Category Archives: Early Elementary Years

It’s a Pinning Party

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We’ve begun to build up our fabulous collaborative Pinterest boards, to share even more wonderful hands-on history, science and literature activities with you all. My Pinning Friends have been quite busy. Please check out our boards and see what we’ve … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in American History, Ancient History, blogging, Early Elementary Years, hands-on history, homeschooling, kindergarten, learning to read, literature-based learning, preschool, science | 7 Comments

The Leprechauns Were Here!

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We had a bit ‘o fun this morning when we woke up to discover that leprechauns had visited our house.  A tad early for St. Patrick’s Day, but the tricksters must’ve known the O’Creekside Family is going to be a … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, holidays, kindergarten | 5 Comments

Catching Leprechauns

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We had so much fun today, making leprechaun traps and pots of gold. This is The Queen Bee’s Leprechaun Trap. I helped her cover a shoe box in green construction paper. She went out and collected sticks and we hot-glued … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in art projects, creative play, Early Elementary Years, holidays, kindergarten, preschool | 6 Comments

Two Ways to Make a Comet

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We’re learning about comets this week in our Astronomy curriculum so I thought it would be fun to make some.  These are really two separate projects. Do one or the other, or both. Project #1:  Make a model of a … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, science | 11 Comments

Resources for Learning About Ancient Greece

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We are gearing up to learn about ancient Greece over the next several weeks. I’ll be posting about the activities that we do, but thought that first I’d share the books and resources that we will be using. First, we … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, hands-on history, History Odyssey, homeschooling, kindergarten, Story of the World | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Easy Volcano Experiment

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We made the easiest, fastest, most fun volcano experiment in our kitchen today. It was so easy, we made many volcanoes, again and again. Now by easy and fast, I am not referring to the volcano experiment we did earlier … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, History Odyssey, kindergarten, preschool, science, Story of the World | 20 Comments

Creekside Astronomy: Satellites

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We use human-made satellites in every day life, even though we may not think about it very much. How do satellites stay in orbit? How do they communicate information? Here are some ways we explored satellites recently. Satellite Experiments Satellites … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, kindergarten, Learning with Legos, science | 3 Comments

Learning With Literature: The Mitten

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

The Mitten , by Jan Brett, provided us with wonderful learning opportunities and fun. First, we printed out  big paper mittens and animals from Jan Brett’s website.  We colored the front and back of the mittens, then hole punched around … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, literature-based learning, preschool, science | Tagged | 7 Comments

Ancient Assyrian Activities

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We are on Chapter 16 of The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times, where Assyria returns to power.  The king is Ashurbanipal and he conquers many cities, up and down the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, including the powerful … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, History Odyssey, homeschooling, Learning with Legos, Story of the World | Tagged | 7 Comments

Creekside Astronomy: The Spiral Galaxy Experiment

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

This experiment is from Janice VanCleave’s 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird and Fun Experiments. We used this in conjunction with The Usborne Book of Astronomy and Space, With Internet Links. And learning to use the hole puncher and picking up tiny … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, preschool, science | 10 Comments

Science, Math & Reading All in One

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We just did a great little activity that my kids, from ages three to seven, loved.  It involved math, science and reading and it only cost me $1. I filled a pie pan with water for each of them and … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in creative play, Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, keeping toddlers busy so you can actually educate your older children, kindergarten, learning to read, math, preschool, science, toddlers | 16 Comments

Creekside Astronomy Unit: The Moon

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

We have had a great time learning  about the moon as we embarked on our Astronomy Unit recently.  We began with learning about the phases of the moon.  Using the diagram on the Moon Connection website, we learned about the … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, science | Tagged | 5 Comments

Learning With Literature: Fancy Nancy

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

Welcome to our week with Fancy Nancy, one of my daughter’s favorite book characters. She loves to play dress-up, just like Nancy. The fancier, the better.  So naturally, we dressed up each day before delving into our Fancy Nancy books. … Continue reading →

Pin It
Posted in books, Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, learning to read, literature-based learning | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Phoenician Fashion

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

The Phoenicians used a certain type of snail from the sea, in a particularly stinky process, to extract minute amounts of purple dye.  The dye was used to color fabric, usually made into clothing for royalty, since the dye was … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, History Odyssey, homeschooling, kindergarten, Story of the World | 6 Comments

Ancient Phoenician Boat Craft

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Julie @ Creekside Learning

Next up in our ancient history studies is Ancient Phoenicia (Chapter 15 in Story of the World, if you’re following along).  The ancient Phoenicians lived in Canaan, what is now modern day  Lebanon. They were accomplished traders for their time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, History Odyssey, homeschooling, kindergarten, Story of the World | 8 Comments