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