Aiden is doing gr. 3-4
Caileigh 2-3
Mikayla K-1.
Bible
Family activities
Daily Devotions with each child
Memory Verses
Phillippians 4:12 Do everything without complaining or arguing.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.
1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without complaining.
Acts 18:22 He who finds a wife, finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only son and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Gensis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Luke 6:31 Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Psalm 106:1 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever.
Bible and Nurture Series. Reading through the chapter of John. Learned that the first four books of the Bible are called the gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Read about who John was and what he was called to do.
Jesus arrived at the river and how John knew who he was.
Jesus and the beginning of His ministry. Learning about His miracles.
Jesus talking about being born again.
Sunday School
God's plan for marriage. Learning how we can trust God.
Birth-Death. God is in control of our lives and knows everything about us. We can ask Him for help and we can be forgiven of our sins. We can be with Him in heaven one day. Death can be a celebration!
Thankfulness-Learning to give thanks in everything.
Looking at ways to serve others. The kids are raising money for those less fortunate by bringing in spare changing. Doing chores at home to earn money to donate.
Prayer-learning what to pray for. Learning how to pray. Learning why it is important to pray.
Leading Little Ones to God
Who is God?
Why we cannot see God.
God talks to us.
God sent His son.
God is one God.
God is everywhere.
God knows all things.
God is three persons.
God is Holy.
The kids enjoyed a week of VBS.
Read "The True Story of Noah's Ark" by Tom Dooley We learned many fascinating facts about the true account of Noah's Ark and not the storybook versions we are often taught as children.
Our co-op group wants to find ways to serve in our community. We're hoping that we can use opportunities to teach the kids about serving others, and learning to put others needs, above our own.
We had our first service project and it was to sell lemonade to raise money for the Casa Horizonte Orphanage in Ensenada Mexico.
The kids were thrilled to help raise over $130 !
{There were lot's of kids available to help so they took "shifts" and the stand was open for 2 1/2 hours.}
Character
Thankfulness-Looking at the world around us and being thankful for everything we have. Finding ways to show thankfulness to others in our lives. Brainstorming different ways to show thankfulness.
We made baking and thank you cards for others.
Kindness-Through reading an Aesop Fable, we looked at how kindness can occur in unlikely situations. There are always opportunities to be kind.
Sharing-How can we share the multitude that we have, with those that have less. Having selfless hearts. Giving of ourselves, our possessions and our time.
Giving of ourselves- How can little people help to serve and bless others. One simple way is to offer a bright smile and eye contact when talking to someone. This makes them feel important and can lift their spirits. Practicing this through role play.
Math
Caileigh
Working with division.
Continuing on with Singapore 2A with multiplication.
Working on 2's multiplication
Working on 3's multiplication
Reviewing all past topics in preparation for Singapore 2B
{Using bears to help visualize division}
Aiden
Word problems with addition/subtraction/multiplication/division. Multi steps.
Multiplication drills.
-Started Singapore 4A-looking at numbers up millions. Addition, subtraction, ordering, filling in the blanks e.g.. 4,968,328 is 1000 great than _________
-Finding n eg. 29,000 + n = 41,000 or n x 5 = 40,000
-Rounding numbers eg. 235, 870 rounded to the nearest thousand
-Finding factors
-Finding common factors of 2 numbers
-Find the missing factors using only prime numbers
-Finding missing factors represented by n eg. 24=3x2xn
--Finding multiples and common multiples
-Finding values using order of operations e.g.. 20+4/4-4= or 32+8+10x2=
-4 digit addition and subtraction review. (with and without carrying)
-Rounding to estimate addition and subtraction answers
-multiplication with several numbers
Language Arts
10-15min. daily typing practice using All The Right Type 4
Aiden is now typing more than 20 words a minute on home row. He really enjoys typing.
Daily dictation exercise taken from Bible and Nurture reader.
Pathway Readers
-vocabulary
-comprehension questions
-spelling rules
-grammar review}
Daily reading comprehension through Pathway Reader.
{Caileigh-learning when to use "oi" or "oy"}
-Alphabetical order
-Complete/incomplete sentences-complete thought, capital and periods.
-Learning "subject" and "predicate".
-Diagramming sentences with simple subject and simple predicate. (and more than one subject or predicate)
-Telling sentences, asking sentences
-Quotations and their proper use.
-Apostrophes and proper use.
