Dear Sis,

Our Daily Reading

Today’s fiction selection is Way Out in the Desert by T.J. Marsh & Jennifer Ward. This book teaches about dessert animals in verse, while counting to ten. It is very catchy! William loved that there is an I-Spy element on each page, to find the number. In the back of the book, there is sheet music. The whole book is also a song. We plunked it out together on the piano and sang the first verse a few times:)

Today’s non-fiction selection is Desert Biome by Grace Hansen. This book provides great information in a density that won’t overwhelm small children.

“D” is for Desert Letter Craft

Parent Preparation

• Print Letter D Template and Desert Template from Must Have Mom, on card stock.
• Cut out D and cacti templates.
• On blue craft paper, trace and cut out D.
• On green craft foam, trace, cut out, and draw details of cacti.
• On yellow craft foam, trace a circular object and cut out a sun.
• Provide brown craft paper, glue stick, hot pink buttons or mini pom-poms to use as cacti flowers, and sand.

Student Assembly

• Paste D to brown craft paper.
• Apply a lot of glue to the bottom of the D. Working over the trash or outside, pour sand over paste and press. Shake off extra sand.
• Paste cacti and cacti flowers in place.
• Paste the sun in place.
• Write or have your grown up label, name, and date your work, for your homeschool portfolio.

Cacti Shape Matching Activity

Parent Preparation

• Print Cactus Shape Cards from Life over C’s, on card stock. Cut out and laminate for durability. This printable was designed as a memory game. We use it in a different way… read more below.

Our Process

• First, identify shapes by name, using only the shape cards, assisting when the student can’t remember the answer.
• Next, match shape cards with the corresponding cactus card. Reviewing shape names as you work.

Desert Animal Counting Cards

Parent Preparation

• Print Desert Counting Printable by Teaching Mama, on white card stock. Cut out and laminate for durability.
• Melissa and Doug Numeral Puzzle
• Provide place markers, paper clips, or small clothes pins.

Our Process

• Count the number of animals on the counting card.
• Identify the written number that corresponds. If your student, is still learning to identify numbers, use that numeral puzzle to count to find what the number looks like, so the student can find it on the counting card.

Desert Animal Board Game

Parent Preparation

• Print Desert Animal Game by Life Over C’s, on white card stock. Cut out and laminate for durability.
• Provide place markers.

Game Play

This game is styled after Candyland. We reworked the directions to work forward, instead of forward and back, for quicker game play.

• Starting with youngest player, begin turn by drawing the top card from draw pile. 
• Move place marker forward to the nearest unoccupied animal space that coordinates with the drawn card. By “unoccupied” we mean, if another player is on the nearest forward space, skip to the next forward space with that animal.
• If a player lands on an arrow space, slide to the suggested position.
• The player to get exactly to the final fox space first wins.

Love,

b