Week of 11/02/2014-11/08/2014

Reading/Language Arts : This week we started reading The Tale of Solomon Owl. We read a chapter a night, and entered summaries and pictures into the reading journal.

Math : We went over our 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 11 times tables, did mixed multiplication problems, and splashmath.com.

Social Studies : Continuing with the map of Africa she drew last week, Mimzy learned how to read a physical map. We discussed how people's lives might change depending where on the continent they live. For example, people in the desert need to spend more time finding food and water than people living by rivers in fertile land. She identified some of the places we'd talked about in previous lessons (Nigeria, the ancient Mali empire) and created a legend to identify the locations. She also filled in her map with physical symbols and color.

Science : We created our own card game to identify various characteristics of animals as well as character traits we attribute to them. For example, one card asks, "Who soars to the clouds and nests on mountains? Who is free beyond the horizon and is a symbol of power?" The answer is "An Eagle."

Health : This is the start of the third unit of health, in which we'll be discussing healthy habits. We started out by talking about nutrition and the six essential nutrients. Mimzy made a list of her favorite foods, cut them out, and glued them in their appropriate place on a table of the six nutrients. 

Art : Mimzy learned how to layer color on in order to achieve more intense tones with water colors, and we also experimented with using layers of paint to make a painting look more realistic (ie, paint the trees behind the grass, paint clouds under and above the layer of sky paint).

Music : We used rhythm and clapped while chanting the various multiplication tables she has learned.

Craft : She helped me finish up her and her brothers' Halloween costumes for a Halloween party and trick-or-treating!

Extra : Karate lessons, spanish lessons at Duolingo, as usual. She started her swim team practices, and has swam a lot this week! I was so proud of her dedication and hard work, even though she wasn't the most skilled or fastest on her team. She also came with me to vote on Election Day, and we had a conversation about how democracy worked and why it was important to vote.