We have been studying animals for weeks. We have done it all. Extinct, Endangered, and Current Animals. Zoo animals, Farm animals and Pet animals.... We had our "Zoo" day marked on the calendar and we finally made it! Daddy took the day off and we had a blast! All three kids had their very own clipboards with an animal check-list (To mark when they find that animal). And the twins (1st grade) acted as our "Navigators" as they were the map readers. (Yes, putting the Map Studies to work!) The boys read every "Animal Fact Card" to gather information about each animal. This is the plackard that is outside each habitat. They read each animals habitat, activity time (Day or night) and their Diet (Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore) And they know what each one means. One boy even corrected me, when I got it wrong! haha! We were there for a good three hours, but needed to run home. We didn't even make it to the children section with the petting zoo. Oh, well. Next time! Yea! Then it was race home, shower, eat and RUN to church for the first Awanas meeting! Race, race, race! I volunteered as a Cubbie Teacher so that Sasha could join. (She is only 3). I had no idea I would be "SO" in charge! They through me into the pit and said, "Good Luck!" AAAHHHH! But I survived on my homeschooling "Know-How" and led the class of fifteen 3-4 year olds to memorize TWO verses! YEA ME! All in all we had a great day and I just couldn't wait to return to tell you gals about it! I absolutely LOVE homeschooling and today is one day that will go into my pocket if I ever doubt myself again..... jen
Sasa made sure she marked off her list, too! It was so glorious having Dad along. Plus, it gave us someone to pull the heavy wagon with the ice bag and drinks! haha! Connor and Zack got to touch a black headed snake. Their first snake ever. Sasha decided to pass. The zoo has so many different types of exibits, and one of the kids' favorites would be the "Holes", where small animals are shown in their "Homes" with a glass wall on the side.
What a great day!!! Thanks for sharing! We went to the zoo awhile back---with Dad---too. We had a wonderful day also! We didn't have the sign-off sheets, since my kids are older, but we learned a lot and saw a lot, and want to go again! Hey Jen, thanks for sharing! Love the pictures! I think it's neat you had your ds's and dd find the animals and read things, and map it out.... What a great experience for them! Now they could do lapbooks with all the info. they learned!
I thought about the lap-book thing, But to be honest, we are "Spent" on animals for a while... haha! Maybe we can use it for next year? In fact, it is similar to the "Egypt" thing... We got waaay to involved in Egypt stuff, with books and movies... By the time the kids watched "The Prince of Egypt" movie (Which is an animated version of "The Ten Commandments", they were sick of Egypt!) So, we are learning to let some things go, and to move on... But we are beginers! haha!
Jen, look like alot of fun, wish we could of joined you, sure likes the boys could of help us and taught us some things. Thanks for sharing.
What a beautiful family you have. I love it when Handsome is able to join us in our schooling. It makes the day extra special. Thanks for sharing your special day with us!!!! Patty
Looks like you and your kids had a great time at the zoo! Checking off the animals is a great idea! BTW, your kids are adoreable!
Thanks, guys! Yes, we had a blast! The animal check-off-list . . I got this from thelerningpage.com, as part of their "Zoo Animal" unit. It is a free website, that I found through the Favorite Websites folder, here. It was part of a bigger package. Anyway, I am glad you guys liked it. I couldn't wait to gethome to show you guys how much fun we had! Yea! P.S.... Did anyone miss the fact that I was thrown into the pit, greener than a new born baby, into a class with 15 (3-4) year olds?? AAAHHHHH!!!!! hahaha!
EGYPT??? (See my ears perking up!) It's not too late for you to join us in Philadelphia next summer to see the King Tut exhibit!!! Stop by and pick up Kris on your way!
I work with the Cubbies, too. We have 12 right now, but I am not alone with them. There are 2 teachers. I am the secretary (keep up with attendance, sections completed, etc) and craft person. This age (3's & 4's) is my favorite to work with. I used to work in a Mother's Day Out program, and I had 12 4yo's by myself. You can do it, just establish a routine and keep them busy! I'm glad you had fun doing it!
