Homeschool PreK: April

We got baby chickies and duckies this month! We had to feed, water, and clean their tubs while they live in our house until they are big enough to move outside. We also had some other farm chores this week as we make our (slow) way into spring. Rust played in the hay shed a lot (climbing, sliding, hiding) and we had to protect our flock from predators by installing the electric fence, so there was also a lot of practice being aware that we don't touch the fence when it is on. Rust got zapped once and said, "I'm not kidding, the electric went into my body, Mom." 

The weather was totally wacky, but when it was sunny and warm (at all) we went outside to play. Lots of trampoline time, climbing on our log and rock piles, and riding bikes/scooters. And our Painted Lady caterpillars arrived in the last week of April (we order annually at this time of year from Insect Lore). 

Some of the books/stories we read:
Eat Pete by Michael Rex
One of These Things is Different
Let's Have a Sleepover (Hello Hedgehog book) by Norm Feuti

Kindergarten skills we practiced 
simple addition in his head ("Mum, we had four pine cones but with Reddy's new one we have five.")
learning about money (thank you baseball concession stand workers for your patience with one!)
learning about envelope requirements (stamp, address, return address, sealed)

Free Play Obsessions:
So much coloring and drawing!
Snail mailing drawings to family & friends
Hikes and sword fighting thorn bushes

Then towards the end of April, Rusty was asking for "homework" activities. He wanted a little bit of structure and worksheets (I think mostly, some one-on-one time). Since he needed to "work on his letters" (side eye), I decided to do a focus with a letter that was naturally connected to it.  

Similar to the early part of the school year, I searched for free printable worksheets and ideas that were appropriate for preK/Kinders about those topics. I also found interesting Youtube videos, we read books about it if we had them, and we tried to incorporate it into our play too. 

V is for Volcano

Activities:
Locating uppercase & lowercase V
Distinguishing first /v/ sound words
Copy work (sentences, sisters Violet and Olive names)
Making a volcano with baking soda & vinegar
Sequencing and counting
Themed fun worksheets: dot-to-dot alphabet, maze 

Youtube videos:
Volcano intro for Kids
Mystery Doug: Can Mountains turn into Volcanos?
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Volcanoes (Rusty thought this was hilarious)

F is for Flowers & P is for Plants & Pollinators

Activities:
Mason jar seed grower/observer (after 3 days, the roots of the pea seeds started to bust through!)
Hummingbird food and hanging up our feeder for the spring/summer!
Baking Honey Cookies (so delicious!)
Recognizing uppercase and lowercase F and P
Recognizing the /F/ and /P/ beginning sounds in words
Measuring flowers worksheet (using block ten)
Coloring by letter distinguishing
Practicing ABC song pointing to each letter as we sing

Books:
Pollinators (mini book)
Painted Lady booklet (that comes with the kit)