Leprechauns with a Pot 'o Gold

St Patrick's Day is not a big thing here in the Philippines, but since there was a unit about it and we already have the materials for it then we went for it.

1. Books: Under the Rainbow, St Patrick

2. Geography and Reading Preparation
Locate Ireland in the Map.
Make a game identifying all words that starts with sh

3. Botany & Bible: 
Talk about shamrock and its meaning.

2. Art: Color Sequence of a Rainbow
The Song Colors of the Rainbow as sung at Kindermusik class helped a lot in remembering the sequence.
We coupled it with activities and painting.

3. Language: Rainbows around the World:
Colors in English,Tagalog and how often Spanish words are used in the Philippines (a short introduction to Spanish influence to the Philippines) and Chinese

Red - Pula- 红色
Green -Luntian (berde) - Spanish Verde - 綠色

and so on

4. Music: Classifying High and Low

- Visual thru pictures (pointing and looking for objects), High and Low
- Kinesthetic thru movement and dance
-  Auditory thru singing the high note and low note, play the high low note in the piano

5. Musical Term: Glissando
-Visual thru the logo

-Kinesthetic thru waving the scarves in an arclike movement

-Auditory thru playing the slide whistle

6. Dress Up

7. Do an Irish Jig
Put a clacker (bottle cap/coin) at the bottom of our shoes and followed the dance step.

In the end we found the pot of gold, and ate them all up!

Noodles from Scratch

This month's theme is Jazz Kitchen, singing, dancing to Jazz music and of course activities to make it memorable

1. Book:

2. Practical Life & Math
Grocery list, ingredients listing , money counting, and measuring are among the things you can learn in this simple task

Count, pay and go

3. Project Noodles from Scratch
Learn cooking terms by doing and seeing it

insisted on making noodles just like the animals in the book

mixing and measuring

kneading the dough

cutting by an adult (start with banana slicing for your child)
the one we did is still too thick

twirling some noodles for drying, we tried different shapes

4. Cooking: 

tomatoes, cheese & mushroom

Viola, finished product

5. Music : Singing and Drums
- Note reading: quarter note and eighth note, getting a beat

pum pa dum dum

Happy Eating, Reading and Singing everyone!

Spooky to Geeky- Mummies, Pyramid, Egypt & Pharaohs

1. Book: I am the Mummy Heb Nefert

We view mummies as what they are, wrapped dead bodies, haunting. The book speaks of the life she once led, how all things pass. I like the way it spoke, it touches the soul. I didn't expect death would be a topic the next day we read it. My daughter was asking how come she speaks when she has passed away?

2. Toys: 

To better get the idea, an actual toy is presented in a humorous way, we couldn't talk too serious about death to a three year old, could we? Hands on play and dancing like an Egyptian.

3. Crafts Ideas:

Mummify this cardboard guy with tissue.

4. Further reading:

We learned about Pyramid's purpose, way of living, how to make a Papyrus (first paper), and a lot about ancient Egypt.

5. Math Shapes: Pyramid

We did 3d drawing, hand drawing, clay making, paper pyramid.

6. Costume Day

Last day of Kindermusik class is Halloween dress-up (Trick or Treat). Reading and learning about Egypt made her appreciate our choice of character, Cleopatra.

Our greatest thanks to my mom who did all the sewing of the whole outfit and prepared the accessories. My participation would only be sourcing the crown.:)

Happy Halloween to all!

Make Believe!

Pretend play has a vital role in a child's developing mind.
Encourage your child to use his or her imagination, sail the seven seas, create a theme and live the story.

1.Book & Music: Rupert the Wrong Word Pirate

   Language: Practice making your own rhymes, play a game when in the car or waiting.

   Music: Listen and move to the same theme, it is easier for them to remember.

2. Math: Counting 1:1 correspondence
Count slowly and making sure that you count one item at a time.
Start with left to right to prepare the child for reading sequence.

I would suggest get real coins not a digital one.

3. Listening and Imitating
Since the book is about pirates, do some pirate languages for the child to say after you.
Ahoy there, Matey!

4. Science: Animal to See at the Sea
Show pictures and toy of sharks and whales, better yet, visit an oceanarium or go penguin watching.

5. Pretend Play
From Pirates to Princess, here is a craft activity. We made our own crown, pretend play has never been so sparkly!

See you in the land of make believe! :)

Home Sweet Home

City or  province, concrete or wood, whatever it is  I agree that home is where the family is.

This topic was very timely because there is an ongoing construction on our house

1. Book: A House is a House for Me

Book from Kindermusik

2.Now let's take a peek at animal homes.

Photos from Kindermusik Video

3.Talk and show different dwelling place.
Talk about Condominium, Townhouse, Single Detached and a Nipa Hut.

We are using some of our projects as sample for the dwelling types

4. Hammer, Carpenters and building

5. Making the Toolbelt

We got a re-usable bag as base material

plus my unskilled sewing skills

Viola the worker's toolbelt

6. Vocabulary : kind of tools

Cardboard tools- we did saw and hammer and put a brush too

Happy constructing everyone!

Outside my Window

1. Book: Rain Song

A lot of Vocabulary building such as 

Galoshes:  boots

Slicker: a long loose raincoat

Book from Kindermusik

2. Movement

Romping, stomping, kicking

3. Science
Weather: Wet and Dry for Philippines

Snowy

fun in the 'snow'

Rainy

Drip drip drop!

Sunny

Weather update

4. Activity: My Snow globe

Instead of corn syrup, baby oil works better.

A family effort for making a Wolverine snow globe!
Thanks to her aku (uncle) for the toy!

5. Weather Sounds
Thunder , Rain, Sunny - rhymes and music all around.

Whatever weather you are in, better get geared up and have some fun!

On the Go!

We are so excited to share activities from the 'three years old' class as we call it. It is a month of vehicles, from boats to cars and trains.

In this class there is less parent interaction. The child is encouraged to be independent, follow instructions, listen and explore.

1. Book: The Big Race

supplied by Kindermusik

2. Traffic Rules: Stoplight and the Stop & Go sign

we did the online materials with a little modification

3. Singing & Movement: Walk, Run, Stop and Go

Going around with our home made train

4. Pretend Play: a train, on a boat, a plane

Playing around

5. Crafts: make your own train. 

Materials used:can, boxes, yogurt cup, dowel , 

water bottle caps (big and small), camera film cover, Yakult bottle

Paint: Tempera non toxic paint, washable, though you have to put top coat so it will not peel off

Sanding of the smooth surface needed for the paint to adhere

Wheels are working! Attach paperclip to box and insert the dowel.

 Use a glue gun to stick bottle caps to dowel

Test Run

6. Virtues: Helping

Both books in the story teaches about helping, here is my daughter eager to do her part 

7. Go Along Book