Week 9 Home Learning - Transport

I think this week of home learning would have to be my favourite week so far of Alexander’s home learning. A few weeks ago he came to me asking me how does a car work. No clue! So I asked him if he wanted to do a transport week and he was keen. 

Monday morning was learning about cars and also Alexander’s Bob Bilby day. He decided that because the day he made Bob Bilby he shared him with Eliza and Daniel, he wanted to have a whole day with him. We weren't going to be going on any big adventures with it being another school day but he was very excited to take Bob Bilby to his preschool zoom class.

He started his day doing the race track on the whiteboard on the wall with Bob Bilby. He does enjoy doing this activity.

Then he did rainbow writing on some race tracks that I found online. I loved how into it he was.

We then pulled out the Cars play dough set that Jens dropped around at the start of lockdown. Alexander played with it a very short time but he seems to be a bit over using play dough at the moment. 

Eliza finished writing her Bob Bilby diary entry for her morning writing time before starting school work.

Alexander headed into the lounge room to find the road letters of his name. He had to spell Alexander and then drive his toy cars along it. 

I needed to hang out the washing and Alexander decided that he wanted to be with me (I have noticed that he doesn't want to be away from me or others so tends to follow me where I go). He decided that he and Bob Bilby would have a jump on the trampoline.

He then had his preschool zoom session with Lorraine. He was so excited to show Bob Bilby to her and the others. It was really cute.

After recess we did some maths and spelling activities using toy cars and paint. I wrote out a couple of questions and put paint next to them. Alexander then needed to drive his toy car through the paint, leaving tyre tracks to the answer. Very fun and he did a great job at working out the answers.

He then watched a video that explained how cars work. I don't know how much went in but he enjoyed watching it.

All our stress of narratives being done for the rest of the term went out the window when today's writing task was poetry and using adjectives to describe a dark forest. He even re-wrote his work to make it neat and in paragraphs. He did this work on his own, and was so motivated with it.

After recess Alexander came in and had the challenge to make a car for Bob Bilby. I loved seeing his ideas and watching him come up with different things he wanted to do. Bottle caps for the lights and for the wheels, one for the steering wheel. He then went for a drive around the house in his Big Red Car with Bob Bilby in his little car. 

At lunch Daniel wanted to do some more painting on the preschool easel which I loved seeing. So worth borrowing it. He did paintings of the 2 poems he worked on in the morning - the one that he read and did comprehension with and the one that he wrote himself. He was really proud of himself for extending his learning tasks.

Meanwhile Eliza and Alexander were making a home for Bunny and Bob Bilby in Alexander's room.

Alexander then wanted to paint Bob Bilby and me. I felt I looked like a duck as he painted me. I took a photo and sent it to Uncle Howie saying that Alexander painted a picture of him (after saying someone looked like a duck and got locked out of Facebook. He then dressed as a duck to get comments from people and test if they got logged out too). He then did add more details for me. My legs had toes and my arms had fingers. The finished product looked pretty good.

He then wanted me to paint a picture of him and Bob Bilby. Challenge accepted. I was pretty proud of my efforts to paint them.

After lunch Alexander did some toy car graphing. He placed each of his and Daniel's toy cars on a grid and then counted the number of cars for each colour. I asked if he wanted to write the total for each colour and he was keen to. I then asked him some questions like 'What colour was the most popular?' Which colour was the least popular? It was awesome to see him working out the answers.

Whilst Alexander was doing this, Bob Bilby's arm fell off so we had to go to the doctor to get it fixed. He was a very good patient and Alexander was a very kind and supportive Dad for Bob Bilby. 

Once his arm was all bandaged up and better they headed back to the graphing cars activity. We have a lot of toy cars.

Eliza wanted a turn to paint me using the easel. I think I look a bit like a duck with my yellow colouring.

Dinner and story time was also shared with Bob Bilby which was lovely.

Tuesday morning we had a lovely surprise at breakfast time of a delivery - a box of doughnuts. We had no idea who generously gave them to us until we opened the card to see that it was from Jill from preschool. What a sweet idea. James has been helping her with sorting out preschool stuff but it was really not expected. A very yummy surprise!

