Term Two Evaluation ~ Monkey

English:

Reading:

Read Aloud Books:

Picture Books -
**See written list**

Independent Reading:

**See written list**

Other Reading Activities:

Reading Eggs online program

Literature:
(We enjoyed a Fairy Tales unit)
Rumpelstiltskin
Snow White & Rose Red
The Sleeping Beauty
Michael Hague's Fairy Tales
The Frog Prince
Rapunzel
Hansel & Gretel
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Read-To-Me Book of Fairy Tales

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 9-16 covering the following topics:

multiplication/arrays, counting by 1s, 2s, 3s and 5s, estimating, informal area units, addition facts, bridging to ten, position, duration, counting back, halves and quarters, angles, volume, commutative property of multiplication, division/sharing, picture graphs, quarter to and quarter past, addition jump strategies, number patterns, three-dimensional objects/faces, informal mass units, subtraction from addition, jump strategy, turns, creating a column graph, repeated addition, counting and comparing numbers, following directions, covering areas, addition patterns, representing amounts of money, ordering chance events, the metre

Diagnostic Review 2 

Scripture and Character Building:

Bible Read Aloud:
Deuteronomy 27 ~ 1 Samuel 9

HSIE:

Geography/History -

History: 

Read Alouds:

(Books below were read in observance of ANZAC Day in April)
The Beach They Called Gallipoli
One Minute's Silence
Do Not Forget Australia
A Day to Remember
Simpson & His Donkey
Jack's Bugle

(Books below are Aboriginal stories)
Nana's Land

Geography - 

(We enjoyed a mini unit about Antarctica)
No Return: Captain Scott's Race to the Pole
Scott of the Antarctic
Sophie Scott Goes South
Ice, Wind, Rock
Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition
One Day on Our Blue Planet in the Antarctic
Antarctica Discovery
Exploring Antarctica: The Frozen Frontier
Antarctica: Human Impacts

Watched documentary special on Nat Geo People
"47 Below"

A Walk in London

Science and Technology:

The following books were read aloud:
Frogs Close Up
Tadpoles to Frogs
Ants Close Up
Usborn book about Ants
The Book of Australian Birds
Super Storms
Real Life Monsters: Creepy Crawly Creatures
Real Life Monsters: In the Rainforest

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

soccer skills with dad

Read Alouds:
(We attempted a mini unit on nutrition)
Why Shouldn't I Eat Junk Food? Usborn
The ABC Book of Food
Meats, Fish, Eggs, Nuts and Beans
Grains, Bread, Cereal and Pasta

**We quickly abandoned our mini unit of nutrition. Sadly the books available for children still stress that fat is bad and LOTS of grain based carbohydrates are good.  Term three we will focus our attention on where babies come from and the changes involved with puberty.**

Creative Arts:

Art:

crepe paper craft
"May the Fourth" R2D2 craft
paper plate penguins and spiders

Socialization:

Weekly attendance of church and Sunday School

Numerous play dates with friends of multiple ages

Other Activities:

Played a variety of board and card games

• Rummy-O
• Mancala
• Snakes and Ladders
• Skip-Bo
• Chess
• Memory
• Blokus
• Blink

Term School Holiday Events:

July:
Library ~ Roll the Ball games day
Attended State of Origin Game 3
Pupil Free Lego Day

** Due to all three boys and I coming down with a cold/cough the second half of the term was much more basic from a structured learning point of view and we utilized much more natural learning as we focused on resting and healing. **

Term Two Evaluation: Monster

English:

Reading:

Read Aloud Books:

Picture Books -

** See list of picture books read to Monkey as Monster listens to all or most of them**

Chapter Books - 

** See HSIE and/or PDHPE for list of chapter books read aloud**

Independent Reading:

see written list ~ 

Other Reading Activities:

Reading Eggs online program

30 - 60 minutes of silent reading daily

Literature:
(We enjoyed a Fairy Tales unit)
Rumpelstiltskin
Snow White & Rose Red
The Sleeping Beauty
Michael Hague's Fairy Tales
The Frog Prince
Rapunzel
Hansel & Gretel
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Read-To-Me Book of Fairy Tales

 Writing:

Institute For Excellent in Writing Program

Teaching Writing: Structure and Style

Over the course of the term Monster wrote several paragraphs using the techniques set out in this program.  Topics included: Ancient Egypt, Aesop's Fables, Penguins

Handwriting:

Foundation Handwriting Year 4

Grammar:

We are using a Grammar textbook (The Grammar Ace) this year and so far it is working out well.

