Knights Unit

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The four kiddos and I went on an unexpected and unplanned vacation last week.  An opportunity presented itself that I didn't want to miss.  Learning time consisted of an introduction to our Knight Unit along with visits to Virginia Safari Park, Boxerwood Nature Center & Woodland Garden, & Virginia Museum of Transportation.  This doesn't count the car trip from our home to VA, where the kids really applied their knowledge of the states, as we passed through a few of them.

Dinomite, just after he pet his first zebra.

Princess feeding a giraffe.  Another giraffe licked Dinomite's head with it's blue tongue.

It was a fantastic vacation with lots of hands on learning and fun.

Now that we're back home, unpacked and settled, we're continuing our Knight Unit and I finally have time to share our activities.  There are a few princess activities mixed in, but for the most part everything has something to do with knights.  Besides activities below, we'll also be doing a lot of reading.   A list of the books we're reading are at the very bottom of the post.

English/Language Arts:

Dragon ABC Matching

Inside the pocket are capital and lowercase letters D-R-A-G-O-N.  The kids will match them up and spell the word. The control is the pocket with the word "dragon" on it.

Source: I found this free printable at 1+1+1=1.  It was part of a packet.

Knight First Letter Sounds

The kiddos will put glass beads on the first letter of each word shown in the pictures.  The control is the nomenclature cards located behind the beads.

Source: I found this free printable at 3 Dinosaurs as part of a Medieval Packet.

Knight Syllables

The kiddos will place a glass bead on the number that specifies how many syllables are in each vocabulary word.

Source:  These cards were part of the free packet at 3 Dinosaurs.

 Knight 2 Letter Beginning Sounds

The kiddos will draw a line from the picture to the circle with the two letter beginning sounds. The control is the nomenclature cards paired with the activity.

Source: This printable was also part of the pack from 3 Dinosaurs.

Math:

Crown Jewel Counting

Everyone loves to decorate a crown. The kiddos will add jewels to each individual crown, matching the number on the crowns. I've used numbers 1-10.

Source: I found the free crown template at First Palette.  I found the idea at Sorting Sprinkles, who sited the source as Our Montessori Home.

Shield Counting

There are three sets of shield cards for the kiddos to choose from, or they can do all three.  The purple shields contain numbers 30-39, blue shields numbers 40-49, and orange shields 50-59.  Kiddos will put the shields in numerical order.  Controls include the counting charts and also the color of the shields.

Knight Patterns

There are five pattern strips that match the color of the decor on the nights provided.  Kiddos will line the knights up by color and complete pattern.

Source: I created the pattern cards. 

Science:

Horse Breeds

Kiddos will match up pictures and words with cards provided. I researched the 10 most popular breeds of horses and made cards for only those.  For one who knows nothing about horses, it was quite overwhelming to realize just how many breeds there are, and how horses are classified.  I tried to select pictures that showed definite differences in the breeds.

I created the printable for this activity. The Horse Breeds Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Catapulting Pom Poms

I could have gone all out and built my own catapult, or had the kiddos build one, but I just wasn't up for it, so instead they'll use a spoon and their fingers to catapult the pom poms through the air. I've included pom poms of different sizes so they can compare which ones go farther and faster.

Culture/History:

Knight Armor

Kiddos will have a chance to play Memory by themselves or with a partner using the pictures of Knight Armor provided.  The cards could also be used as nomenclature cards.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Knight Armor and Weapons Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Knight Weapons

The kiddos will match up words and pictures to the cards provided.  I selected  weapons specific to those discussed in the books we'll be reading this week.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Knight Armor and Weapons Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Art:

Dragons Breathe Fire

What's not to like about making fire?  The kiddos will use their hands to combine yellow and red finger paint, making fire breathing dragons.

Bulldozer's dragon.

Source: I created the simple printable for this activity. The Fire Breathing Dragon Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

A Knight's Shield

We can't forget a shield! The kiddos will design their own shields.

Dinomite's shield.

Source:  This free template can be found at Activity Village.

Princess & the Pea

I saw this idea after we had already dove into our Princess Unit. Still I couldn't resist, so after reading the book as an introduction, I showed the kiddos how to make their own picture.  My picture is the control.

Source: This craft idea came from Life in First Grade.  Instead of having the kids draw their princess on top, I made little cut outs for them.  Click HERE if you'd like a free printable of the princess cut outs.

A Royal Crown

I had wanted to let the kiddos make their own crowns last week, but never got around to cutting them out etc.  They are ready now to decorate using crayons and jewels.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Source: The free template for the crown can be found at First Palette.

Music:

We will be doing some song review games this week and introducing one last song for the month called Knights & Dragons. Next month I'll really be diving into music with some very structured activities, but this month I wanted to relax a little bit.

Practical Life/Sensorial:

Tracing Shapes

Sunshine received a shape puzzle not too long ago.  I decided the pieces are perfect for practicing our tracing skills!

Build A Castle

A knight unit just wouldn't be complete without some type of castle activity, so using our mini wooden block set, the kiddos will design and build their own castles.

The Princess' Peas

Going along with our Princess and the Pea activity, I added spooning our own peas to the shelves.

Dragon Slaying Target Practice

Kiddos will practice slaying dragons using sword shaped toothpicks.  First a paper dragon will be placed on the foam pad, then they will pierce the paper in the desired spot with the toothpick.

Source: This idea came from Sorting Sprinkles.  I made my own dragon cut outs. If you'd like the free printable that I created, click HERE.

Spanish:

We'll review our other Spanish songs, but also add this one to the mix. I love it because not only does it teach the colors, but teaches some new vocabulary and phrases.  So far the kiddos are absolutely loving Spanish. Hooray!

Books we're reading this week:

1.The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Paul Galdone.

2.  The Marshmallow Incident by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett.

3.  The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer.

4.  The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie de Paola.

5.  Knights in Shining Armor by Gail Gibbon.

6.  In the Castle by Anna Milbourne, illustrated by Benji Davies.

Next week we'll be having a special unit dedicated to My Little Pony, in honor of Princess' Birthday!

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