Repeat the rock motion (fists planted at chest), then the sprout motion from yesterday (open hands rising up). Today add a small flutter of fingers above the head for "sun." Plant, grow, sun, plant, grow, sun.
Daily Plan, v2
Soil and Sun
A seed needs more than a place to sit. It needs water, soil, and sun. God gives all three. We watch, we water, we wait.
Memory verse
He is like a tree planted by streams of waterPsalm 1:3
Today's weather
Mostly Cloudy, 61 F
Outdoor outlook
Layer up and go out.
Hand motions for the verse
Sort the Wonder Bucket
Sort the Wonder Bucket
15 minLogan is at school today. After-school free play resumes around 3 PM, and he can join in if he wants.
Bring out yesterday's wonder-walk bucket. Sit on the porch with two small bowls or trays in front of Caleb. One bowl is for rocks, one is for seeds. Pull each item from the bucket together and ask, "rock or seed?" Help him drop it in the right bowl. Some items are tricky, an acorn looks like a stone but it is a seed. Use that to teach the difference, "rocks stay the same, seeds grow." Repeat both motions, fist for rock, sprout for seed, after each item.
Materials
Words, tap for meaning
Video
None today. Holding the no-video position until a validated kid-safe channel is locked in. Yesterday's plan dropped video for the same reason.
For Rachel
If he wants to dump the rocks back into the seed bowl and start over, that is fine, the sorting is repetition, not a test. The point is the language, "rock or seed," "stay or grow," over and over. Eighteen months learns by repetition, not by being correct.
Carlton, before you start
Empty the bucket onto the porch table first to confirm nothing sharp or buggy ended up in it overnight. Set out the two bowls before calling Caleb over.
Soil Touch and Press
Soil Touch and Press
15 minLogan is at school today. After-school free play resumes around 3 PM, and he can join in if he wants.
Bring a small tray of potting soil out onto the porch. Let Caleb put both hands in. Squeeze. Smell. Press a flat handprint into the surface. Press one of yesterday's painted rocks into the soil and lift it back out so Caleb can see the rock-shaped dent. Then take one more dry bean seed and let Caleb push it into the soil with his finger. Cover with a thin layer of soil. Say, "Soil is the home for the seed." Set this little tray on the porch railing in the sun, this is the second seed experiment, the windowsill jar versus the soil tray, so Caleb can compare across the week.
Materials
Words, tap for meaning
If the day goes sideways
Per today's NWS, NNE wind 5 to 15 mph with gusts to 25. If the porch tray will not stay put, move this activity to the kitchen floor on a beach towel and bring the tray in to a south-facing window after.
For Rachel
Two parallel seed experiments going now, the jar (cold, glass, no soil) and the tray (sun, soil, outdoors). By Friday or Saturday one of them will sprout first and that becomes the visual lesson, "soil and sun help the seed grow." Don't tell him which will win, let him notice.
Carlton, before you start
Bag of potting soil and a tray are on the workbench in the garage. Pre-spray the soil lightly so it is moist but not muddy when Caleb touches it.
Sun Walk and Shadow Hunt
Sun Walk and Shadow Hunt
15 minLogan is at school today. After-school free play resumes around 3 PM, and he can join in if he wants.
Walk the yard with Caleb pointing out one sunny spot and one shady spot. Stand in each. Hold up a hand and look at the shadow. Say, "Sun makes the plants grow. Sun makes our shadow." Find one plant in a sunny part of the yard and one in shade and notice the difference, the sunny one is usually leafier. Bring back one small leaf from each spot in his bucket for the wrap-up. The bucket carries forward again.
Materials
Words, tap for meaning
For Rachel
This is the easiest block of the day, just walk and point. If Caleb wants to chase his own shadow for ten minutes, perfect, that is the lesson. The two leaves he brings back are the prompt for tomorrow already.
Carlton, before you start
Quick walk-through of the yard for any overnight debris from last night's NNE wind. Refill water bottle.
Wrap-Up and Prayer
Wrap-Up and Prayer
10 minLogan is at school today. After-school free play resumes around 3 PM, and he can join in if he wants.
Bring the windowsill seed jar, the soil tray, and the bucket with today's two leaves to the porch or kitchen table. Walk through what is in front of him, "jar, tray, leaves." Recite both verses in order. Psalm 18:2, "The Lord is my rock," with the fist motion. Psalm 1:3, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water," with the sprout motion, then today's new sun-flutter on top. Pray together, thanking God for water, soil, and sun, the three things every seed needs and the three things our family has too. End by walking the seed jar back to the windowsill and the soil tray back to the porch railing so the rhythm is set for tomorrow.
Materials
Words, tap for meaning
For Rachel
Keep the prayer short and concrete, name the three things by pointing at them. The repetition of returning the jar and tray to their spots is itself a small act of stewardship he is learning, "this lives here, this is its place." That is tomorrow's first activity already set up.
Carlton, before you start
Set the kitchen towel and a small bowl of water near the porch for hand wipe-down before prayer. Have the bucket within arm's reach.
Send Frizzle a photo.
Drop a snap into the family chat. The collage builds itself by 8 PM.
Open Messages
Drop a snap into the family chat. The collage builds itself by 8 PM.