Monday, August 9, 2010

School Room Re-org

This week is the Not back to school blog hop week # 2 School rooms!!

I can't wait to see what everyone has going this year!!  There are always so many wonderful ideas, and inspiration!
So I am linking up with some school room photos of my own...

This is our school room LAST YEAR, the kids were 5 and 3.  The sun never shines on this side of the house. It looks dark doesn't it? =(
LAST YEAR Other side of room

So, I painted a wall, and added some more color and a  New school desk... regular size... (kids were getting to small fo the other table)
I purchased this awesome desk for 50 euros... second hand.. I love the circle at the end. this is great for all of us to work together.. It's the perfect size for this room. I have litterally used every inch of space in this room possible, and still not make it to overwhelming! =)



All I have to do is turn around and i can be with the kids to help them... i love it!

Our workboxes... and My workboxes. Mine were a splurge. I went to Ikea a few weeks ago, and it was in the clearance section fro 20 euros! I knew I would find a place for it... It looks a bit cramped. but it works.


I keep all our math manipulatives, etc in it so far, but i plan to use it to keep my weekly fill in the workbox stuff, so it's easy for me to see what i need to put  in the kids boxes during the week.




Top of the workboxes on the window sill are my teacher guides... the blue basket for completed work.
My printables for FIAR
Our ART Center



We found these on the side of the road in our village. There were two tops to buffets.
we sanded and painted... just stacked them on top of each other.



I got a ton of these tins at a yard sale this summer, and have filled them with supplies. they are all great sizes. and colorful!

Our lapbook caddy. We don't always do our lapbooks at the table, sometimes we end up in the living room. So we are always getting up to go find more tape, or glue.. this way it's an extra set and ready to tote!
I  used a spice rack turn table to store the rest of our utensils. I cut up sponges to use for our Handwriting
without tears chalkboards.
Super cute tin I picked up this summer for 50 cents! holds our paint.

The rest of the shelves hold all our drawing books,  how to art books, and supplies and all their coloring books. Everything is in reach so they can grab it when they like.


View from the other side of the school room. our dining room is to the left here...

After we got the new desk, we went to Ikea to find some chairs... we found this great chair set on clearance for 5 euros each. marked down from 20 euros.
they were a little bummed becuase we were going to buy colorful office chairs... but i had an idea!

they turned out so cute! and with paint i already had on hand! they love them!
and here is mama's chair. Also a second hand find... re-done.

(my desk it si from ikea, but i got it second hand)

a fun lamp is always my favorite when it comes to decorating.
dual monitors....yes, i have a cool computer husband, and he loves me!
I thought this was cute. it's a littel art cetner from IKEA. itwas like 3 euros
they can easily pull this out when they want to have some painting time, and it makes it a it easier.


Under my desk I store our paper in an old Candy rack from a store. It works great!

curtaiuns, and theme pattern....
My printing area, and our maps. (french map, but it's all i have right now!)
I added two clocks ..... this helps us to know what's going on with Daddy too! JT loves looking at them to see what time it is where he is... and while he is only one hour apart now, when he goes to korea, this will really come in handy!
on the otehr side of the school room is  a pine cabinet I painted yellow. This really brightens up our room. This is full of books, and hands on learning supplies..


They can just open it and play! I can also easily grab these and dump them into teh workboxes, when I am filling them boxes...

I also bought a wooden turntable from Ikea, and we painted it... this has been awesome!
the kids just spin when they need a set of colors instead of fighting over who has teh jar of markers! =)I also put the tiny chalk pieces and the handwriting without tears pencils  in as well.

I picked up a book holder for when we need to refer to our FIAR book during lapbook time or lesson time in the school room. Very handy!

Little kinder Computer area!


From the school room you can see our dining area, and how it's so connected... it's like a layered house!
we do school here alot too, and that nice long buffet you see....holds MORE school stuff!!!

I just painted the legs of the table a month ago...tying into my NEW additction of turquoise!

 
Into our living room...  to the right, We do alot of school in here as well... a quick peek!
This was a few months ago, and we have sinced moved the small tables ( they are to big for them)
I put the old school table in here, and they use it for puzzles etc..
yes, this is the worlds cutest stool! =) And a major splurge of mine too.. probalby the most expensive thing in my house! =) I bought this cutie off german ebay... for 70 euros. at the time over $100! But I love it.


I finally organized all our books on this shelf... it was getting really full,

Here is another second hand purchase. we all love. I rotate teh books out by topic... or season.

In our living room next to our couch is a learning center.. I use it primarly for our FIAR weekly study.
This summer we have used it for our Ocean Adventure box. The kdis LOVE it, and it keeps the story in our mind all week. I love to make the displays too.



