I took pictures of the kids on their toes and jumping with their hands in the air; then printed them, cut them out, and laminated them. Added a ribbon where their hands met in the air. We gave these to our Grandmas for bookmarks.
Handprint Footprint Flower
I put the boys hands in pink paint and their foot in green paint and made prints on the paper. they cut them out and glued them to a green stem, so they looked like a flower.
Mother’s Day Card
I painted the boys hands and placed them in the paper in the shape of a heart. Then I put their foot in green paint and placed it at the bottom of the paper. “From the bottom of my HEART… to the tip of my toes… I LOVE YOU!”
A Surprise From My Son
My 3rd grader is the sweetest. He made me a card full of puzzles including a secret code.
My sister and I have built gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving since we were teenagers. Now we live 2000 miles apart so this is the first time we have made them together in years; and we got to involve our kids too.
Our family has the same Halloween tradition as many other families. We love to carve pumpkins together and try new ways for carving. We always start by going to the pumpkin patch to choose our pumpkins!
My boys are not a fan of getting sticky or gooey. Gutting the pumpkin is always the most unpleasant thing for them, but I keep encouraging them to try it!
This year I placed nails in the pumpkin and let T hammer them in to create the holes. He loved using the hammer.
J and I tried a more difficult pumpkin carving of the Dragon! The boys were very happy with how they turned out.
Carmel apples is one of the favorite fall treats in our house. T just LOVES “dunk”, his way of saying “junk food”. We also tried sweet roasted pumpkin seeds.
Batman and Spiderman this year! These 2 absolutely love to dress up in costumes. We have so many costumes for them to play with all year long. We never buy new Halloween costumes, they just choose from their large stash of costumes. Then after Halloween I buy clearance costumes to use as Christmas and birthday gifts.
For the 4th of July we grilled and had some fireworks. It’s been really hot this summer with record highs of over 100 degrees so we just had smaller fireworks this year. We grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob then we had watermelon and chips too. The boys love fireworks and have been looking forward to today for a while now.
I filled the kiddy pool with water balloons and had a little water balloon battle.
The boys liked the tanks and the parachutes this year.
The smoke bombs were a favorite for the kids and adults. We stuck a green smoke bomb down one snake hole and some of the smoke came out of another snake whole next to it.
J is fascinated with the American flag so we decided to take this last day and learn some more about it. We had a yummy flag breakfast, reviewed the symbols of the flag, made a flag craft, and learned how to show respect to our flag.
American Flag
Discuss: The American Flag is red, white and blue and has 13 stripes and 50 stars.
Its Symbols-
The stripes represent the 13 original colonies.
The 50 stars represent the number of states there are now.
The colors of the flag have meaning as well:
Red symbolizes Hardiness and Valor (the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger; especially in battle)
White symbolizes Purity and Innocence (the state of being free from sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)
Blue represents Perseverance and Justice (the administration of law; the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments)
Proper Display-
The flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset.
If the flag is displayed at night it should be illuminated.
Never allow the flag to touch the ground or the floor.
When displayed on a wall or window the blue field should be in the upper left corner.
The flag should be raised quickly and lowered carefully.
The flag is often flown at half-staff to show respect for someone who has died. When flown at half-staff, the flag should be raised to the top for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should also be raised to the top before it is lowered at the end of the day.
Read:The American Flag by Tristan Boyer Binns
Comprehension Questions:
What colors are on the American Flag? Red, white and blue
What does each color stand for? Red for Valor, White for Purity, and Blue for Justice
What do the 13 stripes and 50 stars stand for? 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies and 50 stars for the 50 states.
For the second day of our Memorial Day unit study we studied a Bible story of memorial. We read about and made our own memorial stones like Joshua and the Israelites did after crossing the Jordan River. We also made another Memorial Day art project.
Memorial Stone
Discuss: In the Old Testament of our Bibles God’s people also had a time of memorial to remember what God had done for them. Open your Bibles to Joshua 4. Before we read let’s talk about what happened before Joshua 4. Remember God’s people had been in slavery in Egypt and God used Moses to lead his people out of slavery and across the Red Sea. Then, God led them to wander through the wilderness for forty years, but every day He was faithful to give them the quail and manna they needed. Then God finally led the Israelites to the land He had promised them when He led them out of Egypt. That brings us to today’s story. This is the story of how God led His people across the Jordan River on dry ground and into the Promised Land. God wanted a man from each of the twelve tribes to pick up a stone as they crossed the Jordan River.