{Caileigh-quotations}
{Aiden-capitalization in Quotations}
Read-Alouds-Everyone
-The Adventures of Buster Bear Thornton Burgess
-Stuart Little E. B. White
-Now We Are Six A.A. Milne
-The Courage of Sarah Noble
-Growing with the Millers
-Pioneer Girl- The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson(discussed biography and autobiography)
-The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
-Anne of Green Gables-Focus on the Family audio CD
-autobiography of Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson
-The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton
-The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
-Summer with the Moodys by Sarah Maxwell (currently reading)
The kids with a quiet activity while I read our latest read-aloud.
Aiden from A Reason for Handwriting C
Caileigh is really enjoying cursive!
{Caileigh's first cursive sentence!}
Writing Wednesdays
-Assignment to write about something factual of their choice.
-Assignment to write a paragraph about one thing we did on our holidays while using as many adjectives as they could think of.
-Caileigh completed a character sketch about a character from a book, "The Sugar creek Gang." She looked at different things the character did, and what clues that gave her into the character.
Aiden and Caileigh completed a Sandwich Book Report.
There were seven different "layers".
eg. of Caileigh's.
eg. of Aiden's.
Aiden wrote an acrostic poem about our new dog, Buddy. He used a dictionary to get ideas.
Caileigh recently obtained a pen pal from Japan. She wrote the girl a letter and filled it with stickers and a bookmark. Akane wrote Caileigh back and exchanged stickers and photos. Caileigh has since written back and included a poster she made about Canada.
Aiden wrote a letter to his friend.
Caileigh and Anna wrote a short story each. They traded stories and edited each other's stories and then sent back the edited version. First, Caileigh looked for sentences starting with capitals and ending with periods. She then looked up misspelled words in the dictionary and finally I went through the story with her and explained why I put punctuation marks in.
Aiden traded stories with another boy. They have been having fun writing short stories and then editing one anothers work. They look for spelling, punctuation and offer each other ideas.
Spelling
Weekly spelling words and activities including narration, dictation, alphabetical order, games, and more.
We reviewed the rule of doubling the consonant before adding "ed" or "ing" if the short vowel sound is followed by one consonant, eg. hop
We reviewed the rule of dropping the silent "e" in a long vowel word before adding "ing" e.g.. hide
{Caileigh's spelling test}
{Aiden's spelling test}
Five in a Row selection-Family
Andy and the Lion
Topics covered:
We looked at openings and closing of stories and how some are more effective than others.
We compared several stories to see which we like best.
How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World
Topics covered:
-discussing humour in books
-learning about pantomime and trying some of our own.
-Discussing fresh food and the importance to practice certain procedures to keep food fresh and healthy.
-We put salt water in a shallow container in the sun to see what would happen. We each guessed what we thought would happen. It was fun to see the salt crystals forming. Too bad I turned the sprinkler on and diluted the water:(
-Pie baking!
Lentil
Topics covered:
-Making lemonade
-Baking lemon cake
-Doing a science experiment to see which parts of the tongue, receive which tastes.
-Discussing elements of a story. Setting, characters, plot, climax and conclusion. We paid extra attention to climax. I would tell a story and the kids had to shout "Climax!" when I reached that point in the story.
Poetry
The goal is to memorize a poem and a prose each month. The kids have been trying a variety of different styles.
Aiden is memorizing the poem, "I wish I could Meet the Man that Knows" by John Ciardi
Caileigh is memorizing the poem, "Mice" by Rose Fyleman
Aiden and Caileigh are taking speech classes every 2 weeks.
They are working on Canadian poetry. They will recite their poems at a recital on November 24th.
Discussing alliteration. Reading books with alliteration and finding it within poetry.
Finding the rhymes within poetry.
Writing Simplified Haiku poetry.
We wrote some together with the theme "grass". We came up with 5 syllables to describe "where", 7 syllables to describe "what" and 5 syllables to describe "when".
Each child then wrote Haiku's on their own.
eg. of one of Caileigh's.
In a great big field,
horses gallop and whinny
on a sunny day.
eg. of one of Aiden's.
In the great blue sky
birds are chirping as they fly
on a summer night.
As a family we've memorized "Tor-on-to-to", from the book Eenie Meenie Manitoba. There are many humerous poems about Canada that we enjoy.
We had a poetry tea party. We are hoping to make this a monthly tradition.
Apologia Botany
Aiden, Caileigh and Mikayla, along with a few of their friends, are going through Apologia Botany together. We do the readings together as a family and then get together for experiments that further the learning.
Learning about key words and definitions eg. botany, botanists, taxonomy. Classification of plants e.g.. vascular/non-vascular, seed bearing/non seed/bearing etc. We note booked about the definitions and found examples from outside to draw or glue in.
