Letter W is for: Watermelon, Water, & Wind
This was a very fun, hands on week for Elaina! Lots of experiments and play, with very little book work. Though our week was full of activities, it left her feeling like she hadn’t done school because of the lack of paper to prove she’d done any work! Funny girl! (I have no idea who she gets that from….)
We did a pretty good hodge podge of “W” themed activities. Actually, I had hoped to complete a mini-unit on Whales…but it just didn’t happen.
She always starts off a new week with the Word Whammer, Confessions of a Homeschooler Handwriting Page, and Priddy Book Wipe Clean Activity Cards.
She wanted to make a watermelon “W” on her Play-doh page. Pretty cute!
Using these awesome dough stampers again on her Letter Hunt Worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
She chose to color her W is for Watermelon Magnet Page, and reminded me that she didn't want to do these anymore....okay okay I get it!
Now that we are nearly through the alphabet, she is getting so excited to start her reading lessons! She "reads" through her Bob Book Set and All About ABC's and says, “Look, Mom! I can READ now!” I think we will spend a good amount of time on reading this summer, just because she is so excited to learn!
Confessions of a Homeschooler has some really cute Watermelon themed activities. We used the Watermelon Size Sort and Watermelon Fraction/Counting activities.
We made “Watermelon Water-beads” basically just pink beads with a few black ones thrown in for seeds. As usual she loved playing with these all week. This time, I just set out a few bowls, a play shark, and scoop. (If you are looking for a really fun activity to do with Water Beads, check out this post.)
Experiments:
The first experiment we did was with the 3 forms of water. She poured a cup of water into a pan and we boiled it. She felt as the steam began to rise. I explained that steam is one form of water. She guessed that the same amount of water would be in the pot, but after just a few minutes of boiling, I poured out the water and only 1/2 cup remained. “Interesting….”
Then I set out a glass of water and bowl of ice. We briefly talked about these other two forms of water, and she did this cute little file folder game that I made last year for the boys.
Then she poured the ice in the cup and had a nice drink of water.
We did another Sink or Float activity. ( We also did one for S week.)
This second time around she did a better job of predicting what objects would sink or float.
She was trying to push the balloon down….She kept holding her breath to make it stay!
Next we did this fun Curious George Curiosity Center for water drops.
And this one to make pinwheels. These were both great ways for her to discover more about wind!
Then we gathered up some different objects for her to use her own wind power to move them across the table by blowing into a straw.
She had a lot of fun seeing how each object moved differently and how easy it was to move them with her own wind power through a straw.
She did end up doing some book work, her coloring pages, letter W hunt, and smallest object pages.
And I ended up printing a few things from Homeschool Share, because she was asking for more school! This set is from the Letter W lap book set.
She did this fun Weather and Season puzzle…
And painted with watercolors. I love the concentration she always has with her art projects!
For fun we set out a water station filled with magnetic fish, a net, seashells, glitter, and blue food coloring.
And had a good ‘ol run through the sprinklers.
Nothing like playing in the water and sunshine to wear a girl out!
Next week: Letter X is for Fox
(I have a whole new unit put together on Foxes! Look for the Free set of printables to go with it next week!)
What a fun lesson! I wish I had a printer for all those beautiful printables!
ReplyDeleteThank you Shonda! I don't think I could go without my printer...though my husband would like to go without the ink expenses!
ReplyDeleteWould you be willing to share your 3 forms of water printable? It's adorable! I have been planning, planing, planning for next year, and we are going to do a Water Cycle unit this time next year (so obviously no hurry), but I would love to use it. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE the watermelon water beads, so clever!
Tanya-You know what? That was one of those Carson Dellosa file folder games that you color, cut, and laminate....It would be fun to make one though as a consumable for the child to cut and paste together. I will work on making one and share it! Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Planning...I love that part actually. :)
ReplyDeleteI love all of your activities for w, especially the water beads! Great planning.
ReplyDelete