Try an Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week!

Did you know it's Computer Science Education Week?

Join the Hour of Code movement and challenge your kids (or yourself) to do just an hour of learning to code during the week of Dec. 8-14, 2014

Many organizations have partnered with code.org to offer many free one-hour computer programming courses (learn to build webpages, apps, games, etc) for kids and adults. For anyone really. Apparently, according to code.org's facebook page, even President Barak Obama has put in his hour of code! Oh and if you are a parent of a preschooler, you'll be happy to hear there are tutorials for younger students (ages 4+) too. A Frozen-themed tutorial. Yep. Just check out code.org

Here are 3 resources where you can find FREE Hour of Code programs.

Hour of Code workshops at Apple Retail Stores - Dec. 11, 2014

Apple is hosting workshops and other special events at local Apple Stores. On December 11th they will be hosting Hour of Code, a free one-hour introduction to the basics of computer programming for kids.

Reservation required! Visit apple.com to sign up.

Hour of Code at Khan Academy

If you already use khanacademy.org for your child's curriculum, you may have already seen the computer programming lessons. This is where I first became aware of Hour of Code. Khan Academy is offering several ways to do Hour of Code including:

• Hour of Drawing with Code (Ages 8+) - Learn how to program drawings using JavaScript, finishing up by designing your very own silly animal.
• Hour of Webpages (Ages 8+) - Learn how to make webpages with HTML tags and CSS, finshing up by making your very own greeting card.
• Hour of Databases (Ages 12+) - Like playing with data? Learn how to manipulate data in a database and make your own custom store.

More Hour of Code Learning at Code.org

I first heard of Hour of Code when I saw the free lessons at Khan Academy (khanacademy.org) but there are lots more being offered online. Visit code.org and find several tutorials listed including Hour of Code tutorials for younger children (ages 4+). Your Pre-K student can have fun with a Frozen themed Hour of Code building a winter wonderland with Anna and Elsa (code.org/frozen).

Courses are listed under these topics:

Tutorials for Beginners 'Unplugged' Computer Science Tutorial apps for phones and tablets Tutorials in other programming languages Make your own apps or games

Have fun coding!

5 Ideas for a Not-Back-to-School Tradition

I've learned that many homeschoolers have their own Not-Back-To-School tradition around this time of year. This is the first school year in which my kids will not be returning to public school, but already I think we we have a not-back-to-school tradition of our own!

1. Back-To-Pool Week!

While every public school student returned to school last Monday, we celebrated our homeschooling freedom with a Back-To-Pool Day, which turned into Back-To-Pool Week! I see us doing this every year!

The summer heat was too brutal to enjoy over the summer and we pretty much avoided the pool except for maybe a day or two. These days, however, it's been hard to stay away.

If you do not have a pool, visit the beach and enjoy it all to yourself.

Or... throw a party...

2. Not-Back-To-School Celebration

Get together with your homeschooling friends or find a local homeschool group hosting a party.

It's common among homeschool groups to host Not-Back-to-School parties. Some celebrate at a local kids' indoor playground, the park, or at a member's home.

3. “First Day” Field Trip

Schools never take field trips on the first day of school. That would be crazy, right? Well as a homeschool mom, you can declare any day as field trip day. Go to the museum, visit the zoo, or stroll through a nature trail.

If you can't think of activities, ask for help. From your kids, that is.

4. Kids Can Plan Too.

Each year, around the first week of July, I ask my kids to create a list of things they want to do or learn throughout the summer. We do as many of the items on their list as possible. They love that we call it “our own summer camp.” Now that we homeschool, I ask them frequently what they would like to do? Is there something they want to learn? They've gotten pretty used to it because they are starting to let me know without me asking.

During the “first week of school” (in quotes because we don't follow any school-year schedule), I had my kids take turns planning out a day.

My 6 yr old, who likes to create checklists and thrives on schedules, handed me an agenda of things to do in the order she wanted to do them. Of course, don't expect your child to be the experienced little planner, at first, but I bet they'll come up with at least an activity or two they really want to do. They'll be so excited they got to lend a hand in planning the day's activities.