{Caileigh's note booking page with examples of vascular and non-vascular plants}
For experiment day, we planted seeds. We discussed the various sizes/appearances of seeds. We noted that some seeds are extremely small but when we held up the tape measure to see how tall the plant will become, we were surprised. We planted various seeds and will transplant them into our garden once they become seedlings.
We also put bean seeds into three separate bags with wet paper towel. We put one bag in the fridge, one in a dark cupboard, and one in a bright window. We will be noting which bean seeds grow best. The kids predict that the one in the window will grow best, and the one in the fridge the least.
We have been documenting the beans progress on our chart. The seed in the cupboard is growing hte quickest! We were confused as plants need light. We then realized that when a seed is placed in the soil, it is a dark environment.
Watched The Magic School Bus episodes about seeds and another about photosynthesis.
We looked at all the things that surround us that are made from plants and trees. Wood tables, cotton in our clothing, our food, etc.
We learned that animals benefit from the fruit formed by a plant and then the seeds go back into the environment through their waste.
We discussed the difference between a "need" and a "want". We looked at the needs of a plant, and compared them to our needs. We both need air, water, food, etc.
We discussed the different parts of a bean seedling and dissected one. We talked about what some of these parts do. eg. cotyledon give the seed the energy it needs to grow, the testa is the outer covering of a seed (like a jacket on a person......when a jacket gets wet, we take it off) We used the term germination.
We learned that animals benefit from the fruit formed by a plant and then the seeds go back into the environment through their waste.
We discussed the difference between a "need" and a "want". We looked at the needs of a plant, and compared them to our needs. We both need air, water, food, etc.
We discussed the different parts of a bean seedling and dissected one. We talked about what some of these parts do. eg. cotyledon give the seed the energy it needs to grow, the testa is the outer covering of a seed (like a jacket on a person......when a jacket gets wet, we take it off) We used the term germination.
We reviewed the parts of a plant. We discussed that although there are so many different types of plants (looks, sizes, colours, uses) they all share some things in common eg. roots, stem, leaves, flower, etc.
We looked at the life cycle of a plant. We went outside to find different stages of the dandelion life cycle.
We watched videos from brain pop jr. on plant life cycle and plant parts.
We watched a video illustration showing the stages of a plant life.
We re-explored an art project we did last year.
Today we reviewed that there are many different kind of plants but they almost all have roots, stems, flowers and leaves in common. The kids coloured a sheet showing the plant parts and labelling them.
We created two posters. One was to list the ways in which plants are important to living things and the environment. The other was to show the uses of plants throughout the seasons. It is amazing how much all life depends on plants! We will keep these posters ongoing and add to them each week.
We broke into groups (Aiden & Colin) (Emily & Caileigh) and they picked two different plants to compare. Aiden and Colin compared an apple tree and grass. Emily and Caileigh compared an apple tree and tomato plant. They created two Venn diagrams. One showed the differences/similarities between the appearance of the two chosen plants. The second Venn diagram showed the differences/similarities between the life cycle of the two plants. Each child took a turn sharing their findings.
We then head outside for our scavenger hunt.
We learned about how flowers are a gift from God. Without angiosperms there would be no beauty. There would be no fruit, vegetables and grains. Herbivores wouldn't have food to eat so they would die. Carnivores rely on herbivores for food so they would die. We would all have to survive on fish. There would be no cotton for clothing or trees for housing. So many of the things we rely on are related to angiosperms.
{Aiden's paper explaining the importance of plants to living things/environment)
{Caileigh and her friend talking about the importance of plants in a dramatic fashion.....Aiden was filming and he kept getting the giggles so it is a little shaky. Also too bad the lilacs they used to decorate the table covered Caileigh's face.}
Today we learned about the different parts of the flower and how they all work together for the functioning and reproducing of the plant. We dissected a flower. We also watched Brain Pop videos about Adaptation of plants, seedless plants, seed plants.
{Caileigh's}
{Aiden's}
We learned about pollination this week. We learned about how bees aid in the process and also other animals and factors. We met together with our group and did an activity using Cheezies and paper flower to show how pollen (cheese dust) spreads. We made a poster using some interesting facts about bees. We watched videos on bees, and pollination from Brain Pop. We worked together to make a fruit salad. We then read The Bee Tree and ate baking powder biscuits, honey and tea (hot apple juice) just like the characters in the book.
