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SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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Ok, so I'm trying to have something like a routine with my 6- and 4yos this year, where we do some very, very basic formal-ish things every day (which give us reading practice, since the 6yo will not sit for a "reading lesson"). So every day we've been taking a few minutes to write the day of the week on the board and read it. Very boring . . . except that we started talking about how the days of the week got their names, which has led us to the Vikings and Norse mythology (today we wrote "Thor" up on the whiteboard and drew a Thor's Hammer . . . and now we've got to find out more about Thor, right, because Thursday is named after him and everything).
I hadn't ever thought about it before, because I don't really think in terms of unit studies in any organized way, but you could do a whole unit on the days of the week. Anyone else ever done this? If so, what did you do?
Obviously you could do a lot of mythology . . . and you could look at the names of the days in other languages . . . and then the names of months, too . . . what else?
I'm really an etymology/origins of names freak anyway -- time to brainwash my kids to be the same way.
Sally
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 1:51pm | IP Logged
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oh and don't forget all the science.. why is our day 24 hrs week 7 days, year 365 days and leap years..
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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lapazfarm Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005 Location: Alaska
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 2:21pm | IP Logged
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You could look at various calendar systems through history. Little ones could color a Mayan calendar wheel. You could make a sundial. You could learn all the little rhymes that go by days of the week, like "Monday's child is fair of face" and then find out what day they were born on.
__________________ Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Angi Forum All-Star
Joined: March 23 2007
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 7:48pm | IP Logged
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Even though you really did not ask this: to make calendar time more fun:
- sing the days of the week song
- sing the months song
- sing the weather song - and check the weather
- keep track of day in school, use 1 straw for each day, then group into 10s with a rubber band every 10 days
- make a calendar and use different pics for the days, make patterns
All of mine know the days of week, but unlike yours they do not know the meanings. LOL
This is what we plan to do for calendar/circle time daily. This is my favorite time of day. I will be teaching 1 almost 7 year old, 1 5 yo, and 3 3yos.
Angi
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SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 10:06pm | IP Logged
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Oooh, I had thought a little about the calendar, but the whole science aspect would be pretty cool. And I LOVE the idea of making a sundial. We have a friend in Mississippi who has been making one, painstakingly, in his yard for a long time, so maybe when we go back to visit we can visit the sundial.
Sally
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 10:14pm | IP Logged
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even without an official sundial you can stick a stake in the ground and see how the shadow moves around and such.
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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lapazfarm Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005 Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline Posts: 6082
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Posted: Aug 21 2008 at 11:36pm | IP Logged
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My ds is making one right now. It is just a stake in the ground, and he has rocks marked with 1-12 which he has placed on each hour. He thought it would be interesting to see how a sundial works up here with all of the wacky day length changes.
__________________ Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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SuzanneG Forum Moderator
Joined: June 17 2006 Location: Idaho
Online Status: Offline Posts: 5465
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Posted: Aug 27 2008 at 1:19pm | IP Logged
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Adding a couple picture books for the Days of the week:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
One Lighthouse, One Moon by Anita Lobel. Every day last week, we drew a different color/type shoe that is shown in this book and labeled it with the day of the week. Really fun!
Cookie's Week by Ward/dePaola
There is the song "Today is Monday" and there is an Eric Carle book/CD of this, same title.
__________________ Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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