Kindergarten Geography: Landforms and Bodies of Water.

We have finished studying the chapter about Landforms and Bodies of Water from of our Beginning Geography book. 1st chapter was all about maps. Both kids really enjoyed learning everything in this chapter alhamdulillah.

In short here are the topics we have covered: (pages 40-71)

• Hills and Mountains, Parts of a Hill, Parts of a Mountain;
• Islands and Volcanoes, the Largest Island, Erupting Volcano;
• Deserts and Plains, A desert Habitat, On the Plain;
• Canyons and Valleys, The Grand Canyon, Yosemite Valley;
• Oceans, Lakes and Rivers, Lake Superior, Parts of a River, The Saint Lawrence River.

The book has lot's of basic information about landforms and bodies of water, activities, puzzles, mini books, review questions at the end of the chapter.
Here are a few pages from the book:

The largest Island and Erupting Volcano

Pages about Grand canyon and Yosemite Valley

Landforms and Bodies of Water Minibooks given at the end of the chapter. It gives very brief description for each landform along with a few instruction to be followed by the student (draw tree on the hill, color the mountain in brown etc)

Landforms and Bodies of Water Puzzles
(a nice activity for circle time)

The book also has a colorful landforms and bodies of water map that can be folded. We used it a lot during our circle time. I also made labels so kids practiced labeling the landforms and bodies of water on the map.

Daddy drew us bigger board with more landforms (since kids found them interesting) so we used it during our circle time as well.

We added a few more landforms that are not covered in the book. Plateau, bay, peninsula,mountain range, delta etc are some of them.

Again kids practiced labeling all the landforms.

In this activity kids practiced labeling the parts a river, a hill and a mountain.

Since the book talked a little about desert habitat we read a few books on desert animals. Their life in desert were really interesting to know mashaAllah.

a few drawings on the topic

InshaAllah we will starting Continents and Oceans chapter next.

Kindergarten Circle Time.

During our preschool year both of my kids really enjoyed doing circle time. You can see our preschool circle time set up and the activities we did here inshaAllah.
During circle time we learned the concept of passage of time, days of the week (both in English and Arabic), months, hijriy months, seasons, weather words, practiced numbers and ABC's ( both in Arabic and English), read books, read Qur'an, duaas etc.

Even now they both like doing circle times and in order to keep things interesting and useful I try to add different materials and activities and alhamduillah so far we have tons of things to do.

In general we try to practice everything we did before (in a different way) and in addition we do the following:

• They read to me: Kids bring their choice of books and read to me. During preschool circle time they used to bring their favorite toy or something they like and talk about it just like they do show and tell.
• I also read to them (usually topic related).
  
• I introduce new topics and materials;
• Do math, phonics, geography and science related activities related to our current topic;
• Do simple exercises and movements (for example play Simon says and include parts of body, prepositions, math, arabic etc. Simon says take 3 steps backwards/forwards, Simon says turn around and say what you see, Simon says touch your knees, Simon says say read in Arabic etc)
  

We do our circle time in our study room and all other schooling happens in the family room.
So, everything in this room is used during circle time and I rotate the materials (bulletin boards, lapbooks and activities) according to kids interests.

One half of the study room.

Second half of the study room.

Monthly library basket.
Each child chooses one book and reads it to me.

This is our Kindergarten Daily Timetable we try to follow most of the time, but we occasionally miss or add something extra.


Now I'll briefly talk about what we usually do now during our circle time and I'll just use this week as an example.

Just like our preschool circle times we practice the concept of passage of time but in a different way. Before we used to say the days of week, months, dates just like doing word drills.
Now that kids know all these I try to ask questions or invite them to discuss something related to time.
For example: On Monday.
Me: So what day is it today?
Kids: it is Monday (they usually come up and place today, tomorrow and yesterday marks by themselves).
Me: That's good, I have a dentist appoinment at 1 p.m today.
And do you guys know that daddy will be going to SC tomorrow which is Tuesday and comes back on Friday. can you show me Tuesday and Friday (from the calender board)?
Kids: They come up and show the days and start asking lot's of questions: He is going to SC? why is going there, where is SC... Then we jump to geography where we turn back and find SC from US map. Little more discussion goes on.

On Tuesday. Daddy is gone to SC.
Me: Can you tell me how many days left till daddy returns.
Ibrahim: 2 day, Wednesday and Thursday. We'll see him on Friday.
Me: inshaAllah. So we will talk to daddy only on the phone for 3 nights and 2 days until he comes back.
Kids: He will not be here on Tuesday night which is today, Wednesday night and Thursday night and on Friday morning when we wake up we will see him.
Me: inshaAllah.

And the same goes with gregorian months and hijriy months. We discuss different things that are happening around us.

