Fox Unit Study

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November 25, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

Welcome to November Poppins Book Nook!

This month, the theme is Animals and Pets.

My son, Alex, is pretty obsessed with foxes. Apparently, Ylvis is too.

Win/Win.

I made a Fox unit for my son.

Check out these sites for foxy fun:

Fox printable craft by LearnCreateLove.com
Fox Christmas Card by Positively Splendid
Fox Activity Pack by Mudpies and Make-up
Fox Printable Masks by Kitschy Digitals ($1.50) or get FREE here: Jan Brett
X if for Fox Bible Verse Printable (coincides with MFW K) by Mama Jenn
Origami Fox face
Fox in Sock unit study by MPM Ideas
Fox in Socks unit by Homeschool Share (scroll down)
More Fox in Socks by Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Fox hot chocolate party printables by Hostess with the Mostess
DLTK fox craft
Fox maze from Education.com (and other pages too! Get More Fun Kindergarten Worksheets from Education.com!)

Library books Alex begged for and read with Dad:

Media to go along with our Fox unit:

Coloring a paper fox:

Counting foxes clip cards:

How many foxes in the box?

Learning fox facts

A fox maze. It was a little hard.

Singing and acting out “What Does a Fox Say?” with puppets

ProSchool Membership - Productive Homeschooling

Check out the other Animals Units this month: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy –Growing in God’s Grace – Royal Little Lambs – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me –The Usual Mayhem – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – Edventures with Kids –Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Preschool Powol Packets – To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Fresh Farm Adventures – Are We There Yet? – Afterschool for Smarty Pants – Hopkins Homeschool

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Fall Unit Study

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October 29, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 4 Comments

We celebrated a windy fall day with leaf art.

They collected fallen leaves and the last of the flowers and we brought out some black paper. They formed buildings and animals and people with leaves. They loved it. At least it didn’t involve glitter.

I love fall.

I love the smell of the leaves and an autumn drizzle dampening the browning grass.

I love all things pumpkin.

He who controls the {pumpkin} spice rules the universe.

Here are some random pics of my kids doing printable fall activities:

We’ve lived in some places where it was mild year-round, so the leaves are special. And the crisp air and boots and hot cocoa or PSL. I love the cycle of dying so there can be rebirth.

Not so much looking forward to the winter and snow and shoveling and slushy muddy mess, but there’s a season for everything.

There’s a season for everything.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

For us mamas in the trenches of motherhood, we often long for a different season.

We think: when this morning sickness passes, when the baby sleeps through the night, when the toddler potty trains, when the preschooler learns to read, when the grade schooler masters long division, when we pay off this debt, when we get a better minivan, when the tween finally gets through algebra, when we move to a nicer house, when the teen learns to drive, when the house is empty…then what? You pray for weddings? grandkids? freedom? travel?

Don’t wait on a someday. Some Days are death to faith. Some Days may never come. Some Days are the lies we tell ourselves because we are slaves to fear. Live now. Experience life. Do life with your families. You’ll never get those seasons back.

What season are you in? Relish it. Sure, you’ve probably heard that before and it’s hard, Mama, when you’re down in it. But we’ve all been there. We’re all mamas together.

Reach out to another mama in a season you’ve already conquered. Help her. Pray with her. Pray for her and her babies. Don’t wait to be asked for something. Be proactive and offer help: a meal, take her kids to the park for an hour, pick up a few necessities at the grocery store, have your son or husband cut her grass or shovel the snow off her driveway and sidewalk.

Be the nudge.

Shine your light into her dark places. Nudge her to realize that she’s loved.

Don’t listen to the devil’s lies that you’re all alone and no other mama feels like you do, has those scary thoughts you do, wonders if you’re good enough. You are enough, Mama. You are more than enough. Look into the glistening eyes of your babes and realize they see Jesus shine out, even when you just don’t feel it.

