Week 13 - Moving on...
This was to be our Thanksgiving week with minimal work planned but since we spent an extra week in South America, we are traveling to Norway this week.
We are back to the "Kingdom Tales" book for our read alouds. I am still not quite sure what I think of these. I know they have a point to all of the stories but sometimes, I think they are a little deep for third graders. Some days they seem to understand and other days, I am not so sure. I do reword some things that could be a little scary for them. I wouldn't read these to younger kids.
We decorated our Turkey Pumpkin again this year. The girls really like doing that. We also made some Pilgrim hat decorations. Anything with paint is always a hit.
On a side note, the girls started basket ball last week and had their first game this week. It is a recreational league and they don't officially keep score (and the score was pretty low). But, Anna got a basket (only a few kids on each team did) and she was very excited. This was the first time I have seen Anna run as fast as she could from one end of the court to the other on a consistent basis. She really wanted to be where the action was. She was pretty aggressive and "stole" the ball too. She is so short so that is a disadvantage but she seems to really like. Emma always wants to do the "sports" but I think it is more the social aspect that she likes. She was able to catch a pass in and dribble the ball down the court a few times. She took a couple of shots but missed. It will be interesting to see how they do.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Grade 3 - Week 12
Week 12 - Catchup time
We are supposed to moving onto Europe this week but we still had some stuff to do so I decided to spend some additional time in Brazil. We also made a couple of side trips to Venezuela and Argentina. We did a couple of cooking projects: Chocolates from Brazil - they tasted a lot like truflles. Steak and beans and potatoes for our Argentina meal. I was glad Scott took care of this one. I just gave him the recipes.
We have been busy catching up on the phonics, vocabulary, language arts, spelling, etc from last week. Luckily this was a review week for spelling so that helped. It does feel good to catch up!
Our Magic Treehouse book is Dolphins at Daybreak. Another good reader for the kids and not boring even for an adult. Predictable but not totally boring.
At last we have finished our dioramas. I will post pictures soon. We still may add more animals some day.
We are supposed to moving onto Europe this week but we still had some stuff to do so I decided to spend some additional time in Brazil. We also made a couple of side trips to Venezuela and Argentina. We did a couple of cooking projects: Chocolates from Brazil - they tasted a lot like truflles. Steak and beans and potatoes for our Argentina meal. I was glad Scott took care of this one. I just gave him the recipes.
We have been busy catching up on the phonics, vocabulary, language arts, spelling, etc from last week. Luckily this was a review week for spelling so that helped. It does feel good to catch up!
Our Magic Treehouse book is Dolphins at Daybreak. Another good reader for the kids and not boring even for an adult. Predictable but not totally boring.
At last we have finished our dioramas. I will post pictures soon. We still may add more animals some day.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Grade 3 - Week 11
Week 11 - Our last week in Brazil!
This week got off to a bad start as we took Monday off to watch a friend's kids. By Monday night, her kids were sick and by Thursday, our girls were sick. So we only got in two good days of school (Tuesday and Wednesday). Thankfully the girls recovered quickly and Scott and I did not get it. The downside is we missed dad's 90th birthday party. We all were very disappointed.
We continued to work on our dioramas. This is a slow process for the girls. But it is fun and they like the finished product. Our Animals this week in Science are the Toucan, Wooley Monkey, and the Sloth.
We made a little yellow airplane to go with our Read aloud - Nate Saint. He was a missionary and pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). This week we reached the end where he is killed. But his death as well as the three other missionaries with him were instrumentatal in eventually teaching the people who killed him about Jesus. So this is what we focused on.
So we finished most of our math, science, bible, and geography this week but are behind in the not so fun things: phonics, reading comprehension, language arts, spelling, and vocabulary. Oh well, next week can be catch-up.
