Weekly Wrap-Up: Days 106-109 - Thunder, Lightning and Snow?

Thunder and lightning! In the middle of a snowstorm! Over the weekend we had ANOTHER snowstorm which briefly switched over the freezing rain around midnight that produced QUITE a number of rumbles and flashes. What weather we're having in Maine! 

Kids and I Made Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Monday afternoon I dropped C off with our neighbor friends for a sleepover. They have girls for C to "hang out" with. (It seems that most of our friends have BOYS, BOYS, BOYS.)  She had a blast painting pictures and doing beadwork! J spent some time shoveling out the walkway after a SNOWQUAKE and then he and S made cheesy nachos with salsa for lunch and chocolate cake for dessert after dinner. 

A School Distraction LOL

Ah, SNOWQUAKE? Well, we have a metal roof. Snow and ice build up on our roof until the temperatures get warm enough for the sheets to slide off in a noisy, shaky C-R-A-S-H. It can be QUITE startling if you haven't experienced it before. Oftentimes there are HEAVY, LARGE "icebergs" to clear off the walkway and road afterward.

No school on Tuesday. A and I headed into the city - A had some additional work training and I spent the day  at the hospital with my sister who is recovering from surgery. The kids spent the day with friends, reading, doing crafts, building snowman. And in the evening, C had basketball practice and J had Boy Scouts.

We were back to "every day" school on Wednesday and Thursday. The kids had 4H and built snow shelters. (Our 4H is doing Outdoor Education and Recreation this year.) C had a basketball game. FINALLY. It's been WEEKS since we  haven't gotten snow on Wednesday! J studied Celtic Knots at Not Math Math Class and the kid's friends came over Thursday afternoon.

J's Celtic Knot

Another Celtic Knot

Field trip Friday! It's been a while since we've gone on a field trip, so we headed into the city to meet up with family to spend some time exploring the art museum.

J's Accomplishments This Week  

Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra Lesson 72-74

Teacher's Cafe Verb Tenses

Wordly Wise Lesson 18 and 19
Creative Composition: Mystery Story

Apologia General Science Module 8 Mini Books and Experiments

DK History of the World Chapter 16 (1800-1850) with Timeline
Discovery Channel's History of US videos (Depression)

Sheppard Software World Geography Geography

C's Accomplishments This Week 

Saxon 54 Lessons 61-62

History Pockets: Native Americans - Navajo
Handwriting Without Tears - Numbers

Composition: Letter with Compare/Contrast

Daily Grams 9-11
Sheppard Software United States Geography

Apologia Zoology III Lesson 8: Ungulates - Rhinos and Tapirs, Map It!

All About Spelling Step 6: Open and Closed Syllables and Step 7: Vowel-Consonant-E

C's Navajo (Paper) Blanket and Necklace

S's Accomplishments This Week 

Get Ready for K Math pp 66-84

100s Grid 1-20 

Handwriting Without Tears K, V and U

Kumon Mazes

Starfall Calendar

Starfall Short i Games

Literactive Road to Reading - V, K 

Lapbook: My Body - Food Groups
Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read pp 36-37 

S's Food Groups Wheel from  Homeschool Share

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C and S's Unit Studies: Part 3 - Totems, Crystals,

Day 11: 

I found this interesting, interactive on-line book called Animals in Winter to review what we learned last week about how animals cope with the cold. If you have young ones studying animals, you should check it out!

C had fun deciding which animal represented us on her History Pocket Tlingit's totem pole. Final decision? A was the eagle, I was the butterfly, J was the whale, and S was the fox. And C? There weren't any animals left! (I think she would have chosen HORSE though! LOL)

C's Tlingit Totem Pole

S listened to one of my favorite books, Snowflake Bentley, and we looked at some of his snow crystal photographs. They ARE quite beautiful! Have you seen them? We talked about what 3 things effect how snow crystals are made (although they're all hexagonal) and S filled out a What Makes a Snowflake Unique? mini-book.  

Day 12:

C started learning about the Nez Perce, reading and coloring her History Pocket information pages and pocket title. And finished Meet Kaya: An American Girl in one reading-before-bedtime night!

Nez Perce Pocket Title and Information Pages

S and I continued on with snow crystals. He played a Snowflake visual discrimination activity. It was a hit! He LOVES making symmetric patterns (and notices right off when they're not). The Complete the Snowflake Drawing Page was challenging and frustrating for him though, but he finished it! (GREAT practice for strengthening his visual-motor processing skills.)

S Making his Visual Discrimination Snowflake

S with his Completed Snowflake

S's Complete the Snowflake

Day 13:

C made a Nez Perce Appalooza ornament. The horse was important to Native Americans, and the Nez Perce bred Appalooza horses who had spots and were fast runners.