Read: Joshua 4:1-20
Comprehension Questions:
“Why were these twelve stones important?” The Israelites were to keep the twelve stones as a way to remember how God led them safely across the Jordan River.
What are some good things God has done for you that you want to remember? Let the children answer, The mose important thing that God had done for us is given us His Son Jesus.
The Hand of God
I had J trace his hand on paper and cut it out. Then he wrote “Joshua 4:23-24” on the palm of it.
Discuss: Just like God wanted a man from each of the twelve tribes to pick up a stone as they crossed the Jordan. Today you are going to paint your own memorial stone as a reminder to you of how God gave us Jesus. When you look at your stone you can remember how Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you can thank God sending His Son Jesus to die in your place
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Materials:
One clean, dry stone for each child
One paintbrush for each child
One paper plate or pie tin for each child to use as a paint palette
One color acrylic paint. The amount of paint needed depends upon the number of children.
Masking tape
Sharpie marker
Procedure:
The stones must be scrubbed clean and be completely dry for the paint to stick to the surface. I recommend you wash the stones a few days in advance and set them outside to dry.
Pass out one stone, one paintbrush, and one empty paint palette to each child.
Show a stone which is already completed.
The children will choose which side of their stone will be the top.
Squeeze a small amount of paint onto each child’s palette.
The children will paint a cross on the top of their stone.
The adult helpers will write each child’s name on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the bottom of the stone.
J has been asking me for the last few years why we celebrate Memorial Day so for day one of our Memorial Day Unit Study we learned some of the history of Memorial Day. We also learned with our toy army men, Venn Diagrams, art projects, geography and some math.
Memorial Day Order
Discuss: Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It is celebrated on the last Monday in May.
Read: Memorial Day by Trudi Strains Trueit and the Order for recognizing Memorial Day as a national holiday.
Comprehension Questions:
Why do we celebrate Memorial Day? Because we are remembering and honoring the people who serve in our military. They work to keep us safe and give us our freedom.
Write the word Memorial on the front board. See how the word memorial is like the word memory. On Memorial Day, we remember and thank the people in our military.
First count them to see how many there are. You can put them in piles of 10 and then count by 10’s.
Sort and arrange into patterns by color first then by the soldier’s position. Try and AB pattern first then try something harder like AABCC.
Create a Venn diagram with hoola hoops. Compare standing soldiers to laying soldiers, with kneeling soldiers in the middle.
Remove any extra pieces so that you have a number divisible by 10 (say they were injured and went to the hospital).
Set up 10 men as generals, how many soldiers could each general command, if all the men were divided equally among the 10 generals?
Army Men Math
How many army men do you have? (count by tens)______________
How many of each color do you have?
Light Green?_________________
Dark Green?_________________
Gray?______________________
How many in each position?
Standing?___________________
Kneeling?___________________
Laying?_____________________
Remove any extra pieces so that you have a number divisible by 10 (say they were injured and went to the hospital). If 10 were generals how many could each general command?_____________________
Drawing Army Men
Discuss: Show the children how to make the army man body after examining a few different army men together. Observe how the arms and legs bend because of knees and elbows. Here is a step by step guide for the child. Look at all the details of their little man.
Materials:
Army Men
Pencil
Green Marker
Water Colors
Directions:
Use the diagram above to draw an outline of your army man with a green marker,
paint the army man with green water colors,
for the back ground draw camouflage or an American flag.
IMG_0902
American Casualty Locations
Discuss: Many American soldiers have died protecting our countries freedom. Here is a list of all the wars that Americans have fought in. It also tells how many American’s died in each war. We are so thankful for each and every soldier for giving their life for our freedom.
Directions: Study the list and display a large world map, and ask students to point out the places where Americans have fought and died.
Memorial Day Poppy
Discuss: On Memorial Day you will often see veterans selling poppies in memory of those people who died for our country.