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 10 - 18 covering the following topics:

geometric patterns, prime and composite numbers, triangles/angles, area of triangles, multiplying fractions, decimals to thousandths, chance from zero to one, square numbers, adding decimals/money, decimals, percentages and fractions, line graphs, calculating volume, 4-digit multiplication, equivalent number sentences, drawing rectangles and squares, 24-hour time/timetables, subtraction of 4- and 5- digit numbers, comparing and ordering fractions, drawing objects from views, metres, centimetres, and millimetres, 4-digit multiplication, and and subtract fractions, potentially misleading data, using a scale, extended multiplication, expanding numbers, mass and capacity, symmetry review, order of operations, add and subtract fractions, chance from zero to one, construct and draw 3D objects, subtracting decimals/money, roman numerals, measuring angles with 360 protractors, volume and capacity

Diagnostic Review 2

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:
Muderous Maths: The Mind Bending Basics by Kjartan Poskitt

Scripture and Character Building:

Bible Read Aloud:
Deuteronomy 27 ~ 1 Samuel 9

HSIE:

History - 
All books read below were read aloud as part of our Australian History and Ancient Egypt Unit Studies
Pearlie's Pet Rescue
Pearlie the Spy
Pearlie's Ghost
Meet Lina
Lina's Many Lives
Lina at the Games
A Lesson for Lina
Meet Marly
Marly's Business
Marly and the Goat
Captain Cook's Apprentice

Stories From Ancient Civilizations - Egypt
Technology in Ancient Egypt
At Home With the Ancient Egyptians
National Geographic Kids: Everything Ancient Egypt
Mangy Mummies, Menacing Pharaohs and the Awful Afterlife
Pharaoh - Death & Life of a God
Pyramid
Horrible Histories Awesome Egyptians
Tutankhamun
Cleopatra: Powerful Leader or Ruthless Pharaoh
Cleopatra: Usborn Famous Lives
Mummies & Pyramids

Watched documentary on National Geographic channel - about new museum being built in Egypt

(Books below were read in observance of ANZAC Day in April)
The Beach They Called Gallipoli
One Minute's Silence
Do Not Forget Australia
A Day to Remember
Simpson & His Donkey
Jack's Bugle

(Books below are Aboriginal stories)
Nana's Land

Geography - 

(We enjoyed a mini unit about Antarctica)
No Return: Captain Scott's Race to the Pole
Scott of the Antarctic
Sophie Scott Goes South
Ice, Wind, Rock
Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition
One Day on Our Blue Planet in the Antarctic
Antarctica Discovery
Exploring Antarctica: The Frozen Frontier
Antarctica: Human Impacts

Watched documentary special on Nat Geo People
"47 Below"

Science and Technology:

The following books were read aloud:
Frogs Close Up
Tadpoles to Frogs
Ants Close Up
Usborn book about Ants
The Book of Australian Birds
Super Storms
Real Life Monsters: Creepy Crawly Creatures
Real Life Monsters: In the Rainforest

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
soccer skills with dad

Read Alouds:
(We attempted a mini unit on nutrition)
Why Shouldn't I Eat Junk Food? Usborn
The ABC Book of Food
Meats, Fish, Eggs, Nuts and Beans
Grains, Bread, Cereal and Pasta

**We quickly abandoned our mini unit of nutrition. Sadly the books available for children still stress that fat is bad and LOTS of grain based carbohydrates are good.  Term three we will focus our attention on where babies come from and the changes involved with puberty.**

Creative Arts:

Art:

crepe paper craft
"May the Fourth" R2D2 craft
paper plate penguins and spiders

Socialization:

Weekly attendance of church and Sunday School

Numerous play dates with friends of multiple ages

Other Activities:

Played a variety of board and card games

• Rummy-O
• Mancala
• Snakes and Ladders
• Skip-Bo
• Phase 10
• Chess
• Memory
• Blokus
• Blink

Term School Holiday Events:

July:
Library ~ Roll the Ball games day
Attended State of Origin Game 3
Pupil Free Lego Day

** Due to all three boys and I coming down with a cold/cough the second half of the term was much more basic from a structured learning point of view and we utilized much more natural learning as we focused on resting and healing. **

Term Two: Week Ten ~ The End

We made it to the final week of the term!

I cannot believe we are halfway through the school year already.

Time is flying.

I am SO very proud of Monster.

While Monkey only had his spelling to do for the week, Monster had spelling, an IEW paragraph to write, and FOUR pages of maths to do.  He worked hard, complained very little, and got it all done.  He admitted it felt good to know that there would be nothing hanging over his head for his two weeks of holidays. 

I cannot say enough good things about the writing curriculum we are using this term.

Simply put, it is AWESOME, and my eldest son is writing paragraphs, writing them well, and complaining very little about the whole process!!  YAY!!

This last paragraph for this term certainly isn't his best effort, but I'm still focusing more on the process than the product, and so I'm happy with the effort he put in. The writing itself is a little awkward but I've left it as is... it will naturally improve as we continue with this program and the process of writing.

This is the original paragraph that I took out of an Usborne book about mummies and pyramids.

This is Monster's key word outline he created from the above paragraph. 

A horrible photograph and hard to read, but this is Monster's rough draft paragraph, rewritten using his key word outline.  The red writing is the editing I helped him do. We made a couple of grammatical corrections and added in (dressed it up) -ly words (adverbs).  Next term we will add another dress up so I will need to do some work over the second week of the holidays to plan what the new dress up will be and prepare everything for Monster's next paragraph. 

