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

Nov. 20

Visited Lake Meadow Naturals farm, Winter Park farmer's market, and produce market and learned about exotic fruits and vegetables
Discussed stars, planets, and constellations with Justin at night

Story of the World, Book 1 Chapter 20-25

Nov. 19

Did the volcano experiment with vinegar, baking soda, and dish soap

FIAR with the Rag Coat

Discussed Appalachian culture and looked for clues in the book (butter churn, hearth, cooking over the fire, musical instruments, pot bellied stove, one room schoolhouse, etc)

Talked about perspective in art and found illustrations that demonstrated unusual perspectives, also found pictures with perspective around the house

Talked about mining coal and black lung disease, and tied it in to a documentary we watched on the dust bowl and lung disease caused by dust

Discussed funeral rituals more in depth

Read The Quilt Story by Tony Johnson and Tomie DePaola and discussed the pioneers

Consumer math

Story of the World Book 1 Chapter 14-19

Nov. 18

Learned how to use a compass (Elle knows N, S, E, and W)

FIAR with the Rag Coat
Found Appalachian mountains on the map, and other mountain ranges in the U.S.
Elle found Iowa, Louisiana, and Mississippi on the map
Discussed funerals and mourning
Talked about quilts and their stories, looked for patterns in our quilt, talked about Joseph's coat of many colors and the quilt pattern named after it
Found different fabrics and discussed their origins- cotton, wool, polyester, etc
Tied in the Mouse Bride and discussed spinning flax into linen

Played a dinosaur sorting game with our toys, three carnivores and three herbivores, and matched them to the foods they ate
Playground time

Nov. 17

WOSCH playdate at the playground
Ballet and Bee Bop class

Nov. 16

Trip to Dinosaur World in Plant City FL

Story of the World Book 1, Chapter 8-13

Nov. 15

Went to the post office to mail packages and the mailwoman helped us measure and weigh our packages and the kids mailed them

Elle finished dinosaur spelling words and read packet of worksheets
Read usborne book about dinosaurs
Found dinosaur toys around the house and identified them in the book (Stegosaurus, Supersaurus, Diplodicus, Gigantosaurus, T. Rex)

Started Story of the World Book 1 Chapter 1-7
Playground time

Nov. 14

Kids ran a lemonade stand for 25 cents a cup, sold $7.50 worth of lemonade!

Nov. 13

Gathered items for garage sale and decided on pricing
Watched documentary on the dust bowl crisis of the 1930s

Nov. 11

Read the Mouse Bride and I can read with my eyes shut, I wish I had duck feet, and Fox in Socks, Curious George Plays Baseball, and Arthur's Loose Tooth
Visit to Oakland Nature Preserve and the nature classroom
Went to the Post Office and mailed letters to our pen pals

Nov. 10

Reviewed information about France, how to say hello, goodbye, my name is, and how are you
Reviewed symmetry and asymmetry
Discussed the importance of the fleur de lis and New Orleans' settlement by the french
Read Goodnight Nola, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, the Mouse Bride, Ridin' Dinos (dinosaur book), I can read with my eyes shut and I wish I had duck feet (Dr. Seuss)
Elle read first BOB books series

Read If You Give a Pig a Pancake and Clifford's First Valentine's Day (both about Mail)
Ballet

Nov. 9

Dinosaur co-op
Painted dinosaur craft, did word search and matching game, put together dino puzzle

Playground time

Nov. 8

FIAR with Madeline
Discussed history and what life was like in 1930, searched the book for examples- rotary phone, gas lamps, heat radiators, sewing machine with a foot pedal, hospital bed with a crank, bowl and pitcher in place of a sink
Vocabulary words: solemn, appendix, and disaster
Math: grouping and dividing skills with 12 objects, divided into groups of 2, 3, 4, and 6
Science: reviewed the Human Body Book about digestion and the appendix and its purpose

Playground time
Library time

Justin watched Bob the Builder DVD and built a skyscraper, complete with elevator and pool!

Nov. 6

Elle learned to ride her bike without training wheels!

Nov. 5

Science Center:
Learned about all the planets and how gravity affects your weight, diffraction of light by prisms, lasers and light that makes sound, archaeologists, different dinosaurs from different eras (video), evolution of dinosaurs into birds (video), kiwi birds, circuits, hydrocells, and constructing stable buildings- thanks Aunt Stephanie!!

Nov. 4

Watched DVD about the Postal Service and took the post test
Read Postal Workers (2 books), A Visit to the Post Office
Practiced writing and stamping letters and drawings

Read Count Your Way Through France
Taught Elle how to count to twenty in French

Nov. 3

FIAR with Madeline
Talked about the Seine river in Paris and recognized some of the buildings
Talked about visiting people when they are sick and what solemn means
Delved further into symmetry of the pictures and practiced a symmetry game using our bodies
Played a grouping game and talked about big, bigger, and biggest, and small, smaller, and smallest, divided toys into small, medium, and large

Read Aesop's Fables and Hop on Pop, Madeline and the Bad Hat
Practiced writing sentences
Ballet and Karate

Nov. 2

Voting and Mail co-op
Learned about mail and postal workers
Practiced writing and addressing letters
Delivering upper and lower case letters game

Watched Post Office DVD about community helpers
Played a MAIL game- had four mailboxes and found items that started with each letter in the word MAIL to deliver to them
Played post office and mailed a package

Nov. 1

Sesame street games

Started FIAR with Madeline
Talked about copyright date and related to today's date
Learned about symmetry, architecture in Paris, marked where France is on the map, read two books about France and looked for similar architecture (France and Count Your Way Through France)
Watched Ratatouille and looked for french architecture

Started Mail unit
Read about Postal Workers
Wrote a few letters

Playground time