Monday, October 12, 2009

Week 5 & 6


Playing Catch Up with the blog!

Math
Math Mats are working wonderful for reviewing math facts.
SharkMan used the cubes in his math activity earlier and then decided to build his own tower.

Concentration at its finest.

A Job well done!
My favorite math activity came from Family Math. SharkMan had to take dry beans and glue them in pairs to determine if they were odd or even. Then we used our Do A Dots to discover a pattern of odds and even on the number line.
More odd/even work on the hundreds board.
Reading - We are continuing to do many read alouds and working on Phonics. SharkMan is enjoying using the sandpaper letters. I think they are helping to internalize his letter formation. We also enjoyed learning about Johnny Appleseed during his birthday week. To finish our week, we added him to our timeline.
Science - We are learning about the needs of plants this week. We conducted several experiments including the classic celery in colored water to see the water move in the veins.In addition, we are testing to see which direction plants grow by placing a plant on its side to see if it will change directions as it grows.Twice a month, we will do Science Day with a group of homeschoolers. For our first day, we learned about how to make a hypothesis using Starburst. First, we had a bag with all purple Starburst and the kids made a guess on what color candy they would get. Next, we conducted the experiment and checked answers. Then we had a second bag with a majority red and just a few purple and they made hypothesis and explained their answers.
Next we did an experiment called Dancing Raisins. We used our new knowledge of the word hypothesis to predict what would happen to raisins put in water and then in Sprite.
In all of my years of teaching, this activity was one of the most enjoyable. I think that I saw a value of homeschooling I had not considered before. The kids weren't concerned about grades or looking smart in front of each other. Since all the parents were present, I not only did not have to worry about behavior but I didn't have to worry about giving individual attention, because the moms worked with me to help the kids. I love that learning is all fun at this age. We had readers and nonreaders, English speakers and dual language learners, and various ages around the table and the kids all felt valuable, not in competition with each other. I loved it.Fun and Games
SharkMan and Papa Shark enjoying the Legos.


Papa Shark is teaching SharkMan chess.


I love this shot. Our Deep Thinker!

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