​Seascape

It was HARD transitioning from SPACE to our Oceans Dive theme but we are doing our best to make it exciting. This first week we learned about Ocean Water, Ocean Floor, Ocean Caves, Ocean Plants and the Coral Reef. We got the ocean books from our library and found some we hadn’t looked at in a bit. We didn’t get new ones for this month, but I think we had plenty to keep the kids happy reading.

Each month Experience Curriculum puts nametags with pictures from our theme in day ones lesson. Since we have a wide range of kiddos, we write their names in pencil and we let them trace it with markers, because they LOVE markers. The younger kids are learning as the older kids are perfecting their letter writing. We have one little girl who adds hearts to everything she does.

Our saltwater art Invitation to Create was such a fun activity! We put blue and green paint and salt in the paint spots of our trays. We gave each child a clean piece of thick paper and a plastic eyedropper. We let them mix it however they wanted to. They were able to suck up salt WITH the paint OR sprinkle it on AFTER they finished painting or at any time. They learned it came out of the dropper differently if it was flat ON the paper, it didn’t want to come out, or slanted, sprayed out that direction. They enjoy painting. This is a very easy activity to do any time.

We used our cube that come with our Experience Curriculum kit at the beginning of the school year, to make learning the five oceans more fun and interactive. Even our almost three year old caught on right away and was able to match the word on the cube to the word on the card and find it on the map. I was so excited to see him do it over and over.

Our Make & Play learning about the ocean floor was an oyster with pearls. We let them use markers to decorate a small paper plate then fold it in half. They were able to sting beads on a pipe cleaner and pretend they were pearls.

Our Shine-A-Light book, Secrets of The Seashore was a special book plus In the Sea. We like to highlight some of our nicer books on the top of bookshelves. One of the extra activities from our curriculum was the Diving for Shells game. They had to put a certain amount of shells to match the number on the card. We used some seashells that the kids had decorated with markers. Their Make & Play for ocean caves was with a paper sack. They got to decorate the outside of a small paper sack then crinkle it down to make it the right size. They cut the cards apart and had to decide which ones they would find in the ocean and put those IN their cave.

Making the ocean zones was very interesting. We talked about how many ocean plants live at the top layer because of the suns warmth and light. In this Invitation to Create we let the kids use the different papers to create the ocean. I was so busy helping the older kids that I didn’t get pictures of them actually doing it but we got some of the younger two kids.

Each month we are able to download 20 coloring pictures to go with the 20 days of themes with our Experience Curriculum. On this day we decided to use water colors instead of colored pencils or markers.

Our last Invitation to Create for the week was making a coral collage with starch noodles. They were able to put a straw in pieces or just a full straw and put the noodles however they wanted. Those use a tiny bit of water to stick together and stack. We didn’t tell them HOW to put it together. We just gave them the picture to look at and said have fun.

We find a video each day about our topic so we can learn facts. We talk about what we have learned throughout the month as we add new topics. I hope you have enjoyed our first week of Ocean Dive. Stay tuned for the next three weeks!

Remember, There's Adventure Around Every Corner!

*Please note that at this time we were using our "homeschool's name", BCAA.

Original post date Apr 10, 2021