March 18 - 22

MATH

Preston:

Preston completed four math assignments in his math book this week.  He is also working on reviewing addition and subtraction and learning new multiplication facts using math wrap-ups.  

Marissa:

Marissa completed four math assignments in her math book this week.  She is also working on reviewing addition and subtraction facts to increase her time calculating in her head using math wrap-ups.  She loves them!   

Caleb:

Caleb completed two assignments in his math book this week.  He LOVES counting, playing math games and doing anything that has to do with numbers.  

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed four assignments in his language arts book this week.  He learned and reviewed the soft c and soft g sounds for phonics and did quite a bit of dictation work.  His timed reading speed is increasing quickly and he is getting more and more confident in his reading.  He is starting to read more and more for fun instead of just when it's an assignment, which is so exciting for both of us! 

Marissa: 

Marissa completed two assignments in her language arts book this week.  She is spending most of her time practicing easy readers and Bob books to increase her confidence and fluency with reading.  Marissa and Preston both wrote and illustrated compound words that fold together to show how two separate words come together to make a third word.  It was a lot of fun! 

Caleb:

Caleb completed two assignments in his language arts book this week.  He also played a letter game with his flash cards saying the sounds of each letter and coming up with new words that starts with that letter to move ahead in the game.   

HISTORY (WORLD GEOGRAPHY)

Preston, Marissa & Caleb:

We learned about Ireland this week for World Geography.  It was fun to learn about since St. Patrick's Day had just passed so we could talk about it.  I found a really good website with lots of fun facts about Ireland and we also watched an educational video on YouTube that talked about Ireland.  We read old folk tales from Ireland as well, which were fun for the kids because some of them were similar to fairy tales they have read.  One in particular reminded them of Cinderella.  

After our reading and discussion, we had a delicious shepherd's pie for lunch.  We talked about how authentic shepherd's pie would have been made with lamb, but ours was made with beef.  In England, they call it shepherd's pie if it's made with lamb and cottage pie if it's made with beef.  

TECH (BUILDING & ENGINEERING)

Preston:

The kids decided to build with brain flakes this week for building and engineering.  Preston made a tree and a lizard.  It was so cute!   

Marissa:

Marissa made a horse and carriage out of brain flakes this week.  I am always so surprised at how creative they can be with such simple construction materials.   

Caleb:

Caleb made a dragon with brain flakes this week.  He played with his dragon for two days straight! 

OPTIONAL (PE)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class three times this week.   

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week.   

Caleb:

Caleb attended his karate class two times this week.   

OTHER

Preston:

Preston received his recital piece in piano which he will be practicing a lot in the next coming weeks.  He was practicing one day and Marissa leaned over to me and whispered, "Hey!  He's playing lagato.  We learned about that last week in class.  We were kangaroos for stacatto and swans for legato" (stated matter-of-factly while hopping and then gently gliding around the room.  I LOVE Musikgarten and the way it teaches kids music and piano in a way that they understand and is natural and non-threatening!!

Caleb:

Caleb and I spent some one-on-one time at the Tree House Museum while the older two kids were attending their science and art co-op class.  We had so much fun playing together and read SO MANY BOOKS.  Caleb especially liked reading in the eagle's nest and bear cave.  We also had a birthday party for our friend, "Bear-y," complete with cake, candles and creature friends!  ;)