And if you wanted crafty fall activities like this post “should” be:

Links to some Fall Tot Packs.
Here’s our fall sensory bin.
Here’s my autumn Pinterest board with lots of activities pinned.
Learn about Johnny Appleseed
Visit an apple orchard and pick apples!
Apple Tasting with graphs
Leaf crafts
Leaf nature study and art
Favorite Fall Book List
Leaf Unit Study from The Homeschool Scientist
Toddler Fall Unit Study from Untrained Housewife
Fall Unit Study from 123Homeschool4Me
Fall Unit from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Fall is a fun time of year!

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Back to School Unit Study

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September 30, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

Usually, back to school themes have to do with apples, fall, leaves, getting to know new friends, and many other traditional topics.

We homeschool, and it’s just now changing to cooler temps. We often do not back to school, celebrating the freedom of staying home.

For our Back to School theme, we let our library story time do our activity for us.

Convenient and I didn’t have to think or clean up anything! Bonus.

Our new storybook lady this year is pretty awesome. That makes all the difference in the world! And she loves kids. She spends so much time on the lessons and provides great experiential learning every Wednesday for about an hour.

My girls are the oldest kids there and they usually help clean up the crafts. Without being asked. Love them.

They like front row seating.

The books for this session were fun. Great illustrations and animals!

I’d never heard of some of these book selections. They’re just great! Always fun to meet new book friends.

These are some of our absolute favorites. Oh, the giggles when she read them.

The storytime activity for the kids was to make little books of their very own.

The kids were provided little booklets with colored cardstock covers and white pages inside. Pictures from magazines were already cut out and the kids could choose them to glue into their books to make collages.

Tori made a butterfly book. She wrote a title on her cover.

Tori also drew butterflies in addition to pasting pictures.

Kate made a book of her favorite animals. Kate wrote the names of all her favorite animals under their pictures.

Alex made a transportation book. He really, really loved this activity.

And we all got cool bookmarks!

Back to School Ideas:

Night before school party
Special breakfast
Pictures to commemorate the new year
Memory board or interview page
Gifts or treats
Look through new school materials and books together to get familiar.
Set up a work area for each child to complete assignments.
Special back to school books. It’s hard to find books celebrating homeschool.
New clothes fashion show. It could be new loungewear or pajamas!
Schultüte – traditional school cones for 1st graders in Germany. Another Schulüte DIY idea here. DIY auf Deutsch hier.
Ice cream!
Chalk drawings in the driveway or sidewalk
Fresh flowers, especially roses for new schoolers! I love the Waldorf rose ceremony.
Discuss plans, desires, and dreams for the year
Make calm jars with glitter, oil, food coloring, and water.
Make tie-dye shirts or bags.
Go hiking or do a nature scavenger hunt.
Picnic lunch
Bowling
Parties with a fun theme, even if it’s just immediate family
Movie night

How do you celebrate back to school?

Check out the fun books we read!

Check out what the others did for the school theme: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy – Growing in God’s Grace – Royal Little Lambs – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Mum Central – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – B-Inspired Mama – The Fairy and The Frog – Edventures with Kids – Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Preschool Powol Packets – To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Fresh Farm Adventures – Are We There Yet? – Afterschool for Smarty Pants

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Fairy Tales Unit

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August 26, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

This month, we’re reading fairy tales!

Fairy tales are part of our history and literature reading this quarter with Tapestry of Grace Year 3.

We didn’t really have time for crafts since we’re still on our summer schedule and busy with the garden, traveling on vacation, and doing lots of fun activities outside our home, but we notebooked and discussed the lovely language and art in the books we read.

We researched the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and how they gathered their tales for their collections. Fascinating stuff.

Notebooking:

Homeschool Share Fairy Tale notebooking
character notebooking from The Notebooking Fairy
compare/contract form from The Notebooking Fairy – great for comparing/contrasting the traditional tale with a modern story or movie
Emergent Readers from the Measured Mom
Story map from Amy’s Wandering

See the posts for the rest of the Nook:

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy – Growing in God’s Grace – Royal Little Lambs – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Mum Central – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – B-Inspired Mama – The Fairy and The Frog – Edventures with Kids – Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – No Doubt Learning – Preschool Powol Packets – To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Fresh Farm Adventures – Are We There Yet?