C's Appalooza Ornament

S finished up his Winter Lapbook by making a paper snow globe using paper, markers, contact paper, and tiny white paper circles from hole-puncher. 

S's Snow Globe

Day 14:

C started reading Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, a historical fiction book about the granddaughter of Nez Perce Chief Joseph and his famous "I will fight no more forever" stand. Interestingly, Chief Joseph's name was Hinmaton Yalatikit which means "thunder that comes from the mountain". She also created a paper feather mini-book on the qualities of Chief Joseph which included bravery, spirit, determination, and great leadership. 

S made some more snowflakes using his Snowflake Visual Discrimination manipulative.

Literature

Snow (Rylant)

The Frog Princess: A Tlingit Legend from Alaska (Kimmel)

Snowflake Bentley (Martin)
Meet Kaya: An American Girl (Shaw) 
Snow Bear (George)
Dream Snow (Carle)
Snow Party (Ziefert)
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains (O'Dell)

C and S's Unit Studies: Part 2 - Tlingits and Winter

S's Color-by-Number Zookeeper

Day 6: C and S worked on their mini-books while I read aloud. C finished up her igloo story mini-book for Inuits and started her HP's Tlingits of the Northwest information sheets.  S continued adding "fur" to his Polar Bear counting activity, completed 3 more color word mittens, and finished a color-by-number Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? zookeeper. 

C's Igloo Story

Day 7/8: With S and I STILL not feeling well from a cold, we watched a video on how rain, snow and other precipitation forms and read books, snuggled up under blankets on the sofa. 

C's Tlingit Potlatch Mask

Day 9: We read about migration and hibernation in Explore Winter! 25 Great Ways to Learn about Winter. C worked on her Tlingit picture dictionary words and finished coloring her pocket title. S completed definition mini books on hibernation and migration, one on Animals in Winter, and 2 worksheets on animal tracks.

S's Completed Polar Bear

Day 10: S worked on his What I like to Do in the Snow mini book - he likes to sled - and his The Mitten animal trait matchbooks and finished adding "fur" to his Polar Bear. C made a  Tlingit potlatch mask. The Tlingits, as well as other Native Americans, had potlatch feasts which were important for status and respect within the tribes. And then J joined C and S to make Inuksuit (Ee-nook-sweet). Inuksuit are traditional stone structures that represent powerful symbols in the Canadian Arctic Native American tribes (such as the Inuit). Stones are hard to find right now (considering we have 18 or more inches of snow), so we made our Inuksuit out of Snack Well cookies and frosting. LOL 

Our Inuksuit

Literature:
Animal Predators: Polar Bears (Sandra Markle)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear? (Eric Carle)
Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear (Nicola Davies)
Snow Globe Family (Jane O'Connor)
Katy and the Big Snow (Virginia Lee Burton)
Tracks in the Snow (Wong Herbert Yee)
Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Snow Trucking! (David Shannon)
Make Your Own Inuksuk (Mary Wallace)

Videos:
Weather Fundamentals: Rain & Snow (Schlessinger)

C and S's Unit Studies: Part 1 - Inuits/Tlingits and Snow

C started her History Pockets: Native Americans (HP) unit study this week. Her studies started with the Inuits and Tlingits of Alaska and northern Canada. And S started his Winter Lapbook from a variety of resources on Homeschool Share and Making Learning Fun. I thought it was a GREAT opportunity to combine their studies, sharing the same books and some activities!

Day 1:

I gave the kids print-outs from Jan Brett's website on her book The Mitten. While reading The Mitten and The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale, the kids colored their paper mittens. Individually, S started his cotton ball counting Polar Bear, his weather report mini-book (and learned how to write temperatures), and did temperature reading and sequencing Snowman cards, and C read her Fact Sheet: Tribes of North America and made her Native American Picture Dictionary booklet for HP.

Day 2:

The kids worked on their paper mittens and animals for The Mitten while I read aloud to them. S added some more "fur" (cotton balls) to his Polar Bear, continued on with his weather report mini-book, and started his Mitten Color cards where he read the color word, made the word with All About Spelling letter tiles, wrote the word, and finally colored the mittens. C read and colored her HP The Inuit of the Artic information sheets and Map of Native American Tribes.

Day 3:

S continued to work on his "furry" Polar bear counting and color word mittens, but also did a "You Melt my Heart" picture frame with puffy glitter glue.

Day 4:

C and S finished up their The Mitten mitten and animals while I read more of our fun books from the library. S continue on with his Polar Bear and Weather Report, but also completed a snowflake shape (hexagon) mini-book and a Shape T-book with other shapes like pentagons, trapezoids and parallelograms. C colored her Inuit pocket title and used her Inuit fact sheets to add the first 3 vocab words to her picture dictionary.

