MFWK Unit 4-Apple

Apple was a fun unit. We have been dragging the units out, so now, we are into the right time of year for the apple theme. Since we have taken so long to complete our units, I am really noticing a difference in Lily's handwriting and drawing skills from one unit to the next. Her reading has really improved now, and she can actually read small sight word books on her own. She is sounding out words that she is not familiar with without help.


We kicked off (and ended) the unit with mini apple pies. These are the easiest things ever to make! Just take refrigerated biscuits and flatten them out. Add some peeled, chopped apples. Sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon. Close the biscuits, and sprinkle more on the top. Bake according to biscuit directions. Done!

We worked on counting and graphing our different kinds of apples. We got to taste different kinds, too. I think that was one of Lily's favorite parts of this unit-eating the apples. This was our apple grid. I told Lily to cut the apples out, and I would be back to explain the paper. This is what I came back to. She apparently didn't need my help on this. :)

 

Apple printing was one of our favorite activities. Lily loves anything that involves paint. 

 

Apple cake-we found this recipe for an apple cake, so we decided to try it out. 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 stick of butter, and lots of apples. Just peel and cut apples-cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle cake mix on top of the apples. Melt the butter, and drizzle on top. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes. It turned out better than I expected!

Lily's drawing pages are starting to take more shape. I love that everything she draws right now has a face. :)

We are continuing with the Ready2Read program I mentioned in the last post. We have started a word wall, and we are building it up. I also got Unifix letter cubes and cards to help with word building and spelling. 

 One of the the most exciting things for Lily the last couple of week was that we started Pee Wee soccer. Since Lily is home most of the time, I wanted to get her out with some other kids, and she is really enjoying it!

Now, we are ready to move on to the Nest unit!

MFWK Unit 3 -Leaf

We have had a busy Summer! I got away from keeping up with the blog, so I will try to catch up a bit. It takes us a LONG time to get through some of our units. I am supplementing our Math and Reading, so I have been stretching things out so Lily won't get overwhelmed. Some days, she doesn't feel like doing school at all, and that's ok. She's 4. She has plenty of time. :)





 We kicked off our Leaf unit with a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Lily loved it! We spent the day walking through the gardens (or the Forest, as she called it), reading about the different plants and picking different leaves. Some were almost as big as her!

We turned our Play Stand into a tree for the next few units. We cut out Fall colored leaves, and added 

 them to the play stand. Lily spent lots of time under her "tree".

We have been working on handwriting. Lily gets frustrated with the writing part of her school work, so I let her pick what she would like to write with. She has regular pencils, crayons, markers and colored pencils. Markers are her favorite right now, so I let her use them.

We took some of the leaves we collected on our trip to the Botanical Gardens to make some leaf rubbings.

We made a tree with leaves made from sponge painting:

We also have a little art set that I had stuck back for later use. It had a very cute picture in it, and Lily was to finish painting the leaves. She really enjoyed this project.

Lily asked me to teach her to read in the middle of this unit, so we started on that. We are using a couple of things. The first thing we are using is the Ready2Read program from the Moffatt Girls blog. It is FANTASTIC! http://moffattgirls.blogspot.com/p/products.html  It is very hands-on, and it keeps Lily's attention the entire time. She is actually reading small books by herself, and has learned to sound out her letter blends while using this program.

We are also using Hooked On Phonics. www.hookedonphonics.com  Another fun program! It uses DVDs, workbooks, books and computer games to teach. If your child is a hands on or multi-sensory learner, both of these programs are great!

Overall, it was a great unit. It took us a while to get through it, but I think once I get on a schedule with the reading and math, we will be able to get through our units faster. We are really enjoying MFWK so far!