For those curious, or in search for more ideas, here is the agenda my 6 year old created:

1. Breakfast
2. Go to the pool
3. Take pictures of her glittered shoes project
4. Cook
5. Sew
6. Make paper dolls
7. Free time
8. Snack time
9. Read to her little brother
10. Activity with mami
11. Read to herself
12. Dinner
13. Recess
14. Take a walk with papi

And here's what my 10 yr old wanted to do:

1. Go to the pool
2. Cook
3. Science experiment
4. Dance
5. Learn to do a hairstyle
6. Math
7. Create homemade lunchables

5. Bye Bye Summer Tye Dye

Actually, I did this a few months ago. It was a perfect activity to transition from public schooling to homeschooling. We tye-dyed old public school uniform shirts (white ones), and gave them a new purpose. But you can do this during the back to school season or whenever you begin your (home)school year, if you plan things out that way. You can tye dye some shirts and wear them on field trip days throughout the year.

Our Itty Bitty Garden is Growing Up: Part 2

A week ago, we had an itty bitty garden that consisted of 3 miniature pots. Only basil had sprouted. We transplanted it into a larger pot and added more basil seeds to it. We also planted cilantro seeds in another.

The next day, my girls were excited to continue...

They planted beefsteak tomatoes and strawberries in the remaining small pots from planting kits bought at Target. They also planted parsley, chives, and more tomato seeds in the remaining larger plastic pots.

3 days later, basil had grown and more seeds had sprouted. A few beefsteak tomato seeds had sprouted, too! This was exciting and the kids were asking daily (at very hour, it feels) if they could go outside to check on the garden. Every morning they peek out the window.

The next day, the beefsteak tomato plant had grown significantly. This was exciting, too.

Today, a week after moving our basil into a bigger pot and planting other seeds, we have 4 plants growing - tomato in the small and big pot, cilantro, and basil. Here are the latest pictures of our garden.

 

We are still waiting, with much anticipation, for the curled parsley, strawberry, and chive plants to sprout.

Gardening, already is such an awesome learning experience for the kids. I'm learning, too. I've never had a garden of my own. So it's new for all of us. The kids are really enjoying it. And if you notice we've only planted foods. The kids get to see first hand what real food looks like and how to grow it. My daughter is already looking forward to picking from our garden for cooking. Shouldn't all schools add tending a garden or growing food as part of their curriculum? Food is pretty important, after all.

Quick Cucumber & Hummus Flatbread Recipe

How 'bout a scrumptious, filling and refreshing light snack?

This recipe is super quick. And super easy. You only need a handful of ingredients and there's no cooking involved. Woohoo!

Ingredients:

Naan Flatbread

Hummus

Cucumber, chopped

Tomato, chopped

Lime Juice, freshly squeezed

Salt

1. Spread your favorite hummus on flatbread.

2. Top with chopped cucumber and tomato.

3. Squeeze lime on top and salt to taste.

I used Sabra Tuscan Garden Hummus but you can use a classic or a favorite variety. If you have it on hand, I also suggest topping this recipe with chopped avocado. Enjoy!

Our Itty Bitty Garden is Growing Up: Part 1

One of the things my kids have chosen to learn is gardening. We started out small. Very small. With miniature planting kits. Here is our itty bitty garden. Just a wee little basil plant.

A few days ago we bought two more small grow kits.

But today, we decided to go bigger. We bought potting mix. And put some colorful pots to use. We transferred wee little basil into a roomier purple pot and planted cilantro in the red one.

My kids are excited to continue tomorrow. I'll make sure to follow up with a post: Our Garden Part 2.

Painting During Baby Brother's Nap Time...

As soon as my almost-two-year-old falls asleep for his nap, my two girls take on an art project - the messy kind. Although I'm all about my baby boy painting, I also try to give my daughters some toddler-less time to work on what they love best - creative projects.

 

It's not the same when they are battling their baby brother not to grab their paper, climb on their seats, and constantly asking them to draw a turtle for him. Over. And. Over again.

Other activities they might do while he sleeps are sewing, paper mâché sculptures, and cooking.

Comment below and let us know how you take advantage of your baby's naptime.