For our final Botany class, we discussed and looked at leaves. We collected as many as we could, and then we broke off into 2 groups, which ended up being boys and girls:)
We then discussed "classifying" and put our leaves into as many groups as we thought made the best sense. Some chose to classify by size, and others by the number of ridges. Once this task was completed, we made squares on a paper to correlate to the number of groups we had. The kids then made crayon rubbings of the leaves, using a sample from each group, in each square. We had a leaf identifying book and walked around the yard to see if we could identify the leaves. We also took time to examine some different insects and features of the trees and bushes.
We went and visited some bees. We got to watch our friends smoke the bees to calm them. We watched her check through the hives looking for honey and eggs. We got to bring home a giant jar of honey. We were also able to ask lot's of questions and learn all about raising bees.
A trip to the Vancouver Game Farm. We spent time enjoying the lion feeding and the birds of prey demonstration. We saw a variety of animals and enjoyed learning little facts about each one.
Nature Adventure Club
The three older kids are participating in a Nature Adventure Club. They walk through different parts of our community for three hours looking at local plant and animal life. They have been learning about what plants are edible and various purposes of different plants. They learned about a particular plant that is effective as mosquito repellent. They found mosquito larvae.
The kids hiked up to the top of the old ski hill. It was a tough climb and Aiden was proud to have made it to the top. Caileigh made it 1/2 way. They studied dragon fly larvae, frogs, and small snails.
The guide brought along a book about medicinal and food sources of wild plants. They learned to find wild onion, which we also read that the pioneers ate. We learned that horehound was used to treat sore throats and echinacea for the immune system.
Aiden did a mini-report on dogs.
Stayed up late one night and watched the Perseid meteor shower.
Read books on the Arctic.
Watched a video on Arctic habitat on Brain Pop Jr.
Learned about the different uses of plants in the Arctic-medicinal, tea, food, burning for fire, etc.
Creating mini-lapbooks about the Arctic.
{Examples of illustrations-Mikayla}
{Aiden}
{Caileigh}
Canada/Geography
-Test of Canada
(Had to label all provinces and capital cities on a blank map. Also 2 oceans and Arctic sea, Queen Charlotte Islands, Fraser River, St. Lawrence Seaway, Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, Capital of Canada, Country to our south, the prime minister.)
-Memorizing the provinces and capital cities.-
-Colouring a map of Canada
-Learned facts about the provinces symbols
-Reading books about the provinces.
-The kids each choose a province and wrote a mini-report. They found information from this site. They presented their findings to the family and compared some of the facts, e.g.. population, flags, etc.
-The had a lot of fun playing games on Canada found on this site and this site.
{Aiden's mini-report on BC}
Community
During our trip to Vancouver, Sean was able to point out different factories that produce products for Safeway e.g. Lucerne milk plant, Burnaby Lake Floral greenhouses. We talked a little about the process of getting the products from these factories, to the store and the different jobs involved in this process eg. factory workers, truck drivers, etc.
Watched videos on Brain Pop Jr. on community helpers.
Visited Fire Hall.
Current Events
Canadian Reader-read and discussed September issue.
Continued a bit of research to see how the Arctic Joule has been progressing with it's trip through the Northwest Passage. Are hoping to continue following along.
Canadian Reader-October issue
The Story of the World
-Chapter 4-Samual Champlain and Henry Hudson. We read about the discovery of Kebec (later becoming Quebec) through the St. Lawrence River. We learned about Henry's discovery of the Hudson Bay. At the time he thought he discovered the North West Passage.
We did an experiment using modeling clay and a Werther's Original to see how you can determine whether a rock is gold of pirate by looking at malleability, conductivity, lustre and ductility.
Chapter 5-Warlords of Japan. We read about Hideyoshi and the first Tokugawa ruler.
We created Haiku poems and fastened them on to a stick so they could blow in the wind. This is similiar to what the Japanese do during the Star Festival (Tanabata July7)
We read about Japanese Tea Ceremony and had a loose variation. We had foods to represent water, mountains and the current season. We drank (mango) green tea.
Chapter 6-New Colonies in the New World. Learned about the pilgrims and first thanksgiving. Made traditional indian pudding and corn bread.
Additional reading: Canadian Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving on Thursday-Magic Tree House, A Pioneer Thanksgiving by Barbara Greenwood.
Chapter 7-The Spread of slavery
Additional reading: Amistad Rising by Veronica Chambers
Who Owns the Sun by Stacy Chbosky
{Mikayla's picture}
Governance
Watched a brain pop jr. video on roles, rights and responsibilities.