Day 5:

S continued adding "fur" to his counting Polar Bear and completed 2 color word mitten cards, reviewed his Shape Book then finished The Mitten animal layer handwriting book. C read about Inuit's ice fishing and made a magnet fishing pole and fish with a straw, kite string, tape, a paper hook, and a paper fish. She also "glittered" her igloo writing page and wrote a first draft of a story to make a book on Monday.

Literature:
The Mitten (Jan Brett)
The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale (Lydia Dabcovich)
Kumak's Fish: A Tall Tale from the Far North (Michael Bania)
Carry Me, Mama (Monica Devine)
The Snow Day (Komako Sakai)
Snow Friends (Christine Butler and Tina Macnaughton)
The Three Snow Bears (Jan Brett)
Snow Dance (Lezlie Evans)
The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats)
Ice Bear and Little Fox (Jonathan London)
Sam's Snowy Day (Mary Labatt)
Snow Music (Lynne Rae Perkins)
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)

Videos:
Knut & Friends (DOKfilm)

Weekly Wrap-up: Frozen!

Brrrrrr! Winter is DEFINITELY upon us in Maine despite only a few patches of dry, icy snow under the evergreens. It's a frigid 23.9 degrees this afternoon - our HIGH for the day - but there's a crockpot full of vegetable beef stew cooking on the counter for dinner this evening to warm us up after our out-and-about activities.

It's been ANOTHER Crazy Busy Week for us! Aren't they all? LOL

Over the weekend, a dry, fine snow fell, covering the trees until the sun started shining again, melting most of "white stuff". C, S and I went into town to Home Depot for their building workshop. The kids made wooden picture frames. And then we headed across the street to Lowe's for THEIR building workshop. S was SO excited to make a caboose! He LOVES trains! (Check out Lowe's and Home Depot for their free building workshops for kids!) Would you believe that the rest of the weekend was UNSCHEDULED? LOL I was able to make homemade English Muffins finally!

On Monday the kids completed a regular day of assignments in Language Arts, Math, Science, and History with a smidgen of Arts and Crafts. (We have HUGE paper snowflakes decorating the walls now! LOL) C had a Brownie meeting in the afternoon where they learned about healthy eating, making paper-and-crayon Vegetable People, and sang Christmas carols.

Tiring Tuesday! Tuesday just happens to be our busiest day right now! The kids did a GREAT job getting most of their assignments completed in the morning before we were off to S's OT and "Astronaut Training". ("Astronaut Training" has A LOT of spinning which S's vestibular system CRAVES and it's supposed to help with his visual tracking.) He also started a new Listening Therapy CD called "Gearshifters" (Mozart) to help with calming his body. (Perhaps he'll begin sleeping better...) After OT, we were off to the city library where we returned 4 stuffed backpacks of books and videos and refilled them. And, even though it was only in the low 20s, the kids wanted to run around the playground for 20 minutes. (That was how long it took for the kids to complain, "It's TOO cold," and run BACK to the van! LOL) C also had a basketball practice that night and J got a ride with a friend to Boy Scouts (since I couldn't be at 2 places at the same time.)

Fortunately Wednesday was a BIT slower. I was able to borrow Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read: Level 1 from the library and S and I sat down to do the first couple of lessons. It's too early to tell if this is a "keeper", but so far, so good. (And the library has all 5 sets to borrow!) In the afternoon the kids had 4H and made Christmas cards for veterans in a nearby hospital. They had a GREAT time using ink and stampers, especially S! (Will his clothing ever be the same? LOL) We headed to the gym afterward for C's first basketball game of the season. A picked up J and S on his way home from work so I could have some Mom Socializing-on-the-Sidelines Time. And, although Team Yellow didn't win, C played wonderfully and has the distinction of being the first girl on her team to get a foul this season...and she didn't even REALIZE it!

On Thursday, J headed off for his Not Math Math class on Parabolas which he is QUITE enjoying. (He's even been doing some of these on his own at home!) C finished up her daily assignments, including working on her American History Trivia Game and Apologia Zoo III primates taxonomy chart. S and I did a "Getting Salt Out of Saltwater" evaporation experiment and another called "Float or Sink" from Homeschool Share and filled out mini-books for his Ocean Lapbook. The kids played with friends the ENTIRE afternoon (at their house) and in the evening we went to PJ Storytime and decorated gingerbread cookies.

After some work in our core subjects - S finished up his Ocean lapbook! - our week wrapped up on Friday with Brownie Caroling at the retirement home where the girls sang and played boardgames with some of the residents, and J had a short basketball practice before heading off for a weekend of Boy Scout camping. Yup! Camping! But, they do stay in a wood-heated cabin some of the time! LOL

Phew! How was your week? Check out other Weekly Wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!