 Monster's final draft which he typed up on my computer and printed out all on his own.

The rest of the week was spent reading and working on the puzzle.

I had hoped we would finish it so we could start a new puzzle third term, but we aren't quite ready yet.

Term Two: Week Nine ~ Almost There

Week nine and we are almost there.

With cold weather and lingering coughs, we are counting down the days to school holidays.

There are no photographs of structured written work, but we completed spelling, maths, reading and writing through the week.

The boys were gifted with LOTS of Lego and some new books from friends of ours, so much of the week was devoted to natural learning using their new things.

Four new tubs of miscellaneous Lego (green, yellow, pink and purple as shown in this photo) means LOTS of imaginative play time.  The boys were THRILLED to find LOTS and LOTS of mini figures in the boxes and they now have elaborate games created using all of them. 

Quite a mixture of books here as Monster enjoyed a set of Zac Power books given to him by our friends, we are working hard to wrap up our Ancient Egypt unit so we can start Ancient Greece next term, and we continue with our nutrition unit.  As always there are picture books thrown in for good measure.

Term Two: Week Eight ~ Plodding Along

The second half of the second term of the year always seems to be the hardest for us.

I think it has something to do with winter setting in and it is a bit hard to get super motivated when it is cold and gets dark earlier.  This year was made even harder as the boys and I got hit with a cold/cough bug that though short lived, has left the boys with lingering coughs.

So we keep plodding along with this term, getting our most important structured written work done (writing/spelling, maths and reading) and then fill in any gaps with read alouds and natural learning... all the while waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel... school holidays!

There is always time for learning with Legos.  The older boys are playing an online Lego game that gives them instructions to some "secret" construction as they finish levels.  They periodically lock themselves away in the bedroom (away from the 4yr old brother) to work on the next section.  They don't always have the right parts but they have got quite good at improvising. 

Munchkin LOVES playing this game.  

He asks me (or his brothers) to play with him frequently.

It gives him good practice with counting and turn taking. 

 There is always time for reading - no matter what!

The Wombat books are favourites of all the boys even though they are VERY simple - Munchkin has memorized several of them we've read them that much!

These next four books are all Monster's books for the week.  The Brain-Bending Basics book was an independent free choice of his, Fox and Fine Feathers and Flight were Premier's Reading Challenge books, and the two Eygpt books were our read alouds that I finished with him as he worked on his puzzle in the evenings. 

 These two books were read aloud to the two older boys and they were FANTASTIC!

 Finally our selection of other picture books that I'm pretty sure I read to all three boys.

We enjoyed all of these so I imagine we'll be borrowing them from the library again soon.

The puzzle progress is VERY slow now as Monster gets to the hardest bits, so you have to look hard to see the differences, but they are there.

Term Two: Week Seven ~ Getting Back on Track

We enjoyed spending all of Monday and Tuesday morning with Nana.

All three boys enjoyed watching and helping her cook their favourite meals through the day on Monday.  That evening we enjoyed goat curry, fish curry, potato steaks, and special flat bread made by Nana and her two special helpers!

Monkey reckons he's watched Nana enough, and helped her enough, that he and I could make this bread on our own.  I'm keen to give it a try soon and see if he is right. 

The older boys enjoyed playing Rummikub with Nana before she left for the airport Tuesday morning.  I think they got two full games in before she had to go. 

The boys enjoyed a mammoth play dough session Tuesday afternoon while I read some information books aloud to them. 

Thursday afternoon at the library saw Monkey catching up on some work while the other two boys used the computers. 

Friday was a natural learning sort of day with all three boys spending a majority of the morning pouring over this book (title will be down below in the book section) to solve the mystery within the story and claim the special prize from the author's website. 

The prize was a Jewel Fish to download, print out, cut out, and assemble.

There was a colour version (right) and a black and white version (left) that they could colour in first if they chose. 

The boys also watched three episodes of this DVD about life in Antarctica. 

Monster's independent reading...

 Despite my voice still not being at 100% we did a LOT of reading aloud this week. These books were all wonderful.

We enjoyed some wombat love this week with a selection of Jackie French picture books. 

 The book on the left was the one the boys poured over on Friday.  It was also an independent Premier's Reading Challenge book for Monster.  The book on the left was a book George (our favourite librarian) set aside for us because he knows Monkey loves dinosaurs, but it was a bit too simplistic for him.  Munchkin hasn't really "discovered" the wonder of dinosaurs yet, so after one quick read through, back to the library it goes.

Between Nana being here, and behaviour issues in the evenings, we are still working to get our evening routine back on track.  But we did get a couple nights of reading an puzzle time in. 

Finally, just for a change, I thought I would share this book that I read this week.  I got VERY little sleep this week thanks to this book, but it was well worth the sacrifice.  This is the fifth book in a wonderful series and I was thrilled to learn (in the author's notes at the back) that a sixth book is being written, and perhaps there will be a seventh as well.  Jackie French is an amazing woman and author, and I highly recommend her books to anyone who loves to read.