On a side note, the girls had their swimming evaluations this week. They swam 48 laps (down and back) within an hour. Each lap is about 40 yards. Altogether this was over a mile. They did really well but were starving when they were done. They can to the free style, butterfly, breast stroke, and backstroke. They are cointinuing to work on improving technique and speed. Foss Swim school is excellent, al beit a bit pricey. But, they have been swimming about 3 and 1/2 years and are far more advanced than I am. They will be repeating this level again but will also be swimming on the swim team one day a week, starting in January. They are in the top level now with the exception of the swim team. While you can swim competitively with the swim team, you can also just go to the practices. We have decided that we do not want our children to be on competitive teams at this age. If they want to compete in a sport, when they are older, that will be fine but we just don't want to push it. Just let them play and have fun is our philosophy. Swimming twice a week for an hour is great exercise for them.
This week got off to a bad start as we took Monday off to watch a friend's kids. By Monday night, her kids were sick and by Thursday, our girls were sick. So we only got in two good days of school (Tuesday and Wednesday). Thankfully the girls recovered quickly and Scott and I did not get it. The downside is we missed dad's 90th birthday party. We all were very disappointed.
We continued to work on our dioramas. This is a slow process for the girls. But it is fun and they like the finished product. Our Animals this week in Science are the Toucan, Wooley Monkey, and the Sloth.
We made a little yellow airplane to go with our Read aloud - Nate Saint. He was a missionary and pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). This week we reached the end where he is killed. But his death as well as the three other missionaries with him were instrumentatal in eventually teaching the people who killed him about Jesus. So this is what we focused on.
So we finished most of our math, science, bible, and geography this week but are behind in the not so fun things: phonics, reading comprehension, language arts, spelling, and vocabulary. Oh well, next week can be catch-up.
On a side note, the girls had their swimming evaluations this week. They swam 48 laps (down and back) within an hour. Each lap is about 40 yards. Altogether this was over a mile. They did really well but were starving when they were done. They can to the free style, butterfly, breast stroke, and backstroke. They are cointinuing to work on improving technique and speed. Foss Swim school is excellent, al beit a bit pricey. But, they have been swimming about 3 and 1/2 years and are far more advanced than I am. They will be repeating this level again but will also be swimming on the swim team one day a week, starting in January. They are in the top level now with the exception of the swim team. While you can swim competitively with the swim team, you can also just go to the practices. We have decided that we do not want our children to be on competitive teams at this age. If they want to compete in a sport, when they are older, that will be fine but we just don't want to push it. Just let them play and have fun is our philosophy. Swimming twice a week for an hour is great exercise for them.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Grade 3 - Week 10
Week 10 - still in Brazil and loving it. I would love to go to Brazil and see the Rainforest!
We are really enjoying learning about the Rainforests. I could probably do a whole Blog on just that. We started our Rainforest Diorama. We used three shoe boxes. The bottom one is for the Forest Floor, the next one is the Understory, and the last one is the Canopy. Plus the trees sticking out the top will be the emergency layer. This will be a multi-week project. Anna of course loves reading about all the animals. This week we are studying: Llamas, Monkeys, and MaCaws. We have put up a big sheet of paper on our picture window for each layer and as we read we are adding animals and plants that live in each layer. We will use this as we do our dioramas too.
Our Bible verse is Matthew 5:15, which is a continuation from last week (Matthew 5:14): You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
We are continuing reading about Nate Saint as our Read-aloud. I am probably enjoying this book as much as the girls. Still trying to figure out how to apprach the sad ending. I would recommend this book to anyone.
We are also reviewing Consonant digraphs (yuck) and learning about adjectives.
We are really enjoying learning about the Rainforests. I could probably do a whole Blog on just that. We started our Rainforest Diorama. We used three shoe boxes. The bottom one is for the Forest Floor, the next one is the Understory, and the last one is the Canopy. Plus the trees sticking out the top will be the emergency layer. This will be a multi-week project. Anna of course loves reading about all the animals. This week we are studying: Llamas, Monkeys, and MaCaws. We have put up a big sheet of paper on our picture window for each layer and as we read we are adding animals and plants that live in each layer. We will use this as we do our dioramas too.
Our Bible verse is Matthew 5:15, which is a continuation from last week (Matthew 5:14): You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
We are continuing reading about Nate Saint as our Read-aloud. I am probably enjoying this book as much as the girls. Still trying to figure out how to apprach the sad ending. I would recommend this book to anyone.
We are also reviewing Consonant digraphs (yuck) and learning about adjectives.
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