Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
The project he is working on (currently he is making himself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
Storytime
Activity
Bake bread Make butterfly (akuma) bookmarks: link to instructions Design a superhero costume and kwami (in downloadable materials)
Pegasus’s first week of school was… interesting. He alternated between being a focussed and attentive student and complaining that he didn’t want to learn French. He would complete half a worksheet so fast and then not want to do anything else. But I’ve learned a lot since I taught my Dragon and when he gets in a mood, I switch the activity to something else. It’s been working well so far.
Dance
I haven’t been doing much formally for this one. I’ll put music on and he’ll dance to it unprompted.
Music
This week, we’ve been focussing mostly on him practising his scales on the piano. We have one this time around, and it’s a wonderful activity to distract him with because he enjoys it.
I also worked with him on the names of the keys.
Crochet
I started the base of the project because it’s not an easy beginning to teach a child, but he made half a row or so of stitches with a lot of assistance.
Basic Information
We alternated between listening to videos for the days of the week and months of the year (M, W, F), and attempting to put them in order with the pieces of paper (days on Tuesday, months on Thursday). For the first few weeks, I’m just letting him listen and passively absorb the information. I’ll start asking him to sing along in a couple weeks and see how that goes.
Printing words
We have a pencil grip thing to help train him to hold his pencil properly (thank you to my kindergarten teacher Ms. Bertrand for dropping those off last spring!) and he seems to be doing fairly well with that. He really struggled with printing the words (tracing was fine), so I think I might skip those worksheets for the next couple weeks. (He wanted me to guide his hand for “La famille”.)
Counting objects/math-type activities
The colours didn’t print very well for this. I’m going to see if the Tangled ones print better and if not, I’ll ask Éric to look at the printer. I explained how to count logically, either side to side, top to bottom, or bottom to top, and we used a pencil to cover up the lines that he hadn’t gotten to yet.
Storytime
NGL, we mostly read English books this week. We did get one French book from the library and read that. Pegasus learned how to read the words “la”, “le”, and “de”.
Activity
Make paper flower – somehow, he managed to flip his triangle around, so that when he cut the petals, they separated into 4 pieces instead of one flower. But we taped them together and it looks great, so woo!
Make empanadas – even though I had Éric look over the recipe I selected and he approved it, after completing this recipe with Pegasus, he says that they should have made arepas instead because the empanadas are a little more complicated than he’d realized. This recipe is great for arepas: https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-arepas.
Pegasus learned how to curl his fingers so that he wouldn’t cut them, he did a lot of mixing, used the food processor to chop (onions, garlic, and others), he made the balls of dough for the shell, he stirred the meat, and he did all the measuring himself (including the spice mix, which was made from scratch).
Make a paper plate toucan – we used the paint sticks (like glue sticks, but paint) to cover the plates. I helped him figure out where the middle was, explaining how to use a ruler to draw the straight line. He did the cutting and followed the line very well. He didn’t want to add the tail.
This week, we will be focussing on Tangled, the Disney movie released in 2010. We are starting on September 6, even though it’s a holiday, because Dragon loves to bake as well.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
The project he is working on (currently he is making himself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
Storytime
Activity
Baking – cookies
Painting – free-style with Crayola washable paint on paper (please note that this might be a good outdoor activity – check weather in advance and move days if necessary)
Make a paper lantern – need paper bag, stencil (in download material), cardboard box, paper towel folded in fourths, and screwdriver (instructions are Number 11). Put the paper bag over the cardboard box, and slide the folded paper towel in between the box and the bag. Place the stencil overtop of the bag/paper towel. Use the screwdriver to punch holes in the stencil/paper bag. Be careful not to move the stencil, or you will mess up your design.
The first week, we will be focussing on Encanto, the Disney movie released in 2021. We are starting on August 28, even though the French Public board doesn’t start until the 29th, because I thought it would be nice for Dragon to participate on Pegasus’s first day of school.
I thought it was fitting to start the year off with one of his favourite movies.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
The project he is working on (currently he is making herself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –(in download material)
We have chosen to keep Pegasus home from Jr Kindergarten (Maternelle) this September. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that I really want to give him the same learning opportunities that Dragon had when she went through this program. We have nothing but the highest respect for the teachers in the school system, but I’m really looking forward to spending this year with just Pegasus.
I have looked at the Ontario curriculum for Kindergarten and its overall expectations. You can see them here.
To this end, we will be following a home-based curriculum around a different movie each week. Pegasus helped me come up with the movies and ideas for the activities, and is super excited to do these.
I will be posting the weekly lessons here the week before, including any worksheets I plan on printing out.
When I was teaching Dragon, we watched the movie on Mondays. We are switching that to Tuesdays for family reasons.
Each day will include the following:
Dance (ballet and martial arts on alternate days)
Music (singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar)
Crochet on the project he is working on (currently he is making himself a poncho)
Basic Information about the days of the week and months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words related to the movie of the week (English and French templates available here) (both in Word; if you want a different format, let me know and I’ll see what I can do) You will need the KG Primary Dots font in order to see these properly. The weekly words will be PDFs, so you don’t need the font for those, only if you want to make your own.
Counting objects/math-type activities related to the movie of the week, including printing numbers (templates available here) You will need the KG Primary Dots font in order to see the printing part properly. Again, the weekly worksheets will be PDFs, so you won’t need the font unless you choose to make your own.
Storytime
An activity outlined in the chart (subject to change)
We are start the 29th August in the French Public school system, so the August-September movies are:
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!
Virtual school went well this week, for the most part. Dragon got overwhelmed by noise several times and asked to mute the computer.
They practiced syllables again before recess, and worked on the sound ‘T’.
After recess, they listened to a story about a father who is friends with monsters.
After lunch, they did a craft for Father’s Day. Dragon did both crafts, and did really well with the scissors. I was very impressed. However, I spilled white glue on the carpet, so obviously I need some practice with that.
Homeschool was a lot of fun this week. I’d say that I planned this week to have a lot of fun crafts, but I really didn’t think of it like that…
Dance
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: no lesson this week.
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.
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 lots of people and flowers. There’s a jellyfish in a pond in the middle of the dandelion.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no problems with the counting worksheet. She counted by 10s to 100 and counted up to 60.
Math went extremely well with both worksheets this week, even though they were not in sequence, which she pointed out to me.
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
Painting – Dragon doesn’t enjoy finger painting, so she painted with brushes instead. Then her little brother, Pegasus, desperately wanted to paint as well, so he got to do that after Dragon was done. Both of them had a lot of fun.
Make crown – I’d call this a mixed success, mostly because the crowns didn’t staple very well, so that’s on me. But both kids had a lot of fun colouring on their crowns, as once again, Pegasus insisted on joining in Dragon’s craft.
Bake with bananas – Banana splits aren’t strictly baking, but Dragon made the whipped cream, so I think that sort of counts. Obviously Pegasus was included in the activity, as were Éric and I. Delicious.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
Crochet
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
In download materials
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – in download materials
Addition and pattern – worksheet in download materials
