Letter S

Letter S was actually a fun letter to work with.  Since I have to teach both boys who are at different levels, I had to find activities that work for both of them. I think I did a pretty good job today of keeping them engaged.

So here is what we did today. 

I started the day with this little white board. I asked the boys "what is this letter" and they both said "S".  I gave some examples of words that start with S and asked if they knew any other words that start with S. I wrote them in blue on the board next to the S.

 We did our Phonics work in the workbooks and put stickers on those.  They love the sticker idea and feel compelled to try their very best if they know they get to put stickers on the completed pages. I have them do their book work before we actually do any activities. That's also an incentive to get them going on their book work.
I asked the boys what they wanted to do next {all the subjects are on the white board} and they chose SCIENCE!  That's my favorite subject as well.

Before we started, I asked them what they do with their noses. "smell" and "sniff" were their answers. I told them it's called the "sense of smell" and we are going to explore that today.

Science: Sense of Smell with Spices!

What you need:
Spices
construction paper (if you want to cover the spice jars so they can't peek at the spices
little cups or containers to put the spices they are sniffing in

 For Lucas I used Onion Powder, Nutmeg, bay leaves and cumin.

For Austin I used Cinnamon, garlic powder, cloves and thyme. I tried to divide them up so the smells didn't smell the same... Like thyme and basil...I didn't want to confuse anyone. I wanted each spice to have a very distinct smell.

 By the way, cumin tastes and smells horrible. Austin was not a fan.

 He also said cinnamon was "too spicy, but it smells sweet in the jar".  If you are working with anything edible, your kids will try to eat them. I did make sure they were only taking small pinches or just putting a finger in each.

 Austin and Lucas trying to figure out the smells

 Needless to say, Lucas thinks cinnamon is "too spicy" as well.

Taste testing bay leaves. {yuck}

They really enjoyed this activity. I will be doing this again...also adding taste and other stuff in. 

Reading was next on the whiteboard so we went and got our robes on, blankets and pillows.  

I wrote a short "S" story which you find here. {I really suggest you read it. It's really really cute} I made an interactive story board on my white board with markers, magnets and construction paper.

READING: SALLY SNAKE'S STRAWBERRY PATCH

All I can say is that they loved loved loved this story, especially when I introduced two Soldiers named Sir Austin Sillypants and Sir Lucas Soggybottom.  They laughed and asked me to tell the story 3 more times.

The story included counting when we had to return all the sixteen strawberries back to their sorted spots... it included a lot of "s" words and a sweet Sally Snake who just happens to love strawberries.  They celebrated their "superior work by making a pot of strawberry soup, singing songs and sipping soup til sundown".

Lots of fun with this one and it didn't take me as long as you might imagine.  

COOKING: SALLY SNAKE'S STRAWBERRY SOUP POPSICLES


I had some frozen juice concentrate in the freezer that's been in there for a while. I asked the boys if they knew how to make Sally Snake's Strawberry Soup into Popsicles. They just looked at me like I was crazy... So we went and made some.

 This activity was really good for them. They stirred, measured, poured, tasted.

 ...and of course sipped the strawberry soup popsicles that we put in the freezer from cups :)

 To finish off our Letter S day, we did some Art. Lucas really loves art. He loves any sort of drawing, coloring, cutting {mostly cutting} and gluing. Austin is "so so" on the arts and crafts.  So I had to make it fun for both of them.  We made Toilet Paper tube Super Heroes!  What a fun activity. The boys ate it up and are still whooshing them through the house and rescuing captured imaginext characters.  

TOILET PAPER TUBE SUPER HEROES

What you need:
toilet paper tubes
construction paper
cape drawing/mask drawing skills {heehee}
imagination
markers
glue

 This is Lucas' hero complete with awesome mask and cape

 The cape makes him able to whoosh and stuff {that's a quote}

 ...here's Austin's, complete with goofy "Austin picture"

That's it...that was our morning. All these activities took a little planning, but nothing was overly time consuming.  It only took us about 2 hours to get through Home School summer fun this morning and the boys were completely involved and loving each activity.

I gotta say, this is such good practice for me when August rolls around.  We are staying on a morning schedule of 9:30 school starts and after it's over, we get to play, go outside, go to the park....whatever we need to do.

I am enjoying all these activities just as much as they are... I love how their little faces light up when they "get something" I am trying to teach.

Enjoy!
Crystin