This is my summer cabinet. I have had this cabinet for a few years, and I paint it by the season. Our games are stored down below.

This season i switched it out  for this one...



We moved our puzzle cabinet to the basement.. ( i ran out of wall space) but it's no problem. the way the house is layed out, it's in our washer room so not to far.

I was inspired to do my schooling area and alot of our home by our spring trip to Venice. These are photos are in Burano.. a small Island. Perhaps my favorite spot!

I loved how all the colors were so cheerful, and in the winter our Germany home needs cheerful!



our hallway upstairs houses the Art Wall



I moved all the books from our big shelf in the living room that were not "stories" down to the basement.
I am working on organzing it futher, so far i have labled each with a sticker for Science, History, Holiday, etc...
We also moved the rest of our games down here , to free up some of the clutter upstairs in the living room.
the colors have also leaked out to my patio .....

Later  I will post about our Learning centers!
but for now, thank you for visiting!


Saturday, August 7, 2010

Our Curriculum 2010-2011

YEAH! This post is a Big deal for me! This means I am all done planning! ( a little late, but hey...)

 I have spent HOURS putting together our Schedule for 2010-2011.  I love reading about all the differant books, and things available to us, but there comes a time when you have to make a choice.. and it's just so hard!! =) I want everything! (yes working on coveting issues) . =)  So, after adding tons of things to the shopping carts, and then clicking delete. delete. delete... and then re-adding, recalculating, and then trying to remember to keep it SIMPLE... etc... Here's the plan.  I even made a full Planner for the year too! (totally new to me, and so glad I did it. I love having this all organized.) And now, with the Lord as the ultimate daily planner...here is the list!
JT's 1st Grade Curriculum



Core - Five in a Row
studies, this will include art, science social studies, history, geography, living math,  except for language, and Math.
  • along with FIAR for Geography, and the places we will visit through their titles, I have included a few extra books and things to go - along with those studies.

  • Geography Extras
    1.
    Galloping the Globe
    2. Around the World in 80 Tales
    3. Stories from Around the World
    4. Then and Now ( Usborne talkabout books)
    5. From Akebu to Zapotec
    6. Children Just like Me
    7. How they lived
    8. People of the world (Usborne)
    9. Additional Unit study on Egypt, Korea, Spain with Lapbooks
    10. Lots of Puzzle Maps (from land of nod, etc)
    11. Geography Songs
    12. Missionary stories with the Millers  online chapters avail here
  • Science Extras1.Five in a Row Nature Study by the season ( this was a digital download)
    2. Science Experiments in a Bag 1 ( Ebook)
    3. fun reading books: Whats smaller than a pygmy shrew? Air is all around you,  What is the world made of?



     
    ART Extras1.Discovering Great Artists 1x month
    2.The Usborne Art Treasury
    3.Draw Write Now series (using as go alongs with particular books in FIAR)
    4. Books about various Artists. ( Katie and the sunflowers, Katie meets the  impressionists, Katie's picture show, Katie and the Mona Lisa) These are a huge hit with the children, we just love them.
    5. Nature sketching

  • History Extras1.Story of the World Vol 1.  Daddy is going to do this with JT over the computer once a week, and JT will do teh activity page for each lesson. This will be fun for the both of them, but no pressure to breeze through this book.
    2. Unit Study on Thanksgiving/Pilgrims/Early American life
    3 American Tall Tales CD
    4. Five in a Row Timeline
  • Language Arts , Handwriting
    1. Handwriting without Tears -  My printing Book
    2. First language lesson by Jessie Wise    
    3. Explode the Code Series ( he loves these, and so I decided to keep doing them)
    4. learning resources Funny phonics puzzle cards 2 letter word endings, and long vowels.
    5. Phonics Games kids can't reist (grades K-2)  Fild folder games, Letters and sounds Bingo etc..
    6. GeoSafari Light writer (total splurge, but will be so fun)
    7. Daily Word Ladders: Grade 1-2 
    8. Letters to Daddy

  • Math
    Math -U-See Primer ( I am starting him with this, even though he is familiar with almost all the basics in these lessons, as a refresher and then on to Alpha next semester...
    1. Living math from Five in a Row lessons
    2. Tons of fun Math Games and File folder Games (more on this in a differant post)
    3. Math U See Skip Count Cd
    4. The Go around dollar
    6. How big is a foot?