Fractured Fairy Tale Activities

Today started much the same as our Fairy Tale Breakfast Morning on Thursday. We made porridge (oatmeal to be exact) and we went for a short walk to let it cool off a little. Sound familiar?
As soon as we had decided on oatmeal for breakfast, my 6 year old ran off to get the servings conversion chart she had made last week. She wanted to refer to it while she and her sister made breakfast for four.

My little KindergartenDropOut requested Goldilocks once again during breakfast but I had another book in mind - The True Story of the Three Little Pigs written by Jon Scieska. This was suitable for today's topic - fractured fairy tales.

The Telephone Game

To introduce the topic, I talked about how stories survived through the telling and retelling of fables. To illustrate how this may result in slightly different versions of stories, we played the 'telephone' game. One person whispers a sentence into someone's ear. That second person whispers it into the next person's ear. And so on if you have more players. The last person says it aloud. Then the first person reveals what they really said and everyone hears how the sentence changed after being retold several times.

What is a Fractured Fairytale?

Afterwards, we discussed... What is a fractured fairy tale? Then, using the book How to Write a Fractured Fairy Tale as reference, we talked about the different ways a fairy tale could be retold. We also noted that the story we just read was retold in a different point of view - that of the wolf.

Brainstorming Fractured Fairy Tale Titles

After breakfast, I took out the dry erase board and asked them to name some good characters, then bad characters, and last I asked for some settings. I wrote their responses into 3 columns. Here is what we ended up with...

*They added themselves to the list. I've replaced their names with the
nicknames I use for them on this blog. **The baby sea turtle is our mascot;
she is usually included in all of our activities.

Then, I told them, if read side by side, these could be titles of new fairy tales and a way to inspire some writing. So, for example, we could write a story about Snow White and the Evil KDO in the future!

They were excited to read each one through. Once reaching the bottom KDO decided to fill in the rest of the row that starts with Baby Turtle. She said "How about Baby Turtle and Dr. Doofenshmirtz Under the Sea?" Ballerina added "Baby Turtle could be like Perry." (Dr. Doofenshmirtz - an evil character - and Perry - a spy platypus - are characters from the tv show Phineas and Ferb).

I think this got them a little excited and they both told, out loud, their version of the 3 Little Pigs.

Fairy Tale Writing on a Dry Erase Board

Next, I asked them to come up with a fractured fairy tale or a whole new tale of their own. They were to write the When/Where (setting), Who (characters), What (problem/conflict), and the Ending of their stories. Instead of paper and pencil, we used dry erase board to make writing fun.

KDO's story map:
Once upon a time in a castle, far, far away
People that are horses and unicorns
want to cook but don't know what to cook
So they look in a cookbook
[They] cook[ed] eggy-potaty

Note: She calls egg salad "eggy-potaty"

I first took a smaller erase board to model what they needed to do and gave these examples:

When/Where: In the year 3214, under the sea

Who: there were 3 Baby Sea Turtles and the Big Bad Shark

What: The shark wanted to eat the poor baby turtles

Ending (KDO volunteered to finish the story map):
The baby turtles went to look for their mommy and daddy. They helped the baby turtles get to shore away from the shark.

Next they took turns on the dry erase board. To the left is KindergartenDropOut's story along with illustrations.

More Fractured Fairy Tale Ideas for a 10 year old

My ten-year-old Ballerina has been reading a series of books she found at the library. Her choosing of these books was one of the things that inspired me to do some fractured fairy tale activities. Here are the books she read:

When my kids come across a book they really enjoy, I look up activities or lessons online for ideas. I've discovered some times you can find lesson plans, study guides or book-related activities on the author's website or the publisher's website. The author of these particular books is Adam Gidwitz. On his website, you can find a teacher's guide for A Tale Dark and Grimm. It's filled with lesson plans to last your for a few weeks.

For my 10-year-old I chose 3 activities:

1 - I had my daughter choose some vocabulary words from one of the suggested lists in the guide. However, we used them to create vocabulary wands - a craft she chose to do after seeing how fun it was for her younger sister.

2 - I had her pick a fairy tale. This time to rewrite it's ending in the writing style of Adam Gidwitz.

3 - In her sketchbook, I asked her to draw an illustration of one of the characters using the character traits she read in the beginning chapter of A Tale Dark and Grimm.