Today Alexander was going to be learning about buses. They are his favourite transport type. In the morning Daniel was excited because he had set up a preschool area in his bedroom for Alexander.

We had fun leading Mainly Music on zoom again and doing the craft with the group.

Alexander was in a very cheeky mood this morning. When asked to spell his name he was jumbling up the letters, missing ones, putting them upside down. All with giggles of course. At least he was having lots of fun. He then drove the bus over the letter roads.

Daniel was excited that he had the ABC Dr Seuss book that he was watching online. He ran to get it and read along. He then needed to do his own Alliteration poem.

I made a bus track for Alexander that was following the alphabet. He needed to drive the bus under the bridges in alphabet order. He wasn't so keen but Daniel was keen to do the driving during recess time. At least if I set up a task for Alexander there is a high chance that one of the big kids will want to do the activity too. 

After recess Alexander was keen to do it, but he didn't follow the alphabet order. He just went under the bridges that were close to him. He did enjoy driving the bus under the bridges a lot.

 

Eliza did a live Hip Hop dance class which she said was tricky but also a lot of fun. 

Alexander, Bob Bilby and I then played the Bus Stop game. It was nice to get this game out again and Alexander did well with adding and subtracting people on and off the bus. Bob Bilby ended up winning the game which is pretty impressive for a puppet.

The kids played preschool in Daniel's room at lunch. It was short lived but he did sit with all the toys for a story and then played a game.

 

Alexander used Art for Kids Hub to learn to draw a London bus. He was so excited that it was a double decker bus that he got to draw.

When the kids heard the garbage truck they all ran outside. They haven't been able to see one for ages because normally they are at school and lately during home learning the garbage trucks have come before 7am so today was a special treat! The truck driver even beeped his horn for the kids which resulted in squeals of delight! 

They then checked the art letterbox and were very excited that they received their first 'proper' letter to the artists in it. They were even more excited to get some colouring in pages for them to do too. What a lovely idea.

Tuesday Fun Night we continued the idea of transport and the kids were each challenged to make a toy car move from start to finish without touching it. They brainstormed ideas for what could make it move. Eliza suggested magnets, Daniel suggested straws, balloons, blowing on it, string. Then they got to work. Alexander was first to grab the magnets so he fiddled with working out how to attach the magnet and make the car move without having the magnets grab each other. Eliza grabbed a straw and tried blowing at it. She was able to make it go from start to finish. Daniel was a bit more adventurous. He grabbed one of the balloons and then worked out where it would need to sit on the car. He then needed to work out how to get it onto the car and be able to blow up the balloon. He attached the balloon, blew it up and the car fell off. He got to the point of being able to blow up the balloon, attaching it to the car and then letting go.

Then the race was on. We all had a giggle when Daniel's balloon made his car spin around. Alexander was so excited that he made it to the finish line so quickly and Eliza got upset because she was quite dizzy from blowing so much with practicing to get the car moving that she was now all puffed out. Daniel then changed tact and grabbed a straw. They both then blew their cars down the table in amongst having giggle attacks (which I must admit were a bit contagious).

Wednesday would have to be one of my favourite days of home learning I think! I don't know if it was because it made me connect with Auntie Jenny or if Alexander was just so into it and absorbing so much, or because I love what he made but it just was a wonderful day! Today was light rail day. Ding Ding!

We started the day watching some information videos from Auntie Jenny to see how the light rail works and have a tour of a driver's cab. It was really cool to see all the features that help make it work. Thanks Auntie Jenny!!

Then it was time for Alexander to make his own driver's controls. I loved listening to his thinking as he was sticking down different buttons and working out what features they could do. Things like a button to open and close the door, a button to make it start and stop, a bell, etc. Here he is explaining some of the parts to me.

Once he had finished we sent our own video to Auntie Jenny to show her how our light rail tram works. I loved how he decided that he needed keys to open the door (like she does).

He then decided that he needed a box so that the key could go in the slot to turn on the light rail tram (again, like Auntie Jenny did).

Then Alexander had a preschool zoom class. While he did his zoom class Eliza and I headed outside to play some high frequency words bingo. It has been nice to be able to pull out some of these teaching resources with Eliza and play with them.

