Homeschool Theme of the Week: Homeschool Kindergarten Graduation!!!

I confess.  I am one of those homeschooling moms who wonder - what things will my kids be missing out on if I homeschool?!  One of those "things" was kindergarten graduation.  What about a graduation hat and tassel, participating in some cute song, walking across a stage, etc.?!?

Well, I am here to say - it CAN STILL be done!  You CAN have an awesome kinder graduation if you homeschool!  And the best part?   You get to make the decisions!  What song to sing, what to recite, even what color of hat and tassel you want - or whether you even want one at all!

Once I figured this all out (yep, I am a little slow in that department sometimes), it was SOOOO much fun and we had a graduation I was even happier with than if she had been in a class full of kids up on a stage in front of a huge audience.  

Miss A is very into pink and fancy things and is very dramatic, soooooo that is the kind of graduation program we planned.   We also completed some great school activities and worked on the cutest kindergarten memory book!  Okay, enough talk and more pictures...

A fun graduation themed snack!!!

DETAILS:

Main:  Graduation hat made from a healthy muffin (bottom of hat) and graham cracker top spread with Nutella.  The tassel is string cheese.  The diploma is a rolled up tortilla with peanut butter and jam/jelly inside and tied with a piece of fruit roll-up.

Muffin cups 1 and 3:  Hugs and kisses for our little graduating girl!  :)

Muffin cup 2:  Cheese stars and heart confetti.

Garnish:  Nutella X's and O's (more hugs and kisses) and wording.  Heart confetti.

Disclaimer:  This is a special snack and not the kind of thing Miss A gets every day for snack.  Our normal snacks do not usually include so much sugar.  I just make these every once in a while as a special treat for Miss A!

One of the super parts of having your own graduation (just you) is that you get to pick the colors.  Miss A ended up with a pink hat and a pink and white tassel.  We bought these at a store, and I think it cost a grand total of $7 or $8.  However, if you don't want to spend that much on a hat - you can certainly make one from paper (check Pinterest or search Google for tutorials on how to do this).

We also decided to make the hat fancier (another perk of not being in a classroom where everyone is required to wear the same style and color of cap), so we made sparkly polka dots on the cap using glitter.  In addition to this, I glued pink rhinestones to the four corners and center of the hat for added glamour.  AND let's not forget the tassel - at the request of Miss A, I also added some sparkly glitter dots to the numbers "2012".  

Now how can one have an amazing hat and tassel and then receive just an ordinary diploma?  The answer is - one shouldn't.  Thus, we dramatically increased the fancy factor of her diploma (this was just a staged diploma - I didn't want to mess up the real one by rolling it up so she accepted this one on the stage)  by adding glitter swirls to the outside and lots and lots of curly ribbon (did I mention LOTS)!!!

We created a stage backdrop for about $2 by purchasing two $1 white plastic tablecloths (party section in Walmart), taping them together in back, stringing a piece of yarn from a tree to a post and using clothespins to clip the large white backdrop of tablecloths to the yarn.  We used some bricks to hold the corners down.  It actually turned out really well!  We also added a few tissue paper decorations to give it some added color and flair.  :)

Yet another advantage to having your own kindergarten homeschool graduation is that you get to choose exactly what kind of program you want to have which best spotlights your child's strengths.   My daughter is very dramatic and loves to sing and dance, SOOO we planned a show (see the program above - graphics from www.scrappindoodles.com) where she would recite a verse, sing a cute song, and then dance to some music (Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World").  For the dance, we also bought some pieces of filmy material in different colors and she used those as part of the choreography of her dance to go along with some of the words referencing different colors ("trees of green, red roses too", etc.).  

She LOVED it and so did I, not to mention her little audience of Daddy, Great Grandma, and grandparents (who watched via a webcam).  It was soooo much fun to plan and practice!  :)  

At the end, I formally presented her with her diploma and moved her tassel for her.  It was super sweet, and I didn't even cry (well, actually I did during the dress rehearsal but kept my composure during the real thing).  

