T, U and V weeks {Kindergarten}

We have had a few fun weeks in our homeschool kindergarten lately.

During T week, we talked about trees, telling time, trains and transportation, as well as TEETH! My kindergartner filled out a brushing teeth log for the week and she did pretty well on it. It showed me that we need to work on flossing! You can find the log online here. We did some other dental activities which you can find online here and here. We played a dice game where you rolled a die and placed that many mini-marshmallows on the tooth model. We also counted my teeth (adult) and her teeth (child) and compared the numbers of teeth. My daughter enjoyed making toothpick sculptures too!

 During U week, we talked a lot about UP, UNDER and Umbrellas. One of the UNDER topics that we discussed is UNDER the BIG top! We had discussions about the circus, and even looked at pictures of the big top online! It was lots of fun, and here is my daughter's shape clown, made from triangles and circles, and her handprints for the arms & legs! Cute, huh? (Both the girl and the clown! Hope this clown doesn't scare any children that are wary of clowns... and a few adults!)

 This past week was V week, when we talked a lot about vegetables, violets, vacations, and even valentines! We made a vest, found the states that begin with V, cut veggies out from magazines and glued them onto a placemat. We also discussed and read books about VOLCANOES! My children were delighted when we took to the kitchen once again for a cool science experiment!

 We drug out the old cleaned soda bottle, added warm water, a few drops of dishwashing detergent. We also added a few tablespoons of baking soda and food coloring to make the water, er, uh... lava red.

 When we added a few tablespoons of vinegar, the eruption began!

 It was so neat (well... messy) and exciting! We made it erupt several times and enjoyed watching the chemical reaction occur! Our book said that this is the same chemical reaction that occurs in real volcanoes-- carbon dioxide. The gas bubbles build up in the bottle, forcing the liquid out of the bottle, and down the sides of the "volcano".

You can find some wonderful experiments and ideas for science in this book:

The KIDS' SCIENCE BOOK: CREATIVE EXPERIENCES FOR HANDS-ON FUN, by Robert Hirschfeld and Nancy White.

Some great Bible verses about God's wondrous creation:

  "Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the skies.
 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
   your justice like the great deep.
   You, LORD, preserve both people and animals." Psalm 36:5-6

I love the word pictures in this one:

 "His lightning lights up the world;
   the earth sees and trembles.
 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
   before the Lord of all the earth.
 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
   and all peoples see his glory."

Psalm 97:4-6