Learning Enrichment Ideas for Kindergarten and First Grade

The first list I wrote like this covered our beginning year of homeschooling, and in case you are just tuning in, my children were 2 and 4 when we began homeschooling. We spent a year in private school when my kids were 3 and 5. When they were 4 and 6, we brought them home to do Kindergarten and First Grade.. and this list stems from things we did that year. I hope you can use these ideas and have as much fun with them as we did. Hopefully our third and fourth years homeschooling will not be far behind… (we're in the middle of our fourth year). as soon as I can get them all typed up I plan on posting the two years following this list as well. The next set in the series will be 1st and 2nd Grade (2004-5 School Year). Pop back in from time to time and see how I’ve progressed getting them all posted to the blog. Hopefully by the end of May, this blog will be taking on a new face and searching/reading will be much easier.

As with the previous list, the ideas may or may not have had to do with our curriculum. I used an eclectic mix of curriculum, and I got ideas from a variety of sources. At this point, I couldn't tell you where they all came from. I apologize for any repeats from the previous year. I typed them all in the same document (Excel), hoping to catch any ideas that we had used previously, but I might have duplicated a few items that were on the earlier enrichment list. I hope these ideas inspire you to add some extras to your lesson plan book that will make your learning more FUN! Kids enjoy one-on-one time with you… Mr. Rogers Style! Enjoy your homeschooling!


MORE Learning Enrichment Ideas
for PK, K, 1st Grade & Up...

Write your address and phone number
Sit down, discuss goals for the year
Learn to use office tools (copy machine, computer, pencil sharpener…)
Learn good hygiene and basic body care skills
Review shapes
Watch missionary videos from other cultures
Telling time worksheets
Play in the McDonald's Playscape tunnels
Count the months on a calendar and name them
Learn about punctuation marks in sentences
Play board games (Cadoo/Scrabble/Sorry!/etc.)
Practice writing your alphabet
Learn some Spanish
Crossword puzzles
ABC dot-to-dots
Look things up on the internet with parental supervision
Free time to read or look at books
Free time to play educational PC games
Run and play in the yard with stick horses
Take piano lessons
Color by number worksheets
Play with Legos
Do daily chores and use a chore chart (start getting allowance)
Matching/Coloring/Cutting/Pasting
Look up countries you learn about on a globe
Visit friends and play together
Take a reading comprehension quiz given by mom
Discuss the trees and plants you see outside
Play on the playground with other kids
Learn about opposites
Keep a chore or assignment chart
Help grocery shop
Read a daily devotional
Make a prayer list and pray each day together
Do a service project for someone in need
Volunteer some time for a local charity or your church
Learn to tell time (use a manipulative clock)
Discuss the movies you see
Learn to write a letter and address an envelope
Learn to recognize coins and skip count
Copywork (practice writing sentences from your favorite books)
Learn about electricity and safety
Keep a journal
Practice upper and lower case letters
Learn to use a ruler to measure
Learn to ride a bicycle
Catch a lizard and study it before releasing it
Melt broken crayons and pour into molds
Pick up trash at a state park
Say the pledge, sing the Star Spangled Banner
Learn about homophones (words that sound alike, but are spelled differently)
Create a mini book about nocturnal animals
Look at things under a microscope
Look at rock samples and learn about volcanoes
Visit museums online
Look at bat wing anatomy online and print out
Weekly Bible Class at Church
Take a placement test
Keep a count-down calendar until school ends
Measure yourself at the beginning and end of the school year
Learn to name the continents
Take your pet to the vet
Go eat lunch with Daddy
Look at an aerial photograph - find your house!
Count to 100
Play an "echolocation" game
Send a get well card
Learn patriotic songs
Learn to write your full name very well
Work out with a video in the living room
Plant apple seeds
Chart the sun for a day at different times
Write or dictate a story, and illustrate it
Call a relative who lives far away
Play Spelling Bee Bingo
Have a Thanksgiving Day Party with friends (get your face painted)
Make angel lapel pins and snowflake bead ornaments
Spend time with cousins and family
Celebrate holidays and create family traditions
Mail a birthday card
Visit a homeschool book store
Discuss differences between city and country living
Learn vocabulary words with each topic you learn about
Learn where to separate numbers with commas
Watch animal videos/shows
Keep a behavior stop light (green for great, yellow for watch out, red for trouble!)
Learn the difference between AM and PM
Decorate the house for Christmas
Do speed drills with addition and subtraction facts
Play with money - set up a play store
Sing the months of the year in Spanish and English
Go Christmas shopping with parents
Use vocabulary words in sentences orally
Learn days of the week
Watch Reading Rainbow
Watch Between the Lions
Put together a 500 piece puzzle in a hotel room
Watch a documentary about famous gold medal Olympic winners
Learn to tie your shoe
Sing and listen to Christmas music
Visit someone else's church
Bake holiday sweets for others
Help prepare a holiday meal
Watch a video about frog eggs hatching
Act out a Bible verse
Take a walk/Ride a bike
Write a poem for Valentines
Make home-made Valentines cards
Decorate allowance jars (one for savings, tithe, and spending)
Make candles
Carnation experiment (use colored dye to tint petals through the water in the vase)
Science experiment (spin colors in milk with a drop of detergent)
United States 50 piece puzzle
Send messages on IM to Daddy (especially if he's overseas)
Look up and do Presidents Day activities from online websites
Browse and read National Geographic's Kid Magazine
Play "Mother May I?"
Sing the books of the New Testament
Play with Snap Circuits Jr.
Ride bikes and chase the ice-cream man
Make a mini book of your child's artwork with their own creative spelling/writing
Make thank you cards
Easter Egg relay contest & egg hunt
Make a plant collage from the specimens in your back yard and identify them
Catch a gecko and play with it
Retell a story in your own words