Materials:
Red tissue paper
White paper
Green pipe cleaner
Glue
Green seed beads
Aluminum foil
Scissors
Ruler
Pen
Directions:
Cut a 3 inch square of aluminum foil and red tissue paper.
Glue the red tissue square over the aluminum foil square, and let it dry.
Cut a 2 inch circle from the tissue covered foil to make the poppy.
Poke a 6 inch piece of green pipe cleaner through the center of the poppy for the stem. Bend the end of the stem to one side and glue it to the center of the flower.
Cover the center of the poppy with glue and sprinkle the glue with green seed beads for the center of the poppy.
Cut a thin 4 inch strip from the white paper. Fold the strip of paper in half and glue it around the stem of the poppy.
Use a pen to write “Memorial Day” and the date on the paper strip.\
Stick the stem of the poppy through a buttonhole on your shirt to wear it on Memorial Day.
IMG_0911
Check out the other day that we spent learning about Memorial Day:
In this unit study we learned more about Memorial Day and the American Flag. This unit study has 3 days of lessons. I did this study with my 1st grader and would recommend it for Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Today we talked about the science behind rainbows. We learned that all a rainbow needs is light and water so we went outside to try to create some or our own rainbows. Today we included more rainbow crafts, science, math, literature, and snacks.
What Makes a Rainbow
Discuss: A rainbow needs light and water for us to see it. Show a simple demonstration of how we bend light by using a straight straw and a clear cup that is half filled with water. Even though the straw is straight, it looks bent when we put it into the water. That is just the light bending. When we bend light, it is called “refraction.” Let’s bend some more light. Show the kids a prism, go outside and used a prism to create a rainbow on a piece of white paper. Why do we see rainbows when it rains? The raindrops are like a tiny prism, bending the light that comes from the sun. So we need both sun (light) and rain (prism) at the same time to make a rainbow in the sky. Let’s do a simple demonstration to see how the sun and water make a rainbow. We’ll use the hose in the backyard to make a rainbow. Make sure the sun is behind us and the water is in front of us.
Read: What Is a Rainbow? By Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer
Comprehension Questions:
What makes a rainbow? Light and water
Fruit Loop Bagel Breakfast
Materials:
Plain Bagels
Cream Cheese
Fruit Loops
Directions:
spread cream cheese on the bagel
place the fruit loops in the shape of a rainbow
Tissue Paper Rainbow
Materials:
colors of tissue papers
pencil with a full eraser
school glue
white cardstock with an outline of a rainbow on it
markers or crayons
Directions:
Have the children use the markers or crayons to color in the colors they want their rainbow to look like.
Cut the tissue into 1 inch squares.
Pour some school glue onto a tray or plate.
Have your child take one piece of tissue, and show them how to center (approximately!) the eraser onto it.
Wrap the tissue up around the pencil.
Dip into the glue.
Hold onto the edges of the tissue, and press the glue tipped end onto the paper, matching up the color from your picture. Slide the pencil out.
Rainbow in a Box
Discuss: Like water drops in falling rain, the CD separates white light into all the colors that make up the rainbow. The colors you see reflecting from a CD are interference colors, like the shifting colors you see on a soap bubble or an oil spill. You can think of light as as being made up of waves-like the waves in the ocean. When light waves reflect off the ridges on your CD, they overlap and interfere with each other. Sometimes the waves add together to make a rainbow.
Materials:
CD
Box
Flashlight
Directions:
Shine a flashlight on an old CD in the bottom of a box turned on it’s side.
Turn off the lights, and move the flashlight across the CD to make the rainbows dance.
Rainbow Addition
Materials:
Paper
Pen
Construction paper
Directions:
Draw an outline of a rainbow on the paper.
Write addition combinations on the blank rainbow. (make sure they are spaced out quite a bit)
Cut the construction paper into rectangles small enough to cover one of the combinations.
Write the answers to the top row of combinations on the red rectangles.
Next row answers are on the orange rectangles. And so on.
Child will look at the combination and find the answer in the colored pieces and place it over the combination. At the end there should be a completed colored rainbow.
I modified the one for A. to counting dots on the white paper and finding the correct number on the colored pieces.
And I modified the tots to matching colors.
