1/29/18

Working on the backgrounds for their ocean habitat art project.

Friday was Australia Day, so our resident Australian shared fun facts, animal descriptions, and even snacks!

Our new story is A Mouse Called Wolf!

The class began their Colonial American puppets!  We will use these for our review!

1/22/18

In science class, the students have been talking about different habitats.  Last week, they learned about a pond ecosystem.  Today, they learned all about life in the ocean.  This science lesson was also integrated into their art project at the end of the day!  The class learned how to use guide lines to keep their facial features in proportion.  They used different colors of chalk pastels to create skin tones, and then they created scuba divers!  They will be working on creating sea life in their ocean backgrounds next week.  They worked very hard on these, and it shows! 

These kids have been working hard on their poetry recitation!  We will be working on this poem for a few more weeks before creating a fun video project.  Keep studying!

In grammar, the class learned the difference between a sentence and a fragment.  After our lesson, the group worked in teams to play a sentence or fragment game!

In history, we reviewed the information that the group has been learning in their at-home assignments.  Behavior, manners, and education was extremely important to the Colonial Americans, and they were very strict!  We talked about the difference in expectations now versus in Colonial era.  We talked about table manners that were enforced in Colonial homes and made a "Stew of Good Manners" to add to our booklets.  

 

Monday, 1/15/18

The class finished their mini-books!  They used sentences with adjectives and adverbs to describe four of their favorite animals here on the farm.

In art, the students learned about 3 dimensional drawing!

They used rulers and created a 3D effect!

In history class, the group finished creating their "keeping rooms"!  They learned all about Colonial homes, and we created pop-ups for them to add to their Colonial Booklet!

Friday, 1/12/18

We don't usually meet on Fridays, but today is our make-up day!  When public schools close, I will also be closed... even if we all know the weather may not be that bad.  If the local school system closes for weather, we will also always be closed for weather!  Safety first... and so here we are on a rainy Friday!

In science class, the students have been learning about metamorphosis and life cycles.  Our butterflies have emerged from their chrysalises!  Ms. Gina taught the class about the life cycle of amphibians such as frogs.  They learned as Ms. Gina led them through a PowerPoint presentation before showing what they know with a Life Cycle Poster.  They all agreed that the Paedophryne amanuensis (the smallest frog species) was the cutest!  They began a puzzle activity that they will complete at home.  Bring them back in and we will discuss them in class!



Because it was raining, we had an indoor picnic at lunch, complete with board games!


Our grammar time was spent reviewing the parts of speech that the students have learned so far.  They have done an amazing job remembering nouns (common and proper), the four types of verbs, and pronouns, but adjectives and adverbs tricked them up a bit.  We began our new grammar booklet: Animals, Adjectives, and Adverbs.  In class they will be choosing four animals here on the farm... not the species, but the actual name of the specific animal.  Then, they will be working to come up with descriptive sentences that use both adverbs and adjectives to tell about each animal.  We will finish these up on Monday and send them home at that time!

I corrected each students' handwriting assignments, and we will be continuing to work through the book next week.  Also, keep studying that poem!  I have big plans for this one!



Art class was a lesson in silhouettes.  The class created backgrounds using waxy crayons and water color paints.  Next, they laid their silhouette scene in the foreground.  At this age, children often only think in one plane, or in one dimension.  By the end of this school year, they should be gaining some skills to expand their thinking!

In history, we have been learning about the families, clothing, and now homes of Colonial America.  The class worked on creating their own Keeping Rooms today!  In Colonial homes, everyone lived in a single room.  The houses were small, and there were no interior walls!  We will finish up our keeping rooms on Monday!