As we all know, Alexander just loves the Reptile Park. We visit it often and I'm a bit sad that due to Covid his last year of preschool we aren't able to visit it as much as we would. Hopefully we can go and visit next term a few times before he starts school, and also hopefully he can go to his mini kid to keeper program too.
This week I decided we would have a Reptile Park week where Alexander would learn about different animals. They have been awesome in doing daily live streams during lockdown but they also have a lot of videos on their Youtube page. This lockdown they also made a Reptile Park Activity Pack that you could purchase and download to print from home. They have also made a colouring in book, but Alexander isn't the keenest with colouring in so I haven't purchased that one. This week was a good week with routine.
Monday morning we started with learning about Hugo, the giant Galapagos Tortoise. We love Hugo so I thought it would be a fun way to start. We began with a finger warm up activity with the peg board. He needed to make Hugo using pegs. I loved the creativity. Then we moved to his name writing, where Alexander has come so far with his letter formations! We are now up to the b in Noble and m in James. Soon we will need to start doing letters that aren't in his name. After writing his name he needed to draw a picture of him with Hugo.
Alexander's peg board of Hugo
This was Alexander's writing 14th July
This is his writing and drawing a few weeks later on the 2nd August. Amazing the progress he has made!
Then we moved to the couch to read about Hugo in the Reptile Park magazine that he got for his birthday. It is cool that we are able to properly read the information in it instead of just flicking through to look at the pictures. Then Alexander watched a few of the YouTube videos of Hugo and also turtles and we did some brainstorming of the information that he heard.
We painted an egg carton shell green to use for craft later when it was dry and then we did some tortoise weaving to make Hugo's shell. Alexander found this a bit tricky to follow the pattern (over 2, under 1) but he got there in the end (it also took me a bit of time to work out how to do it. It has been lots of years since I have made a cross eye). Once done he drew a face and toes on the tortoise. It was so cute!
He also made a paper lantern for Preschool zoom which he did a great job at listening to the instructions and following them. He also helped Eliza with a maths doubling game and we were surprised at how well he went with knowing about doubles. How is he ready for school?
He joined Eliza with doing basketball for PE.
We then returned to our green egg carton shell to make a very cute Hugo (from the Reptile Park activity pack). It was really cute!
Eliza and Daniel both didn't want to miss out so at lunch and in the afternoon they both made their own weaving tortoise and also the egg carton shell tortoise.
After lunch Alexander made a sign to warn of Turtles crossing the road while Daniel responded to how our bodies react at different times. He is getting a lot better at his typing through home learning. Eliza needed to make a blue thingy-majig from a book that she read during the day so she enjoyed painting and using craft materials to make that.
Then he did Art for Kids Hub where he drew a turtle (but we pretended that it was Hugo). At the end Alexander wanted to write Hugo. He knew how to form the H and o and could work out what other letters to write after hearing the sounds. Alexander then wanted to be like the big kids in taking a photo of his work on the iPad.
The big kids had fun doing bouncing and dribbling for PE this week. They both showed some pretty good skills and control in the activities.
Learning to dribble around his body
A successful first day.
Tuesday morning Alexander needed to do a hunt to find the day's animal. In the lounge room I hid his 2 toy snakes. He looked under cushions and under the table to find the snakes. Yes, today was snakes and pythons. He then did the pegboard to make snakes and then wrote his name and drew a picture of him with a snake.
Before Mainly Music Alexander painted his paper plate shake so that it had time to dry.
We then had Mainly Music. It was great fun dancing and singing with him and I love that he runs to get the Hippo for the songs. He is so into it. At the end I told him that I just loving doing this ministry with him. He does such a great job and brings so much joy.
Before recess Alexander watched some videos of snakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmgHV5KYb1U, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnveTQ0xzlI) from the Reptile Park so I pulled out some of my maths resources to use with Eliza to help her with her doubling and halving and then her adding. The more we did it, the faster she got at working out her doubles and halves. These are things that the kids would be doing at school but unfortunately can't at this time. I will need to keep thinking about what resources I have and pull them out so we can play some games with them.
