v is for vulture (year 3, week 3)

Yet another unpopular unit for kids!  This week, we studied "v is for vultures" in Africa.  We have two more weeks in Africa before we take our week break for school.  Then, it's off to a new continent!

Monday
Gymnastics class!  We had car trouble, so we couldn't go.  The kids were so disappointed.  Shortly after that, I began not to feel well, so it worked out.  The kids woke up extra early because they were so excited.  They were very tired all morning and took good naps.  I'm so glad that my kids go to a school that allows them to nap everyday!

The kids worked on their shoulder strength by drawing pictures on our new chalkboard.  The board came from Home Depot already blackened, and my husband made the frame.

Tuesday
We talked about the food chain today, using the illustration of grass as the producers, zebras for herbivores, lions for carnivores, and vultures for scavengers.  The kids found it very interesting that there were animals that ate other dead animals.  We also talked about the reason for scavengers and how they clean up the earth.

We watched some videos on Youtube that showed vultures in Africa chowing down on dead stuff (linked in the resourced below).

Wednesday
AWANA day!  The car wasn't fixed so we couldn't go.  We were all very disappointed.

For math, we stepped back from our workbook and looked at some of the concepts in a different way.  We watched a bunch of the time-telling videos from Primary Theme Park as a whole group.  Then, Dragonfly and I got out our homemade clock (free printable) and she worked on putting the numbers on the clock in the right order.  I grabbed some c-rods to represent the minute and hour hand and we worked on some "o'clocks."  I saw a light in her face when she made the connections between her workbook, the videos, the clock on the wall, and our learning clock.

After the lesson, it was really fun to see her apply the information.  She didn't want to take a nap today because she was afraid of missing AWANA.  I had told her what time we needed to leave, so she asked me the time.  I told her "two o'clock."  She replied, "Two o'clock.  Three o'clock.  Four o'clock.  There are a few o'clocks until we have to leave."  Then, she fell asleep.  Even though the math wasn't quite there, I was very encouraged to hear her doing the counting on from two.  It was also neat that she understood that o'clocks were a significant amount of time.

I introduced the i-spy bottle to the kids and let them take turns individually with finding all the animals.  I had them fill out their boards with minuscule marshmallows (like the kind from the hot chocolate pack) and then they got to eat them once the board was filled.  The bottle was an instant hit and got carried around and looked at a lot this week.

Thursday
We homeschooled at the doctor's office.

Friday
We homeschooled at the grocery store.  Dragonfly practiced her number identification with the isle numbers and prices (although we haven't started doing money yet).

Blog Posts About Vultures
- 10-frame printable
- letter scavenger hunt bottle
- letter V hunt printable
- nesting African food chain

Vulture Printables
- Kindergarten unit on Kenya
- Africa Proverbs Copywork

Videos
- vultures eating zebra
- vultures eating hippo and crocodile attacks

Books
- Handa's Surprise
- Handa's Chicken
- Why the Vulture is Bald
- We All Went on Safari (a counting book)
- We're all Going on a Lion Hunt