January 20 - 24

MATH

Preston:

Preston completed four assignments in his math book this week.  He is working on multiplication and finding area for squares and rectangles.  He is also reviewing multi-digit addition and subtraction.   

Marissa:

Marissa completed four assignments in her math book this week.  She is working on learning carrying and borrowing for multi-digit addition and subtraction.  

Caleb:

Caleb completed three assignments in his math book this week.  He also attended his “Math through Music and Movement” class at ZigArts.  They read another MathStart Level 2 book called "The Magic Elevator" and practiced some simple subtraction mental math skills.  

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed four assignments in his language arts book this week.  He also completed three modules each day in TTRS and read for 30 minutes every day.  He is working on the 3rd Box Car Children book, but also read story books to Caleb several times.  

Marissa: 

Marissa completed four assignments in her language arts book this week.  One of her assignments was a study about an artist using nouns, verbs and adjectives to describe the painting.  Then she was given the opportunity to create her own work of impressionist art using dots or dabs to create it.  She LOVED this assignment.  I love how language arts often incorporates language, art and music to create an overall well-rounded experience.  This was her creation.  She wanted to do more.  Because of it, Caleb ended up creating his own painting of a dragon just because it sounded fun.  

Caleb:

Caleb completed three assignments in his language arts book this week.  He also attended his “Sing, Read and Write” and “Storytelling” class at ZigArts.  They reviewed grammar parts with a mad lib.  One of the Penguins in our "Mr. Popper's Penguins" book is named after the explorer  Captain Cook, who chartered the north and south poles.  They read about the actual man Captain James Cook and the differences between the north and south poles.  

AMERICAN HISTORY

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Let’s Rock American Government” class at ZigArts this week.  They talked about the complexities of implementing laws - who do they affect, who is going to implement them, how is that going to look, is it going to break any of our Bill of Rights, etc.  Then students had to talk to the other "legislators" in the group and try to find someone willing to sponsor their bill.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “I Love America” class at ZigArts this week.  They talked about the three branches of government and checks and balances.  They ran through a few scenarios and had the students role play each of the branches of government.  They also talked about how the power lies with the people and how the people are more powerful than the President.  They listened to a fun son in "Take Your Hat Off When the Flag Goes By" about how the branches of government keep each other in check.  

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston & Marissa: 

Preston and Marissa attended their “Art of Business” class at ZigArts this week.  They finished their sculptures today.  For their business minute, they talked about closing items to sale in terms of how useful they are and paying attention to the details of the design and being neat and creating something nice.   

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Art of Business class at ZigArts this week.  They made chalk drawings on black construction paper.  They learned how to mix and blend different colors of chalk together to create a new color.  

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class three times this week.  

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week.  She still has her splint on, but is able to use her left wrist a little bit during tumbling again.  Hopefully the splint will be off by next week.   

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class this week.  They talked about snow and building a snowman and sang fun songs about winter.  

January 13 - 17

MATH

Preston:

Preston completed four assignments in his math book this week.  He has also been practicing multiplication facts using "Musical Multiplication" and working on extra math practice using "Math Seeds" which is part of the Reading Eggs App.  We are currently using a free trial of Reading Eggs and Math Seeds to see if we like it to get in extra reading and math practice during the week.   

Marissa:

Marissa completed four assignments in her math book this week.  She also completed many lessons in Math Seeds for extra practice outside of her workbook assignments.  

Caleb:

Caleb completed two assignments in his math book this week.  He also attended his “Math through Music and Movement” class at ZigArts.  They read another MathStart Level 2 book called Super Sandcastle Saturday and talked about different ways to measure and why we use a ruler for consistency.  Caleb also used Math Seeds to work on math facts.  He is learning quickly and jumping ahead.  Math seems to come very naturally to Caleb and this is a fun way for us to move more quickly through concepts that are not as difficult for him to grasp.  

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed four assignments in his language arts book this week.  He also completed three modules in TTRS every day and read for 30 minutes.  He is working on book 3 of Box Car Children and really enjoying the series.  

Marissa: 

Marissa completed four assignments in her language arts book this week.  She also completed two modules in TTRS every day and read for 20 minutes.  She is reading book 3 in the Mercy Watson series out loud right now.  

Caleb:

Caleb completed three lessons in "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons."  He also attended his “Sing, Read and Write” and “Storytelling” class at ZigArts.  In "Sing, Read and Write," they read chapters 3 and 4 of Mr Popper's Penguins and briefly discussed how the authored used descriptive words to keep he book engaging.  In "Storytelling," they watched readings/videos of "The Very Mixed Up Chameleon" and "The Cat Came Back" and talked about why the author wrote the books.  

AMERICAN HISTORY

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Let’s Rock American Government” class at ZigArts this week.  The students got to implement what they've been learning by writing their own laws.  They also had to write down positives and negatives to implementing their laws.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “I Love America” class at ZigArts this week.  Their Social Studies character lesson was on gratitude.  Then they read about George Washington's character and attributes that made him a great leader.  