At recess Eliza found a reptile for reptile week - a little lizard. She brought it to me to show and Alexander was keen to have a hold of it too.
Alexander did a mind map of what he learnt about snakes. He couldn't remember a lot of the information but he still enjoyed watching the videos.
He then had to cut out pieces of paper to make a paper chain snake. It was a great activity with cutting along a straight line. Then he learnt how to use the stapler to make his long snake. There were a few moments of frustration with the stapler not working properly but we got there in the end and worked together. He then added googley eyes and a tongue to make his snake.
He then used it to measure if things were longer or shorter than his snake. I really need to work on going off what Alexander's interest is and not try to stick with what I had planned because he really could have measured a lot more things, had a big discussion about informal measurement and written down our results. Hopefully next time I will listen to him more than my own agenda.
I took Daniel to his OT session. It was so encouraging to hear that his OT teacher has seen a big improvement in his writing and control of the pencil and credited it to his hard work and persistence. I'm really proud of him and the massive improvement he has made. Mrs Fearnside has also sent him a special message letting him know that she has been so impressed with his improvement in writing over this lockdown time.
Eliza did some more basketball skills for PE lessons.
After OT Eliza had an art lesson where she learnt to draw an Emu (they had read Edwina the Emu in the morning). She followed the instructions and drew a gorgeous emu. She enjoyed it so much that she decided she would draw a family of emus for us all. What a beautiful picture it makes. She even got special mention in Mrs Barwell's good morning video on Wednesday morning which she was excited about.
In the afternoon Alexander listened to the book 'There's a Snake in My Classroom' and then followed Art for Kids Hub to draw a Coral snake. I was very impressed with his perseverance. I wasn't sure how it would go because the kid who was also drawing was a teenager so I thought it might have been a bit tricky. I sat next to him and helped him work out which line to extend but his finished drawing looked great! (I finished colouring it in for him because he lost interest).
Wednesday morning Daniel videoed himself playing one of his bass songs because it had a Japanese theme and he has been learning about Japan at school because of the Olympics. I do love his enthusiasm that pops up at times.
Alexander was to learn about his favourite animal at the Reptile Park - Elvis! He started by making Elvis using the peg board. He then continued to work on his name writing, this time learning about how to properly write b. I love how excited he gets when he writes the letters properly.
We read the magazine about Elvis and then he watched some YouTube videos of Elvis, including him being fed and the one where he attacked the lawn mower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0LSJtgXKPg) and then we made our information poster. He then coloured in a cut out Elvis and made him so that his legs could move.
We then finished off his paper plate snake from yesterday (because it had now dried). He enjoyed walking his snake.
How long is the snake?
He listened to the book 'Crocodile Beat' while colouring in a picture of Elvis.
After lunch the kids watched the live feeding of Elvis before returning to their work.
Alexander then had to make a crocodile out of recycled materials. "This is going to be easy" is how Alexander replied. His creativity amazed me. He started by sticking the 2 boxes together and drew eyes and a nose then said 'done'. I asked him what else is important for Elvis to have? Alexander thought and then replied with 'teeth because he needs to loose some'. I asked how he could make teeth (thinking he could just cut out zigzags). He came up with the idea of cutting off a part of the box and then cutting teeth out of that and sticking them down. There were some bigger gaps because that was where teeth fell out. Clever boy! I asked if he wanted to paint it and he said 'nope' so I just left it.
Today I made a cap on how many emojis Eliza can send to Mrs Barwell. The limit is around 10 because of this message (and many the same before it).
Alexander then used Art for Kids hub to draw a crocodile. It was really cute.
Daniel did a chalk drawing challenge for the Olympics where he needed to draw an olympic scene and then take a picture of it. He made a volleyball net.
He also got some lovely feedback on his work for the National Hero award from his teacher. I do love that he chose to write about God for his hero award.
Again, Eliza wanted to make a snake craft like Alexander so she coloured in a snake for herself and cut it out. Eliza and Alexander then enjoyed having their snakes spin in the wind. Very exciting stuff.
