Learning Log 12

For Science this week we learned about the tropical Andes and how it contains some of the greatest biodiversity in the world.  We learned about the spectacled bear and the giant hummingbird, as well as some other animals.  We also learned how the mountains were formed.  We learned about tectonic plates, and the scientist Wenger, who developed the theory.  We learned that the Andes Mountains are right on two tectonic plates.  For history we read a selection from The Secret of the Andes from the Junior Classics series. We also studied the South American map and studied where the Andes run, where the tectonic plates were, and how that affected the boundaries of countries. 

For music Elsie, Kimball, and Anna went to their piano lessons and Bows and Bridges music school.  Anna worked especially hard on her practicing this week for violin, and she improved significantly on her Song of the Wind.  Kimball and Elsie also did their practicing for both their instruments.  Kimball is moving along quickly in his piano and is currently practicing Go Tell Aunt Rhody.  Elsie is practicing hard on her new Christmas son, Silent Night.
Adam played on the swings and went to Explorer’s Club.  He climbed a hill, played at a playground, and looked for treasures.  

For Language Arts I finished reading The Four story Mistake to the children.  Elsie read the third book of Harry Potter again (her second time this month).  She also read Jacyln Hyde from her Literati order.  She wrote 2 more chapters in the story she is writing about dragons.  She also started some copy work.  She copied a poem a couple other selections.  She memorized a poem called Window Boxes and shared it at our Poetry and Tea.  She also listened to other people recite their poems.  Kimball read a chapter from Harry Potter and read three children’s books out-loud to his little brother.  He wrote 5 journal entries about things he did that day, as well as doing copy work for three days.  He also participated in poetry and tea.  Anna started some Jenny Phillips handwriting, level 2.  She did several pages, and she practiced writing her first and last name.  She also practiced her reading.  She went over the wh, sl, and sn blends.  She read a short story called Super Chuck, practiced some review words, practiced some sight words, and she read a challenging book called Slim Slam.  This book she also reread to her dad later in the week.  After reviewing the letters and their sounds for a couple weeks, Adam restarted the Kindergarten level 1 Hooked on Phonics.  He learned the at and an blends.  We also reviewed the letters and the sounds they make while playing games.  He read 2 short stories: "Hat" and "Dan Ran". 

For Math Kimball started on chapter 16.  He is learning how to divide with a remainder.  He also did some review where he practiced writing numbers in standard notation and he did some story problems.  Anna finished chapter 20, where she subtracted by 2s.  She also solved for the unknown, reviewed some addition, and did some story problems.  Elsie worked really hard in Math this week.  She went back through her math to clarify on some concepts she wasn't understanding.  She also did chapter 12, where she learned how to simplify fractions using manipulatives.  She reviewed adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and finding the GCF to simplify the answer.  She also practiced multiplying 4 digit by 3 digit numbers, and she did lots of story problems.  Adam did chapter 16, where he learned what 4+4 and 5+5 were and reviewed some other addition problems he has learned already.  He also practiced counting and writing to 20.  
For Minecraft Elsie and Kimball built paper minecraft guys by printing off the patterns from the software.  Then they cut them out, glued them together, and took pictures of them.  They learned how to take pictures, download them to the computer, and upload them to canvas.