If you like these activities make sure to check out our full list of fairy tale activities.

Enchanting Castle Posters: Fairytale Story Map Project

Welcome back to our fairy tale lesson plan series. My kids have been reading several classic fairy tale books. I asked them to choose one of the stories to create a fairy tale poster.

Originally, I was looking online for a free printable story map, but as it usually happens - I didn't print it out.

Don't get me wrong, I did find something I liked.

I liked this one from education.com

... and this one from Simply Sweet Teaching

But my kids have made it perfectly clear that they "love art" and "making stuff." So... I tend to use worksheets as guides or to get ideas of what to teach next. Instead of giving the kids, say, a printed chart, I have them draw it. And just about every time, writing has to be coupled with drawing. So inspired by these two cute castle story maps, I came up with this fairy tale project

Castle Story Map Poster

I gave them a big white paper, construction paper, pencils, markers, glue, and crayons. I had cut a few shapes out of color paper to show them how they could be pieced together to make a castle. My instructions were simple: use any color construction paper to make the pieces for your castle. The shapes I cut can be used as templates, if they wished, but they had to make their own. I usually don't give lots of instruction and I only help if they ask for it. This is how I choose to help them become good problem solvers.

Quick Q&A (what my 6 year old asked):
Q. Can my castle be different than yours? A. Yes
Q. Can I use glitter? A. Yes

For the writing portion of this project. I asked them to write the title, setting, magical elements, bad characters, good characters, the problem, and the ending (how the problem got solved). Along with the writing, I suggested they add illustrations, maybe a favorite character, and a favorite scene.

MyBallerina chose "The Three Little Pigs." Here's her poster:

KinderDropOut chose "Goldilocks." Here's her poster:

A Three Bears Kinda' Morning

My girls love cooking so whenever possible I try to incorporate it into our lessons. With cooking, math problems are meaningful. Here's how cooking (and math) was incorporated into our fairy tale unit.

Three Bears' Breakfast - Math and Cooking Activity

We read Goldilocks (an English and Spanish version), so naturally my kids requested we make porridge for breakfast. My younger daughter also made sure to ask "Can we take a walk to let it cool off?"

First, I showed the girls the servings chart on the back of a Quaker Oats container. I explained, in order for there to be enough oatmeal for all of us, we need to convert this recipe for four servings. Using the actual measurements on the container, I created a chart for them to fill out.

For KDO I filled in the "1 serving" column.
Note: She decided she didn't want salt.

I told her each person gets one cup of milk and half of a cup of oats. So, if it says "2 servings," she needs to draw the cup and half cup twice; and so on. Then she filled in the rest of the columns. We've done this before, so she is already figuring out that she can draw a full cup instead of two half-cups or vice versa.

Here's her chart:

For my 10 year old, I told her to use the information from the "2 servings" column on the container to figure out the measurements for 3 and 4 servings.

Using their charts and cooking instructions on the oats container, we made breakfast.

Once the oatmeal was cooked, just like Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear... we took a walk outside while our porridge cooled off. On our short walk we collected flowers for future art projects: mini flower still life, and pressed flower collages.

This post is part of a fairy tale thematic series; make sure to check out all the posts related to this unit.

Goldilocks Inspired Tea Party

As part of our Fairy Tale Theme Unit,
we had a Tea Party à la Goldilocks!

After our first Fairy Tale Lesson, my KinderDropOut (age 6) read Goldilocks by Ruth Sanderson. The story ends with the 3 Bears and Goldilocks having blueberry muffins and tea. This inspired our outdoor tea party. The girls made muffins, using the recipe - Papa Bear's Blueberry Muffins - included at the end of the book. While they worked together, I prepared a non-caffeinated tea I already had in my cupboards.

Recipe can be found at the end of the book - Goldilocks by Ruth Sanderson.

By cooking together, my hope is that the girls will build a strong bond as sisters and learn to work well as a team.

I filled a tote bag with a bottle of honey, a bottle of milk, muffins in tupperware, a blanket, tea cups, napkins, and the Goldilocks book. With tote bag and tea kettle in hand, we headed outside.

My toddler sipped almond milk instead of tea.

