What we're learning this week...

I got way way ahead of myself this summer and had several weeks worth of planning for Brooke done. And then the end of it snuck up on me this weekend as I realized, "time to do more!" So I got the next three weeks done and of course, made some adjustments. I am always adjusting, it seems.

Spelling Words:

quilt
mystery
glimpse
igloo
myth
limit
built
blizzard
whistle
imitate
system
width
simple
visit
thrift
instinct
typical
biscuit
gymnast
mischief

In vocabulary, we are working on antonyms this week (the words that are the opposite--I had to remind myself of the definition before I could teach it to her! LOL) and in grammar we are learning pronoun agreement and regular present and past tense verbs.

Her reading unit this week is on poetry (something I am not too great at but I guess I will learn also) and in Math we are continuing to refine our multiplication and division skills.

We have two more units of Science before our Chapter test next week. One is one safety and the other is on atmosphere. So far this year, we have studied weather tracking, the history of the discovery of genetics, weathering & erosion, , temperature and flight as part of "Science as Inquiry". Mrs. Tere has had them making crystals, slime and ice cream in materials science at co-op.

For History, we are studying Kaya, An American Girl. She is the Native American of the Nimmipuu tribe (currently known as the Nez Perce tribe) from 1764. We are beginning the second book of the series this week and have learned how important names were to the Native Americans as well as how they lived and worked.

I've started something new with Brooke this week also called the "green folder". Although I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Spectrum series of books (that's what I use for Reading, Science, Language Arts, Vocabulary and Spelling) we were not making much progress with their Writing curriculum. So we are simply going to journal. I've already prepared several journaling topics and they are waiting on her in the "green folder". Also in the "green folder" are sheets for handwriting practice and various fun sheets like map labeling, mall math, historical worksheets, holiday-related sheets, etc.

She was busted last night doing her "news report". She wrote several pages of "news" and pretended to be an anchorwoman for me and when she was finished I asked her how come she claims she can never think of anything to write when I ask her to write but she can come up with all that off the top of her head! Ha! She proved she can do it when she wants to so I just have to get her to want to. Hmmm...

I will be checking up on Kayti today with her CORE classes. I know she has a project due on Colonial life tomorrow and was having trouble thinking of things to say for 3-5 minutes! Apparently this speech class hasn't kicked in yet! LOL

I want to try and squeeze in some time for music practice today. Since we aren't taking formal lessons right now, we really need to make that a priority so we don't forget what we've learned.

And dance starts back this afternoon! We are SO excited!

Have a great week!