Discussed how we live out these responsibilities. Some ideas are by obeying rules, recycling, helping others, etc.
Canadian Government
The kids received a package from the Prime Minister in response to their letters! There was a letter written by the correspondent, a book on symbols of Canada, a poster of parliament, pins, book marks and an autographed photograph of Stephen Harper. The kids were thrilled! The material will be great to add to our library for Canadian studies.
Aboriginal
Aiden and Caileigh spent the day at Aboriginal Days as Sean was serving food for Safeway. They learned about the culture.
They created various crafts. They learned how drums were made and that the difference in sound was achieved by the thickness in hide used. They got to taste bannock and various items made from fruit like juices, and ice cream.
They saw traditional clothing and dances.
Watched videos on Brain Pop about the Iroquois.
Identity/Society and Culture
Identify changes that occur in communities over time.
Describe the importance of communities.
Reading about various heroic/important Canadians.
Read about Madeleine de Vercheres.
Human and Physical Environment
Describe how the physical environment influenced early settlement in their local community.
Our summer project involves exploring two communities in BC. Aiden is looking at the history of 100 Mile, and Caileigh is looking at the history of Powell River. We are comparing these two communities.
Aiden and Caileigh have been going through books, and the internet, and finding out information about housing, schools, jobs, entertainment, etc. They are putting the information into their notebooks. They are also adding illustrations.
Aiden visited the Travel Info Center and obtained informative brochures about 100 Mile.
{Aiden's note booking page}
{Caileigh's note booking page}
Aiden and Caileigh spoke with their Bupee (Grandpa) on Skype asking him questions about his time growing up in Powell River. They discussed how life was different when he was a boy. He gave examples of all the modern day appliances that his kitchen now has, that he didn't have back then. ( eg. microwave, pop up toaster, bread maker etc.)
He told the kids that they used to dump garbage into the ocean. When he asked his mother why they did this, she told him that the salt water would kill the germs. The kids found this fact fascinating!
We discussed how much more active people's lives were. Everything they did from laundry, to cooking was much more physical. People didn't need to make exercise such a separate activity because they were active in all that they did. Now days, we need to find ways to include this aspect into our lives because everything has gotten so convenient.
We discussed how the geography of a community would lend to deciding the industry that the community would be built around.
eg.- 100 Mile was built up around the time of the gold rush so there were roadhouses that were established as it was a place to travel through. Cattle ranching became a major industry as the formation of the land lent to this. Powell River is on the coast so fishing became an industry. The river lent itself to the building of a pulp and paper mill and so this, along with forestry is also a major industry.
We discussed the different tools used to make housing back then. They didn't have the extensive motorized tools that we have to make a job go quickly.
{Aiden and Caileigh made a model of an old roadhouse}
Aiden and Caileigh have been discussing how the two communities are different and similar. They worked together to create a Venn diagram to illustrate some of these items.
We have been looking at aspects of forestry, cattle, fishing and mining communities. Looking at how they are similar and different. What are they dependent on? How does the impact of these industries effect the environment? We discussed the importance of a major industry on a community for jobs and resources. We read a book about mining in Canada. We discussed what would happen if oil was being transported through a tanker ship and the ship lost oil. This would create an oil spill which would in turn effect the fishing industry and the well being of animals. Our food source would be contaminated. It would change animal life cycles. One small thing can have catastrophic effects on everything else. Mining factories produce smoke which effects our air quality. We learned that they used to put all the waste into the ground. (like the garbage in the ocean) Now they find ways to create wildlife parks out of these old waste sites. Researchers developed special plants that will grow in these areas.
Brainstorming ideas and note booking.
Reading library books on these communities.
Read A Pioneer Story by Barbara Greenwood. Takes place in Canada in 1840 and is giving us a wonderful glimpse at the life during these times. We're learning about housing, farming, food preparation, farm animals, etc.
Caileigh wrote a short paper about Powell River's history.
Aiden decided to write a journal entry of a character he named John Willington. We burnt the edges of the paper and painted a tea bag over it to give it an aged look. He painted some rocks gold to pretend he found them during the gold rush. He also made a map showing where the gold was buried.
{Dear Diary Sept 9, 1868 I just found out about a gold in Barkerville. I am about to travel there to find some of my own. The bad news is I just discoverd there are gold bandits in town. When I get back, I will bury my gold in my back pasture. John Willington.}
The kids took a visit to Barkerville.
The kids are working on a project from a topic we have covered in The Story of the World.
Caileigh is choosing to do one on Elizabeth 1, and Aiden is doing one on knights and the Crusades.