Eat the Rainbow
Discuss:
Talk about what different colors of the rainbow that we can eat to be healthy. Fruits and Vegies Then make a chart with the kids that have all of the foods that they suggested written on it.
Materials:
Posterboard
Markers of crayons
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Banana
Pear
Blueberries
Red Grapes
Kabob Skewers
Directions:
Make a rainbow on a plate or platter with different fruits.
RED – Strawberries ORANGE – Cantaloupe YELLOW – Banana GREEN – Pear BLUE – Blueberries VIOLET – Red grapes
2. Let the children use the kabob sticks to make their rainbow fruit kabobs.
Read: I can eat a Rainbow by Annabel Karmel while they eat
Make a REAL Rainbow
Read: A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
Discuss: Rainbows appear wherever sunlight falls on water or glass. We used the Rainbow Diagram here to help us with this experiment.
Materials:
Glass of water
Dark kitchen
White Paper
Masking Tape
Flashlight
Directions:
Fill a glass of water (almost to the top) and place it at the very edge of the counter in a VERY dark kitchen or bathroom.
Place a sheet of plain white paper on the floor a few inches away from the counter.
Put two pieces of masking tape over the front of a flashlight so that the light comes out of a slit about 1/8 inch wide.
Shine this light across and down into the water as shown in the figure. When a narrow beam of light is passed through a glass of water, a spectrum can be seen on a white sheet of paper.
Can you see a small rainbow on the white paper? If not, move the flashlight around a little until you achieve the best results.
Rainbow Symmetry
Discuss: A line of symmetry divides a shape into two identical parts. In some cases, as with a rainbow, you’ll find one line of symmetry down the middle. In other cases, there is more than one, like with eight sections of an orange. So if we paint a rainbow on one side of the paper and then fold it in half it should appear the same on both sides forming a symmetrical rainbow.
Materials:
Cardstock folded in half
Paint for all the colors of the rainbow
Directions:
Fold the paper in half and open.
Have the kids how to paint half a rainbow on one half of the paper in the right order.
Fold the paper over and press gently.
Open again to see your rainbow print.
IMG_0701
Rainbow Celebration Cake
Cake Materials:
White cake (2 boxes)
9 in. cake pan
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring.
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9” cake pans. Make the 2 cakes according to the directions.
Divide the batter into 6 bowls (about 1 1/2 cups each.
Then whisk 2 drops of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Pour into the pans and bake for 12 minutes each.
When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.
Frosting Materials:
2 Cups shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup water
2 lbs. Powdered sugar
Frosting Directions:
In large bowl, cream shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add water and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
This icing can be stored 2 weeks. rewhip before using.
IMG_0680I added sugar sprinkles in the shape of a rainbow to it too.
Just last week we saw a double rainbow and I actually got a picture of it with my phone, so we decided to make that day 4 in our rainbow unit study. We had a rainbow breakfast and lunch and did some more rainbow crafts, math, and science. The kids loved the mini fruit rainbow pizzas that we had for snack today.
Double Rainbows
Discuss: In a “primary rainbow”, the arc shows red on the outer part, and violet on the inside. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it. In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets. The second arc is also lighter than the first one.
Read: All the Colors of the Rainbow by Allan Fowler
Comprehension Questions:
What is the order of the colors in a rainbow? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
What is the order of the colors in the double rainbow on the top? Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red
Have the children draw a double rainbow (top rainbow lighter and in opposite order)
Rainbow Pancake Breakfast
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
food coloring
Directions:
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
Lightly beat the eggs with the buttermilk, milk and melted butter.
Just before you are ready to make the pancakes, add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just long enough to blend. The batter should be slightly lumpy.
Separate the batter into 6 bowls and added food coloring to make the colors of the rainbow.
Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium-high heat (375 degrees on an electric griddle).
Pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the griddle or skillet, spacing the pancakes apart so they do not run together.
When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are lightly browned, turn and cook for about 2 minutes longer, until lightly browned on the bottom.
IMG_0A said “Look, I made a flower” (so girly)!618
Hand Print Rainbow
Materials:
Paint (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
Poster board
Directions:
Cut the poster board in the shape of a semi-circle.
Have the children put their purple hand prints along the bottom curve.