After recess Alexander decided that his light rail tram needed to have a driver's compartment. We found the rest of the box and stuck it back together, leaving one part open for the door to open and close. He then pulled out different boxes from our recycling collection to make as carriages for his toys to sit in. 

I loved walking in to see Daniel playing with Alexander too. Alexander was in one of the carriages. When told the doors were closing, Alexander then sat there and would close the sides of the boxes. Again, so creative!

Alexander then did some train maths on the iPad. It's a nifty activity that Eliza had one week. Alexander has amazed me with how well he can do adding numbers and also how he can recognise the first sound of words.

Daniel needed to find and order 10 containers in order of volume. It was a good chance for him to understand the difference between L and Kg and to look at what was on the packages. He did start out with items that had the weight written on them. He also giggled when he got Daddy's wine bottle to use.

Chilli decided that she wanted to have a ride in the light rail and hopped into the back carriage. Alexander kindly took her to her destination.

Then we pulled out the wooden train tracks. It has been ages since the kids have played with these so it was a great novelty to have. Alexander enjoyed taking his time as he built the track for the trains to drive along. We worked together to make a few different loops for the trains and then Alexander built some bridges out of the mega blocks.

Meanwhile Eliza was also being very creative. She had to make a shelter for one of her toys. She started with a cardboard box and put some paper over the top. She then decided that she would make a bed that hung from string, like a hammock. I loved seeing her build, test and then adjust her design until it worked. She also made a table for her Unicorny to sit at. She took a photo and sent it through to her teacher, but then she continued to work on improving the inside of her shelter.

Daniel then started his own creative afternoon. One of the online videos showed how you could make your own prosthetic limb using cardboard, straws and string. He was super keen to give it a go. I do love how he can put his mind to something and be committed to working it out. He cut, measured, watched the video multiple times to get the instructions. Eventually he made one finger that actually moved! I thought he would finish there but on the video they made a hand with 4 fingers so he was keen to continue working on it. Our afternoon became a craftanoon.

Alexander wanted to time how long his train could drive on the train track so he was kept occupied doing that.

After 2 hours Daniel had made his hand and all the fingers would move. He even put a hole in the middle of the palm of the hand so the string could go through and you could pull the fingers from the back fo the hand. 

 

He then tried to pick up a bottle with it. I was so impressed with the persistence he showed doing this. It wasn't working out at the start and he had to try and work out why. With a few tweaks, he tried to pick up the bottle again.

He then realised that one of the finger's strings had broken so it wasn't gripping the bottle. He went away and fixed that and then tried again. The reaction was the best! My favourite reactions though were Alexander's and Eliza's ones when Daniel was able to pick it up. Great support! Daddy's reaction was pretty awesome too.

Meanwhile Eliza had made many extra features for her Unicorny's house - pictures on the wall, a tv to watch, a rug for the floor, a pillow for her bed, wall paper and more. I love her creativity.

Thursday morning all 3 kids started with playing with the train track. They modified the directions, shared the trains (fought over the the trains and then compromised). But they had fun playing with them. School time started and today was learning about planes and helicopters. Alexander made an aeroplane with his pencil and pegs and enjoyed zooming it around before writing his name.

Eliza was excited that there were new PM books for her to read and one was about porcupines. She went to get Randal to read it to. 

Alexander then did sorting of helicopters and aeroplanes into colours. He then counted them to see how many there were. I asked if he could count in a different way and he worked out that he could count by 2s. His response was 'It's good that there are only 12 because that's how much I can count to when I count by 2s.' I asked him if he could count any higher and he decided to have a go. This then led to him counting to over 100 by 2s. Clever boy! I was especially impressed that he know it would be 102 after 100. I taught kids in year 1 who didn't know what number comes after 100.

   

He wanted to play a game of hide and seek helicopters and aeroplanes so I hid them in the lounge room and he had to run around to try and find them. It was a nice time of it being child led play.

Today was R U OK day and one task for Daniel was to write in his handprint the people who he feels comfortable and safe chatting to when things get tough. It is nice to know that we are in that handprint and that he feels comfortable and safe chatting with us when times get tough. I do hope that we have a listening ear ready when it is needed.

Alexander then coloured in an aeroplane and stuck down our photos to be flying in it. He then painted the background and stuck down some clouds. It's a really cute artwork.

