Weekly Wrap-up: Week 15 - Back to Basics

So, where were we? Ah, yes, week 15.  Almost a half year completed. A tad more really since we did summer studies. We will celebrate our 100th day next week! But what happened this week?

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs, Quiz 95%
• Writing - How to Wake up with Energy 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test List 12-14
• The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 78% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Possessive Nouns
• Writing - New Year's Perfect Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - 1 Corinthians 13:13
• The Borrowers (Norton)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 46% Completed

Waiting in the van for Cate to finish band practice is a perfect time for Sam to do copywork, grammar, reading, Mad Libs, A History of US, and this week some literature-based math. I read aloud Fun with Roman Numerals (Adler) and we played Roman Numerals War.

ASTRONOMY
Mars was our focus this week in Apologia Astronomy. Sam completed his notebooking page while I read aloud from the text, and he built models of the Sojourner rover and Olympus Mons.

• Notebooking and Project Pages
• Mars' Atmosphere, Environment, Gravity, Moons, and Orbit
• "Mars: Crash Course Astronomy #15"
• Balloon Rover
• Salt Dough Volcano Model

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cati started Module 6: Foundations of Geology in Apologia General Science this week. She conducted an experiments on the difference between rocks and minerals, separation of sedimentation, and physical weathering.

• Vocabulary: Catastrophism, Mineral, Uniformitarianism, Weathering, Humus
• Soil, Rocks and Minerals
• Types of Rock
• Mineral Classification

U.S. HISTORY
I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 5-9.

• Anasazi
• Inuit
• Northwest Native Americans
• Potlaches
• 15th Century Land and Animals
• Plains Indians

Sam also played U.S. Geography: Level 3 Expert on Sheppardsoftware, scoring 48 out of 50 states.

MUSIC HISTORY
Cati is studying early American music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 27-34.

• Slave Spirituals
• Songs of the Confederacy
• Mendelssohn
• Strauss
• Major and Minor Scales, Notes, Steps and Accidentals
• Composed Music with Beatlab

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies, Homemade Cheese Pizza, Spaghetti
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget 

Sam

• CNN Student News
• Cooked Egg, Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches, Homemade Meatballs with Cheesy Centers
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 99 | SAM - 94

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click the buttons to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!

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)