Thanksgivukkah

It's a little late of a post, but like I said in the last one, the holidays get a little crazy.  This post is going to cover a period of three weeks, and then we will be back again after the Christmas holidays.

Language Arts
I've been trying to go through Hooked on Phonics with Sawyer.  He's big on using the computer (it has a little DVD that you use along with it), and he's big on the star sticker reward system.  He's not so big on trying to read.  So, it's been hard trying to find something that works for him.  Hooked on Phonics works, as long as I read the words along with him, we don't do it every day, and he figures out a lot of the words by memorization.  A lot of times, I go back after a week-long break from it (or more) to an early story that he's learned to see if he can still read it, and he seems to be remembering them by inferring from the pictures, but he's still having a difficult time blending all the sounds together in a word.  I'm pretty sure that I remember Hayden doing the same thing:  reading the first letter, sounding it out, and then just guessing what the rest of the word is.

With Hayden, I'll be glad when we are done with the Blue Book of Learning Language Arts through Literature.  I am SO ready to be past it and moving on to the Red Book.  Hayden's reading ability has actually skyrocketed these past few months, but there are just a few little things that need working on that keeps me from just chucking the Blue Book aside and moving on to the next one.  Maybe I'm just impatient…..?

Adding a star to our HOP book after completing a story on his own.

Slight close-up of book.

Coloring in pictures to cut and sort in the correct order.

The finished project.

Another ABC arc activity.  So far, we've done this forwards a few times
and backwards a few times.  Now, he's assembling it forward again, but without
the letters to look at as a guide.  Only A, M, N, and Z.

Handwriting without Tears wood pieces.  Being used to make a pirate.
I'm thinking that this purchase was kind of a waste for us.  But, at least it's
getting used?

Wet-Dry-Try letters on the chalkboard.  It's been a while since we did this.
This is a good one for him to do.  He enjoys it, and it forces him to slow
down and pay attention to what he's doing.

Cookie Sheet Challenge Time!  He finishes these activities in no time flat.
Part of me is happy that it's so easy, but the other part wishes he would slow
the heck down so my time isn't rushed with Hayden.  

Close up of the Cookie Sheet Challenge.

A little workbook on phonics.  This is something else that Sawyer really
seems to enjoy.  Maybe it's being able to see the progress of his completion?
Hayden can't stand workbooks.  I love how different they are.

Making word family flip books.

The last of Sawyer's Do-A-Dot worksheets.  He's been doing these since
last year,  I think?  Another activity that he's way past, but he enjoys doing
it.  So, I let him have this little fun time.

Working on a double story chart from the easy reader of the week.
He cuts out the pictures of the two characters, glues them on each side of the
paper, and then puts sentence strips below each picture that describes the
characters.

Lacing Letters
Sawyer said that he does NOT like doing this activity, but I have to say that
he has gotten exponentially better at doing it than the first time he did it over
the summer.  Again, he flew through this activity, way faster than I expected.

Cutting and pasting pictures in the correct order.
I think I'm getting tired of this type of activity from our curriculum.  We've
got the whole "order of events" down pat, I think.  I also think that Hayden
is over this as well.  He didn't even bother coloring the pictures this time.

The finished project.

Some fun with Skylanders.
Sawyer had to match each sentence with the correct Skylander.  I had to help
him read each sentence, but he sailed past it with flying colors.

Using the pocket chart sentence strips to help complete the next activity:
matching names to the correct Skylander.

More cookie sheet challenges.  

Reading all the past word family flip books that we've made.

Math:

Math is a subject that I don't think I spend enough time on with Sawyer.  I feel like he might be getting a little bit of the shaft with this, but I'm also trying to keep in mind that it's not a subject he's interested in right now, and he does get a lot of math when playing MathSeeds on the computer.  When we do get chances to do math together, it can get really frustrating because he doesn't want to listen.  He gets really silly, doesn't fully cooperate, and just basically makes it difficult to want to even sit with him.  I don't know if it's the material that we are using or if he just wants to go play.  Still figuring that part out….

Some more Skylanders to keep things interesting with money.

Then we played a money game where we rolled the die and selected that
number of pennies.  As we collected them, we had to trade them in for nickels
and dimes until we reached a quarter.

Hayden worked on adding 4-digit numbers without the use of the abacus.

Greater than, Less Than with adding 

Learning a little about even and odd numbers.

Writing the numbers 0 and 1.

Counting out objects and keeping track of the number using tally sticks.

Making numbers with the abacus that match what's on the dot cards.

Subtraction using part-whole circles, the abacus, and tiles.

More part-whole circle sets, and writing equations to match for addition and subtraction.

Social Studies:

Here's where the title of the post comes into play.  Since the beginning of last summer, we've been members of the JCA (the Jewish Community Alliance).  Not because we are Jewish, but because we were looking for a good workout facility that had a decent child care.  Plus, they have a swim team with the RCSL (River City Swim League), and since Hayden was going to be on a swim team for the summer, I thought, "Two birds, one stone!" Since then, we have learned that there is a lot more to this place than just the swim team and fitness center.  So, I decided that this year, we'd learn about some of the Jewish holidays, starting with Hanukkah.  Of course, Hanukkah, this year fell right at the same time as Thanksgiving.  Hence, Thanksgivukkah.  P.S. Please ignore the papery stuff on Hayden's head.  He was getting creative with the packaging of the Hanukkah wooden set I purchased.

Frying up some wooden latkes.

Lighting up the wooden menorah.

Stacking up the gelt in preparation of playing the dreidel.

Sawyer's turn.

Hayden takes a shot at it.

Books about Hanukkah that we read:
Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Susan L. Roth
Eight Days of Hanukkah byHarriet Ziefert
Jeremy's Dreidel by Ellie Gellman
Celebrate Hanukkah with Me by
This is the Dreidel by 

Menorah lighting started off the Hanukkah celebration at the JCA.

Eating a dinner of hot dogs, applesauce, and latkes after
the lighting.

 

Decorating frames for family pictures.

Listening to, and helping to act out the story of the Maccabbees.

Cookie decorating! (Always the best part)

And that's two weeks with a bang.  Next post will cover the rest of December with some Christmas stuff.  After that, we'll be taking a short break.  Happy Thanksgivukkah!