Saturday, May 31, 2014

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.

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.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Homemade Salsa Verde Recipe

Take out your mason jars!
This easy recipe will fill up a 32oz mason jar.


This Salsa Verde or green salsa is perfect for green chicken enchilada recipes, putting in tacos, burritos, or use as a dip for tortilla chips.

tomatillos
Tomatillos look like green tomatoes
in a paper-like husk

Ingredients:
8 tomatillos
6 jalapeños
1 white onion
4 garlic cloves
1 cup chopped cilantro
salt

1. Wash all veggies. Remove husk and stems off tomatillos. Remove stems off jalapeños.

 
2. Chop onion into quarters. Put tomatillos, jalapeños, onion, and garlic cloves into a pot with 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until veggies are soft.

3. Working in batches, put vegetables and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Add salt to taste.


That's it!
Let it cool and put in your fridge
or use right away.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Little Paper Basket Craft for Kids

Teaching little ones math is so much fun with this cute basket weaving craft!
Recycle magazine pages to make Little Paper Baskets
You don't need expensive art supplies for art projects. Using just magazines and glue, I had my two girls create little paper baskets. Both of them really enjoyed working on them. They were focused from start to finish.

Math Learning Opportunity: Fractions and Area

Aside from learning a simple weaving technique, this was an opportunity to practice fractions with my 6 year old, KindergartenDropOut (KDO). I made sure to explain to her that we were folding and tearing into thirds. There is also an opportunity to discuss area as described below. Her older sibling joined our activity after she got the hang of it. KDO gave a quick how-to explanation to her older sister using math terms! I first introduced her to fractions (just halves, thirds, and fourths) during our unschooling days before she started PreK at a public school. It's been a while but we now use fractions daily through regular cooking sessions. With these little baskets it was exciting to use fractions in a new creative way. I also want to mention that the timing on this weaving project was perfect because we started our fairy tale study unit on the same day. The girls quickly noticed baskets and weaving in a couple of stories we discussed (both Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks had one, plus Goldilocks helped with weaving part of Baby Bear's chair to fix it). I didn't plan it that way; it was a happy coincidence!

Little Paper Basket Tutorial

Materials: You just need 5 magazine pages, and glue!
Step 1: Tear each sheet into thirds lengthwise.

Step 2: Fold each strip into thirds and put glue on the inside fold.
Note: I tore the first 2 or 3 pages into strips, while she put glue on the inside of the fold.

 *Math learning opportunity: During this step I explained to her that I was tearing pages into thirds and folding each strip into thirds. After the 2nd or so sheet of paper, my 6y/o decided she could tear, fold, and glue the rest on her own.

KDO used my phone to hold the
strips in place while she added strips.

Step 3: Lay four strips side by side. Then start weaving four strips through the first set of four.









*Math learning opportunity: During this step I explained that I chose 8 strips for her to weave. This would create a 4x4 square area on the bottom of her basket. We counted the squares at the end of this step to illustrate. I asked her if she wanted to keep it this way or add more to create a bigger basket. Her decision was to keep the 4x4 format.
Step 5: Lift the ends that are on top to add glue and press them back down.


Step 6: Fold and stand four ends of one side. Begin to weave a new strip while keeping the sides up. Make sure to go around all four sides. If its easier, lay the basket on its side. Use small paper clips to hold strips together. Extend the strip by gluing another strip to it. The strip will end up being too long; you can cut it or just keep gluing around the inside of the basket.

Repeat to make the basket two-strips tall.


Step 7: Fold all the flaps inward and glue. 

Step 8: Make a handle by gluing each end of a new strip to the sides of the basket. KDO decided she wanted two strips. She also used her one extra strip to wrap around the two strips to keep them together.

Hope you like this project. If you try it out, please come back and leave a comment. I'd like to hear how it went.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Spa Day and Star Wars

My Mother's Day

Ironically, I am creating this blog, and writing my first post on Mother's Day. Is it ironic? Maybe not, maybe it's just fitting? This blog, after all, is about a homeschooling mommy (me) blogging about mommy things in a home-school life.
I could go back to the beginning (homeschooling day #1) and start talking to you about the failures and successes of my official start date (or the unofficial start). But I won't. I figure the easiest and less stressful approach (sticky note: avoiding stress wherever possible is an art form I want to master) is to begin with what's going on today.
This morning, my youngest daughter who from now on I will refer to as my Kindergarten Drop Out (or KDO) presented me with breakfast - a delicious pb&j and a glass of milk. While I ate, using Fancy Nancy Ooh La La Beauty Day as a guide, she gathered supplies to create a spa. She named it Surprise... something... something... Spa. Ok, I forgot - I'm a horrible mom.
She took everything to the bathroom where she washed and conditioned my hair, dried it with a towel, and styled it. Next, she took out the nail polish. At this point, my oldest daughter, My Ballerina noticed what was going on and asked KDO if she could join in. KDO did my nails. MB did my toes. Then, my toddler noticed. He grabbed some nail polish. He did the second coating on my toes.

You will soon learn that I rarely... read more [This post has been moved to our new website: homeschoolofthearts.com]