Monday, December 19, 2016

Term Four Evaluation: Monkey

English:

Reading:

Independent Reading:
**See written list**

Other Reading Activities:
Reading Eggs online program
30-60 minutes of daily independent silent reading

Literature:
Puss in Boots
The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (Beatrix Potter)
The Frog Prince
The Emperor's New Clothes
Ramona and Her Father
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Ramona Forever
Superfudge
Fudge-A-Mania
Falling Up
A Light in the Attic

Writing:
Copy work using quality literature such as Dr Seuss

Handwriting:
Targeting Handwriting Year 2

Spelling:
daily oral review of weekly lists as sourced from online spelling website
(20 words per list)
written test taken every Friday


Maths:
Maths Plus Year 2 Textbook
Units 25 - 32 covering the following topics:
Inverse operations, number patterns, symmetry, aboriginal seasons, subtracting tens then ones, money, following and giving directions, chance experiment, arrays of five, ordering/calculating with money, parallel lines, centimetres, split strategy for addition, rounding to 100, comparing areas, the division symbol, subtraction strategies, sketching three dimensional objects, balancing collections, division from multiplication, ordering numbers, shapes within shapes, centimetres, subtraction facts, related multiplication and division facts, measuring volume, calendars, arrays of five and ten, finding the difference, making a model
Diagnostic Review 4 

Scripture and Character Building:
Bible Read Aloud:
1 Kings ~ 1 Chronicles

HSIE:
Geography/History -

History: 
Read Alouds:
Sam, Grace and the Shipwreck
The Birthday Crown
Queen Victoria's Christmas

(Books below are Aboriginal stories)

Geography - 
On the River
To the Top End
Sophie Scott Goes South
24 Hours on the Tundra


Science and Technology:
The following books were read aloud:
Dark Secrets - Life Without Sunlight
Deadly Creatures
Insects
Weird Creatures

PDHPE:
walk to and from the library
walk to and from the shops
walk to and from various parks
free play at various parks
riding scooter

Creative Arts:
Art:
Drama:
Attended best friend's end of year drama productions - Alice in Wonderland and Shrek
Dance:
Attended best friend's end of year dance recital - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Socialization:
Weekly attendance of church and Sunday School
Numerous play dates with friends of multiple ages
Attended a funeral


Other Activities:
Played a variety of board and card games
  • Rummy-O
  • Mancala
  • Snakes and Ladders
  • Skip-Bo
  • Chess
  • Memory
  • Blokus
  • Blink
Attended a Greek festival at the library: Activities included, listening to recited Greek poetry, watched traditional Greek dances, tasted traditional Greek food
Attended Carols in the Park event with good friends
Attended Children's Church Christmas Party

Term Four Evaluation: Monster

English:

Reading:

Independent Reading:
see written list ~ 

Other Reading Activities:
Reading Eggs online program
30 - 60 minutes of silent reading daily

Literature:
Puss in Boots
The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (Beatrix Potter)
The Frog Prince
The Emperor's New Clothes
Ramona and Her Father
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Ramona Forever
The Magician's Nephew
The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Superfudge
Prince Caspian
Fudge-A-Mania
Falling Up
A Light in the Attic

 Writing:
Institute For Excellence in Writing Program
Teaching Writing: Structure and Style

Over the course of the term Monster wrote three paragraphs using the techniques set out in this program.  Topics included: Three separate paragraphs about spiders

Handwriting:
Foundation Handwriting Year 4

Grammar:
The Return of The Word Spy by Ursula Dubosarsky (we read this aloud) 
Topics Included: Meet the Family, Surprising Languages, Learning to Speak, All the World's a Stage, The Play's the Thing, Nouns Are Like Ice Cream, Verbs Are Like Goldfish, What Do Words Mean Anyway, Words Words Words, Words Wanted - Dead of Alive, The Magical Act of Writing, and Buried Treasure

Spelling:
daily oral review of weekly lists as sourced from year 4 lists on the internet
(20 words per list)
written test taken every Friday

Maths:
Maths Plus Year 6 Textbook
Units 28 - 35 covering the following topics:
Multiplying fractions, calculator: multiplication and division, prime factors, timelines, multiplication by 2 digits, finding percentages, describing likelihood, nets, decimal number patterns, negative numbers, choosing units and measuring devices, the mean, multiply and divide decimals, number patterns, circles, length problem solving, roman numerals, fractions of a quantity, the cartesian plane, mass units, decimal/fraction number patterns, order of operations, applying angles, the cubic metre, number patterns, reducing fractions, cartesian island, side-by-side column graphs, equivalent number sentences, justifying a solution, diagonals, and timetables
Diagnostic Review 4