  • Bible Time.
    I would like to do a  Theme becuase we have read so many bible stories, and alot of the books I have with lessons for children we have gone through many times. And this has been on my heart for a while. So we will be studying The Armor of God ; and  Warrior Prince for God. Some resources I purchased for this season are:
    3. Armor of God poster and Stickers
    6. Gideon Tuba Warrior- Vegi Tales DVD
    8. The Armor of  God ( my favorite verses)
    9. God's Mighty Warrior devotional bible (hardback)
    10. Goodnight warrior Cd (we love this, we have had it a while, and the stories are great)
    11. His Mighty warrior- a Treasure map from your King
    when we complete the season of this, I have a bible for him that I also ordered from CBD- the Armor of God bible. I think this will be a great ending to the lesson for him.
    12. Nana's Bible Stories CD
    13. Songs for Saplings (new to us) Donut man,  A to Z bible songs etc....



  • Additional Learning  Fun!1. 1x week cooking lessons We will Use FIAR cookbook to go along with our lessons
    2. Sewing ( See and Sew book)
    3. Manners Made Easy (book) & Round Table Manners ( i have a plan for this)
    4. Responsibility for Boys (book)
    5. Field Trips , Co-op, Martial Arts
KT's Pre-K Curriculum
With kyree, she has been keeping up so much with JT this past year, and already begining to read and she does all the FIAR stories with us too, as well as her own lapbooks, I feel like she is ready for full blown kindergarten.  But then there are moments, when I am not sure I should start full blown kindergarten with her.. So I am going to just go with the flow with her since she is still 4. I am in no rush with her, and she moves along quite well. So in addition to Five in a Row and the extras above for JT ; KT will be doing......



  • Bible Time
    With KT, we have been working on the princess thing... for a while.  This is a touchy subject .....She loves them and everything about it.. what girl doesn't? She even has a princess  room! "God's Princess room" we call it. =)

    It has been a challenge, to keep away from the worlds point of view in this area... I know that each family is different, and each has differant convictions ,  and right now ours is we do feel the Lord encouraging us  to not pursue the world's idea of princess with the movies, toys, etc... 

    She still hasn't seen any of the disney princess movies, barbie princess, etc...
    We are continuing to guard her heart, (and she has been so sweet and patient about it.) till we feel we have reached a point of her truly understanding her place in the kingdom.  Will she get to watch those every favorite disney classics? yes. Someday. - =) (we are big disney fans!)
     She loves to dress up, and be a princess, and we have lots fun with that.. one day she said in all seriousness "Mommy, what IS a princess job anyways?" and with that.... I am greatful for this wonderful new program out there from another like minded  mom...  Princess with a  purpose

    1. Armor of God Introduction, then onto
    2. His little Princess : Treasured letters from your King
    3.Princess with a Purpose DVD curriculum
    4. Go along activity book and Armor of God activity book,
    5. God's little princess devotional bible
    at the end of our study, I have a armor of God necklace for her... I think will be special for her.

  • Additional learning
    1. Handwriting without tears Pre-K  - Get set for School , HWOT wooden pieces Set of Letters,  and more HWOT tools: Roll -A-Dough Letters , Stamp and See Screen
    2. Living Math,  manipulatives, games,
    3. Hooked on phonics... we had this from JT, and it worked, so I will just stick with it
    4. And all the other fun things for this age! (another post for another day)
                                                                                                                                                                      photo from make learning fun

  • Read Aloud List ( This was compiled from all over. Sometimes I don't know why I just can't go with a plan already laid out for me! These were taken from The Read aloud Handbook, Honey for a child's heart, the Sonlight list, and Charlotte Masons list) Also with reading aloud so much with FIAR, and our large basket of books we get every 2 weeks from the library; My list isn't going to be as long as others. And becuase we live a bit far from town, Audio Selections are a family favorite. And I have chosen some of the longer books for car rides, and quiet time.

1.Baby in a Basket

2. Miss Agnes

3. Biggest Bear

4. Good job little bear series

5. Legend of bluebonnet

6. Reluctant Dragon

7. fifty famous stories retold

8. The Littles

9. Sleep Tight Little Bear

10. My Father's Dragon

11.Among the Pond people

12. Five true Dog Stories

13. Ten boys who didn't give in

14. Ten boys who used their Talents (lightkeepers)




  • Audio Stories (from audible.com)
1. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

2. Homer Price

3. The Indian in the Cupboard
4. Gooney Bird Greene

5. The kid who invented the popsicle: and other surprising stories about inventions

6. James Herriots Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful animal Tales

7. Ginger Pye

We will start with these, and i have a wish list cart full, if we run out! =)


We will also Continue with our Learning Centers , rotating them out each semester.
I have lots to share next week, on some of the fun extras I have chosen for this year, and our School room.


Related Posts with Thumbnails