Because it was such a windy day we decided to take the kids for a ride to the park to fly a kite and kick the ball around. It was their first time flying the kite and they did a great job, getting it into the air. A very cool present from Parker for Alexander's birthday.
Daddy decided he wanted to try and make the kite fly in the wind by itself. It worked a little bit but not for long.
Eliza's turn
Daniel's turn
We had this shared by the P&C president with regard to home learning.
I do find it tricky to know what to do. I'd love to use my energy to cook with the kids, play games with them, adventure with them. But when it comes down to it, this is their education. This will basically be a term of learning that they either do or miss out on. The teachers say 'do what you can' but then there is no indication of what they must do and what they can leave out. I am pushing the kids to do all the work and not slack off. I feel I'm being unfair and they are working long and hard but I feel that's what they need to do. So this home learning concept is tricky to find the balance.
Anyway, Thursday morning was a bit cute when I saw the boys in Alexander's bed listening to music together. A nice way to start the day.
We then started with out fine motor exercises. Eliza was using Daniel's putty this week and after finding the treasures she made an echidna.
Alexander had found Fergus the Frog hiding and had made Fergus using the pegboard.
Daniel has been doing a cool activity where he needs to draw around magnets on a white board but it's up on the wall so he's increasing the strength in his arm as well. He has gotten really good at doing it.
Daniel then needed to choose a book to read and he wanted to read it to Alexander.
He chose A is for Australia. He then needed to use natural items to help him make a picture from in the book. He made the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
I received a beautiful package of a knitted scarf from Cyndie and a beautifully written note from her. It was such an encouragement to get this letter and hear about how I'm making memories for my kids. Some days I do wonder if I'm making the most of this time and also if I'm giving Alexander the best experience (because it is very structured like school is) but I'm doing the best that I can and the kids seem to be enjoying it. And I also respect Cyndie and her opinion so that was just lovely to get.
Alexander and I made puppet frogs out of paper plates.
Then Alexander helped Daniel play a memory game of homophone words for school.
Alexander then made some leaping frogs for an after school activity.
Eliza and I then played an adding and subtracting game using lego blocks. We rolled the dice and had to add the blocks to make the number on the square. I won the first game and then Eliza won the 2nd game.
Alexander listened to Peter Combe's song Tadpole Blues and then did a worksheet on the frog life cycle. He got it perfectly right. He listened to the book 'Oi Frog' then he then used Art for Kids hub to draw a green tree frog. He did an awesome job! He then wanted to write Fergus the Frog which was awesome to see too.
As Daddy was getting dinner ready the kids and I played a gave of leap frog in the hallway. Using a straw the kids needed to blow the frog as far as they could down the hallway. This week Daniel has been learning measurement so his job was to measure and record the lengths to work out who won. It was a pretty fun activity! Also funny to see the competitiveness in the kids with their reactions with how far the frogs went.
I do love Eliza's giggle when she accidentally shot it right at me behind the camera.
I made a little space for all of Alexander's art and craft displays. We are going to be here for along time so I might as well show off what he is making and doing.
Friday morning Alexander made a platypus using the peg board (he didn't think he could but he was creative and made it with the long beak and tail and also 2 eyes). He also did some more great writing of his name.
Daniel started his morning with reading somewhere special. He chose the trampoline.
He then moved to the little table to cut out Platypus shapes and stuck them on a paper bag to make his own platypus. It was cute watching him play with it as it swam around but then even cuter to see him pick it up and have it on his hand watching the platypus information from the Reptile Park.
Daniel did another writing task which was writing a review of DogMan. He was part way through when it came to recess time. Mrs Fearnside mentioned yesterday that when Daniel got back to school they were going to look at his writing from Term 2 and during lockdown and see the difference. I flicked back through Daniel's book and showed him how his writing was at the start of the year, then at the start of lockdown and now. It is such an amazing difference! What a comparison! I honestly couldn't be more proud of him. But what I also love is seeing Daniel's reaction when he looks at the difference in his writing. A big shy grin comes over his face, he bites his bottom lip and smiles big time. He can't believe the improvement he has made either.