Each child has been given one month to collect their research and put together a poster that they will orally present to the family at the end of the month. They have already put in a few hours on this project. I look forward to seeing their final products!
Fine Arts
Everyone
- Colouring with the Classics program. We listened to Antonio Vivaldi, read facts about him and coloured a picture of Venice (Vivaldi's hometown).
The kids all got together with our neighbours and they put on a play of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. My neighbour narrated and the kids acted out the parts. They had so much fun reciting their lines!
A pre-show meeting.
Practicing songs for our year-end recital next month. A solo each, and their festival duet.
Aiden is playing Ode to Joy and he loves it so much he is practicing several times a day!
We discussed Andy Warhol's 5 patterns in nature and created our own artwork.
{Caileigh's}
Aiden and Caileigh drew pictures that included either personification, or hidden animals.
We learned about Robert Bateman. We have left a book out so that the kids can come and examine his work up close. Everyone was so fascinated by how realistic his work is.
We had friends over for an "art party". We explored 3 different art projects.
Health/Career
-apply a goal-setting model to a short-term goal
We discussed what goals are and looked at some we have made in the past.
As a family, we brainstormed a list of goals that we want to accomplish this summer. They are activities that we hope to do together. eg. horse riding, geocaching, etc.
Aiden and Caileigh then looked at an individual goal they want to accomplish. They filled in a flow chart showing the goal and the steps it will take for them to get there.
Aiden's goal is to try extreme mountain biking i.e.. trail riding.
Caileigh's goal is to be able to do cartwheels by the end of the summer.
* Reviewed these goals to see how close we came to completing them. Discussed how we can revise/change goals and keep working towards them.
Reviewing healthy eating. Discussing the different food groups. I recently discovered I am anemic so we discussed how it is important for your body to have a variety of different vitamins/minerals from an assortment of foods. We shouldn't eat the same things each day and each meal should include all the food groups. We have been checking our meals to see if they are balanced.
Learning about puppy care and responsibility. Coming along on a vet visit.
Trying a variety of handicrafts and baking. (Pictures at bottom as I can't get them to fit in this space for some reason?)
Read a book about recycling and discussed the importance of not putting more garbage into the ground. Decided that we could help by picking up garage in our neighbourhood. We went on a garbage walk and managed to collect 5 grocery bags of garbage!
We discussed the different types of health.....physical, spiritual, emotional, etc. We talked about different ways we can keep our bodies healthy. Exercising, eating well, sleeping, reading the bible, etc. I asked the kids to each make a poster to share with me some aspects of health.
{Mikayla's}
{Caileigh's}
{Aiden's}
We discussed people that we admire. We looked at different characteristics that these people have that lead us to admire them. Aiden chose to look at extreme mountain bikers and Caileigh looked at adventurers.
{Aiden's}
We read two library books about smoking. Let's talk about Smoking by Sanders
Let's Talk About Smoking by Elizabeth Weitzman
We discussed all the health reasons not to smoke and why it is important to keep our bodies healthy.
We watched some anti-smoking ads. (some rather disturbing, yet worth seeing!)
Watched a video on Brain Pop about smoking.
The kids each created an anti-smoking poster.
{Mikayla's}
{Aiden's}
{Caileigh's}
Fire Safety
Visited the firehall and had a tour. Learned about fire safety. Got to try on and learn about the various trucks, equipment, etc. Saw a fireman in complete uniform so we wouldn't be scared to see on in a fire.
Watched videos on fire safety from Brain Pop, You Tube and other sources.
Read, "Dragons Coming to Tea".
Received fire safety information from our tour.
Practiced and reviewed our fire safety plan.
Tested our smoke alarms.
Reviewed dialing 9-1-1 and our phone number/address.
Being resourceful on a very rainy day. Practiced kicking, throwing, jumping, hurdles, potato sack races and more!
Kids help set up and clean up the sports day activities.
As a group we discussed "encouragement" and how as a group we can work together to encourage others. What can we do to make every participant feel welcome. All the games and activities we played this day, reflected our theme of encouragement.
Learning to work together as a team to play different games.
We discussed how being active can help kids make good decisions in life. Kids who are physically healthy and active will be less likely to want to smoke and put harmful substances into their bodies. Being healthy feels good!
This day our theme was "teamwork". We had kids ages 2-11 participating and found activities that allowed the older ones to help the younger ones to complete the challenges. We couldn't move on to the next activity, until everyone had completed the current one. Older kids did a great job helping the younger ones with things like balance beam walking, baseball batting, obstacle courses, etc.