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Beach Unit Study

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July 29, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

This month for Poppins Book Nook, the theme is Beach and Ocean.

It’s kinda hard to teach about beaches in the landlocked state of Utah.

We went to a reservoir camping and they had a rocky beach and the kids had loads of fun. It wasn’t the ocean, but the kids got to play and didn’t notice really.

Liz with her friend in the water.

I just loved this view!

It was too rocky to go barefoot! Alex and Tori loved collecting pretty rocks. Alex put them in his pocket for her!

Dad got some great portraits of the kids!

Tori’s eyes are sensitive to the bright light.

I got to go kayaking!

My baby boy

We read lots of books from the library and our shelves and talked about the ocean.

Alex doesn’t remember when we lived in Hawaii for three years, but the girls do.

Resources:

Visit the other bloggers in Poppins Book Nook to see how they learned about the beach and ocean this month.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Royal Baloo – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy – Growing in God’s Grace – Royal Little Lambs – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Mum Central – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Play Create Explore – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – B-Inspired Mama – The Fairy and The Frog – Edventures with Kids – Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Mom to Crazy Monkeys – No Doubt Learning – Preschool Powol Packets – To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Farm Fresh Adventures – Proverbial Homemaker – Look Were Learning

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Transportation Unit

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June 24, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 8 Comments

Alex is quickly becoming a backseat driver, telling me when the crossroads are clear of cars coming so I can go from the stop sign. He knows what speed limit signs mean. He knows the traffic signals. He pays attention to the digital compass and temperature gauge above the rearview mirror and likes to announce when we’re traveling east, west, south, or north – and he loves showing off with those big numbers of eighty-eight degrees and he knows what it all means. I love it.

I played with Alex in his room with all his Little People and Thomas the Train sets. We talked and interacted and it was so wonderful to spend some play time with my little man. He told me all the characters’ names and what all his vehicles did and where they went and why.

I loved that play time and really need to do it more and not think about what I could be doing that I feel may be more productive. He needs that Mama time.

Now that the month is almost over…it snuck on by me! We were super busy with camps, conventions, and just life…I wish I had done some fun art projects with the toy truck wheels and played more with ramps and blocks.

~Tot and Preschool Printables and Themes~

Alex’s favorite toy:

Tori loves helping Alex and it gives her confidence in reading to teach him words. She often reads to him before bed. She doesn’t get so anxious reading to her little brother as she does with the rest of us.

This work was dear to my heart. My first car was 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. It was rusty and orange, but we got it fixed and painted it yellow. The cards are from PreKinders.

Tori set up the car cards and Alex picked out the correct colors. Tori helped him place the cards in the chart carefully.

These vehicle matching mini-puzzles were a hit! I separated them into 3 sections: front, middle, and rear to make it less overwhelming.

Counting clip cards.

Visit my Transportation Pinterest board!

We also participated in a Flat Stanley adventure!

Alex loves this Wheels on the Bus app from Duck Duck Moose. (we love their apps!)

Alex loves watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with his dad. It’s the cool car guy!

We’ve been to Union Station before and I plan to go for a field trip again this summer during one of their free days. They have a fun car museum and trains!

Some of our favorite transportation books:

Visit the rest of Poppins Book Nook for their transportation posts!

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Dinosaur Unit Study

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May 27, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

This month’s theme is dinosaurs!

We’ve had lots of fun playing and learning about dinosaurs this month.

Alex’s Dinosaur work

D is for Dinosaur and preK Letter D

Alex (and Dad and the girls) loved this little dino book made like Brown Bear What Do You See?

Dino letter and number assessments from Making Learning Fun.

Matching dinos with cards and facts. Get these great dino cards at Montessori Print Shop!

