Enrichment Activity 1

I am still helping with J's preschool class several times a week. I love that he is learning to deal with other kids, listen to other adults, and follow directions better. He may not get a whole lot out of each day, but he has had little tolerance for others, loud noises, or chaotic situations and he needed to be introduced to situations outside of his norm to see how he reacts. Enough of that, it is a situation that we are watching very closely.

So I am working with the preschool schedule and reinforcing letters and colors that they are doing each week. I also like that they are not pushing the kids to write with pencils. At this point they have not even been introduced to a pencil. They are learning everything with crayons.

Adding to J's week will be some type of enrichment that can be done by himself or we can include C, who is at school full time now.

I am working on our first enrichment activity with the kids. They know nothing about what I am cooking up. Thinking about some kids response recently, when asked "what falls from the tree when during Fall?" Half the kids said "Coconuts!" These California kids are missing out on the beauty of fall. It's kind of difficult to argue with the weather here, but I do miss a good fall season.

So here's what cooking:
1) I asked for volunteers on a yahoo group to send me some of their leaves that were changing colors. I want the kids to see and feel the color and texture of the leaves. I am blessed that 5 or 6 people volunteered to send me some leaves from where they live all over the country.
2) I hung our United States map back up. I made tags for where we have lived (8 places in the last 10 years) and I will make tags for where the leaves come from. We will identify and mark our maps.
3) We will identify and research our leaves. We just want to know where they come from, the name of the tree, and maybe a quick fact. That may differ based on my 8 yr old and 5 yr old interest. I also found these identification cards (on the right hand side, under to print).
4) Craft with the leaves. Make some crayon rubbings, maybe make a wreath, and do some drawings
5) C will learn a bit more about photosynthesis.

That's about all I have come up with. I will take some pictures (with my camera phone - we've lost the camera) of our ABC reinforcement activities and other enrichment times. I hope this help create an interest in learning in J, without overwhelming him or C (my 3rd grader). We will definitely take our time with this, none of it has to be done in one week.