Daily jumping on our new trampoline! I am so excited about this addition to our daily fitness.
Archery
Aiden and Caileigh have started Archery! Aiden is so excited to have this opportunity to learn a skill that he has been hoping to try for sometime. He received a new bow for his birthday. They will attend weekly in the fall.
Lot's of bike riding. Aiden and Caileigh can easily ride the 2 lake trails. The total from our house is 11km.
Aiden participated in a community ride to raise money for cancer. He rode the 10km ride with his Grandpa.
Mikayla learned to ride a 2 wheeler and has gone on family bike rides. She is gaining strength each time.
Mikayla
Math
We've been playing math games to help with number recognition.
I write down a number and she dabs the bingo dabber the correct number of times. She also likes to find the correct number of coloured tiles.
Right Start Math A- Writing numbers. Showing numbers with fingers, tally marks and on abacus.
Working with patterns.
Learning the terms parallel, perpendicular.
Putting different sized shapes "in order". Exploring different ways to put things in order.
Learning the days of the week. We sing it in a song.
-solving simple addition and subtraction problems using manipulatives eg. 3+2 or 5-1 etc.
Practicing ordering.
Mikayla has now completed the first book in Singapore K covering topics such as..........
-Recognizing and writing numbers 1-20
-Addition and Subtraction questions up to 10
-More than or Less than
-Longer than or Shorter than
-Heavier than, lighter than
-Patterns
-Measured water to check for capacity....how many cups to fill a bucket?
-Numbers up to 20. 10 + ____ = _____ (Looking for patterns)
{Measuring water......how many cups to fill a jar?}
Bible
Daily devotions from our book, "God and Me Devotions for Girls". Discussions about how God wants us to live and making good choices.
-learning about being kind. "God wants me to be kind".
Made a flower with the verse on it.
read the story about Peter and John healing the crippled man.
Language Arts
Read Aloud
The Adventures of Reddy Fox by Thornton Burgess
The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse by Thornton Burgess
The Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder -audio CD (unabridged)
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Bunnies in the Bathroom an Animal Ark book by Ben M. Baglio (Currently Reading)
Because we read Charlotte's Web, Mikayla made a little flip book about pigs. She drew a picture from the story and narrated what she wanted me to write.
A Reason for Handwriting K
Mikayla's big Kindergarten project is creating a 100 Mile alphabet book. She has decided on things around the community that start with each letter and we have been taking pictures of each of these things. We will then start printing out, "A is for ____", etc. At the end, I will have the book professionally lamenated and she will have a special kindergarten momento.
"R is for recycling"
{Mikayla pictured at the recycling depot}
She wanted to make a birthday card for someone so I wrote "Happy Birthday" on a piece of paper and she copied it out independently.
She likes to complete work sheets where you have to circle the letter that makes the first (or last) sound of a word.
She likes to take the letter magnets and sound out and create words, like "cat" or "sun", etc.
Mikayla is working through the 2nd set of Bob Books. Each time she completes a book, she receives another circle to add to her caterpillar.
We played a game where I would ask Mikayla to create the word, "cat". I would then ask her to change the word to cap, or sat, etc. She said she wanted to write a story so she put together the following sentence. She originally had all the letters together so I showed her how to make a space between the words by using her two fingers. I also helped her sound out "is" as she wanted to put a "z". She knew the spelling of "the" as I always remind her that t-h-e says "the".
Science
Mikayla is interested in learning about different animals and their habitats.
We watched various videos on Brain Pop Jr. on the various habitats.
We learned about zebras and spiders.
We got books out of the library on wetland habitats and the animals that live there.
We are reading about dolpins.
We learned about "living" and "non-living". Mikayla liked playing a game where Aiden would name different things and Mikayla had to guess if they were living or non-living. She understands the concept and did well with it.
She created a diorama of a zebra.
-Learning about foods that come from plants or animals.
-Enjoying hiking through the local trails and learning about local plants and animals. Found mosquito larvae, dragonfly larvae, frogs, and snails.
-We read a book called, "The Dandelion Seed". and discussed the life cycle of the dandelion. Mikayla got really excited when she made the connection that each seed, started an entirely new plant. She realized that this is why we were getting so many new plants in our yard. She even took some responsibility for having blown many seeds around herself:)
-We talked about different plants in our yard and talked about what it means to compare them to each other by finding out their similarities and differences. We compared dandelions and lilacs, e.g.. yellow/purple, big/small, weed/bush, etc.