I couldn't find just the right song for my daughter to sing, so I finally decided to make up one of my own for her program.  I was so pleased with what a precious job she did - we put actions to the song as well (those are in blue lettering above), and it was just adorable.  

Please feel free to use this song for your own kindergarten graduation ceremony.  I just ask that if you use the song and ESPECIALLY if you post the lyrics and actions to the song - that you credit it back to me/this blog as well.  

Following the graduation ceremony, we had a party with fancy hot dogs and a banana split bar!  :)  And how does one make a hot dog fancy?  I'll bet you didn't realize it was as easy as adding a frilly toothpick or a little umbrella, did you!  

Besides practicing a LOT for our show and ceremony, we did some other cute graduation activities.  The one above was a really neat TLC freebie from the Teachers Pay Teachers website.  See it here.

For some math practice, I wrote addition facts on little pieces of paper and rolled them up, tying each with string to make little diplomas.  Then Miss A opened and answered them.

Meet a kindergarten class which has a serious problem - somehow their graduation caps got all mixed up!  At least that is what I told Miss A, and she had to help find the correct cap for each student.  This was a rhyming exercise - on each cap was a word which would rhyme with a student's name.  It was her job to sort them out and glue them to the correct heads.  :)  She also drew all of the cute faces!  

One thing I really wanted to do with Miss A was to make a memory book for kindergarten.  I searched and searched for something that would be just right but failed to find anything that really made me super happy.  Thus, I decided to come up with my own and it turned out so, so, SOOO cute!  Okay, maybe I am a little biased.  ;)  I guess you will just have to judge for yourselves...

The book includes a cover, two pages of kindergarten facts (favorite color, teacher's name, favorite snack, favorite trip, etc.), my favorite part of kindergarten page, I learned...page, AMAZING me page (self portrait), a handprint page with a delightful poem, a special helper page with another cute poem (showcasing people who helped Miss A achieve success this year), and a page for autographs and well wishes/special messages!

Most of the pages have fun borders that can be colored in.  Miss A used a lovely pink and blue color scheme to fill in the border on her "AMAZING me" page.  :)  I love the picture she drew of herself!  :)

This is one of my absolute favorite pages!!!  I wanted to get a nice handprint as a keepsake for Miss A's kindergarten year and thought it would be cute if each finger had a graduation cap as well.  I came up with a sweet little poem to tie the whole concept together and made it the border for the page!  :)

This was another page I was especially pleased with.  I wanted one which celebrated the support and love of others which helped contribute to Miss A's achievements leading up to her graduation day.  I came up with a short poem and decided on the idea of having Miss A draw herself holding a bouquet of balloons (another idea would be a bouquet of flowers) and each balloon would be the thumbprint of someone who helped her that year.  (Not everyone was there the night we made this page, thus the empty strings which will be attached to "balloons" later on).   

The page is set up so a child could also draw pictures of people who contributed to the child's success if the balloon idea doesn't work for a particular class or family.  

Don't ask me about the blue face.  My daughter is not really blue.  I guess she just felt extra colorful that day?

All wording on the above pages is copyrighted and may not be taken and used for different projects (including handprint art) without first contacting me AND obtaining my written consent.  

I have the entire kindergarten memory book (PDF files) available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here, AND it is on SALE this week!  Hope you will consider snapping one up to work on with your kindergartener-now-turned-first-grader over the summer or for when your child or class graduates next year!  

PLUS, I have included a super sweet kindergarten diploma (see below) with the memory book files.  Again, I couldn't find one I liked after searching online for a while, so I just created my own!  

So to sum all of this up:  YOU CAN HAVE AN AWESOME KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION, EVEN IF YOU HOMESCHOOL - INDEED, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HOMESCHOOL!  

