Effectively, it’s a guide (and results) for parents to use films as a jumping off point for kindergarten education, each week a new film with activities and learning sheets designed around the film’s themes and content.
It was designed with the Ontario Curriculum in mind and to supplement our daughter’s 1 day a week of online school. It could easily be scaled up to be a full home school, or down to simply add some extras for parents who keep their kids home.
What she did over 10 months is spectacular, both as a tool for other parents, and as a journey with Dragon.
Please check out the blog and consider voting for it in the the Aurora Awards category of Best Fan Related Work. Dragon is included as an author because her writing is included on the blog as part of the results.
Effectively, it’s a guide (and results) for parents to use films as a jumping off point for kindergarten education, each week a new film with activities and learning sheets designed around the film’s themes and content.
It was designed with the Ontario Curriculum in mind and to supplement our daughter’s 1 day a week of online school. It could easily be scaled up to be a full home school, or down to simply add some extras for parents who keep their kids home.
What she did over 10 months is spectacular, both as a tool for other parents, and as a journey with Dragon.
Please check out the blog and consider voting for it in the the Aurora Awards category of Best Fan Related Work. Dragon is included as an author because her writing and work are included on the blog as part of the results.
Effectively, it’s a guide (and results) for parents to use films as a jumping off point for kindergarten education, each week a new film with activities and learning sheets designed around the film’s themes and content.
It was designed with the Ontario Curriculum in mind and to supplement our daughter’s 1 day a week of online school. It could easily be scaled up to be a full home school, or down to simply add some extras for parents who keep their kids home.
What she did over 10 months is spectacular, both as a tool for other parents, and as a journey with Dragon.
Please check out the blog and consider nominating it for the Aurora Awards in the category of Best Fan Related Work. Dragon is included as an author because her writing is included on the blog as part of the results. Nominations are open until March 26th.
What are the Aurora Awards?
The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
It’s a fan voted award in the vein of the Hugo’s, but with way more awesome people.
You’ll have to join the CSFFA for a pittance of $10 before you can nominate anyone. Once you’ve paid, you can nominate 5 works in each category. You can nominate works from now until May 18th.
The extra bonus of joining the CSFFA is you’ll get a voters package that includes most of the works that make the ballot. That’s 8-10 novels plus a bunch of other awesome stuff.
We offered to let our Dragon (now 5 years old, in Sr Kindergarten) have a day off from virtual school this week if she wanted to create a stop-motion movie.
She, of course, jumped at the chance. I think it was her favourite activity from last year.
So we did the entire project on Monday (October 25, 2021), from writing the script, storyboarding, making the props, recording the dialogue, sound effects, and soundtrack, taking the pictures, and stitching everything together to make a complete stop-motion movie. (Thank you to Éric for all the technical help!)
I’m so very proud of her. She worked very hard.
Making the candy bags for the main characters. (I used the exacto knife)
Candy bags!
Painting the secret doorway that will lead the main characters from the attic to outside the main door (by magic!)
Recording the voices in the furnace room where the big computer is.
Last year, for Dragon’s first school year, we decided to do a combination homeschool/virtual school. Her teachers were really accommodating and understanding.
However, after looking back on the year, despite Dragon learning a LOT and having a lot of fun, there were several aspects that she clearly missed.
The major one being French. She resisted learning French and, well, I am NOT a French teacher, or a kindergarten teacher.
She also missed seeing her classmates.
So after several discussions with Dragon, she has suggested (after leading questions from us) that she attend virtual school full-time this Fall.
I discovered that the reason she was hesitating to suggest this was because she was afraid of hurting my feelings. Once I reassured her that I thought virtual school was a good idea, she was very happy with the idea.
I also told her that we could do the big activities on the weekend, if she wanted.
Considering I told her the same thing about this summer and she has yet to suggest we do one, I’m not sure if she’ll take me up on that offer.
The biggest change that her attending virtual school full time will cause is a change in the kids’ bedtime routines. In order for Dragon to get a full night’s sleep, we’re going to have to put her to bed an hour or two earlier than we have been. One day up early wasn’t hurting her, but a full week of it would definitely be a problem.
And since it seems silly to put Pegasus to bed after we finish putting Dragon to bed, we’ll be adjusting his sleep schedule as well.
So much for sleeping in on the weekends.
On the selfish plus side, Dragon attending virtual school means I have an awful lot of writing time. I also don’t have to do all the school prep (lesson plans, worksheets, activity planning, etc) I did last year.
