100 Days of Art: Day 6 - Rainbow Paint Chip Mosaics

 

Silas is learning about rainbows in his My Father's World curriculum this week. For our art project, I decided to use the huge bag of paint chips I have collected and have the kids make rainbow mosaics!

It was so easy (my favorite kind of art project!). I simply cut different shades of the rainbow colors into small squares. I put each color group on a sheet of white paper to make it easier for the kids to grab the color they needed.

I drew a simple rainbow outline on a sheet of white cardstock for each of the kids. They put glue on each stripe, one at a time. Then they filled in the stripes with the paint chip squares!

They turned out really nice! The kids decided to cut out an ark to put under the rainbow to remind them of Noah's ark. It was a cute touch!

Look at our other art projects:

Day 1: Learning to Draw
Day 2: Pyramids
Day 3: String Art
Day 4: Optical Illusion Art
Day 5: Kandinsky Concentric Circles

Week in Review

We started this week with Titus's fifth birthday on Sunday. We had a big party in June for all three boys, so he helped me make a honeybun cake (his favorite!) and we played whiffle ball with some friends (his request!).

Titus completed Week 15 in My Father's World. He learned the letter C this week and we had a cow theme. He loves the farm theme we've had the past two weeks! One of his favorite activities was "Give the Cow Spots" - I printed off a cow outline, he rolled the dice, and put that many black Unifix cubes on the cow.

He can sound out and read many CVC words now. He is so excited to learn to read since his big brother (and best friend) Silas is reading now. He is determined to read! I have to make words for him all day long on the small whiteboard for him to sound out.

Silas finished Week 15 in My Father's World (1st grade). He is reading very well now. He loves the Bible stories he gets to read in his own Bible reader. I am so proud to call him a "reader" now! He learned how to make and read graphs in math this week. I love how My Father's World incorporates so many hands-on activities for math! There is a workbook for him to use, but the activities are truly the heart of this math program. He got to graph M&Ms and animal crackers - yum!

Mercie started her first week of 4th grade. She did great, although I still have to sit with her for most of her lessons. She learned about classifying animals in science, about geography in social studies, reviewed some math and grammar concepts, and read a few chapters of "Little House on the Prairie" and the first five chapters in Genesis.

Eli started his first week of 7th grade. He asked to learn astronomy this year, so I bought him the first edition of Apologia Astronomy. I am also making his own worksheets instead of using the notebook journal, and I am adding lots of hands-on activities and experiments. This week, he made his own working compass and a model of the solar system with balloons. He also did a fun experiment on gravity by lighting two ends of a candle and balancing it on two glasses (the candle started spinning), but I didn't get a picture (darn).

In history, he did a quick overview of the world. He did some review in math on mental math, estimation and rounding. He loves his math because it uses sports statistics quite a bit! He is also doing the writing portion of his language arts books. It does have a short "grammar link" each day, which I really like, to keep grammar fresh! He is doing a literature guide on the book, "Johnny Tremain". He did a few art projects using his Art Lab book - drawing still life, and then drawing still life with black ink (which, by the way, STAINS).

Mikaela started her first week of 9th grade. She is using Apologia's General Science. This week was a history of science. She had several experiments and demonstrations, including density, hot and cold water molecules, and how to blow up a balloon with vinegar and baking soda in a 2 liter bottle (which exploded on us and shot the balloon off like a bullet).

She is doing consumer math, and learned about buying a car. She thinks it is much more fun to learn with real life experiences. She did an overview of geography this week, reviewed parts of speech in grammar, and read some of the Hobbit for her literature study. In art, she drew a few really nice pictures - one outdoor scene and a picture of Eli.

The three little kids and I did an art project based on Kandinsky's Concentric Circles. We also played outside quite a bit, took a few trips to the library, and went to a Community Fun Day at the park. There was free ice-cream, free face painting, and a magician. Titus and Silas both got to be magician's assistants, which was really fun.

How was your week?

How I Organize My Father's World Kindergarten (God's Creation From A to Z)

We've been using My Father's World God's Creation From A to Z with Titus, my just-turned-five-year-old! (His birthday was July 30.) We are on Week 15 this week. We started this when he was 4 1/2 years old. He has really done well with it! He is starting to blend words and can read lots of CVC words. He is recognizing words he knows and will point them out. He tries to sound out everything! We really love My Father's World.

I've seen many blog posts that have very elaborate filing systems for organizing the papers and such for this curriculum. I don't have the time or space for that! With five kids and five sets of curriculum, I need to streamline as much as possible. I want to share my very simple and easy way of organizing My Father's World God's Creation From A to Z.

I found the best plastic container at Walmart! It has a lift-out tray perfect for holding the small things needed daily and pretty deep storage area. It was about $8! I even went and bought another one (and I'm sure I'll buy more and more, haha) for my own "teacher" supplies.

In the tray, I have the following items:

• the picture card envelopes (each week, they have picture cards to cut out and store in the envelopes - they are used several times weekly)
• the small alphabet flashcards (I keep the letters we have learned and are learning in the envelope - I use them for daily review and games)
• short vowel cards (also in an envelope - they are used weekly to reinforce the short vowel sounds)
• pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, glue stick, pencil sharpener (we use these daily)
• a small clock with moveable hands (learning to tell time, it's nice to have on hand)

Under the tray in the storage area, I keep:

• the teacher's guide
• a red folder that holds his worksheets for the week, his blend ladder chart, calendar and number chart
• his math workbook (there is very little math in MFW, so I do supplement with a kindergarten math workbook)
• handwriting tablet (I use a yellow marker to write letters and he traces them - there is only one day of handwriting in MFW, so I do like him to practice often)
• extra flashcards (in a zipper bag, I keep the flashcards we haven't learned yet)
• alphabet flashcards (we use these almost daily, but they won't fit in the tray - I keep them in a zipper bag)
• bingo cards (in a zipper bag)
• words to remember cards (again, in a zipper bag - the ones we haven't learned yet)
• badge patterns
• worksheets (I keep the ones we haven't used yet paper-clipped by week in the bottom of the storage container - I can easily grab next week's worksheets and slip them into his folder on Sunday)

There are a few things that won't fit into the tub - Cuisenaire rods, textured letter puzzles, and other manipulatives. I keep them close by on a bookshelf. I actually keep the puzzle right on top of the storage container because we use it all the time.

He also has a binder that holds his completed work. I have dividers for each week, and I label them by letter and theme (for example C- Cow or W- Water). Each week, we have to make a badge that will help us remember the Bible lessons and letter/theme. I glue these to the front of each divider. Everything he completes goes behind the correct divider. He loves looking through his binder! I usually hole-punch the worksheets at the beginning of the week to make a quick transfer each day.

If you'll look at my Teacher's Guide, you can see that I write tons of stuff inside! I like to add in some fun hands-on math activities as well as crafts and extra worksheets for each theme. I don't have to do this, but Titus is always asking for more school, so I try to find some simple and fun things he can do. I simply write them in pencil on the schedule. I try to include the books we read each week to go along with the theme, but sometimes I forget. It will be a great record of his Kindergarten year!

I also keep small Post-It flags on the current week and on the reading lesson instructions (which are in the back of the teacher's guide). It makes it easier to flip to the right pages!

We are really happy with My Father's World! Titus has learned so much and I have had so much fun teaching it!