And to my beloved daughter on her graduation from kindergarten - we love you and are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of you!  I am already looking forward to a fun year of homeschooling with you in first grade!  XXXOOO

Linking to:

www.bearrabbitbear.com

www.momontimeout.com

www.houseofhepworths.com

www.somewhatsimple.com

www.thecraftyblogstalker.blogspot.com

www.theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com

www.atthepicketfence.com

www.happhourprojects.com

www.joyfulstamper.blogspot.com

www.petalstopicots.com

www.whipperberry.com

www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com

www.homeschoolcreations.net

www.delicateconstruction.com

www.iamalongfortheride.blogspot.com

www.lollyjane.com

www.sixsistersstuff.com

www.bedifferentactnormal.com

www.makingtheworldcuter.com

www.delicateconstruction.com

http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/

http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/

www.sumossweetstuff.com

www.diyhshp.blogspot.com

www.abcand123learning.com

www.gingersnapcrafts.com

www.cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com/

www.familyhomeandlife.com

Homeschool Theme of the Week: Spring (Splash Picture Activity)!

Here are a couple of activities we did this past week which tie into our spring theme and were also a great follow up for one of the books we read "Splish, Splash, Spring!"

This person piqued my interest when she painted using condensed milk and food coloring and it came out looking so shiny - see here!  So I pinned it (saving it for a rainy day - ha, ha, ha), and we tried to make a fun symmetrical splash picture early this week. 

Basically, the picture was to look as though Miss A had just jumped in a puddle (notice the tips of the yellow construction paper boots on the bottom edge), and she is now looking down at her reflection in the water.  She was instructed to only paint half of her face and half of the puddle on a pre-folded piece of paper.  When she was done, I closed it, rubbed it and opened it back up (such a fun activity for a kid to see a mirror image on the other side completing his/her face).

I love the texture of the puddle that came out when we did that - I am not quite sure if it was the texture of the kind of paper we used or paint or both, but it had a kind of rippled/splashed look to it - AND shiny like a puddle should be when it is reflecting light.  :)  My daughter touched up the picture (nose and mouth were kind of messed up), and we were done!  Very cute!  :)

This was a math activity (went along with the book as well) - Roll a Spring Storm!  I found a picture online of a girl with an umbrella but no rain (perfect!) and printed it.  Miss A colored it and then rolled two dice to create an addition number sentence on a separate piece of paper showing how many raindrops she could add to the picture.  She then added the drops using blue paint and a cotton swab.  If you do this at home/school with your kids, repeat several times for lots of drops and a bigger storm!  

Linking up:
www.diyhshp.blogspot.com
www.delicateconstruction.com
www.singingthreelittlebirds.blogspot.com
www.makingtheworldcuter.com
www.tipjunkie.com
www.hiphomeschoolmoms.com
www.bearrabbitbear.com
www.handsonaswegrow.com
www.momontimeout.com

Homeschool Theme of the Week: Spring!

True to spring style - we have been busy little bees in homeschool!  See some of our fun activities below...

A fun spring snack!
Snack Details:
Muffin Cup Flowers:  strawberries with a blackberry center.  Green apple stems and leaves.
Muffin Cup Cloud:  marshmallow cream for dipping fruit.
Garnishes:  peanut butter soil with organic cheddar bunnies.  Hershey hugs flower buds with green apple leaves and a carrot caterpillar (details on face drawn with food safe markers - see link below).

Welcome to our Learning Garden!  Consider making one yourself and enjoy celebrating all of the things your child has been learning this year (great for review of past or current concepts).  This could easily be adapted to make a larger family or class garden where each child is given a "plot" to share what they have been learning.

I made two seed packet envelopes and would place a "seed" in each with a description of what Miss A should be doing for a particular plant or flower written on the seed.  The packets also contained the petals and items she would need for the flower.  Then it was just a matter of following the directions on the seed (glue the seed to the base of the plant) and building one or two flowers for the day (we only made one or two per day)!  :)

We made our own flower print book as well, picking different household objects to experiment with for making flower prints on each page.  We used items such as a toy tractor (wheels), corrugated cardboard, etc.

