Homeschool Ideas from a Simple Momma: Bird, Bird, Bird... Bird's the Word

So I have not posted in a while :( Life has been busy around here. We've been to two weddings and a funeral with over 15hrs of driving just this month. And then there's normal life. Even so, sorry I haven't kept up with this for y'all. Here are SEVERAL worksheets and projects we have done since my last post. If you want the template for any of these so that you can reuse them and fill in different words/numbers, just let me know! Enjoy :)

WORD BIRDS

My kids had a blast with this project and it gave us a really cute way to add decoration to our classroom! We made "Word Birds!" We designated each paper bird for a short vowel - a, e, i, o, u - but you could do this for long vowels, diagraphs, sight words, or even just the alphabet for preschoolers (we did letters A - D on my son's birds). Savanna chose the words she wanted to use for each bird. For example, on her short o bird she used the words fox, box, top, lock, hot, log, and job. This is a great way to let them be creative and see what words they can come up with! We hung them from the ceiling with string and they are really cute! Materials: construction paper, scissors, glue, markers, and some prep-work by mom.

I drew this out on a piece of construction paper
and then cut two or three pieces at a time.

Body: Large circle
Wings: 2 circles cut in half, 2 of the halves
with small incisions to curl with a pencil
Chest Feathers: teardrop shapes
Tail Feathers: Strips glued to read and curled
with a pencil or marker
Feet, Beak, Eye

Glue one wing to the back facing up
Glue one wing to the side facing the left

Write the words directly on the bird

You should have at least 5 birds
a, e, i, o, and u

Display from the ceiling!

PHONICS
The Skunk and the Duck booklet teaches the short u sound
Frog's New Socks booklet teaches the short o sound
The AI Book teaches the diagraph -ai (long a sound)
The Sweet Sheep booklet teaches the diagraphs -ea and -ee (long e sound)
Phonics Word Graphing -ea
Phonics Word Search -oo

We are still in the middle of learning diagraphs (oo, ea, ee, oa, ai, ou, ew, aw, ow) and will post more worksheets as I make them. I also recommend going to LANTERNFISH and downloading their colorful vowel diagraph flashcards. I laminated them for Savanna and it has made it very easy for her to learn these sounds.

And, of course, practice, practice, practice!

LETTERS D - G for Preschoolers
We use a combination of lapbooks or pouches, flashcards, coloring pages, and crafts to teach one letter per week (sometimes 2 per week if he seems to really have a grasp on them). You can find more Printables & Craft Ideas here.

Letter D Lapbook Materials needed: manila folder, printables, scissors, glue, and crayons.
d is for dots was fun but messy! We emptied our hole punch and Samuel glued all the little dots the lowercase d.
D is for Doofenshmirtz (character on Phineas & Ferb). Other characters you could use that start with the letter D: Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Deputy Dawg, Dora, Dexter, Daphne (from Scooby-Doo), Danny Phantom, and Dale (from Chip n' Dale).
Note: I like to use cartoon characters for my son because it helps keep him interested while at the same time learning his letters.

Letter E Pouch Materials needed: manila folder (cut in half), printables, scissors, glue, crayons, and stapler. Once you cut the manila folder in half and trim some off the top, just staple the sides to make a little pouch.
E is for Elevator (has Curious George at the elevator!). Other characters you could use that start with the letter E: elmo, "Ed, Ed, and Eddie," Ernie (from Sesame Street), Elmer Fudd, Esmeralda (from the Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Letter F Lapbook- My son likes frogs so for this lapbook we took a Natgeo for kids and cut out pictures of all sorts of frogs. This was fun and a little different from our normal routine. You can also use animals such as foxes, fish, ferrets, falcons, and fireflies to build your lapbook. Old magazines are great resources!

F is for Fantastic Four Other characters you use that start with the letter F: the Flinstones, Foxy Loxy, Flint Lockwood (from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), Friar Tuck, Flounder (from the Little Mermaid.

Letter G Lapbook Materials needed: manila folder, printables, scissors, glue, and crayons.

G is for Green Goblin (from Spiderman). Other characters you could use that start with the letter G: Grumpy, Goofy, Goosey Loosey, Garfield, Grinch, Gumby.

HAPPY FALL

A fun project for decorating your front walkway (or using as a centerpiece). Your kids will LOVE making these (even the boys!) and your visitors will be quite impressed that your kids made them all by themselves! Materials needed: Terra cotta pots ($.99 at Michael's or A.C. Moore), fall color paints, paint brushes, fall colored artificial flowersn (you can get these from craft stores, dollar tree, wal-mart, etc), wire cutters (for mom to cut flowers off the stem), mini scarecrows and pumpkins on sticks ($.99 at Michael's or A.C. Moore), and rocks or dirt.

Getting ready to make our Fall Flowers

Samuel ended up mixing all this
colors to make orange :)

Savanna did two-tone pots :)

Samuel's finished flower pots!
His say "Be Thankful" on one and
"I Love Fall" on the other.

Savanna's finished flower pots!
Hers say "Fall for All" on one and
Happy Fall" on the other.

What a simple project that makes
the front walk look in season!

Other Fall worksheets can be found at Education.com (inluding the life-cycle of the pumplkin) and DLTK. Also here is a Pumpkin Poem that I made for Savanna.

MEASUREMENTS & TELLING TIME

Savanna is still making cakes each week and so we started teaching her measurements using measuring cups and spoons. We also have been studying measurements using rulers. I found Measurement Worksheets as well as Time Worksheets at Education.com that Savanna really enjoys! Here are some other worksheets I made for her:

Measuring Fourths- Cup

Measuring Thirds- Cup

Measuring Spoons 1

Measuring Spoons 2

COUNTING

Skip Counting by 10s (I left this one in Word format so you can change out the numbers and reuse the same page for practice).

Caterpillar #1-10 for preschoolers

Savanna's last 3 baking creations :)