Week of November 27 - December 3 - We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We took last week off due to colds and an ear infection.  However, while we still have the cold-from-hell-that-will-not-end, we are starting a new book.   This week, we'll do "We're Going on a Bear Hunt".  Why?  Well, because mom is still sick and it is a book Rachel likes and it has lots of possibilities for activities to do, many of which I've blatantly borrowed from other home schooling sites.  I will try to give credit for things later in the week, but right now I'm just too busy planning and blowing my nose.  

Books:

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
The Biggest Bear by Adam Relf
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
Thank you Bear by Greg Foley
I Love You as Big as the World by David Van Buren





Math:
1. Counting games using bear crackers.  Although, she is really bored with counting at this point.  She needs a bit more work on 11-20, but she is showing some interest in basic addition, so we may try that.
2. We're using these pattern matching pages.  She hasn't done anything like this before, so I thought it would be fun to have her try.  I suspect they will be very easy for her, but it will be new, so she should try it a couple of times before she gets bored with it.
3. Hide-the-bear under a number game.  20 numbered caves...bear goes under one.  Mommy says a number and Rachel finds the bear, if she knows the number.

Map Skills:
1. She is still pretty young for learning about maps, but she really likes them.  So, we will start with a very simple map of our living room and kitchen.  If she can show me the places I point to on the map, then we'll play a hiding game where I'll hide her stuffed bears and show her on the "map" where they are.

Language Arts:
1. Matching words with pictures from the book. 
2. We'll work on prepositions this week: under, over, through, in, on...everywhere a bear can go. :)
3. I've got a new game where the letters are printed on a bear.  We'll play "find the letter" and then find the corresponding upper/lower case letter.
4. Our plans for a Goodnight Moon book last week failed.  She just wasn't interested the times I attempted to get her to take photos of her room.  So, this week, we will try instead to tell a story about going on a different kind of hunt.  She can choose what we are hunting and what we have to go through to find it.  We might try to make a book.  Might.


Science:
1. We'll investigate different kinds of bears: photos of bears, what they eat and where they live (Polar bears in cold areas...etc.)   It will probably become a matching game.  However, she is into puzzles now, so I think I'll print some photos of bears on cardstock and then make puzzles out of them.  We have started making use of National Geographic - KIDS online.
2.Stars and Ursa Major/Minor....The Biggest Bear book


Feelings:
1. We'll revisit her emotion cards/pictures.  Since the family is scared, we'll talk about things that scare us and what to do when we're afraid.

Art:
1. Coloring Bear Hunt images
2. Make a paper bear and paint it  (We're still working on primary and secondary colors.)


Fine Motor:
1. I've got some tracing patterns for her this week.  (Which were completed in 2 minutes on Sunday afternoon.  I then started printing letters for her to trace.)