Then blue hand prints over the purple prints (it’s okay if it overlaps a bit)
Then green, yellow, orange, and red hand prints
Blow It Up
Discuss: Baking soda and the vinegar create an ACID-BASE reaction. When combined/mixed they create a gas – carbon dioxide. Gasses need room to spread out, so the carbon dioxide gas fills the bottle and then moves into the balloon inflating it. A gas can float in the air but we usually can’t see it.
Materials:
baking soda
vinegar
plastic bottle
6 balloons (one of each color)
funnels
Directions:
Using your funnel pour vinegar into your bottle. You only need to fill about 1/3 of the bottle.
Using another (dry) funnel pour baking soda into your balloon. Fill the balloon approx. 1/2 way.
Cover the top of the bottle with you balloon. Make sure you don’t let the baking soda spill into the bottle yet.
When ready, lift your balloon and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar.
Watch as the mixture fizzes, bubbles & expands your balloon!
Measure a Rainbow
Materials:
Construction Paper in colors of the rainbow
Scissors
Stapler
Directions:
1. Measure and cut the construction paper into 1” wide strips. Measure and cut each of the strips into the following lengths:
2. Stack all of the strips together in the rainbow order with red on top. Align and staple the aligned end together.
3. Bend and align the other end and staple to form a rainbow!! And that’s it…a fun rainbow with a little bit of measuring practice as a bonus!
Rainbow Spaghetti Lunch
Ingredients:
Spaghetti
Oil
Food Coloring
Tomatoes
Carrots
Croutons
Lettuce
Rasins
Shredded Cabbage
Directions:
Cook a small pot of spaghetti and drained it and tossed it in a couple of teaspoons of oil.
Divided it into 6 bowls and added a some liquid food coloring to each one, and stirred it through.
Serve with a salad make of RED – Tomatoes ORANGE – Carrots YELLOW – Croutons GREEN – Lettuce BLUE – Raisins VIOLET – Shredded Cabbage
Rainbow Wind Catcher
Materials:
paper plates
paint
glue sticks
a stapler
crepe paper
Directions:
cut paper plates in half.
paint a rainbow on the back sides, both halves.
after they were dry, use a glue stick to add the streamers.
cut the streamers in half long wise so they measure about 1in. X 10in.
in theory you would add the color of streamer under the color of paint.
glue streamers to the inside of both halves of the plates.
staple the two plates together.
tie a knot in a loop of yarn and then stapled it in when putting the plates together.
Crayon Melting Canvas
Discuss: Why does wax melt? Energy travels from the heated area to the wax, a solid. When the energy hits the wax molecules, it causes them to speed up, resulting in liquid. As the heat is removed, the wax molecules begin to slow down and heat the air around them. As the molecules lose energy they slowly stop moving as much and become a solid again.
Materials:
11×14 canvas
hot glue gun & glue stick
hair dryer
lots of crayons
newspaper
Discussion:
Pick out the colors you want to use and line them up until you run out of space.
Using a glue gun, make a line of glue across the crayons (if you want a certain part showing, like the label, be careful to put the glue on the opposite side). Quickly place onto canvas in a line, as shown below, with tips facing down.
Line your floor with newspaper, place the canvas against the wall, and start blow drying.
Aim the heat right at the middle to lower area of the crayons (where the tips are). Once the wax starts melting, move the dryer around as needed to prevent splattering and get wax to go straight down.
IMG_0655
Extension:
Kids can do individual crayon melting pictures on cardstock then cut off the crayons.
IMGI tried spelling something with stickers and peeling them off._0594IMG_05Instead of the wax not showing up under the stickers to make it appear white, the wax spread under the stickers.96
Mini Fruit Pizzas
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jar Marshmallow Cream
1 block cream cheese
Raspberries
Manderin Oranges (cut in halves)
Banana (sliced and cut in fourths)
Green Grapes (cut in halves)
Blueberries
Plums (sliced and cut in fourths)
Directions:
In a bowl cream butter, 3 ounces cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and let cool.
Mix 1 jar of marshmallow cream and 1 block of cream cheese for the kids to spread on the cookies.
Cut up the fruit for the kids to make a mini rainbow on their cookies.
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