School Projects with Salt Dough

So we have had two major school assignment with our girls this month and wanted to share the best ever Salt Dough Recipe I found from Rainy Day Mum.

Here are the girl's project....

We had to make a Habitat for a Dolphin we used Polymer Clay and Salt Dough.  Here is another great idea for Polymer Clay from Nancy.  We used the Salt Dough for the coral reef and added animals and seaweed with the polymer clay. She was awarded the "Most Colorful" habitat!!!

We also had to make a State Float.  My daughter selected South Dakota.

 The float had to have four major landmarks.  We chose Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Sioux Falls, and Mitchell's Corn Palace. After learning about these landmarks I want to go visit South Dakota.  Check out these sites for more information about these landmarks.

So when you have a school project and need a Salt Dough recipe I recommend Rainy Day Mum.

Happy Creating!

Jan

Summer School- Reading Ideas

The number one thing that I have heard from educators is to make sure your children read over the summer. Here are a few ideas to help with reading! 

Photo Credit

1. Check out your local library!  We have an incredible Summer Reading Program at our library.  My girls have loved it and it is not hard to get them to read!

 2.  Read books that you can do an activity with.  At Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, she has a great post with lots of books and activities plus a link party with over 100 other book ideas!!

 3.  Have your child read a good series book. You could also read it as a family. You could  have an end of the summer party based on the book series or a movie night if the book has a movie.

4.  If you are going to the ZOO, read books about animals the week before you go. 

There are lots of ideas for adventures: Museums, Nature Walk, Sporting Event, Water Park, Moon and Stars Gazing, Vacation Spots. I am sure your local librarian would be willing to help you find specific books for wherever your adventure will lead you. 

5.  Keep track of how many books you read with a fun shape, animal, or sticker.  We made a Gum Ball machine and for every book they read, they got a gumball (paper circles) to put in it.  We have a local ice cream shop that the girls love.  They have a bubble gum ice cream flavor.  We made a goal of how many books they had to read and once they reached the goal they got to go to the ice cream shop.

6. Go outside to read.  Have a picnic while you read.  Read to your kids and let them lay on a blanket and enjoy the sun and fresh air. 

For more ideas check out our pinterest board- Summer School

Read for fun!
Jan

Linking to: Marvelous Mondays Mad in Crafts Craft-o-Maniac
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Summer School- Math

Here are some fun and easy games for Math.

Greater than, Less than or Equal

Idea from Mrs. Phippen laugh while you learn

Use a calculator especially doing worksheets. 

(I know what you are thinking..... but just think about how often you use a calculator

 for simple math.  It is also good to let them check their work to see if it is right) 

Kids really enjoy using a calculator!

Use a deck of cards and have them add, substract, divide or multiply numbers.

The idea came from The School Bell,  I changed mine so it did not have answer. 

Both ways are great.

Here is a copy of the paper I made.

I got this great clock from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptive Educational

The smaller square one is from My Community Circut Cartridge.

The idea came from First Grade School Box

We did not have dominos so we just used dice so two different ways to play the game.

My girls have always come home at the end of the school year with

workbooks that have some pages they never got too. 

Worksheets can be boring so spice it up.

You can give rewards, time them, let them use a calculator,

work through each problem with them.



  Money: I found the dollar bills at the dollar store and laminated them.  We also use our relish tray to sort out the money.  In the middle are separate pieces of paper with an amount on them.  I have them count the amount on the paper.  Sometimes we will have them use the least amount of coins and bills or see how many ways they can make that amout.  We have also been learning if the price is the amount on the paper and I give you an amount how much change would you give back.

This would have to be my girls favorite activity!!!

 

For more ideas check out our pinterest board- Summer School
Math can be fun!!!

Jan

Linking to: Southern Lovely Kitchen Meets Girl Someday Crafts
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Summer School Series - Spelling

Each summer we have a book of spelling words and a book for their spelling test.
Each day they pick one of the games to help them learn their words for the week.

 

 Here are some easy and fun game ideas to help your kids love to spell.

.

Spell out the words with Cheez-It Scrabble Junior Crackers.

 

 

Draw shapes with cookie cutters and write your spelling words around the shape.

 

Write your spelling words on a white board.  Use lots of colored markers.

 

 

Write spelling words on black construction paper using chalk or on a chalkboard.

 

Write spelling words using letter magnets.

 

 This is a great dice game I found at Oh My Little Classsity Class.

 

 

Write spelling words with markers, crayons, paints etc. 

 

 

Use Twizzler Pull-Aparts to spell the words.

 

 

Play games where they can try to use their spelling words they have learned.

 

 



For more ideas check out our pinterest board- Summer School.

E Z P Z!!!

Jan

Linking to:
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Summer School Series

I blame my desire to have "Summer School"  on the fact that I always wanted to be a teacher and never became one.  I have thought about homeschooling, but I don't think that I would be as dedicated with it as I should be. So, I created a summer school program that works for our family.

We are not perfect at doing "Summer School", but it does help us to stay in a routine during the summer so that we are not laying in our PJ's all day, everyday.  There is nothing wrong with that either, we have days like that too!!!!   I want to show a few ideas we have done...  for the next couple of Mondays check out my summer school series.  A lot of ideas have come from homeschool sites, internet and just simply reviewing what they learned from the previous year at school.

One of our favorite things to do each morning, is MORNING MOMENTS.  We read from our Book of Mormon and write what we are grateful for in a book.  We also write an affirmation that we could focus on for the day.  This has really helps us get started for the day.

Each of the girls have a summer school box, inside the box is divided into sections with hanging folders.  We have section for: Morning Moments, Math, Spelling, Writing and Other. This helps keep everything together.  Last year, I create a book that I had bound which is separated into daily activities.  At the end of the book there is a section for me to sign that they have completed that assignment. 

After doing summer school for the past few years I found this worked best for us. Our daily activities list. We also have a spelling assignment each day.  They choose a spelling activity out of our spelling box. You will find them in Summer School Series- Spelling.   

For our writing assignments, we either write in our journal that they received from their school teachers or in the dry erase letters books (from Walmart). 

One year we did reports each week. They would research a topic write 5 interesting facts and then I gave them a 12x12 paper for them to either paste or draw pictures of the topic they researched.  We then presented them to each other on Thursdays at "Park and Picnic Day". 

Last year we decided to memorize the States and Capitals of the United States of America. We took each day of the week and did these activities to help us.

•  Monday we would learn 7 new States and Capitals and color them on a map. 
• Tuesdays we would play computer games about the states and capitals.
• Wednesday we would play a memory game on the States and Capitals they we had learned.
• Thursday we would play United State Bingo.
• Friday we would have a little test to see how many they had remembered.

At the end of the summer my third grader had all 50 States and Capitals memorized and my kindergartener  remembered 41 States and Capitals when she took her test. 

We also have FUN FRIDAY after our tests!  They include:

• Water Party
• Park Day
• Museum Day
• Cooking Day
• Balloon Party
• Feed Ducks and Picnic
• Movie Day
• Craft Day
• Science Experiments

Check out next Monday for our 

Summer School Spelling Activities.

For more ideas check out our pinterest board- Summer School

Jan

Linking to: This Gal Cooks  Mad in Crafts  Craft-O-Maniac

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