Me: what month is it now?
Kids: January.
Me: and what season is it now?
Kids: Winter.
Me: I see, so how many more months until Spring?
Kids: one month, only February is left. Then spring comes: March, April May. We might have tornadoes and lot's of rain but it will be warmer.
Me: OK, do you know what will be doing in May inshaAllah?
Kids: We will go and see Niagara Falls if we finish our surahs....
Me: so, how many more months do we have till May?
Kids: (count and say) 3 more month (excluding January)

Usually some topics take more time to practice so circle time is ideal to do this. For example we do lot's of phonics activities, go through different rules with the help our bulletin boards and lapbooks.


We practice some R controlled vowels (pictured above), vowel diphthongs, silent letters etc. For example when we practice silent letter lapbook kids get to choose one letter and go though the words once and that's it. We do the same next time. Sometimes they want to practice more than one silent letter and it is also OK.

The same thing happens with math materials.
Kids (esp. Sarah) practice how to properly say addition and subtraction examples (5 plus 3 equals 8). They also do the odd and even number activities I have written about on my previous post. Or they count the dots/ do more or less activities etc.

Geography and social science materials are also reviewed during circle time

We have been learning about Landforms and Bodies of Water and they like practice this very simple map label each picture.

Islamic Studies and Qur'an.
On Fridays we only do Qur'an and Islamic studies so I try to use related materials during our circle time.
We made multi-purpose train a while ago and used it with R-controlled vowels as well as classification of animals. Now we are using this same train as our Qur'an revision board where I wrote down all the names of surah in Juz Amma (as well as couple of other surah) that have to be revised in each day of the week.


Fortunately we had 7 cars for 7 days alhamdulillah.


So, when Qur'an revision time comes kids go and find the appropriate card for that day and one by one we revise the surahs. Kids read the names of the surah by themselves. This also helps them learn the names of surahs which they did not before (at least not all of it). I only used one side of the card and wrote the the names of the surah in English/Uzbek and inshaAllah I'm planning to write down the days and the names of surah in Arabic on the back.

We also use differen bulletin boards and lapbooks from previous years.

Dua is Worship bulletin board that we are using this week.

Kindergarten Math: Odd and Even numbers.

Last month we worked with MEP math lessons 5-10. Most of the activities were all about comparison sets and more activities on this topic are coming in the following lessons this month.I really liked some of the activities because they invite and encourage kids to think carefully before answering a particular question or finishing the entire activity. So we will be focusing more this concept inshaAllah.

Some of the lessons also introduced the odd and even number concept and currently we have have been working on this topic.
In MEP math lessons they have number ladder activity where we are are supposed to read numbers from the bottom of the ladder to the top. Then we say the even numbers loudly and the odd numbers in our head or vice versa. Then we step back down from the top (practice counting backwards).
So I drew number ladder from 1-10 and 11-20 and during our circle time we are doing as I have explained above.

I tried to add some more activities to make it easier for the kids to understand the concept of odd and even. Here are some of activities we have been doing mostly during our circle time.

1. Montessori: Cards and Counters and Odd and Even.

I got the idea from the wonder years blog. She explained everything in detail here.

So, in short for this activity we needed 55 counters and cards labeled with numeral 1-10 (and up)

First I showed how to place the marbles one at a time starting from one. So, 1 has one marble, 2 has two marbles side by side, three has two marbles side by side and one without a partner. And we go on until we finish all the numbers.
Next time, we do the same thing except I explain them the concept of odd and even. Here I explain that 1 and 3 are considered odd because they do not have partners when we pair them whereas 2 and considered even numbers because they have enough partner when we pair them up.

Control of Error: The child will have exactly enough to finish if counters are placed correctly.

Alhamdulillah this activity helped them a lot and it was fun.

Odd and Even street bulletin board.
We also made this Odd and Even street bulletin board to help kids understand and recognize the odd and even numbers.

close up view
The houses in Odd street look little odd if you pay attention : )

Here is Ibrahim's version. I drew the rectangles and triangles (base of the houses) myself because I was going to use them instead of making the bulletin board. So, Ibrahim finished it by himself.

Color by number activity.
I drew flowers and butterflies, wrote down the numbers and kids colored them according to the instructions. They were supposed to color all the odd numbers in one color and all the even number in one color. This was a good activity to practice what they have learned. Whenever they were not sure (especially Sarah) if the number is odd or even as a help they looked at the bulletin board and the cards and counters activity.

Bigger flower is Ibrahim's and the other one is Sarah's.



InshaAllah we'll continue working with the odd and even numbers this month too.

I'll try to share our comparison sets (more, less, equal) activities soon too inshaAllah.

If you have any good ideas or activities on this topic please share with us!

