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| Snapshot Summary, November 14-19 |
Remember last week James began division with cups and beans?
This week we begin recording his discoveries on a graph. Using a 10x7 graph,(although I would have preferred a 10x10 graph), we labeled the top "cups" and labeled each column with numbers 1-7. We labeled the side as total number of "macaroni/beans" and labeled each row 1-10. Using the macaroni and cups, he began filling the chart out, recording the remainders as fractions as needed.
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Place value cards, in combination with a counting board, (below) can be a wonderful learning tool. |
Quentin worked on place value and counting. We used the place value counting board and place value cards to count up to 100. He began counting and changed the cards to reflect the numerals that match the amount counted. As he added macaroni to cups, he changed the cards from ones to tens cards. When he transferred the cups to bowls, he changed the cards to hundreds.
Geography
We received a wonderful box in the mail from Rhode Island, which not only held a beautiful postcard of a carousel horse but also lots of goodies.
This, in addition to our usual state studies,
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| Dynamites and Rhode Island style hot dogs, frozen lemonade. |
led to a Rhode Island inspired teatime, dinner and dessert.
History
For history this week we learned about the Revolutionary war and the boys set up plastic figures of the English, Colonists and French soldiers and reenacted the battles. They then went on to play a game that involved them each setting up one side of soldiers and then taking turns rolling a die to see how many soldiers they hit on the other side. Quentin pointed out that the Colonists hid behind barriers and so were harder to hit, so they determined that each barrier also counted in the amount that had to be hit, giving the Colonists quite an advantage.
some role-playing, as always.
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| map and activity from Interact Simulations Patriots |
Sam learned about military strategy as he took the role of a British General at Bunker Hill.
They learned about Jefferson and The Declaration of Independence.
We read about Nathan Hale and about spying.
They made secret military maps with invisible ink,
ciphers, using different letters to substitute for the letters in the message,
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| activity from Interact Simulations Patriots |
and codes using a mask with holes cut into them that are placed on top of letters.
All of the secret message activities, of course, included a lot of writing, spelling, reading and logic activities that they were highly motivated to accomplish.
Science
We have moved on to weather section of The Ben Franklin Book of Easy and Incredible Experiments, and learned that Ben Franklin was very interested in weather phenomenon and in weather prediction. He was among the first to notice the effect of humidity on certain materials, which led to him coming up with an idea for a meteorological instrument to measure humidity. It is really fun when what we are learning can cross over to two subject areas.
We have moved on to weather section of The Ben Franklin Book of Easy and Incredible Experiments, and learned that Ben Franklin was very interested in weather phenomenon and in weather prediction. He was among the first to notice the effect of humidity on certain materials, which led to him coming up with an idea for a meteorological instrument to measure humidity. It is really fun when what we are learning can cross over to two subject areas.
After our air pressure experiments last week, this week we made a barometer for our weather station.
We learned about the water cycle and how salty ocean water turns into fresh water through the process of evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
We made a cloud in a bottle to learn how clouds are made.
We added a hygrometer to our weather station.
In our study about sharks, we learned that they have three rows of teeth, so we made sets of shark jaws with three sets of teeth.
We also enjoyed some more rounds of Power Sharks!
Nature Study
Our nature study this week was the Dogwood tree in autumn. James took some photos of the tree when it was full of beautiful red leaves.
Nature Study
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| Autumn table arrangement of orange Sassafras leaves and Dogwood branches with red berries. |
Once the leaves fell off, the prettiest red berries were revealed.
We enjoyed exploring the contents of our nature swap box.
Picture Study
We began our pictures studies again after a long break. We will be studying Vermeer for the next month. This week's picture is his Girl with a Pearl Earring in which we used coloring pages to have them focus more closely on the details of the painting.
Out and About
Unfortunately I have no photos of our out-of-the-house activities this week. Sam, Katie, James and Quentin went bowling with friends on Thursday and Friday night Katie and Sam went to a Teen Game Night with friends.
Favorite Resource This Week
I used a few guides from Interact Simulations when I was teaching classes at Co-ops, and they really only work with large groups. The pricey cost, too, is defrayed if everyone in your class chips in to buy it.
Since I already had Patriots, I have been enjoying using the activities that fit for an individual or small group, such as the General and the Code Mask activities above. Patriots is written for grades 5-11, but I have been using a few of the activities with my 4th and 2nd grader, and plan to be using a few more.
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