Poppins Book Nook ~ Treasure Island {Part 1}

Posted on 30/06/2014 by Momma Jo

Treasure Island (Classic Starts)
By Robert Louis Stevenson

For the next two months we are reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I decided to do a double month of this book seeing as the themes we have for June and July are “The Great Outdoors” and “Ye Old Pirates”. There are so many different activities that can be done with this book. This month we spent 99 % of our dedicated book club time reading the book and when we were done with the theme, the kids made treasure boxes with modelling clay (Fifi) and air drying clay (Koko).

Koko and Fifi are monthly subscribers of the Kidazzle Kids Craft Club and they receive awesome arts and crafts kits every month. Last month they received a modelling clay kit and it was perfect for our Book Nook theme this month. How is that for timing?

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We spent one afternoon out in the warm sun making their treasure boxes. Pixie was napping at this point and the kids could sit and work leisurely without having the little monster causing chaos.

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Koko drew the treasure map on the lid of his treasure box

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Its a little to cold here and air drying the boxes would have taken forever. Koko’s baked perfectly while this was Fifi’s box. Modelling clay CANNOT be put in the oven. This picture was taken 5 minutes after putting it into a low oven. Her new box is still drying, I will feature it next month. *face palm*

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Koko’s treasure box. He decided to leave it unpainted to make it look dirty since it was supposedly buried for a long time.

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Koko’s treasure box with treasure.

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Be sure to check in again next month to see the activities I have planned as we continue to navigate the pirate infested waters!

Previous Poppins Book Nook posts:
May 2014: How Old Jackal got the Pigs {African Folktale}
April 2014: The Story of Cars
March 2014: Alice in Wonderland
February 2014: 2014/2015 Introductory post
July 2013: Penguins
June 2013: The Amazing Machines a Truckload of Fun
May 2013: Dinosaurs
April 2013: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
March 2013: Princess Petunia and the Good Knight
2013/2014 Introductory post

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An InLinkz Link-up

2014/2015 Curriculum ~ We have a plan!

Posted on 19/05/2014 by Momma Jo

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The decisions have been made! After many a sleepless night, I have finally come to a decision on what we are going to be using next year. Here is the run down of what we’ll be purchasing over the next few months:

English
Koko: Learning Language Arts Through Literature – Red Book
Fifi: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Clonard Grade R Readers

Mathematics
Koko: Math-U-See Alpha
Fifi: Math-U-See Primer

Handwriting
Koko: Italics B
Italics C
Fifi: Italics A

History
Koko and Fifi will be working together here:
Story of The World Volume 1
Story of The World Volume 1: Ancient Times Book List
I have decided that we are going to do a chapter a term (every 3 months). That way we can put our full attention to each chapter and not feel pressured to finish all the work, activities and books I want to cover for each ancient civilisation.

Geography
Koko and Fifi will be working together here:
Pack Your Bags! Monthly Lapbook Series
Children of the World Pack

Science
Koko and Fifi will be working together here:
We will be covering Anatomy next year and utilising the How Your Body Works that were gifted to us by a good friend.

Art
Koko and Fifi will be working together here:
ARTistic Pursuits Early Elementary K-3 Book One
ARTostoc Pursuits Art Supply Packs

Technology Tuesday #4 ~ Computer, keyboard and peripheral information for children

Posted on 06/05/2014 by Momma Jo

Papa Steve is a software engineer, ie computer programmer, and Koko has been very interested in what he does at work. Recently Papa started teaching Koko how to program on a simple, and free, Linux program called KTurtle.

In a bid to help Koko, and the other children, learn the correct PC jargon, I decided to download a few resources to make the learning process easier. My children are all visual learners to a certain extent, so this is working well.
ICT topic word cards

Computer keyboard sheets

ICT resource labels

I will ask Papa Steve to do a write up on exactly what he is doing with Koko during the lessons. Programming is definitely not one of my strong suits.

I would like to invite you all to link up your technology related posts. Be it games, blogging advice/resources, technology based learning or reviews, etc. The only requirements are that the post focuses on technology and is family friendly.

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My Vocabulary Spelling City Review
Today, I want to talk about one of my favorite free resources, that I use with my kids. It is called, Vocabulary Spelling City!
Click on the image to read her wonderful review of this amazing free resource

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Welcome! Please make sure to link directly to your post (not your main blog page) so we can find the fabulous post you want to share. Each week we will select someone’s blog link up that our readers “clicked” with the most and share some of my favourite posts that were linked up!

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Please make sure to display our Technology Tueday Button button on your blog post, sidebar or tabs. This button can be found on the Technology Tuesday post each week. Kindly make sure to visit some of the other wonderful bloggers who have linked up here.

Were you featured on our Technology Tuesday post? Congratulations! Grab a Featured button to proudly display on your blog or website.
Thank you!

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We invite everyone to get “clicking” and have some blog hopping fun!

We have created a Pinterest Board so that we can help spread the word on the blog’s that have had featured posts on our Techology Tuesday posts. Make sure to stop by and check it out HERE.

Please share your family friendly posts with us!