It seemed a shame to put away old winter shoes and this was an extra pair given to us, soooooo I decided to repurpose them into something Miss A could use for dramatic play.  AND since we had just finished a St. Patrick's Day unit where we learned that leprechauns are shoemakers for fairies, we decided to to make our own fairy shoes.  See the tutorial here.

After we finished the shoes, my daughter completed a writing activity where she pretended to be a master leprechaun shoemaker telling a younger apprentice leprechaun how to make fairy shoes (using the story sequencing: First, Next, Last).

In our family, we have our egg hunt on the first day of spring.  So this week seemed the perfect time to follow that fun activity up with a pattern block book for spring which also focused on number order, number words, and position words!  :)  I made our own pattern block pieces from different craft papers and then we added some fun details (I think the pom pom bunny tail was one of my favorites).

And what did we use for the eggs in the story?  Why thumbprints, of course (which Miss A then drew designs on)!  :)  If you would like to make your own pre- or post egg hunt book, you can download the book here for only $1.50!

Hatch a story - really easy and fun!  Want to hatch your own stories?  Simply fill each egg with a word (you can also do this labeling certain colors as nouns, others as verbs, adjectives, etc.) and have your children pick one of each color.  They open the eggs and try to come up with (and write down) a story using all of the words. For really tiny children, just have them tell you a story or sentence using the words.  :)

Tell it to Mr. Long Ears.  We have a Mr. Long Ears in our house and fortunately for us, he just happens to love listening to stories!  We also just happen to have a bunch of books about spring right now.  :)

Miss A would read a book and try to re-tell it to Mr. Long Ears.  Do you have a creature in your house that looooves listening to stories?  If so, make sure you put it to good use!  :)

While in a craft store one day, my daughter found a sheet of craft paper covered with many different Easter egg prints.  I purchased the paper, cut some of the eggs out and made up some sorting and graphing activities to go along with the eggs.  :)

And of course, we read many books together...

Linking to:
www.mushkiloves.blogspot.com
www.diyhshp.blogspot.com
www.michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com
www.delicateconstruction.com
http:\\makingtheworldcuter.com
www.singingthreelittlebirds.blogspot.com
www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
www.funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com
www.tipjunkie.com
www.abcand123learning.com
www.cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com
www.gingersnapcrafts.com
www.bearrabbitbear.com
www.enchantinghomeschoolingmom.blogspot.com
www.handsonaswegrow.com
www.momontimeout.com
www.houseofhepworths.com
www.whipperberry.com
www.toysinthedryer.com
www.kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com
www.homeschoolcreations.net
www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com

A Friendly Friday - Sneaky Shamrocks!

This was a perfect activity for a friendly Friday!  We hid a note and a sheet of shamrock stickers  inside a book we had checked out from the library for our St. Patrick's theme.  We hope it brings a very happy smile to some youngster's face next year when they check out the same book.

And for those wondering about our house leprechaun - YES!  We did catch him - scroll down to read how...

After several mischievous days, Dooligan was finally caught and had to hand over his gold (chocolate covered gold coins).  To his credit, he seemed a cheerful chap as you can see from the picture.

How did we catch him?  Why Miss A decided to make him a wee house out of a cardboard box.  We made a little bed for him inside and found him sleeping there the next morning!  I guess the poor little guy was so worn out from all his sneaky pranks that he didn't hear the pitter patter of little feet outside the box house and couldn't rouse himself in time to escape.

Sadly, Dooligan had a little mishap later on so next year he may look a bit different - or a lot.   Let's just say I'll be on the hunt for a new unbreakable leprechaun (preferably stuffed)...

Linking up to:
www.homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com
www.toysinthedryer.com
www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com
www.tatertotsandjello.com

Homeschool Theme of the Week: St. Patrick's Day!

Happy early St. Patrick's Day!  Here are a few fun activities from our week so far...