While they sipped their tea and had blueberry muffins topped with honey, I read Goldilocks. After tea, they played and enjoyed being outdoors.

Learning Spanish with Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The day ended nicely with a bedtime story of Goldilocks in Spanish. I used a board book titled: Ricitos de Oro y Los Tres Ositos. My kids speak some Spanish but they don't read Spanish independently yet. 

For beginning Spanish students, try reading a baby board book (a Spanish version of something you already read) then have your kids use the pictures as clues to what the words mean. It's ok if they don't understand all the words. And don't worry too much about pronunciation, if you're just getting started. Naturally, we all learn to speak first; pronunciation and writing comes later. Treat Spanish-learning in terms of baby steps (first words), toddler stage (phrases & short sentences), and school age (pronunciation, reading, and writing).

Make sure to check out the rest of our fairy tale activities!

Once Upon A Fairy Tale Lesson...

What is a Fairy Tale?

We started our fairy tale unit, outside, in the fresh air. We sat in our backyard on a beach mat. First, I asked the kids "What is a Fairy Tale?" and "What do we know about Fairy Tales?" After hearing their responses, we discussed what things one might find in a fairy tale.

What Might you Find in a Fairy Tale?

I took three stories and read only the first and last sentence of each. Cinderella, Snow White, and The Three Little Pigs all started with a version of "Once Upon A Time.." and ended with something similar to "happily ever after." I also noted how there are sets of threes in The 3 Little Pigs, Goldilocks, and The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. I went on to list common elements and they came up with a few on their own such as "princesses being kissed by a prince."

List of Common Elements in Fairy Tales:

• Begins with "Once upon a time..." or take place long ago.
• Ends with "happily ever after" or a happy ending.
• Reoccurring elements or sets of three's or seven's (three bears, seven dwarfs)
• Good characters such as a hero or prince
• Bad characters such as a witch or evil stepmother
• Magical elements, fantasy such as talking animals
• Setting in a castle, or forest
• The story has problem or conflict
• The problem is solved

To conclude,  I read to them The Three Little Pigs. Afterwards, I showed them a collection of books - all fairy tales - we had at home and some I checked out at the library. I left it up to them to choose which and when to read.

List of Fairy Tale Books we used:

Disney's Magical Tales Set:
Charming Tales & Enchanted Tales

Fairy Tale Paper Basket Activity

I read The Three Billy Goats Gruff to my toddler right before his nap. Then, during his nap the girls worked on the small woven paper basket craft that I posted a few weeks ago.

We usually do a craft project while he sleeps because the girls stay concentrated and keep quiet for their little brother. I did not plan the baskets as part of our fairy tale unit but it went so well with it because the kids noticed baskets and weaving in a couple of stories they read.

These are perfect for going outside to collect flowers. Click here for the paper basket tutorial for kids.

For all our fairy tale activities go to Fairy Tale Unit Activities.

Fun Fairy Tale Inspired Activities

We recently finished our Fairy Tale Unit. It was lots of fun with a variety of projects from baking to video-logging. I'm sure we covered science, math, art, reading, writing, and more.

I'm working on posting all our activities. As I get them done, I'll be posting links to each below. The basket craft is already linked. Make sure to come back for the next installment of this adventure.

Our activities included:

1. Re-Discovering Your Favorite Fairy Tales

Answering the question "What is a Fairy Tale?" then finding common elements in your favorite classic fairy tale stories.

2. Small Paper Basket Craft
This craft fits nicely with a fairy tale unit as some characters have baskets and there is mention of weaving. For this project all you need is recycled magazine pages and glue!

3. Goldilocks-Inspired Tea Party
Baking muffins, learning Spanish and an outdoor tea party - all inspired by the fairy tale story of Goldilocks.

4. Fairytale Breakfast

Servings conversion chart (math activity), and cooking porridge.

5. Fairy Tale Castle Poster

Map out elements of a fairy tale story using construction paper.

6. Fractured Fairy Tale Activities

Discussion of What is a Fractured Fairy Tale? How to Write a Fractured Fairy Tale? Playing the telephone game, writing and art activities.

7. Video-Logging

Hear about some of these activities from the kids!
My girls have been video-logging their days and responding to their projects. I'm excited to share these soon.