Other Math Activities:
Khan Academy website
Cool Math Games website
Variety of maths games - uno, Phase 10, Rummy-O, Monopoly (he was banker), etc

Independent Reading: (Maths)

Scripture and Character Building:
Bible Read Aloud:
1 Kings ~ 1 Chronicles

HSIE:
History - 
All books read below were read aloud as part of our ongoing Australian History unit and our Ancient Greek Unit Studies
Ned Kelly
Sam, Grace and the Shipwreck

Ancient Greece
Alexander the Great
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece and Rome
Alexander the Great and His Claim to Fame


James' Independent History Choices (silent reading)


Other History Read Alouds
The Birthday Crown
Queen Victoria's Christmas

(Books below are Aboriginal stories)

Geography - 
On the River
To the Top End
Sophie Scott Goes South
24 Hours on the Tundra


Science and Technology:

The following books were read independently:

The following books were read aloud:
Dark Secrets - Life Without Sunlight
Deadly Creatures
Insects
Weird Creatures

PDHPE:
walk to and from the library
walk to and from the shops
walk to and from various parks
free play at various parks
riding scooter
learned how to ride a bicycle
attended American Football (grid iron) game

Creative Arts:
Art:
Drama:
Attended best friend's end of year drama productions - Alice in Wonderland and Shrek
Dance:
Attended best friend's end of year dance recital - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory


Socialization:
Weekly attendance of church and Sunday School
Numerous play dates with friends of multiple ages
Attended a funeral

Other Activities:
Played a variety of board and card games
  • Rummy-O
  • Mancala
  • Snakes and Ladders
  • Skip-Bo
  • Phase 10
  • Chess
  • Memory
  • Blokus
  • Blink
Attended a Greek festival at the library: Activities included, listening to recited Greek poetry, watched traditional Greek dances, tasted traditional Greek food
Attended Carols in the Park event with good friends
Attended Children's Church Christmas Party

Friday, December 16, 2016

Term Four: Week Ten ~ And That's a Wrap

Our last week of school ~ FINALLY!!
Monkey was finished by Tuesday and Monster did the last of his writing on Friday so the week was filled with fun, games, and Christmas preparations!
The boys enjoyed playing Pokemon battles through the week after receiving a "real" Pokemon battle kit each from their cousin. 

There was time to wrestle with dad... which resulted in this pile up! 


We spent an evening decorating the Christmas tree together as a family. 


We discovered that the pineapple plant in our backyard is FINALLY growing a pineapple! 

Monster spent a few evenings working on his puzzle! 

 Monster's independent reading for the week...

 Two books that I finished reading this week... the one on the left was just a book that caught my interest some time ago, but the book on the right I was pre-reading for Monster. It is on the grade 7-9 list for Premier's Reading Challenge so I was checking the content. It would be fine for Monster to read next year if he is interested in it.


 Munchkin's read aloud choices for the week, though we also read Christmas Wombat as part of our Christmas book each night tradition.








Friday, December 9, 2016

Term Four: Week Nine ~ Almost There

The end is in sight!!


 Munchkin and daddy work together with the magnetic letters and a list of simple words that Munchkin knows and recognizes.

Meanwhile, I worked with Monkey on a displacement maths pages. 


Munchkin is really enjoying a lot of games now. He and I played an Uno form of Jenga together and then he and daddy played Snakes and Ladders while I worked with the older boys. 


Monkey and Munchkin enjoyed experimenting with floating items in their Lego boats. 

 Monkey and I gave the game "Crazy Kiwis" another try.  We have yet to solve it... don't be fooled by the right-hand photo, the card near Monkey's hand doesn't match properly even though it looks like it does in the small picture, because they are blue and black.

More hands on learning for maths with the pan balance. 




Monster got a GREAT Lego book from a friend that builds all different kinds of machines... so he got busy one afternoon putting together the contraption that launches a spinning top. 

There is renewed interest in the peacock jigsaw puzzle... and a desire to see it finished! 

A beautiful Kookaburra was perched above our picnic table at the park on Friday. We admired him, snapped some photos, then gently encouraged him to leave before getting out our food. They are thieves and will snatch food straight out of your hands if they can! 




Munchkin surprised me by teaching himself how to cross the monkey bars. He can't quite get across on his own, but it won't be long!! It I had taken photos earlier it would have been better, by this time his arms and hands were getting quite tired, but I was still impressed. 

Monkey also showed renewed interest in his puzzle, but like Monster and I to help him with it. 

Our read aloud chapter books... 