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Being a Good Steward of Time

I got this on an email from a friend at church and thought I would share it with you. In light of that, I'm off to get my school day accomplished. Have a super Monday! We're trying to finish up the solar system and move on to seasons today. Maybe I'll have a solar system unit post up and possibly the last two posts for the homeschooling series by the end of this week! That is my goal anyway. I'm reading a very interesting book called "Order from Chaos: A 6 Step Plan for Organizing Yourself, Your Office, and Your Life" by Liz Davenport. I like her ideas. I love hearing new ways to help keep yourself on track... since I'm about as ADD as a mom could get without having to take medication (sometimes I wonder...)!

Do You Want to Waste Your Time?
Eliminate wasted time by being a good manager of God's blessings.
by Neal Pollard

Michael J. Davis wrote an article entitled, "Seven Ways to Waste Your Time."/1 Here are the seven he listed:

* Looking for things -- The average person spends up to two hours per day looking for lost stuff, which translates to almost fifteen hours a week saved by proper planning and space management.

* Perfectionism -- Settle for excellence instead.

* Sloppy first effort -- The opposite of perfectionism.

* Not understanding assignments -- Don't let pride keep you from seeking clarification or explanation.

* Assuming others' responsibilities -- Helping people is good and right, but being used isn't.

* Not consolidating tasks -- Use common sense and planning to avoid burning time, gasoline, and productivity.

* Anything that doesn't advance us toward our goals --Majoring in the minors keeps us in the Minor Leagues.

God has made his people managers, and as such we are to manage all the resources he bestows. That is not restricted to money. Remember, children are a gift from the Lord ( Psalm 127:3). God brought the first bride to the first groom ( Genesis 2:22). Additionally, we are to manage our talents and resources wisely ( Matthew 25:14-30).

Then, too, Paul says that we are to be "making the most of [our] time" ( Ephesians 5:16). Reinecker says the phrase "making the most" is from a word meaning "to buy up at the market place. Either with the meaning 'seizing the opportunity,' 'making your market to the full from the opportunity of this life' (Abbott) or with the meaning 'buying back (at the expense of personal watchfulness and self-denial) the present time, which is now being used for evil and godless purposes' (MM)."/2

Wasting time may not seem as evil and godless as surfing Internet pornography, stealing company funds, flirting with someone other than your spouse on the job, or the like, but taking a slothful, slacker's approach to life is still evil. It wastes the precious commodity called time.

Seek ways to cut back and eventually eliminate wasted time! It is good management of God's blessings.
__________
1/ The Toastmaster, August 1999, p. 11.
2/ Linguistic Key to the Greek NT, p. 537.

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Some Christian Links

Here are a few links I have been saving up for the blog:

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Compassion Sunday is April 30th, 2006! Consider sponsoring a child or being involved with this wonderful ministry outreach. Just your prayers will help in ways you can’t imagine. We sponsor a little boy in India and have been so blessed by the experience. I hope to one day get to go there and meet him!

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A friend of mine told me about this free junior high/high school or adult level Bible curriculum online. I haven't checked it out yet, but let me know what you think if you do!

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Here's a Praise Hymnal that is a wonderful resource for singing with your kids at home. In the back, it is sectioned off by topic as well as by song title and author. What a great collection of Christian music (from the renaissance through modern day) - and for a very affordable price! Just browse the long list of songs! Over 700 of them!

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Do you blog for the persecuted church? Here’s a link you won’t want to miss. The books are great, too. I love the interactive map and prayer requests.

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Please, please, please pray for this family… all of them!

Have a wonderful Sunday. We had a mix-up with daylight savings and missed morning services today... *sigh*. Hopefully you aren't as organizationally challenged and managed to set your clocks ahead and make it to church!


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To Buy or Not To Buy

Well, it's almost been six months since we moved out of state and into our little apartment (our lease is up in early May). We have that cabin fever again - almost as bad as we did when we were stuck in the hotel room. I have been really depressed about the housing prices here, but we are considering buying a house since Kevin doesn't think he can get a transfer back home for quite some time. I certainly don't want to do anything that God doesn't want us to do.... so I'm staying in prayer about this. Unless we find a larger apartment, it looks like buying a home here will be our next step.

Even in this little apartment, though... I'm feeling the need to "Spring Clean". I admit that it would be a lot easier if the place were new and nice (and spacious). When we moved in here, I was appalled by the carpet. So, it is hard for me to get motivated about cleaning this little dirty place (since most of the "dirt" is no fault of ours) when we used to live in a brand new, very big, very CLEAN house. But, that's stinking thinking at its finest - and I refuse to sit on my "pity potty". I'm hoping my friend in our co-op can help me with the stains on the floor and we can make a trip to our storage unit in Texas with a few car-loads worth of junk in May when we return home to Texas. I'd love to re-claim my living room/entry area and get rid of the extra boxes and things that just wouldn't fit here.

Speaking of cleaning... this post was inspired by Dandelion Seeds - who has a very interesting Bible-Study Program going on called: Clean Heart Clean Home Challenge. Go check it out! I just printed my copy of her 77 page planner/study (PDF file). Enjoy!


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