Joy School: Unit 10: Family Chain

Since Hannah was born, I have been doing very short lessons (and haven't had the chance to really blog about it.) I'm writing now at the end of August about events that happened several months ago. In this lesson we built a house out of yarn. We did a puppet show about family members loving each other.

Finally we made a family circle chain. Hailey enjoyed this activity. Each family member has their name on a different slip of paper. However, just our names isn't enough. To complete the circle and have a great family you need, Joy and Love! (those are on the yellow and white slips)
Luc joined us for Joy School today.

Joy School: Unit 10: Traditions and Family

Since this lesson had a lot of big class projects to get ready for a graduation program, we worked on our tradition calender that was apart of the previous lesson. Here's baby Hannah, joining us at school today. It's been hard to finish off the lessons with a newborn around to take care of.

We did a felt story board game about Katie's school and family.

The final activity was using felt people to model our family after. Hailey liked playing with the little people.

Joy School: Unit 10: Mothers and Homes

In this lesson we introduce the importance of the last name. Hailey who has been hanging out with Emily recently, tried to included her in our family with the same last name. I reminded her that Emily if a good friend but has her own family and therefore a different last name.

Then we read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Pen about an animal who is afraid to leave his mommy and go to school. She kissed his hand to help him remember she'll always be close and will always love him. It's a cute book and Hailey likes it. Next time I'm allowed to buy books, I'll get this one.

After we listen to a song, Hailey made a Mother's Day card. This lesson was supposed to line up with Mother's Day. However, I think everyday should be Mother's Day so we kept this activity in. The front of the card says "A Mother Like No Other." Then in the inside is a picture of me (with the whole family since I don't have any good pictures of my alone). Then Hailey filled in the blanks of the poem inside. It says:

"Happy is what I feel when my mother ... kisses me.

Her hands ... hold mine tight.

She's funny when she ... is pretty.

I love her because ... we are a family."

Then we read "The Sleepy Book" by Charlotte Zolotow and had a puppet show about family love.

We finished the lesson with drawing our house. The activity was supposed to be decorating a house in a shoe box and making it a 3D model. I was excited about this but ended up dreading this activity due to the work involved to make a little table, chairs, bed, couch, etc. So I ended up drawing it instead. Hailey loved it and turned it into her map.

Here's a video of Hailey talking about her map.