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston & Marissa: 

Preston and Marissa attended their “Art of Business” class at ZigArts this week.  Students got to learn about sculpting and clay and make creations.  Those who had already sculpted from last week got to start painting their creations.  Marissa was really excited about the unicorn she made.  She plans on making others to sell at the spring recital.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Art of Business class at ZigArts this week.  They continued with their lesson on creating pictures out of colored paper shapes.  

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class two times this week.  He also got extra time outside sledding and building a snow "Pokemon."  

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week.  She also got extra PE time sledding and playing in the snow.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class this week.  They made a fun "wind" ring and moved too the music of the wind and snow.  

January 6 - 10

MATH

Preston:

Preston completed two assignments in his math book this week.  He is still working on mastering multiplication.  He is on book 2 in the Musical Multiplication curriculum.  

Marissa:

Marissa completed two assignments in her math book this week. She is working on multiplication using "Musical Multiplication."  She is working through book 1 until she has mastered all the facts in that book.  

Caleb:

Caleb completed two assignments in his math book this week.  He also attended his “Math through Music and Movement” class at ZigArts and watched "Math Circus" and "Math to the Moon."  He LOVES math!!

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed two assignments in his language arts book this week.  He completed one book and got to start working in the next level this week.  He also completed 30 minutes of reading each day and three modules in TTRS each day.  He is currently reading the second Box Car Children book and really enjoying it.  

Marissa: 

Marissa completed two assignments in her language arts book this week.  She also completed 20 minutes of reading each day and two modules in TTRS each day.  She started a book series called "Mercy Watson" that is really cute and a really good level for her.  She is really enjoying it.  

Caleb:

We paused Caleb's language arts book and shifted to "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."  He is completing 3-4 lessons a week learning reading and writing, which will hopefully be a better fit for his current needs with reading and writing.  Caleb also attended his “Sing, Read and Write” and “Storytelling” classes at ZigArts. 

AMERICAN HISTORY

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Let’s Rock American Government” class at ZigArts this week.  They recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then discussed the three branches of governments.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “I Love America” class at ZigArts this week. 

We ALL took a field trip to Treehouse Museum and played for several hours.  It was SO MUCH FUN and we practically had the whole place to ourselves! We ended up playing in the yurt set up for Mongolia for over an hour, turning it into more of a "house for nomads" type of play.  The kids brought in fish and other food and cooked it on the wood burning stove.  They also took turns caring for the newborn baby.  Marissa was the mom, Caleb was the dad, I was the grandma and Preston was the uncle who likes to crash on the couch sometimes.  ;)

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Art of Business” class at ZigArts this week.  They are working with clay to create sculptures to sell.  

Preston has been practicing his drawing at home.  Right now he is drawing Pokemon characters.  He has drawn several on a page and is trying to decide which ones he likes best to create a drawing to sell at the spring market.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Art of Business class at ZigArts this week.  They are working with clay right now and creating sculptures they will sell in the spring.  

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class two times this week.  It was strange getting back into karate after a two week break.    

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week. She currently has a splint on her left wrist so she worked on tricks one-handed or with spotting.  She also did more lower body conditioning than normal.  She will have her splint for 4 weeks and then get it checked again so this will be her new routine through January.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class this week.  He loved it!  They had a plan for snow and January, but ended up playing games about  a squirrel from the Fall that are a favorite in his class.  He was so excited to tell me all about it! 

December 16 - January 3

MATH

Preston, Marissa & Caleb: 

Preston and Marissa have been working on memorizing multiplication facts.  They are using the "Musical Multiplication" curriculum.  They listened to the songs and worked through the workbooks.

Preston, Marissa and Caleb all helped me with math in the kitchen making lots of recipes and treats over the break.  We made sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies for family and neighbors. 

We also read Sir Cumference books when we started studying knights and castles (after Caleb made a castle and catapult that came in his Koala Crate this month). 

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston continues to read 30 minutes a day.  He is reading the Box Car Children series right now and really enjoying it.  He also wrote several Christmas cards to practice his writing skills.    

Marissa: 

Marissa read 20 minutes every day.  She received the Mercy Watson series for Christmas and is enjoying reading her new books.  She also wrote Christmas cards to friends and family to practice writing skills.  

Caleb:

Caleb and I read lots of Christmas books the past few weeks.  He also practiced writing his name for cards for family.  

HISTORY

Preston, Marissa & Caleb

We talked a lot about cultures and traditions over the break.  The kids watched Brain Pop videos about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza and learned a lot about different cultures and religions and the way people celebrate different holidays.

After Christmas, Caleb made his Koala crate.  It was all about Medieval times so we took the opportunity to read a couple books about knights and castles while playing with his castle and dragon.  We had a great time studying a random moment in history JUST FOR FUN!!