Over the course of the year, we cooked a LOT of food, completed a ream of worksheets, and made a lot of crafts. Here is what all of that looks like all together. (Minus the food…that was eaten and it was delicious.)
It’s both a lot more than I expected, and a lot less. Weird dichotomy.
It has been a year (39 weeks) of teaching my Dragon. It has been rewarding, exhilarating, and exhausting. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the teachers who do this every year with 20+ students.
Things I learned this year:
I have no patience when she doesn’t try
She knows how to push my buttons
I don’t have to do everything by myself
I know a least a little bit about a lot of different topics
When she tries, she learns really well
She has great ideas
She really enjoys creating
She’s good at math when she focusses
I forgot about the crochet portion a LOT
I’m incredibly proud of my Dragon
Things my Dragon learned this year:
How to print all the letters in small caps (she already knew caps)
How to play with playdough
The sound of each letter
How to count to 100 by 10’s
How to count to 100
What a pattern is and how to make one
A few French words
The days of the week
The months of the year
The seasons of the year
How to brainstorm a story, storyboard it, write dialogue, and then put it all together
How a stop-motion movie works and created two
How to draw from reference
How to measure baking ingredients
How to measure something with a ruler
How to raise her hand and wait for her turn (in virtual school)
How to turn on and off camera and microphone in a video conference
How to navigate to the chat and click on a link
She learned to read music – the 9 notes around middle C
The values of whole, half, quarter and eighth notes
Can clap and count a line of music using those notes
Completed several finger exercises and the value of practicing them
How to play chopsticks
Overall, I would call this year of Junior Kindergarten/Maternelle successful, even though the hard part, the learning French part, didn’t go as well as I had hoped.
The important thing was that she had fun, and she tells me that she did. She also wants to make another book and another movie during the summer, so we’ll see how that goes.
I’m so very proud of how well my Dragon did this year.
Virtual school was a little different this last week – they had a virtual graduation ceremony for all the kids first thing in the morning. The teachers showed each student’s diploma and the kids all clapped for each other. It was really cute (and very loud).
They listened to a couple stories, danced a lot, and did some crafts (made a puppy origami and a graduation hat). Overall, it was a good day.
When we signed off for the last time, Dragon burst into tears because she already missed her teachers. Poor kid.
She did ballet 2 times this week, once with her Aunt leading the “class.”
Music
Piano: she practiced her finger exercises every day this week. Lesson: She’s been visibly getting better at her finger exercises. They added another finger exercise. They did the Frogs perfectly in time. It will not need to be played again. Then they did the Raindrops and Bells, which she did very well but needs to work on the counting. She did the Kitten page under duress (Dragon didn’t want to do it at first) but she had no problem with the notes but needs to work on the timing. Then they tried a new piece, Summer Showers, which had a more complicated note pattern, and she had very little trouble with it. Then they played chopsticks.
We have a French playlist that I can play through the Google mini, with a variety of artists. Dragon has mentioned that she really likes Coeur de Pirate. So do I.
Crochet
We did not do any crochet this week. The shawl was not completed this year.
Basic Information
We are working on yesterday (hier) and tomorrow (demain) around any given day. The months of the year is going well. We’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
The saisons de l’année are all memorized. We’re working on how each of them feel and the types of things we can do during each of them.
When I ask her “combien” for any of the above, she responds in complete sentences.
Printing words
Printing went very well this week. She drew a person fishing next to a tree. On the tree is a ladybug, a worm, and an ant. On the other side of the tree is grass and a lake. There is a bird in the sky with the sun.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no problems with the counting worksheet. She counted by 10s to 100 and counted up to 70.
Math was a mixed bag this week. The first worksheet went very well. The second was a little more complicated (I shouldn’t have included 20-4). She had no problem with either pattern.
Storytime
We read stories from the teacher’s outline that was sent to us on Monday. She enjoyed that, and we will continue to do it next week.
We watched Raiponce in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!
Activity
Table settings – Dragon learned about basic, casual, and formal table settings. As she pointed out, she already knows how to set the table (basic).
Make grey stuff – Dragon made a savoury and a sweet grey stuff.
The savoury was a mushroom paté. A black truffle cheese was added to ours – I do not recommend it. Link to recipe.
The sweet was a pudding, modified to not have any chocolate. We used black icing instead. It was delicious. Link to recipe.
Make bookmark – Dragon made bookmarks for all her teachers, including her Sunday school teacher and her Grannie, who was teaching her piano.
And that’s a wrap for the 2020-2021 school year! Congratulations, Dragon, on completing your Junior Kindergarten/Maternelle!
