"M m" is for "Mittens"...

 

 

We have been learning the letter "M m".  "M m" is for "Mittens".  Today we learned the poem / story about the "Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens" (literature / reading).  My two young students and I made a large poster depicting these kittens wearing their mittens (art).  The kittens represented each of them, as well as their baby brother.  This poster makes a great visual aid for learning the story, learning rhyming words, recognizing the letter "M m" and the sound it makes (phonics), learning the opposite words "lost" and "found", learning colors (brown, black, tan, etc.),  and learning to recognize the numbers 1-2-3 (math). I suppose the story of the three little kittens could also be counted as a social studies lesson as it shows how irresponsible behavior will result in a negative consequence. 

 

"M m" is also for "Mammal".  We discussed the characteristics of mammals (science).  They are warm-blooded, have hair / fur, give birth to live young, and they produce milk to feed their babies.

Our poster is almost as large as the children's school table, which will comfortably seat 4 small students.

Water Vapor...Where does it go?

Recently, during our science lesson about the 3 states of water (liquid, solid, gas), I boiled a little water in a pot on the stove to demonstrate how high heat can cause water to evaporate into the air in the form of steam, which becomes the water vapor/gas  in the air.  My 4 year old grandson asked me where the water vapor goes. (He had been watching the steam rise up, then disappear from sight.) To keep my explanation simple for my grandchildren to understand, I told him, and his 3 year old sister, that the water vapor goes into the sky and makes a cloud.  I then told my grandchildren to go look out the window to see the clouds. 

Excitedly, they ran to the screened door window and looked up to the sky.  My grandson exclaimed, "Mammaw...I can see the cloud we cooked!" 

Handprint / "Fan Bird" Craft Project - Elijah Fed by Ravens...

We did this project in Primary Sunday School Class as part of our study about Elijah who was fed by ravens during a time of drought. 

This project could also be used to make a white dove  during Christmas or Easter, or in the Spring to make various colors of birds

 Fold a piece of black construction paper in half.  Place hand on top and trace around your hand.  Cut out and glue the palms (bird body) and thumbs (bird head) together.  Fold down the other fingers to make wings.  Add yellow beak and yellow feet.  Cut a 8 to 12 inch  X  4 to 6 inch piece of black paper and fold it accordion style and glue one end into the top part of the body, at an angle, for the bird tail.  White crayon was used to make the eye.  Wiggle eyes would be great!

 

My grandson's version:

This craft would be good to make and use as a visual aid when learning the letters  "B" is for Bird, "C" is for Crow, "R" is for Raven; the colors; and animal (life) science.

This idea was taken from the book Christian Crafts from Construction Paper, written by: Lori Miescke, published by: Shining Star Publications.
 

Multicultural / Biblical / Science Art Project

 

 

 

Assorted Tagstock Kids (item # CO78) from www.ssww.com/arts-and-crafts-supplies/paper/shapes/?fp=PE1460 .  My grandson drew all of the faces except for the black person.  I figured he might have trouble pressing hard enough with his pencil to get any marks to show up on the black paper.  He colored the clothes on the red person.  My grandson is not yet 5, so I think he did pretty good at

drawing faces. 

 

 

We learned how that our skin, eye, and hair color is greatly determined by the amount of melanin within them.  The more melanin you have, the darker the eyes, hair, and/or skin.  For more info about melanin, go to Answers in Genesis website.

 

My granddaughter's version:

 

 



Our first "real" art lesson / project has been completed, and I must say - I'm impressed!

The instructional book we are using for our art lessons this year is Art for the Very Young (ages 3-6) by:  Elizabeth Kelly & Joanne McCanville, published by Instructional Fair.  From our first lesson, we are learning (or will better understand as we go along in our lessons) that lines (straight, curved, zigzag, bold, thick, thin, etc.) can be used to express or create shape, movement, emotions, and qualities such as sound, strength, importance, etc.

We viewed (from an online source) Pablo Picasso's Man With Hat (1912).  I must say that I personally do not like Picasso's work, and I wondered if my (not yet 5 year old) grandson would even recognize it as a "man" at all.  Surprisingly, he did!  He said it was a "magician with a magician's hat".  My grandson did not see the "violin" at the bottom of  Picasso's art work, but then that is an instrument that my grandson isn't familiar with so his lack of recognition is understandable.

We also viewed Franz Kline's Chief (1950), which depicts a "locomotive".  Kline's work also does not appeal to me, and I failed to see any resemblance to a locomotive.  I thought it looked more like a helicopter. Before allowing my impression of  Kline's work be known to my grandson, I asked him what he thought it looked like. "It looks like a helicopter," he said. Ummmm....there WERE helicopters in existence in 1950, right?  I wonder why Kline couldn't see a helicopter in this piece he'd created?  

Anyway, my grandkids created their own "line" art by cutting paper into straight, curved, and /or zigzag strips.  (Or, rather, my grandson did the majority of the cutting as his little sissy isn't proficient in the use of scissors as yet.) Then, my grandkids laid out the strips on a sheet of paper in a design that pleased them and glued the strips down.  They were asked to tell what their design looked like.

Here are their finished art pieces:

My grandson made two "line" pictures.

Picture on the left:  "Zebra".  Picture on the right: "The Waves".

 Yep! That is exactly what these pictures look like!  Fantastic!

My granddaughter didn't give her picture a name.  I don't think she really understood what we were doing.  (She is not yet 3 years old.)  She was too busy trying to get those scissors to work just right to care about anything else, as you can plainly see below.  (I noticed while she was cutting that whenever her hand opened, so did her mouth!  Whenever her hand closed, her mouth did, too!  lol!)

 

This is the design my granddaughter made from the paper strips her brother cut for her.  She didn't form an opinion as to what the end result looked like, but I think it looks like a Tornado!  What do you think?

 

This is the actual cutting work that my little granddaughter did today:  I really need to find smaller scissors.  The ones she used are for ages 4 and up.

Our Curriculum for Grade K / Preschool (2013-14)

Phonics:  Explode the Code, Books A, B , C.

Math:  MCP Mathematics, Level K.

Science:  God's Creation Series -The World God Made, Grade K, from Christian Liberty Press.
                Big Book of God's Amazing Creation - Science and Nature Activities for Ages 3 to 12,
                from Gospel Light.

History/Geography:  Little Pilgrims in God's World, Grade K, from Christian Liberty Press.
                                  Beginning Geography, Grades K-2, from Evan Moor.

Art:  Art for the Very Young, Ages 3-6, from Instructional Fair.

Foreign Language:  Let's Learn Spanish, Kindergarten, from Hayes School Publishing Co.
                                My First English-Spanish Picture Dictionary, from Publications International.

Other Additional Resources:  Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills, Grades Preschool and K,
                                                from American Education Publishing.
                                                Favorite Poems Old and New, from Delacorte Press.
                                                The Growing Readers Phonics Bible, from Tyndale House Publishers.

I will also be utilizing various children's story books (which I already have on hand) to reinforce some of the lessons in the texts I am using.  Photocopies of free worksheets from the internet will be used to help teach numbers, letters, nursery rhymes, and other concepts to my preschooler. I may also search the internet for seasonal or holiday craft project ideas.