We read The Magic School Bus Exploring the Senses. We talked about what each of the five senses do and how they tell us about our world. We played a game to explore each of the senses.
Sight-We took turns looking around the room to describe what we saw
Taste-I blindfolded them and they tasted foods and guessed what it was.
Smell-I blindfolded them and held different smells up and they guessed what it was.
Touch-I put various items under a blanket and they had to feel to guess what it was.
Hearing-I went in the other room and made a variety of noises and they had to guess what items made the noise.
Read a series of library books about Touching, Hearing, Tasting, Smelling and Hearing.
Discussing how our senses help us.
{Mikayla trying to guess what was under the blanket......it was tin foil!}
Mikayla likes to go outside on a blanket. We then try and list all the things we can hear/see/taste/touch and smell.
Mikayla is doing a project on Rabbits. She is putting her research together onto a poster and will present her findings to the family at the end of the month. She's been busy colouring lot's of pictures of rabbits! (even easter bunnies!)
Health/Career/Social Studies
We read, "No Dragons for Tea: FireSafety for Kids" and discussed fire safety. We reviewed the stop/drop/roll procedure as well as exits in our home and not opening a hot door knob. We talked about not going back into a home for items but staying outside. We talked about how sometimes firemen can look scary in their fire gear so we shouldn't be afraid.
We're practicing reciting our address and phone number.
We learned about dialing 9-1-1 in an emergency only!
Fire Hall Tour
Visited the firehall and had a tour. Learned about fire safety. Got to try on and learn about the various trucks, equipment, etc. Saw a fireman in complete uniform so we wouldn't be scared to see on in a fire.
Watched videos on fire safety from Brain Pop, You Tube and other sources.
Read, "Dragons Coming to Tea".
Received fire safety information from our tour.
Practiced and reviewed our fire safety plan.
Tested our smoke alarms.
Reviewed dialing 9-1-1 and our phone number/address.
We read Bag in the Wind by Ted Kooser. We discussed the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. We talked about what happens to our garbage and why we want to reduce it.
Looking at all the different things that can be recycled and what we can do to help.
We read a book about Police Officers by Paulette Bourgeois and discussed their role in our community and who we know personally that are police officers.
A visit to the recycling depot to take a photo for Mikayla's alphabet book.
We read "The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore)". Discussed the importance of recycling and what happens to garbage and how it can negatively effect the earth.
We brainstormed things that we can do to help as a family. i.e. recycling, picking up garbage.
We put on our gloves and went for a walk in our neighbourhood picking up garbage.
Discussing the different food groups. I recently discovered I am anemic so we discussed how it is important for your body to have a variety of different vitamins/minerals from an assortment of foods. We shouldn't eat the same things each day and each meal should include all the food groups. We have been checking our meals to see if they are balanced.
We discussed the difference between "Needs" and "Wants". Mikayla looked through a magazine and made 2 posters to show the difference.
Mikayla ate a berry without first checking with me. We discussed the importance of always checking with an adult before eating foods in the wild. We talked about poisons and what they can do to our body.
Bike riding on the road each day. Reviewing safety on bikes. Following family rules e.g.. stopping and pulling over when a car drives by, not going past where you can see an adult, etc.
Mikayla enjoys playing "Safetyville" and learning about safety facts.
{Mikayla coloured a map of the seven continents. She is memorizing them}
Apparently the brown spots on Antarctica are seals:)
Fine Arts
Playing with Discovery Toys Buttons set. Mikayla made a dog.
Exploring a variety of different handicrafts like shirt designing, magnet making, etc.
Mikayla has started piano lessons.
-Learning about rhythm, proper positions, loud/soft notes, short/long notes, etc.
-Mikayla's picture of Mikayla and Daddy
Mikayla loves "Draw Write Now". Everyday she tries drawing different animals.
Pictures from our "Back to School Art Party"!
I set up 3 different stations and we rotated the 13 kids.
It was a lot of fun!
A purse that Caileigh made.
Fall Fair 2013
{Mikayla}
{Caileigh}
{Aiden}
Co-Op Class (Meets every 2 weeks)
Art Co-op Class-exploring chalk pastels, collaging and stamping (September)
{Mikayla's mouse}
{Caileigh's princess}
{Aiden's storm trooper}
{Mikayla's}
{Caileigh's}
{Aiden's}
Co-Op Arctic Habitats (October)
Our co-op group got together to discuss arctic habitats. We did a couple of crafts, made snack and listened to some stories. Each child will be completing a flip book about the arctic and then we will be sharing them with each other when we meet in two weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment