October Day 11 - Sheep

Before I get started on Day 11 I am going to go back to Day 9.  We learned about Barns and one of the lessons was called C in the Barn.  We opened our My Little Journals and first wrote a big letter C on the C page.  Next we took glue and followed the C line and then sprinkled cornmeal on it, like glitter.  While doing this we talked about things that start with a C that we would find in a barn, like a cow (which Lachlan came up with all on his own).  I just thought the use of cornmeal was genius.  The color didn't stand out dramatically against the white paper but the texture is really great.

Now we are at Day 11 and we are learning all about sheep.  Opening Circle discussion question, what do you know about sheep?  Well, sheep say Ba!

Baaaaaaa!

Next we worked on the Story Sequence Cards in the Sharing Wool lesson.  We started by talking about soft and scratchy.  They were actually sitting on scratchy rugs and they had asked for soft blankets, so it was a really easy way to compare the two.  Next I presented, first Lachlan, with the cards.  You can see they have pictures on them that tell a story.  Your job, as the kid, is to put the story in order.  Lachlan figured out that first you have to sheer the sheep and he knew you could make socks with the wool as we learned playing the Logic Game earlier this month, but wasn't sure what the bags were all about.  Eventually we walked through it together and figured it out.  Then I mixed them up and let the younger two give it a try.

Next we herded sheep.  We used our brown color wand to herd the "sheep" to something brown.  Peter was the first shepherd/tiger and he herded his sheep to the brown divider.  Next Lachlan herded his sheep to the brown dresser and Lucy herded her sheep to the brown entertainment center.  Another amazingly simple way to hunt for the color brown.  They all found a brown with no trouble at all.

We quickly sat back down to work on the art for the day.  We made dioramas!  Mother Goose Time provided us with a barn and barnyard backdrop that when cut and folded turned into a super cute diorama.  We also got sheep cut outs that we colored and glued a cotton ball to.

I wanted to try something new on this day so I had gotten out the rugs we have been using for reading time and we did opening circle on the rugs and just kept going.  Here we were with one lesson left and the kids were getting antsy, ready to do something else.  The last lesson was basically a discussion about Milk.  Asking first what they drank when they were babies and what they thought baby sheep (lamb) drink?  Milk is the answer.  I quickly taught them the ASL sign for milk.  Lachlan popped up and found a book that we have about baby animals and flipped to the page about lambs.  It all worked out and they were off and playing.

The second part of the Milk lesson included hiding a few of our little sheep around the room.  We were to pretend that they were lost and hungry lambs.  When a lamb was found they were to sign milk to the lamb to pretend to feed it.  I might still try to do this at some point, because it would be a great way to reinforce the sign.

The other last thing we failed to do was the Closing Time.  I keep missing this on quite a few days and I am not sure why.  It usually is full of great stuff, some review and some new games and songs.  I guess I just keep thinking the Closing Time needs to be at the end of the day, but our days go by quickly.  Generally 2pm rolls around and naps begin, then Lucy gets picked up at 4.  Maybe my boys and I should just get used to doing the Closing Time at the end of our day before bed, or after dinner.  That could work!