Start of the year
Start of Lockdown
Today's writing
Today Eliza has struggled with motivation to do her writing tasks. She complained that her hand was too tired, she complained that she didn't feel like doing it. She complained that she didn't know what to write. It was a tough one. No tears but definitely no joy in writing. After she sent through her work Mrs Barwell wrote an encouraging comment saying 'wonderful word search and writing'. Eliza got a big grin on her face. Still no motivation to do the work but at least she was proud of herself. I sent Mrs Barwell a message thanking her for saying the encouraging comments and letting her know that Eliza struggled with motivation to do her writing this morning. Mrs Barwell at the same time wrote Eliza a greenie for a great week of work. She was excited to get the greenie but it was so deserved. Both Mrs Barwell and myself are so proud of all she has achieved.
Alexander completed a labelling worksheet about the parts of the platypus. I told him that I would read the words so he could work out where to put it but as he cut some of the words out, he was able to tell me some of them. 'Does this say feet?' 'This says b b b bill'. He then used the first sound to work out where each of the labels went. What the heck? This is something that I haven't taught him (intentionally at least) and something that I really wasn't expecting. He is just getting too clever (which is great, but also where is my baby going??)
He listened to another platypus book while colouring in another Reptile Park pack platypus picture.
Then he watched how to draw a platypus and made his own drawing of it. He asked me if I could help colour in the water which I was totally fine with doing. He did another great drawing and writing.
I then asked him if he wanted to write a letter to one of the rangers from the Reptile Park. We would then send it to him in the mail. Alexander chose to write to Ranger Dan. I said that he could write the start, then I could write the message and he could write his name at the end. Once he started writing though he was so proud of himself, he wanted to write it all. He was able to work out the first letter of the words and then spell the rest of the words by me saying the sounds. Well done Bubba!
He wrote 'To Dan,
I love Hugo and Elvis. What sounds does a platypus make?
From Alexander
He then drew a picture on the weekend of Elvis and we posted it to Ranger Dan at the Reptile Park. I also wrote a little thank you note to the Reptile Park for their work that they have done to bring some of the outside world into our houses.
The kids then finished off their day playing a train balloon pop game. Eliza had it as one of her tasks for maths with doubling and Alexander wanted to have a turn too. Alexander was amazing with doubling. Then Daniel also wanted to join in too.
To celebrate the end of week 4 home learning I continued the Reptile Park theme. I made the kids blue jelly and put a Freddo Frog in it. I cut up kiwi fruit and pear and then curled a killer python around it.
I am again so proud of the kids. I am proud of Daniel for his writing improvement but also his attitude towards writing. He had a couple of writing tasks this week that took a while but he managed to persist with it, didn't complain and even did a bit of writing, moved onto another task and then returned to finish his writing (like the book review). I am proud of Eliza for persisting with her writing and completing her work when I know she is over it. I am proud of her embracing this time at home even though she is really missing her friends. I am proud of Alexander and his writing improvement too, using correct letter formations. I am proud of him doing his reading with the labels and for him being proud of himself too. I am also proud of myself for staying positive, playing with the kids at times and also for staying quite calm this week. Eliza even commented to me that she is proud of me not getting as upset this year. Last year I cried a lot but this year I have only cried a few times. It was nice (but also a bit sad that that's what she remembers from lockdown last year) to be told that by her. We're possibly half way through home learning (but I also expect that this is going to go longer).
We had a bit of a quiet weekend. On Sunday I asked each kid if they wanted to make a meal. They worked out that Alexander would make breakfast, Eliza lunch and Daniel dinner. It was a fun day in the kitchen.
Breakfast was Alexander's favourite, porridge. And it was very tasty.
Banana, berry and cinnamon porridge
Eliza chose to make bacon and egg rolls which was an awesome lunch idea. She was even able to make the egg nice and gooey.
She also made us smoothies for afternoon tea.
Dinner was dumplings. Daniel did really well with learning to wrap them up and they were very tasty.
No comments:
Post a Comment