By linking up you agree that if your blog post is selected to be featured on any of our hosts’ blogs that we can use an image from your post with a link back to your post.

technologytuesdayprevious posts

#1 ~ DIY Windmills: Tutorial
#2 ~ K5Learning Review
#3 ~ Time4Learning Review

Teaching Greater than (>) and Less than (<)

Posted on 25/04/2014 by Momma Jo

This is a concept Noo struggled with in Grade 1, so when Koko had a meltdown with the lesson on Tuesday, I knew exactly what to do. To this day, Noo remembers the simple phrase, “small eats big”. Koko is a visual learner and doesn’t always remember the phrases, so I went searching for crocodile greater and less than pictures. I found THIS perfect download at Twinkl, a UK resource site.

This is how we used this resource. I printed the crocodiles onto one page, select the page range you want to print (in this case pages 2 – 3) and select Multiple (as shown below)

I then laminated the crocodiles for durability. I also wrote “Small eats Big” on each crocodile before laminating the sheet and cutting it out.

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He struggled with the “small eats big” concept that Noo found easy to remember, so we changed it to suit his learning style. The small number goes on the small side of the symbol and the big number on the big side. Once he understood the significance, he aced the worksheet without any issues.

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Its easy to forget that each child is an individual and that children learn differently. The onus is on us, as the teacher and parent, to learn how each child thinks and learns. Koko is a very literal child, small eats big just didn’t work with him, he didn’t see the image I was trying to create. However, explaining to him that the small number was the head (the closed end) and the big number the mouth (the open end) of the symbol, made perfect sense to him. Though he hasn’t completely mastered this concept just yet, he understands how to use the crocodile manipulatives now. I can see us using this manipulative for quite a few lessons.

What’s in the Workbox Wedensday #1 ~ Koko’s Workboxes

Posted on 16/04/2014 by Momma Jo

Koko currently has 9 workboxes. Our routine pretty much stays the same every day, with slight variations during the week.

He currently has a mix of blue and pink drawers. I am waiting for the supplier to get their stock in so I can go get two more blue sets (3 drawers per set) for Koko and 3 pink sets for Fifi.

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This is what he has in his workboxes today:

On top of the workboxes, is his pencil box with all his stationery
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Box 1
Clonard: Reading Book 4
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Box 2
Clonard: Writing Sheet
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Box 3
Daddy and Momma’s contact numbers worksheet
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Box 4
Clonard: Maths Workbook
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Box 5
Clonard: Maths Worksheets & Manipulatives
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Box 6
Clonard: Simply Maths
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Box 7
Clonard: English Workbook
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Box 8
Group activity with Fifi
Science: 5 Senses
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Box 9
Story time for Fifi and Pixie
Narration: The Story of Cars
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I’m still in the process of purchasing Fifi’s workboxes. Her boxes will feature as soon as they have arrived and have been set up. I will also be featuring Pixie’s Tot Trays from time to time.

Resources:
All workbox posts on Monsters Ed
All Tot Tray posts on Monsters Ed
Sue Patrick’s Workbox System
Workboxes on 1+1+1=1. This is where I got our inspiration back in the day for Noo.
Preschool Work Trays
Tot Tray Ideas for Tot School from 1+1+1=1

Technology Tuesday Linkup #1 ~ DIY Windmills: Tutorial

Posted on 08/04/2014 by Momma Jo

Welcome to our new Technology Tuesday Linkup! I would like to invite you all to link up your technology related posts. Be it games, blogging advice/resources, technology based learning or reviews, etc. The only requirements are that the post focuses on technology and is family friendly.

Today we made little windmills for our Technology lesson. We are using the book, Technology Activity Book: Grade 1: the Garden (Technology Activity Books), also available on Kalahari.com, this year for Technology. It came with our Grade 1 Curriculum. This particular lesson focussed on designing and “building” a windmill.

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Items required:
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1 Sheet of paper
Pin
Straw
Scissors
Tape
Pliers

Directions:
Fold your paper to make a triangle
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Cut off the excess rectangle
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Fold your triangle in half
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Open your triangle, you will now have a X in your square
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Cut on the lines of the X, three quarters between the edge and the middle of the X
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Fold over the left corner of each triangle so that they intersect in the middle of the X
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Push a pin through the intersecting points of the triangles
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With your pliers, bend the pin over and cover with tape to protect little fingers
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The end result? An easy toy for your littles that they can make with a little assistance
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The kidlets really enjoyed this lesson and spent ages running outside making their windmills turn.
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Were you featured on our Technology Tuesday post? Congratulations! Grab a Featured button to proudly display on your blog or website.Thank you!

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.monstersed.co.za/category/technology-tuesday/" title="Monsters Ed Technology Tuesday"><img src="http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy312/monstersed/Homeschool/technologytuesdayfeaturedbutton_zps8091d629.jpg" alt="Monsters Ed Technology Tuesday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

We invite everyone to get “clicking” and have some blog hopping fun!

We have created a Pinterest Board so that we can help spread the word on the blog’s that have had featured posts on our Techology Tuesday posts. Make sure to stop by and check it out HERE.

Please share your family friendly posts with us!

By linking up you agree that if your blog post is selected to be featured on any of our hosts’ blogs that we can use an image from your post with a link back to your post.