Saturday, October 31, 2020

Term Four: Week Three ~ Puzzle Progress, Rain and Reading

Term Four just keeps chugging along. Our weekly haul of books from the library is starting to shrink as we work hard to complete unit studies. However, they will grow soon as the boys start collecting books to read for the summer reading challenge, and I'll collect Christmas picture books for our nightly reading in December as well...



Monster got lots of work done on his puzzle this week as we had good read aloud sessions most nights of the week.

Munchkin worked hard and finished up his handwriting book for this year. It means he gets a nice long break from handwriting as he won't start his next textbook until next year.

More puzzle progress for Monster...


The heavens opened and we "enjoyed" a full week of rain! Not great for getting outdoors or getting laundry dry, but such a better situation than last year when we had the fires.






Munchkin enjoyed lots of independent reading through the week...

I read aloud two different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk to Munchkin as his writing assignment for the week was to do a narrative re-write of the tale.

We are steadily working our way through the Henry Huggins series...


The above four books are read alouds to the boys... Top Left: read aloud for Monster, Top Right: read aloud for Monkey, Bottom Left: read aloud for Monster AND Monkey, and Bottom Right: read aloud for all three boys...






 

Saturday, October 24, 2020

Term Four: Week Two ~ Cooking, Citizen Science, Cricket and Chess

Welcome to Week Two or Term Four... life and learning is plugging along. We're finishing things up... Munchkin has completed his handwriting workbook and Monkey isn't far off from finishing his... and we're wrapping up several unit studies that we've enjoyed through the year. 

The weather is wacky and weird, but that is normal for spring in Sydney... hot one day, cold the next... thunderstorms, torrential rain, blazing sun... numerous seasons all in one day.

Our weekly haul of library books...

We enjoyed a citizen science project for the week and took part in the Aussie Bird count. This meant that each day we picked a different location, and each boy spent twenty minutes recording the birds they could see and hear in the area. This is a favourite event of the year and that boys were ecstatic  that COVID didn't ruin it.




The highlight of our bird count at the boardwalk near our house was seeing these baby ducks.

The highlight of the week for me was my early Christmas gift of a Philips All-In-One Multi Cooker. This is the Australian version of the Instant Pot and it is AMAZING!  It has a bake option as well as a pressure cook and slow cook function. So straight away Munchkin and I tried it out... picking the pizza scrolls recipe out of the included book.




These were delicious and the boys were thrilled with them. I have SO many more food options available to me now!!

After our weekly trip to the library on Thursday, we stopped at the park next door to complete another Aussie Bird Count. This is a Bare-Eyed Cockatoo (also called Little Corella) holding bread in his claw while he eats.

Munchkin enjoyed giving cricket a try with some other boys we met at the park...

Monkey also gave the cricket a go... and both boys did very well.

Of course the boys had to feed the birds as well as count them...

Munchkin enjoying a chess lesson with daddy...

A Friday night treat of a mixed berry upside down cake for our family movie night.



Munchkin's independent reading for the week...



Our read aloud selections for the week...