 We've been trying to read at least one Christmas picture book each night... some are cute... like The Christmas Peg, and other are complete rubbish (like the top left book) but it is still a fun little Christmas activity.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Term Four: Week Eight ~ Winding Down

We are well and truly winding down our school year!
Somehow though, this means more photographs as we blend more natural learning/games/self-directed learning into our school days!

While I worked with Monkey on his written work (see photo below) Monster decided to work with Munchkin.  First they played a game of chess together.  Monster has this GREAT chess set that my step-mother gave him that gives options for an easier game (with hints and suggestions) as well as a tradition game. 


Then Monster also worked with Munchkin on the Think It Through Tiles.
Again, this is a wonderful learning tool/game that was my brother's many decades ago, and although it is American for some things, it is a wonderful learning game and all three boys have enjoyed it at different stages. 



Munchkin enjoyed some opposites matching cards as part of his "learning activities" time. It turns out this game is really too easy for him, so after awhile I might pass it on to another homeschool family with a younger child. 

Munchkin LOVES to play games with people - especially Snakes and Ladders. 



 We enjoyed a super simple, but very fun, colour experiment with Skittles candy and warm water.  We only had a very small box of Skittles though so we already have plans to do this on a bigger plate when we get a bag!!


The two older boys have unknowingly created a wonderful learning experience for themselves. They are slightly obsessed with all things Pokemon at the moment.  They got a BRILLIANT idea to make their own Pokedex - which is basically just a book with all the Pokemon in it that they can use as a reference guide.  So as they request, I print out the images on my computer (since I have the colour printer), then they paste the pictures in their books, and use the laptop to research each Pokemon (on the website of course) and hand write all the information into their books.  This from my boys who HATE to write!!  HA!!  Huge win for me!!  The above photo is of Monkey's Pokedex book!  Hubby and I were amazed and impressed with his handwriting as well. 

Monkey is busy researching the various Pokemon characters that he has added to his book. 


One afternoon Monkey and Monster played a few games of chess together. 


Several afternoons this week, Monster and I spent some time playing games together.
We LOVE Mancala (above photo). 


 Then we gave this game a try that we found at the Salvation Army store awhile ago!  The idea is that you turn over the cards one at a time, each card has a letter, and you position each letter on your grid to create words.  Depending on the words you create and the point value of the letters, each person will come up with different scores for their words.  It is hard to explain here, but it is quite fun once you get the hang of it!!

 Monster agreed to give Munchkin some guidance and assistance with the Magic Mosaic set. Once Monster got him started Munchkin did a pretty good job, though his frustration would soar any time he accidentally bumped the plastic shape which would shift all the pieces.


Posing with his finished product as well as his shape people that he created on his magnetic board.  Not sure what the facial expression is all about though. 


Self-directed learning ("free time") spent with the Design Discoveries game and some game he created involving stacking and knocking over a bunch of plastic drinking cups!! 


Thursday afternoon was spent at the library. The boys enjoyed games on the computer while I returned a stack of books, renewed a stack of books, and checked out some new ones. 

 Monkey had a turn with the Magic Mosaic.

 His finished designs.  He was very proud of these two in particular because they were his own created designs rather than any of the ones included with the game.

 Our books for the week.
We LOVE these two books - one about a trio of baby owls waiting anxiously for their mother to return at night, and the other about baby Tawny Frogmouths, which are native Australian birds, who though nocturnal, are NOT owls!!

The Yes was a surprising book that had a deeper meaning than I was expecting. I actually want to read it by myself (rather than out loud to the boys) to absorb it a bit more.  
Superfudge was Monkey's read aloud chapter book for the week and we LOVED it! 

 The Little Bad Wolf was a cute and quirky adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs.  Sock Monkey Rides Again is NOT a book I like (nor is it a quality book by any stretch of the imagination) but it is a fluff choice for Munchkin so I borrow it once in awhile.

These little board books were a favourite of Munchkin's when he was MUCH younger so every once in awhile he goes through the board book section in the library and cleans them out!! 




 And it was a wombat week in our house!  EVERYONE, myself included, LOVES Jackie French!  She writes AMAZING picture books as well as wonderful chapter books for young adults and adults.  I got an EXCELLENT surprise when we arrived at the library as I discovered that her newest Matilda Saga book was waiting for me!!  HAPPY DAY!!

 This is a beautiful book about a mother elephant and her baby and how they spend their day together.  I suspect Munchkin and I will read this numerous times before it is returned to the library.

 Finally, I'm trying to start a little tradition of reading a Christmas book each day of the week. It probably won't happen as often on the weekends as we will have late nights the closer it gets to Christmas, but during the week it is fun to read them at bedtime.