Monday Dec. 27

Finished FIAR with A Pair of Red Clogs:  Learned about weather patterns, forecasting, looked at satellite maps and identified rain and snow and other weather patterns, talked about temperature, weather conditions, and humidity, watched the weather channel to illustrate concepts
Elle took perspective pictures
Playground time

Thurs. Dec. 23

Read the Golden Rule and discussed doing to others what you would want done to you
Wrote cards to family
Read N is for Navidad, Strega Nona Her Story, A Pair of Red Clogs, and Babushka's Doll
Went to the Marionette Theater's production of Little Drummer Boy

Wed. Dec. 22

Made dolls with Justin
Read a Pair of Red Clogs

Tues. Dec. 21

New co-op
Playground time
Read Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad, The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs, Curious George Goes to a Costume Party, and Little Rabbit's Christmas

Monday Dec. 20

Playground time
Library time
Elle wrote cards to family
Justin did origami
Consumer math

Sunday Dec. 19

Elle practiced typing with Disney typing game
Justin did origami and made a Christmas stocking, tree, and 3 kings
FIAR with A Pair of Red Clogs- discussed vocabulary in the book (lacquer, suspect, perfectly), honesty and lying, and Japanese culture (meal settings, clothing, etc)
Elle wrote cards to family
Justin practiced writing his name and letters
Consumer math

Thursday Dec. 16

Misty Forest class 10-3:
Kids' Yoga
Playground time
Christmas gift crafts and wrapping

Wed. Dec. 15

Watched Sid the Science Kid about rainbows and diffraction of light
Ballet and Bee Bop

Tues. Dec. 14

Read Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart, Four Friends in Summer, The Berenstain Bears and the Sitter and Mama's Day Surprise, Clifford's Manners, and Olivia Goes to Venice
FIAR with A Pair of Red Clogs- discussed Japanese customs, food, eating sitting on the floor, traditional dress, etc
Science Center- learned about diffraction and circuits

Monday Dec. 13

Started A Pair of Red Clogs
Kids played Go Fish
Misty Forest Art Class: block printing with ink to make wrapping paper and gift tags

Sun. Dec. 12

Made Christmas ornaments out of foam and practiced cutting
Read Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, George and Martha Encore, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Golden Rule, and Olivia Goes to Venice
Elle wrote cards to family
Elle and Justin played Go Fish and counted with dice

Friday Dec. 10

Elle practiced the Disney typing game
Finished FIAR with Grandfather's Journey: talked about what being a foreigner means and all of the people grandfather met, use of simile to describe two different things in the text, and contrast in the art in the book
Elle read There's a Wocket in My Pocket
Studied the Audubon field guide about hawks
Science Center

Thurs. Dec. 9

Elle wrote emails and read There's a Wocket in My Pocket, Miles' Elmo book, and wrote Christmas cards to family
Read Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery and Curious George at the Ballet
Consumer math
Playground time

Tues. Dec. 7

Finished Christmas crafts

Read How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA and marked each state on the map

FIAR with Grandfather's Journey- discussed Japanese culture and greeting others in Japan vs USA, differences in clothing and scenery, contrasted ways of life and scenes of Japan and the U.S., traced Grandfather's journey from Japan to CA, across the U.S., and back to Japan with the globe, found North America and the Pacific Ocean and compared it to other oceans, his travel and meeting new people of all colors and how that relates to Native Americans, steamboats and the Mississippi River, return to his homeland and traditional dress, WWII bombings and his broken heart, and homesickness

Played math game with days in a week and in a month, learned about coins and the Presidents on them

Mon. Dec. 6

Studied Japanese culture- looked through albums of pictures of Japanese food, cars, architecture, landscapes, snow and ice sculptures, cartoons, printed language
Watched Scooby Doo episode about Tokyo
Watched Sid the Science Kid episode about digestion
Used gouache paint to mix blue and yellow and started Christmas crafts
Sorted ornaments into types (angels, reindeer, snowmen, santas, etc)
Library time

Sat. Dec. 4

Went to see Mr. Richard!
Consumer math

Friday Dec. 3

Visit to the Enchanted Sanctuary Preserve in Titusville- nature walk with a docent including plant sketching and matching, and visit to the classroom

Talked about gossip and how it relates to character and did role play exercises
Playground time

Thurs. Dec. 2

Read the Lorax and Olivia goes to Venice
Elle wrote emails to family and did Lesson 9 in Explode the Code book 1
Art- painting and mixing primary tempera colors to make purple, greeen, orange, and brown
Science Center- Elle took pictures and we watched the stingray and fish get fed!

Wed. Dec. 1

FIAR with Grandfather's Journey, kimonos, clogs, and traditional dress vs western clothing, reflection and shadow in art, intensity in art and how it's used to show distance, the variety of land types in Japan and the U.S. (desert, forest, mountains, wheat fields, etc), factories and pollution, use of dark and gray colors to symbolize the dirtiness of factory towns, and white to symbolize the purity of a river, the history of WWII and how it relates to the story and Grandfather's disinterest in visiting the USA one last time before he died.
Read the Lorax by Dr. Seuss and tied it to Grandfather's Journey and pollution and factories

Read Clifford the Champion, Clifford to the Rescue, Clifford the Firehouse Dog, Strega Nona's Magic Lessons, Arthur's Pen Pal, In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

Elle did Lesson 7 & 8 in Explode the Code book 1 and wrote emails to family

Ballet and Bee Bop

Nov. 30

Elle helped measure flour and ingredients for pancakes
Started FIAR with Grandfather's Journey and found Japan on the map
Read Bink and Gollie, Katy and the Big Snow, and Clifford the Champion
Elle did Lesson 6 in Explode the Code Book 1
Consumer math

Playground time

Nov. 29

Read How to Make a Cherry Pie and see the USA and used the book for map skills, talked about the Mississippi River and 4th of July celebrations, Curious George and the Snow, and the Pirate's Eye
Elle did Lesson 1-5 in Explode the Code
Justin did the F lesson in Get Ready for the Code book A

Playground time
Library time

Nov. 28

Made chalk and Elle practiced skip counting by 10s with hopscotch
Started Explode the Code book 1 with Elle and Get Ready for the Code book A with Justin
Elle did Brain Quest phonics

Nov. 26

Made dolls out of felt and decorated them

FIAR- finished the Rag Coat
Talked about palette and warm vs bright colors, facial expressions in art and how they convey emotion
Discussed coal mining and its dangers, discussed funerals and their customs
Read How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA, which tied into the Rag Coat's coal mining

Elle practiced writing

Nov. 25

Read The Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey, Arthur's Thanksgiving by Marc Brown, The Legend of the Bluebonnet and the Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola, The Littlest Pilgrim by Brandi Dougherty, Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland, Gracias the Thanksgiving Turkey by Joy Cowley (with some basic Spanish thrown in), and I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

Elle practiced Bob Books and writing skills

Nov. 23

Thanksgiving co-op
Read about the Pilgrims and Indians in the Pilgrims and ME by Judy Donnelly
Turkey, pilgrim and indian, and thanksgiving dinner crafts

Elle practiced writing skills
Read Arthur's Thanksgiving, The Night Before Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation

Playground time

Nov. 21

Visited Oakland Nature Preserve and saw a black racer snake and spiders, visited the classroom
Read Strega Nona meets her match and Big Anthony by Tomie dePaola and learned some basic Italian
Elle did spelling words and basic writing

Story of the World, Book 1 Chapter 26 & 27