Archive for May, 2014

Exploring Norway

06
May

Norway

We have been working our way through the countries that we will see when we visit Epcot during our upcoming trip to Disney World.  For our study of Norway we used some of the printables and activities from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s new curriculum- Journey Into the World of Folktales.

Exploring Norway

 Hailey colored the flag of Norway.

Exploring Norway

Next we read Three Billy Goats Gruff… but before we did that Hailey drew a prediction of what she thought the story would be about.  We watched several different versions of the story on Youtube.

Exploring Norway

 Hailey and Hunter both made a troll.

Exploring Norway

Hunter showing off his troll.

Exploring Norway

Hailey retold the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  First she drew a little backdrop on the white board, then she used her troll and the 3 billy goats to retell the story.

Exploring Norway

 We watched a video on BrainPOP about the Vikings, then Hailey and Hunter had fun making their own Viking ships.

Up next will be moving to North America and studying Canada as we continue learning about the countries.

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Tot School

04
May

Hunter is 28 months old.

Tot School

Letter R Activities:

(Printables for the letter R are from 1+1+1=1 and Confessions of a Homeschooler.)

Tot School

Hunter colored a letter R paper.

Tot School

Hunter lined up all sorts of characters on this letter R printable.

Tot School

He loved stamping the letter R onto this paper.  He also loved stamping the letter R onto his hand and mine :-).

Tot School

Hunter had fun making this R is for Rainbow.

Circle Activities:

Tot School

Hunter practicing shapes with help from Hailey.

Tot School

We stamped circles using recycled containers.

Tot School

Hailey wanted to make one too.

Tot School

We sang a fun song about circles that I found in one of my Mailbox magazines.  It goes to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”
A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.
A circle is a shape that goes round and round and round.
A circle is a shape that goes round.

Then we sang other verses like:
[Put your hands] on the circle and go round.
[Put your hands] on the circle and go round.
[Put your hands] on the circle and go round and round and round.
[Put your hands] on the circle and go round.

We did other verses like stomp your feet, tiptoe slowly, hippity hop, etc.  We just had a lot of fun making up verses and acting silly.

Tot School

We painted bubble wrap…

Tot School

…then we stamped the painted bubble wrap onto paper to make circle prints.

Sensory:

Tot School

Hunter enjoyed playing with beads in his sensory bin.  He always ends up spilling them and making a huge mess, so I hate getting them out- but he has so much fun.  I hid some circles in his bin that he had to find.

Tot School

The Easter bunny brought playdough and Hunter has been enjoying playing with that.

Other:

Tot School

I colored inside an egg carton.

Tot School

Then Hunter sorted his counting bears onto the correct colors.

Stop by 1+1+1=1 to see what the other tots were up to this week.

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

Spring is in the Air

02
May

We made a little spring display in our classroom. Hopefully it will help spring to actually come to our area.

Spring is in the Air

Hailey and Hunter painted some frogs.

Spring is in the Air

They used water colors to paint some ducks.

Spring is in the Air

Our board says, “Spring is the the air.”  We added our ducks and frogs to the board as well as some flowers.

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

ARTistic Pursuits Review

01
May

ARTistic Pursuits

A favorite things to do at our house has always been art.  I have always struggled with what to do for art though.  I can put together a cute craft or project, but usually it’s just for fun- which is great- but sometimes I want a bit more educational value to go along with the activity we are doing.  Fortunately, Hailey takes an art class at our homeschool co-op, so I know she is getting some good art instruction.  But, I wanted to do something for her at home too- an art curriculum that I could easily implement- so I was really excited at the opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3, Book 2: Stories of Artists and Their Art from ARTistic Pursuits.

ARTistic Pursuits Review
Stories of Artists and Their Art is a part of a homeschool art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits.  There are books in the curriculum that come before this one, but you can start with this book if you want to.  This book focuses on the lives of artists from within the 13th century to the 18th century. Some of the artists included in Stories of Artists and Their Art are Giotto, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Turner.  In Stories of Artists and Their Art, there are stories written about the artists, written perfectly for children to enjoy and understand, and then there are art activities that relate to the artist your child is learning about.  Stories of Artists and Their Art is paperback and has a comb binding, includes 36 lessons (85 pages) and is $47.95. This particular book is for kindergarten through 3rd grade, but there are other art curriculum products for other ages available at ARTistic Pursuits.   In addition to purchasing the book, you will also need to purchase art supplies to complete the projects in the book.   You can order supplies directly from ARTistic Pursuits or you can purchase them on your own.

ARTistic Pursuits Review

So, what did we think of Stories of Artists and Their Art?

Here is a sampling of some of the lessons we did:

Lesson 1 was about Cimabue.  First we read about Cimabue, what it was like when he was born and how he became an artist.  Then Hailey completed the project that went along with the story.  She was encouraged to paint a picture of a building in our neighborhood.

ARTistic Pursuits

She set up her painting area like the book recommended doing.  There are also tips offered in the book- for example it suggested using your paint brush to drop a couple drops of water into the water colors to soften up the paint before starting.  This was a super helpful tip and made painting with water colors even easier.

ARTistic Pursuits

Hailey decided to paint a picture of our neighbor’s house- this is her completed picture.

The next lesson we did was also about Cimabue and how some craftsmen stamped patterns into a gold surface by making indentations into the gold.

ARTistic Pursuits

We used gold colored paper to represent the real gold for this activity.  Hailey had to cut the paper into the shape she wanted and then glue it on the paper.

ARTistic Pursuits

Hailey’s completed artwork.

In lesson 3 we learned about Giotto and how he used rocks to scratch pictures onto large flat stones when he was a child.  He later worked as an apprentice for Cimabue and became a master painter as well.

ARTistic Pursuits

For the next activity, Hailey used oil pastels to carefully color a piece of cardstock.  She used lots of colors and made it look very pretty.  When she finished coloring it, she colored over the entire picture with a black oil pastel.  This whole process took several days, but she had a great time.

ARTistic Pursuits

When she finished, she used a paperclip to scratch the black off and create a picture.  This part was a bit messy- but it is art after all 😉  She loved the project and is very proud of her artwork hanging in our classroom.

One other lesson we completed was also about Giotto and how he used to do fresco painting- which is when the paint is applied to wet plaster.

ARTistic Pursuits

Hailey spread plaster onto a piece of cardboard.

ARTistic Pursuits

Hailey drew a picture using pencil onto the plaster of what she wanted to paint.

ARTistic Pursuits

Then she used water colors to paint her picture.

ARTistic Pursuits

I made a plaster surface for Hunter too, because he likes to be included in what we do- so here he is painting his plaster.

ARTistic pursuits is very clearly laid out- a short and simple story about an artist, followed by a fun project for the child to complete.  It is very easy to use and the activities are simple while educational.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  She listened to the stories- they kept her attention and she loved the projects.
It’s not just a project for the sake of doing art- there is real educational value behind the lessons.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.

Cons:
Some of the art supplies that are recommend are a bit pricey.  But, that is easily fixed by purchasing generic supplies rather than the suggested name brand materials.

Overall, I would recommend ARTistic Pursuits.  We really enjoyed this homeschool art curriculum, we both learned a lot, and I plan to continue using it.

Want to see more of ARTistic Pursuits?  You can also check them out on Facebook.

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