Kindergarten Curriculum: Monthly plan for Rabi' ul Avval (February)

Themes: My Body and 5 senses, Animals and their babies, Desert animals, Honeybees.

Monthy Library:
Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney
Me and my senses by Joan Sweeney
Keeping ourselves Clean by darulkitab publications
A Day in A Day in the life: Desert Animals- Meerkat
A Day in A Day in the life: Desert Animals- Arabian Oryx
A Day in A Day in the life: Desert Animals- Roadrunner
World of Insects: Honeybees (early readers)
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, what do you see?Martin, Bill
Tuck me in by Hacohen, Dean.
Mommy, carry me please! by Cabrera, Jane.
Who loves the little lamb? Evans Lezlie
Baby animals : black and whiteby Tildes, Phyllis Limbacher.

Language and Literacy:

Reading Readiness:

• Develop vocabulary through listening, speaking and print
• Identify and use likenesses and differences in colors, shapes, pictures, letters and words
• Identify emotions
• Explore the senses
• Work with Rhyming words
• Use Sounds and Letters to Spell
• Know that Words Join Together to Make Sentences
• Identify cause and effect relationships
• Recognize action words in a story

Phonics:
Review all the previous phonetic rules.

• Review blending consonant sounds which are br, pl, fl, sl, cr, gl, gr, bl, cl, fr, pr, st, tr, str, sp, sw, tw, sk. Also review consonant digraphs.
• Review long vowels, vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs and R-controlled vowels
• Practice silent consonant and consonant digraphs (comb, debt, window, answer, high, fudge, fridge etc)

Vocabulary
Learn selected words related to monthly themes, geography, science and grammar.

Grammar
Action Verbs

Writing:
Practice writing short sentences with illustrations about senses, baby animals and your favorite desert animal.

Math:

MEP maths Year 1: lessons 11-15 (optional).
Last months lessons were all about comparison sets and more activities on this topic are coming in the following lessons. So we will be focusing more this concept inshaAllah.
Some of the lessons also introduced the odd and even number concept and currently we have have been working in this topic.

• Odd and Even Numbers
• Comparison of sets: More/greater, fewer/less, equal …

From Big kindergarten Workbook (especially for Sarah)

• Explore concepts before/after/in between
• Recognize penny, nickel, dime and quarter
• Counting money, comparing amounts and shopping

Science:

• Recognize weather conditions and appropriate dress. Learn about freezing cold, frost and frostbite.
• My Body and 5 senses

From Science Workbook:

• Cook It! ( Physical Science)- the properties of materials may change when they are cooked.
• It’s a leaf! (Life science)- Plant leaves produce food for plants and people.
• When it grows up (life Science) - Plants and Animals closely resemble their parents.
• Sunshine (Earth and Space Science) - The sun provides light and heat.
• Sam’s Science Fair Project (Life Science) - Plants need light to grow and survive.
• Who was walking here? (Life Science)-animals leave tracks that can be used for identification.

Geography:

• Landforms and Bodies of Water- Hills and Mountains; Islands and Volcanoes; Deserts and Plains; Canyons and Valleys; Oceans, lakes and Rivers; Landforms and Bodies of water.
• Introduction to Continents and Oceans.

Social Studies:

• Keep practicing addresses, phone number, family members and their ages. Location of home and surroundings.
• Building Friendships. Recognize how people are alike and different
• Understanding other cultures.

Islamic Studies.
Aqeedah:
Allaah’s will
Al-Qadr
The Angels
The Iblees
The Messengers
The Books.
The Noble Qur’an

Learn different duaa
Practice wudu and prayer

Arabic
Study several lessons from Teach your Child Arabic.
Practice Reading with “ Arabic Comes First.” vocabulary worksheets and Iqra tajweed book.
Practice Handwriting
New vocabulary from books and First Arabic Words audio.

Kindergarten Phonics: Silent Letters.

This month we were supposed to learn about silent letters. Both of the kids are very much familiar with silent vowels (especially silent e and when two vowels come walking the first one does the talking rules) but we have not learned much about silent consonants.
I tried to come up with something interesting since my kids enjoy learning from different interactive materials.
So couple weeks ago we made a lapbook for silent letters. I guess January was all lapbooking month for us :)


During our circle time I let kids to pick out one silent letter and go through the examples (or they read though the lapbook whenever they want)
I got the word list from first school year and some of the words are little difficult (as they have stated it is for 2nd grade students) but inshaAllah with some practice kids will be able to learn them soon.

Here are some more pictures:

We have a tree, accordion style tree trunk, a cloud, a kite, a heart, a triangle fold, an umbrella, accordion books, flowers, ice cream and a pet house pockets.








Alhamdulillah, this was a good experience and nice way of learning about silent letters.