and thought it was just about the most awesome thing ever:



I think this was the time I let Sariah tell the kindergarten story.  The empty bowl is evidence of Preston's favorite tradition.  We can NOT have a kindergarten story without a bowl of oatmeal to eat while he listens.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December school

Image
Once a week or so we do a therapeutic drawing activity called form drawing.  Basically it is drawing patterns of straight and/or curved lines.  It is great preparation for handwriting.  Prior to actually drawing the forms on paper, we try to get them into his body by having him walk or run the patterns, or by using various body parts to "draw" them large on the wall or in the air.  He really got into this one!  He wanted to make many more graduated lines than what were required.  (He realized he accidentally drew this with yellow, so of course he had to go back and redo it with blue chalk.  LOL, he cracks me up!)  We also try to paint every week or two.  In our first grade, the paintings are all color exercises, set to stories.  This one was a story about squirrels snuggled up in their hollow tree for the winter, the story was intended to highlight the cool blue surrounded by the warm red.  Preston is a fairl...
Read more

October Photo Dump

Image
 Most of these pictures are of hikes, because we've been doing a lot of them. I aim for once a week.   It is so beautiful where we live!  Preston says this is his favorite trail we've found so far. In October we started a unit based on the book Farmer Boy.  We dyed yarn on the stove using natural items--red cabbage, grapes, etc.  Preston was very proud of our efforts.  We also went to an Apple Festival at a local farm.  Preston did this ball toss activity and won three goldfish.  The kids goofing off. Dallin and Preston tried their hand at this giant sling shot at the festival.  Continuing with our Farmer Boy lessons, we talked about food preservation and dried apples in the oven. More hiking!  Still wild raspberries in October!  Math--hands on experience with factoring, and then he drew it on the chalkboard. ...
Read more
Preston is continuing to enjoy school.  One thing that is a huge part of first grade for us is the telling of fairy tales.  I believe that the archetypal symbols in fairy tales are important for young children, and that they really relate to them.  So each week during this language arts unit, I tell a new fairy tale that forms the basis for our learning for that week.  Story time is Preston's favorite part of school, and every day he asks if we are going to have a story and if it can be the *first* thing we do.  (Usually it's last--I like to use it as a bit of bait to get him through the other parts of school.)  We did have one fairy tale that proved to be a bit of a disaster.  I learned that Hansel and Gretel was too scary for him, which was proven when he ran from the table in the middle of it and refused to hear the rest.  Lesson learned!  I didn't try to force the issue, and before the next morning I'd looked through and chosen a differen...
Read more