Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

While looking for fun books and units to study in our homeschooling pursuit I found some great ideas for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Many of the ideas came from Homeschool Share's website, but I found a couple other resources as well. It took us three weeks to do five days' worth of lessons because Rebekah had swim lessons. We started by putting a bucket full of sand with letters buried inside. Rebekah dug for the letters then set them up alphabetically. Joshua played in the sand too, but he wasn't big on digging for letters. We then sang the alphabet song, which both the kids loved. We found some photos online of real palm trees and discovered where they are found, and I showed her on the globe where you would find palm trees. I also reminded her that palm branches were used when Jesus rode through Jerusalem on a donkey.

We did a lot discussing the book before we read the book and with each reading every day of our unit study. Rebekah learned how many letters are in the alphabet, she made a bar graph to show how many letters there were of each color, and she acted out the story with her Fridge Phonics letters. The kids made a number of palm tree crafts and they made maracas using a small Coke bottle and Alphabits and Cocoa Puffs cereals (Alphabits representing the letters and Cocoa Puffs for coconuts). We learned about rhyming as well as why the book was more interesting with the rhyming as well as the rhythm throughout. We played the maracas to instrumental Reggae music on the words "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (shake, shake, hit, hit) while I read the story to the music. We discussed personification and how the letters acted like people, we did some patterns using ABC's and colors, and we learned about day and night using a flashlight shining on a globe. We also explored a coconut starting from the outside and making observations to opening it and discovering the inside. Rebekah didn't want to eat it, but Joshua tried a few bites. I included Joshua in the lessons as much as I could since he is learning his letters as well.

We finished the unit with a coconut party. I checked out "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3" DVD's from the library, and the kids watched them between activities while I set up the table. Rebekah helped me make Rice Krispy treats using the Alphabits and Cocoa Puffs cereals in place of Rice Krispies. While it cooled the kids painted paper towel tubes and made palm trees. We ended with our coconut party. The kids had their Rice Krispy treats along with tropical fruit kabobs and a tropical fruit smoothie in coconut cups.

Here are some photos of the crafts we made as well as from our party from yesterday.


The trunk is the child's arm, and the palm leaves are their hand prints.


Collage in the style of the artist who illustrated the book.


Painting paper towel rolls to make palm trees




I think Joshua got more paint on the table than his tree.


The finished product. Joshua's is on the left and Rebekah's on the right.


The party food




Dressed for the occasion



During the party I played some music from a CD called Steel Drums of the Islands. It really set the atmosphere perfectly.

Busy Days

We've had a couple of fun and busy days lately. Yesterday I had some bread that was expired, so instead of tossing it I decided to take the kids to the duck pond to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to take any pictures. The kids rode in the stroller out in the grass, and as we strolled over toward the water one duck quickly headed our way. As soon as I tossed it some bread all the ducks came swarming over to us. We didn't even make it near the water!

Rebekah tossed a few bread crumbs out, but she kept climbing back onto her seat for fear of the ducks snapping at her. Boy, were those ducks famished! There must have been 30 or so of them! Rebekah liked watching them, but mostly from afar. And Joshua was sitting in his seat reaching out to the ducks! I ended up running off several yards away from the kids to draw the ducks away from the stroller for Rebekah's sake. I think she would have been fine with just 2-3 ducks, but there were a lot of them, and it was a bit overwhelming.

This weekend we are going to visit Darrin's mom for a few days and to celebrate her upcoming birthday. The kids painted a small clay pot with their fingerprints. I painted the top light blue for the sky and the bottom green for the grass. The kids' fingerprints made flowers, butterflies, bumblebees, ladybugs, and clouds. We had done this once before for my mom for Mother's Day, and I have been looking for an opportunity for the kids to make one for their Grandy since we wanted to hand deliver the gift. Rebekah especially had a lot of fun painting the flower pot, and I know it will be a special gift that Ann will appreciate.

Painting

Is this the same little girl who used to HATE to get her hands dirty? Is this the same child who would not play in sand because she didn't like things sticking to her hands? Is this the same child who did not like fingerpainting? I never would have dreamt that she would do this on her own. She even painted her forearms with her paint covered hands.