A lucky snack!  The pot in the middle is full of yellow jello - GOLD - surrounded by a rainbow of fruit (think pot of gold at the end of the rainbow).  The muffin cups are filled with "clouds" of greek yogurt and shredded coconut.  No, Miss A did not eat all of this herself - this was a huge snack for sharing with little brother and Mommy.  

Hide the Leprechaun Activity:  print a picture of a leprechaun, buy some stickers or use some shamrock cut outs, roll two dice, add the numbers together and add that many stickers to the leprechaun.  The goal is to help the leprechaun by eventually "hiding" him under the shamrock stickers.  For younger kids, just roll one die and add that many stickers to "hide" the leprechaun - for older kids, use two dice and multiply, etc.

We've been practicing the numbers 1-100 in school this year so I wrote some of these numbers on slips of paper.  I purchased some pretend gold coins and piled them on the table.  Miss A and I pretended to be leprechauns and the goal was to see who was the luckiest leprechaun.  

We each took turns drawing a number - the one with the largest number won a gold coin.  At the end of the game, we compared our gold stashes and the one with the most was the luckiest leprechaun!  But the fun didn't end there.  The luckiest leprechaun then had to jump up and do a little leprechaun dance!  :)

This activity was based on a short story I wrote for Miss A titled:  Magical Shamrocks!  The basic idea of the story was that Miss A overheard two leprechauns talking about magical shamrocks.  When gold was placed inside the leaves of a magical shamrock and the shamrock was closed, one would find the gold had doubled when the shamrock was opened back up.

After we read the short story, my daughter took some yellow paint and a cotton swab and put dots of yellow inside one half of each of the paper shamrocks I had given her.  We then closed each "magical" shamrock briefly and when we opened each one again - we found that the "gold" had indeed doubled!  Then she wrote number sentences corresponding to each magical shamrock.  

NOTE:  You may want to put a limit on how many "gold coins" your younger child can add to the shamrock if you are wanting him/her to be able to count the final results well or make simple number sentences, etc.

I had seen this idea on Pinterest before - a writing activity asking children what they would do if they found a pot of gold.  I just added a leprechaun to the mix because chances are that is how you would find said pot of gold on St. Patrick's Day, right?  :)

This was a rhyming rainbow Miss A made.  I had seen the idea before using math facts, and thought this twist would be fun too!  

I wrote some words on a large sheet of white paper in rainbow band arcs.  Then I wrote a word that rhymed with each on pieces of colored paper.  Miss A had to match the words up and glue the colored word on top of the word it rhymed with.  Thus - a rhyming rainbow!

More fun with shamrocks!  Miss A would pick a shamrock, turn it over, and then had to come up with a number sentence that would equal the number on the shamrock.  THEN, if the shamrock happened to be a glittery one (she loved those the best), she had to write the number word next to the number sentence as well.

Of course we have had some visits from our house leprechaun, doling out plenty of green mischief this week!  We've been victims of the traditional turn-the-milk-green caper and the not-so-traditional trick of putting green grapes in the bottoms of socks and leaving stickers (very lightly so they could be easily shaken off) stuck to our dog!  

My daughter has been thinking of a way to trap the little fellow so stay tuned - come Saturday morning, we hope to be the proud recipients of a pot of gold!  :)

And should you need to leave a few books out for your own little house leprechauns to read (might keep them from mischief if they have a good book in hand to distract), here are a few that graced our shelves this week:

Linking up to:
www.whipperberry.com
www.kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com
www.homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com
www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com
www.tatertotsandjello.com
http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/
www.threesinginglittlebirds.blogspot.com
www.delicateconstruction.com
www.diyhshp.blogspot.com
www.hiphomeschoolmoms.com
www.tipjunkie.com
www.gingersnapcrafts.com
www.cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com
www.enchantedhomeschoolingmom.blogspot.com
www.bearrabbitbear.com
www.momontimeout.com
www.handsonaswegrow.com
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