We actually transposed the Leaf and Apple units because we live and Florida and fall doesn’t really happen there. However, we were planning a trip to Vermont and leaves would be in abundance.
Don’t forget that we have a core set of additions that we use when something needs extra focus or help in clarifying a concept. We use various items from that list as needed, which I don’t mention here in our add-on list.
As we moved into the “teens” portion of the calendar studies, the teen boards were very helpful for this. I like the wooden boards that I’ve linked and they are pretty affordable ($20) but if you would rather make them, there is this wonderful video on how to make your own and also how the teen boards are used.
The video is not mine, but she did such a lovely job with it, that I think it’s a great reference.
The journal and the sign language book we do every week.
For the Leaf Unit and Letter L, we added:
- An alphabet leaf dot-to-dot (I have the pdf for you here)
- Leaves pressed between waxed paper
- Leaf people activity
- Cut up leaves in our tactile letter activity instead of salt
- Leaf Perler bead activity I bought at the Dollar Tree
- Leaf booklet which documents the leaf by tracing and coloring to match the specimin, where it came from, the species, and who the leaf was gathered with (an expansion on the activity started this week in the teacher instructions).
- Alternate activities if you don’t have fall leaves available: Leaf paper suncatcher kit or Painting leaf suncatcher kit. We’ve done both of these and they are a lot of fun!
For the Apple Unit and Letter A, we added:
- Watched the full video of Johnny Appleseed (which includes the song for this week). I have the video linked below. The link includes Paul Bunyan, which we skipped. I linked the DVD in case you just want to buy it.
- Watched a time-lapse of the bloom to apple video. This one is also linked below. We did frequent pauses in the video to discuss what we were looking at.
- Made caramel apples with apple wraps. I had a hard time finding these in Florida, but they were everywhere up North. I’ve linked some just in case!