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston, Marissa & Caleb:

Preston, Marissa and Caleb all got to learn more about the business side of things selling art at the Christmas recital.  Each of them earned between $20 and $35 selling art.  They decided they want to make more art to try to sell outside of the classroom.

Preston and Caleb also used the break to get in a lot of building and engineering, which they miss from their class last year.  Both of them received Lego sets for Christmas and put them together without any help.

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class.  He also rode his scooter, jumped on the trampoline, rode his new penny board and played laser tag.   

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class.  She also rode her scooter, jumped on the trampoline and played laser tag during the break.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class.  He also listened to his music CDs during the break and practiced his forte and piano sounds.  

December 9 - 13

MATH

Preston, Marissa, Caleb: 

We are working on math facts right now.  All three kids worked with fraction magnets, math wrap-ups (Caleb worked on addition and Marissa and Preston worked on addition and subtraction).  We have also been working on memorizing multiplication tables using "Musical Multiplication."  

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed three modules in TTRS each day.  He also read for 30 minutes and went to a reading tutor once.  

Marissa: 

Marissa completed two modules in TTRS each day.  She also read for 20 minutes and went to a reading tutor once.  

Caleb:

Caleb read with me every day.  He also went to the dress rehearsal at ZigArts and practiced his skit for the recital next week.  He is a magical talking can and helped write the skit they will perform, learning about nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives while preparing to perform.  

AMERICAN HISTORY

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Let’s Rock American Government” class at ZigArts this week where they practiced for the recital next week.  They are both part of skits that demonstrate one of the amendments.  Marissa is part of the group that is teaching the 3rd amendment, which says that she doesn't have to quarter soldiers. She is one of the soldiers who tries to tell a citizen that they have to feed them dinner.  Preston is teaching the 8th amendment, which states that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.  They also both practiced the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the Preamble to the Constitution.    

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “I Love America” class at ZigArts this week, where they worked on their songs for the recital.  They are singing a song called "I Love America" and "America the Beautiful."  

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston, Marissa, & Caleb:

Preston, Marissa and Caleb prepared their art pieces for the recital next week.  They will be selling them to those in attendance.  After that, they will take the money they earn and learn about putting it back into the business to multiply it.  

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended three karate classes this week.  He also received his kamas and is excited to use a different weapon as a blue belt.  

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class this week.  They made cute Christmas tree ornaments.  

Dec 2 - 6

MATH

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa worked on memorizing multiplication facts using The Good and the Beautiful Musical Multiplication curriculum.  They are working on Set A.  We also did some work on fractions using our new magnets.  All three kids LOVED THEM!

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Math through Music and Movement” class at ZigArts.  They talked about tallies and timelines.  Then they played "What Time is it, Mr. Fox?" 

LANGUAGE ARTS

Preston:

Preston completed three modules in TTRS every day.  He also completed 30 minutes of reading each day, reading tutor once and his Storytelling class at ZigArts.  The most exciting thing that happened was Preston started reading "The Boxcar Children" and enjoyed it enough, he read all day.  He finished it in just over a day (finished up around breakfast time in the morning).  He was SO EXCITED!! This is the biggest chapter book he has read alone.  It was such a major milestone for this awesome kid!!  

Marissa: 

Marissa completed two modules in TTRS every day.  She also completed 20 minutes of reading each day.  She also attended her Storytelling class.  She told the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" for her audition for the Storytelling Festival.  She has also been working on handwriting, but decided she was ready to learn cursive.  She's been practicing the letters in her name and is getting pretty good at writing her name in cursive!

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Sing, Read and Write” and “Storytelling” class at ZigArts.  They practiced their skit for the recital, focusing on expression and remembering their blocking/lines.  They also talked about kindness and treating each other well.    

AMERICAN HISTORY

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Let’s Rock American Government” class at ZigArts this week.  They practiced songs and parts for the recital on December 18.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “I Love America” class at ZigArts this week.  They practiced their songs for the recital.  

ENTREPRENUER (The Art of Business)

Preston & Marissa:

Preston and Marissa attended their “Art of Business” class at ZigArts this week.  They made cards and watercolor pictures to sell at the recital.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his “Art of Business class at ZigArts this week.  They made salt clay ornaments.  

OPTIONAL (Karate, Tumbling, Musikgarten)

Preston:

Preston attended his karate class this week.  He is so excited to be a blue belt now!!  

Marissa:

Marissa attended her tumbling class this week.  She landed what they call a "2 tuck" meaning a roundoff, two back handsprings and a tuck.  It was so exciting!  Hopefully I'll get it on film soon.  

Caleb:

Caleb attended his Musikgarten class this week.  They sang songs and read a book about snowflakes and then made a snowflake ornament for the Christmas tree!