He then watched a video about how planes and helicopters work. 

Daniel wrote an onomatopoeia poem about our house. It was even trickier because he needed it to rhyme but he did a pretty good job of it. He then used the story cubes to make up a little story.

Alexander was keen to make a paper aeroplane so we both watched how to make one. We then took them to the hallway and had a competition at throwing our paper aeroplanes. Alexander's throws were much better than mine! He then measured the distances using informal measurements - his body, his hands, his feet.

For lunch I made some aeroplane sandwiches for the kids. Then after lunch the glue on the aeroplane that we made had stuck. Unfortunately the plane didn't fly very well, but it was still cool to make.

Alexander then asked to make a helicopter. We cut out the template to make a paper helicopter, folded it and added a paper clip and then had a go at throwing them. It was exciting because they actually worked!

We moved it higher to throw it from on the chair.

Alexander then wanted to test and see which would fall faster - the aeroplane or the helicopter. The plane did and he was able to recognise it was because it was heavier. 

Friday morning started with a trip to donate some plasma. I do like that during this lockdown time I have been able to regularly go in and donate plasma. It has also been a nice break from the kids for a couple of hours in a time when I haven't been able to have much of a break.

Today's topic was boats. Alexander made a boat using the shapes and he then realised that he could make a pattern using the shapes.

We read a couple of books about boats - Row Row Your Boat and then Boats and Alexander watched a couple of videos about how boats work. 

Daniel wrote an acrostic poem about Fun Time.

Alexander and I headed outside to test what things sink and float. He first predicted if each item would sink or float and then tested out. He was quite surprised with some. He even tried to make the straws sink by pushing them under the water but they kept popping back up. We experimented and explored if bowls would always float or if they would sink and he found if water was in one it would sink. He also found foil interesting because it floated. He then pushed it under the water and it sank. He then scrunched it up into a ball and it floated. 

One of the PE options was to have a dance party with friends on zoom so I put together a song list for Eliza, Ems and Clara to have a dance party online. They had a blast dancing together, changing their faces, getting changed into different outfits, chatting, giggling and dancing a bit more. It was just like how they do it in person. So glad that it worked fine.

Daniel needed to do an experiment using the helicopter that we made yesterday (by chance). He needed to make another one using different length blades and predict which would fall faster.

For lunch I made boat sandwiches for the kids. I do love that they could recognise what the lunches were each day.

During lunch Eliza did some trains maths of her own. She made group of the trains and then worked out how many there were. 'Mum, I have 4 groups of 3 trains and 2 left over. How many trains do I have altogether?' I remember from teacher training with maths that if a kid could make word problems from their equations, then they were really able to grasp the concept. It was great to see for a girl who had found this concept tricky earlier in the term.

Alexander and Flynnie then had fun playing Together. It is lovely to hear their giggles and their sharing of taking turns. A nifty little app.

To celebrate the end of Week 9, I made the kids some m&m racing cars and also a fruit boat and fruit plane. Lots of transport to enjoy eating!

Alexander and I then played some Master Mind. It is such a good problem solving game and also a good one to develop fine motor skills.

Dessert ice creams were enjoyed thanks to Carol who popped around to give us a special 'keep going and it's the end of the week' treat. Yum!

We then finished the week off watching Cars (over 2 nights). It is nice to be getting to the point where our kids enjoy movies. Alexander was mostly ok with it and lasted the whole movie. James and I enjoyed watching it again and giggling at the different jokes included for the parents.

As I said at the start, I think this week has been my favourite one for home learning. I tried hard to let it be more kid directed with Alexander and I also tried to let go of what I had planned and roll with what he wanted to do. Things like making the light rail train and playing with it went a lot longer than I thought it would but it was nice for him to keep playing with it and expanding his learning about it. Things like playing hide and seek with the helicopters and aeroplanes wasn't even an idea that I had but Alexander came up with the idea and I was proud of myself for responding with 'Sure. Let's do that' instead of pushing my agenda. He still got a lot of the tasks done that I came up with but he also had a bit more freedom this week. It was also nice to get the train tracks out again and see the kids play with those toys that have been ignored. One more week to go of term.