Alex (and Dad) had fun with this printable dinosaur coloring book. And look at the cool crayons I found!

Discussing and coloring with Dad!

~Our dinosaur sensory bins~

The kids had fun brushing away the moon sand for these dino skulls. Kate was in charge of the card.

We gathered all our dinosaur toys and some pinto beans and moss pieces to play. Rawr

Tori and Kate’s Dinosaur activities:

We read and discussed dinosaur articles.

We read and notebooked out way through the wonderful chapter about dinosaurs in our science book: Land Animals of the Sixth Day by Apologia.

Our awesome field trip: Ogden Dinosaur Park! And we got a discount for being homeschoolers. They counted us as a school field trip. I love it.

We met a T-Rex (and info plaque) at the trailhead.

I love this dinosaur.

PARASAUROLOPHUS
“Beside Saurolophus (Crested Lizard)”

babies!

We got a live one here! This little snake darted across our path. cool.

mammals

Trikey

We ain’t skeered.

I love how real this picture looks.

foot print plaques

going into the “tomb”…

a fossilized allosaur

BIG dinosaur

a big sandbox fossil dig area

Liz being goofy. I hope she didn’t steal those brushes from a baby.

watching real paleontologists at work!

a wooly rhino!

A fun new corner made to look like Jurassic Park the movie.

Check out this interesting article about dinosaur skin!

And of course, this Doctor Who episode!

Liz is reading Jurassic Park for fun and we watched the movie.

We enjoyed many books from our shelves and the library.

We had an amazing month studying dinosaurs!

Linking up: Kids Activities Blog

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Wizard of Oz Unit

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April 29, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

We really enjoyed our Wizard of Oz Unit Study.

When I think of Wizards, I immediately think of the Great Oz. The kids and I love that horse in the movie. Check out the meaning of the phrase.

Weren’t there lots of unexpected turns in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? {You can get all the books on Kindle for almost free!} Kate is already reading the 2nd one!

Of course, the girls and I saw the new Oz the Great and Powerful movie. Opening weekend!

I had loads of fun planning our Oz sensory bin.

Rainbow rice and pasta. Emerald beads in a bucket and bowtie. A wooden rainbow. Oz characters from Grandma and a lion finger puppet.

Oz preschool pack printables.

I downloaded them for Alex. The girls loved it too.

3 part matching cards. Alex is telling me they lost the match to the Cowardly Lion. sigh

We used the puppets to retell the plot and practiced the reading pages.

The kids are all coloring pages for their lapbooks!

least and most favorite characters pages.

Kate and Tori both loved Dorothy and Tori disliked the Wicked Witch. Kate said the Cowardly Lion was annoying and talked too much. ha!

map work: coloring in the state of Kansas and color coding the regions of Oz.

I really love this one!

Paying it forward. Did you know that last Thursday was The Day?

We discussed how Dorothy was so kind and generous. She could have returned home to Kansas at any time had she known how. She wasn’t resentful at all but truly pleased that she helped her friends.

Tori and Kate wrote some ways she could be kind to others. I love this Pay It Forward printable! I also love it that it has a hot air balloon!

Kate said she could give flowers, food, and toys to friends. She could help with cooking.

Tori wrote that she could bake cakes and pick flowers for neighbors and friends, help Dad in the garden, clean up, help with Alex, and doing chores without being asked.

Liz does research on Oz Wikia to compare movies to the book.

I found these awesome stickers of original illustrations! Love Dover!

I’d gotten these fun glasses around Easter. Perfect for Oz play. Emerald goggles!

The girls finish up their lapbooks and notebooking:

Tori is a “cowardly” reader. I gave her “liquid courage” to help. It’s just mango juice with some sweet and sour. I would’ve added some 7Up {‘cause fizzies always help!}, but we’re all out.

