Homeschooling Coop on Monday Mornings

Our family began going to the coop for Devon this year. She is able to do science, PE, and art and then lunch with children her age. Caroline and I are in the preschool room where I plan the activities for children ranging from 2 1/2 - 5 years old. There are several moma's who stay and help with the organized chaos :) Before the friends come into the room, I have each activity on a cafeteria type tray with all the supplies that are needed to complete the activity.

We begin the day in the church sanctuary with opening and then we go to a SUPER music class with our Kindergarden Friends and then we return to our classroom.

This week I centered the activities around "Lots of Dots" and "The Napping House." First we read "Lots of Dots" and the children named the objects that were made from lots of dots. Then I demonstrated how to do a dot craft using dot stickers and a picture from our book.

Next, we read "The Napping House" and used cut outs for sequencing the napping characters. These cut out were sent home and the children were asked to cut it out and retell the story at home. We discussed the word "napping" and we all decided that it was something that you do doing the day. This lead to the topic of animals that sleep in the day or at night. We did a chart together and then children did this activity back at a tray station. Other stations were flower arranging, button (dot) sorting, and doughnut (dot) matching. We also were treated to green eggs and ham cupcakes.

Handwriting Without Tears

Using the Handwriting Without Tears to practice our capital LETTERS and numbers 1 through 9 , we then took it to the next level by circling the letters that start in the middle of the square and boxing letters that start on the left of the square. The numbers 4 and 9 is the only one numbers or letters that start on the right of the square. We are using the plastic write on protect, as this is an activity that we will do several times.

Usborne Books: Learning Palette

This is a Learning Palette from Usborne Books. The palette has various cards of learning. This is an example of matching being sounds.

The picture on the left is Step 1

The picture on the right is Step 2 (no completely necessary, but for a child with visual issues it is)

The image below is the finished result.

This image shows how the child can flip the palette over and self check.

Making Play dough

Easy, Affordable, Play Dough!

Play dough is a fun, clay - like substance that kids love! It is very easy to make, and provides hours of fun! It can be expensive to buy at stores, but it's very easy and costs nothing to make it at home! The only materials you will need are:

1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
1-2 cup(s) flour

3 TBSP oil

2 TBSP Cream of Tartar

1-2 packs of no sugar Kool-Aide for color and smell


It only takes about 10 minutes to make ....mix dry and wet and then dump out on table and kneed

Snowflake Art

Materials

• three glass containers for primary colors
• pippets (or eye droppers)
• large baking sheet
• paper towels
• scissors
• white coffee filters
• tempera paint or food coloring

I used a baking sheet to frame the activity and avoid spills. I allowed the colored snowflakes to dry on the cookie rack.

Animal Tracks

Lesson One:

We read the following books together:

I also had a reference book that had a lot more detail of every animals tracks of North America.

After the reading, I wrote down animals that we may be able to "track" around our farm. Then Devon copied the words onto card stock.

Lesson Two:

Using the animal name cards and a camera we tracked out into the snow looking for animal tracks.

Lesson Three:

Animal Tracks Cards

Writing ABC's

Using handwriting without tears sheet for uppercase and 1-9 numbers. I had Devon circle the letters that start in the middle and square the letters that start on the side. Only 9 and 4 start on the right.