The curch we go to is failrly large. And the Awanas club is huge! haha! There were four different cubbies classes with about 15 kids, each. the older kids were upstairs in the gym. I was teaching bymyself but i was not alone... There has to be two adults in a room with a child or children, at all times. So I was not completely alone. I meant to say that I was left to do it myself. The other parents helped pass out juice and crakers. But For whatever reason, they all looked to me to lead the class.... They said, "Oh! Yoru a Helper? Cool! Here is your class!" And the other parents had no clue how to teach the kids a thing. I just took over, because it was all so silly, everyone wondering what to do. I knew we had to teach them the two sayings. One was a verse and the other was "Jesus Loves Me". So, for the first one, we clapped our hands with every sylable. They liked that. And for the other one "Jesus loves me" we made sure everyone was given a name.... I walked around asking each kid.. "Did you get a name?" As if there were names to be given out....haha! Most of them said, "YES!" and gave me their name.. And I would use their name to say.. "Jesus Loves... PAUL!" and so on.. They liked that... Again, I was making it up as I went along.. it semed easier than sitting in a room with the kids staring into space waiting for the adults to do something, while the other grownups looked even more clueless... ugh! Anyway, I do not have one clue if I can do this each week. Heck, I'm more new to church than most of these kids are! haha! But it was easier to jump in and have fun than it was to sit in an uncomfortable situation.. Ok. now I a REALLY babbling.... Sorry.... Oh! And while we were waiting for the parents to pick them up, I introduced a few kids to the idea that crayons have their own unique scent. (Don't you just love the smell of crayons?) And just like there is no one else who is just like us, there is no other scent in the world as wonderfull as the scent of new crayons! They were sniifing all the crayons! haha Can you imagine? hahah! jen
I am glad it was you and not me in there! I DO love the smell of crayons, always have! Hehe! Is there supposed to be a set program that teachers are supposed to follow? How long does the class last? See, I'm one that sits back and waits for someone else to take charge. I'm a "Helps" person---I am happy to assist, but I have trouble coming up with my own ideas. Hey, that was a neat thing about my trip to Kenya, though. There were so many situations where I was asked, right at the time it was to be done, to talk or lead out in the singing, or tell a story or give a Bible verse..... I sent up quick prayers each time for HELP! THere are texts in the Bible that say when you need the words God will bring them to you....well that happened to me there no less than 6 or 8 times! It was amazing! Wow! So I know that if the situation was thrown at me, God would help me get through it! So maybe that's what happened, Jen? Since you were willing, God gave you the thoughts and things to say and do!
Do your Cubbies have a recreation time and craft time? Our Cubbies don't get to participate in rec time, so we make up our own things, but in most churches I think there is a rec time for Cubbies. There should also be puppet time. Do you have a book? If not (or even if you do ), go to this site http://www.commanderbill.net/cubbies/ scroll to the bottom, and click the Hopper schedule. It has a years worth of lessons planned out- the stories (Bear Hugs), crafts, rec time, and even a coordinating snack. There are some things that just aren't possible with our church, but it's a guide! I'm sure you did a FABULOUS job this week, but if you're like me, you like a little more order than just winging it weekly! (It's a hs mom thing!)
WE had four groups sit in a circle with our team color (Yelow) rope around us on the floor. All four teams were in the same room for the pledge and the Awanas pledge. Then two teams went to another room, using their rope and heard a story. The other two teams played to race games. We had a simple relay race and another game, where we threw balls to the opposing side. When it was our time for story time, we go to meet Cubbie Bear, El E Phant and Luv E Lamb. WE heard the story and song of obey... Then we went to our own individual classrooms. THAT is where I found out I would be on my own! And sense I was so animated in the earlier activities, the others just treated me like I was the teacher.... I mean, for example... AS we are leading these children, at night, from one building to the next, the kids were a bit scared and it was taking forever. The other adults were freaked out (Or so it seemed) at the idea of telling other peoples kids what to do. I mean we cannot just stand here all night.. SO I had the kids march, then we were Christian Soldiers marching into the church... Not on the Cubbies list of things to do, I am sure, but it got us in the building... And since I was leading... one thing led to the other and so on... It was like a snow ball effect... But I did it! Yea! And I was not mad about it, by the way.. miffed, but not mad. The ladies at our church bust their bazzookas doing things and are always seen overloaded in the hall ways in all the activities.. no one caled me tell me there was a cubbies leaders meeting that I missed, untill after the class... Oh well... jen
Our Cubbies have a "play time" in the very beginning in their own room. I liked it better when they had a Recreation Time, but I guess they think this works better. Usually they have their play time, then have a Total Group time with prayer, then divided into two groups (by age). One group goes in to the puppet show where they have Ernie and Cubbie and Luv E., and the other does crafts. During the craft time, they are called out one by one to say their verses. Phillip's 1st grade Sparkie class is the big one. Is has over 20 kids in it!!! Rachael is going to help with the K Sparkies this year. There's three girls, all pretty sharp and responsible, who want to continue in the J.V. book on their own. The director told them that if they want to quiz together, he'll make sure they get there (one of the girls is his daughter!). She was talking to Rachael about it. Rachael was quite pleased. She's one of the three, and she was hoping the other two would want to quiz J.V. Oh, Jen!!! The Cubbie's Key Verse, "God loves us and sent his Son. 1st John 4:10) fits perfectly to the tune of the first two lines of "Old McDonald"!!! Try singing it, and all the kids will know it perfectly!
That's similar to how we do it, except this year, because of a lack of leaders , we have to keep all of the cubbies together. We have play time, story time, puppet time (w/Cubbie, Ern E. and Luv E.), snack, and craft time. We still use both rooms and rotate from room to room with the different activities. Jen, I'm going to PM you the schedule suggestion from the Cubbies teacher book - just so you know what the program includes.