Resources:

Check out the other posts!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Royal Baloo – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy – Growing in God’s Grace – Jennifer Lambert – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Mum Central – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Play Create Explore – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – B-Inspired Mama – The Fairy and The Frog – Edventures with Kids – Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Rainy Day Mum – Mom to Crazy Monkeys – No Doubt Learning

Linking up: Kids Activities Blog

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Royalty Unit Study

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March 24, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 4 Comments

Welcome to the Poppins Book Nook Reading Club! Here’s my intro post a few weeks ago that explains it all. Each month we have a fun theme and read books and do crafts and stuff.

This month I used the royal theme with each of my children…

So we have a middle school unit, an elementary unit, and a preschool unit! I can’t guarantee I’ll do this much each month! (We did focus more on the elementary unit.)

PRESCHOOL

My main book for Alex (whom we call Bubba!) is Bubba, The Cowboy Prince. It’s a “Cinderella tale” and it’s cute and funny, with all sorts of cowboys twists to the story. We compared it to other Cinderella tales from around the world. We also read The Prince Won’t Go to Bed! Hilarious! And gave me lots of reasons to kiss on my boy.

And just look at my little knight, ready and willing to go slay anything that threatens my honor! I just love him.

ELEMENTARY

We focused on Native American “royalty.”

Our book selection for Tori and Kate was this The True Story of Pocahontas (Step-Into-Reading, Step 3).

We also read Pocahontas by d’Aulaire. And we really got into this unit!

The girls drew and wrote and learned about Native Americans with Book 3: Native Americans, North America, Pilgrims (Draw-Write-Now) .

Here’s our library haul!

Kate especially loved the Indian Signals and Sign Language and I wish I’d gotten a picture of her practicing!

Tori and Kate colored pictures of Pocahontas and Jamestown.

We’ve had this costume in our dress-up for YEARS! And now it suits Kate for the Native American Royalty theme perfectly! All white like the swan feathers she really would have worn!

Here’s a fun anonymous poem I found and put on a pretty background. Feel free to download it and print it!

Did you know Pocahontas’ real name was Matoax or Matoaca/Matoaka – meaning Little Snow Feather?

And then she was known as Lady Rebecca when she traveled to England with her white husband, John Rolfe, and their son, Thomas?

We had this macrame belt kit from Grandma and I figured it out. It’s too difficult for the girls to complete right now. But it’s cute if I ever finish it.

So we dyed noodles and made bead necklaces instead. This was a big hit with everyone!

and made a cradle board or papoose for a doll with hot glue, a shoebox, flannel, and a belt.

And the girls LOVED playing with the Powhatan Indians Toob and Jamestown Settlers Toob and acting out all the stories we read in history!

And how perfect that the library storytime last week was all about royalty?

and the teacher even had this fun crown craft for the kids! I love her!

MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Young Royals collection from author Carolyn Meyer for Elizabeth. Liz loves this time period and all the Tudor royals are fascinating in these historical fiction biography diaries.

Elizabeth is cross-stitching a bracelet from a kit since needlework was popular during the Renaissance.

Here are some books we already have and some from the library that fit with Liz’s theme.

She loves Shakespeare! We recently read Hamlet together.

Liz completed notebooking pages through our classical history curriculum, Tapestry of Grace, and printables from the Productive Homeschooling.

Check out the rest of the club!

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Snow Unit Study

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January 6, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We’re having fun with winter art and nature study! We plan to learn about snow and winter themes all month long!

We had fun with art and science, learning about snow.

I used painter’s tape to make snowflake shapes and the kids finger-painted the poster.

After the paint dried, I pulled off the tape, and voila! lovely wintry decoration!

The kids loved coloring in their winter colors grid.

Alex saw orange and purple among all the gray and white. He looked really hard out that window!

a fun snowflake magnifying and matching activity with Snowflake Bentley’s snowflake pictures. We will read that book later this week! It’s on hold at the library. also from the winter nature study eBooks.

our winter sensory bin table.

When Alex tells you that he’s “making dinner” and then you hear water running, please know that the sensory bin will be soon destroyed. I had originally put packing peanuts in the bin for “snow.” Yeah, those were disintegrated.