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.

Learning Log 13

For science this week the kids learned that potatoes originated in the Andes and they all looked at a potato and found the eyes in it that could propagate.  Then we cut a couple up, stuck a stick through it and put them in some water to see if we could get them to propagate.  They also watched a YouTube video of Mark Rober about the importance of trees and how much carbon they consume.  They learned how they are trying to plant trees using drones.  They are excited to donate some money to plant 20,000,000 trees.

For music, Elsie, Kimball, and Anna went to their piano lessons and their Bows and Bridges music school.  Anna is learning how to play Cuckoo on the piano.  Kimball is learning how to play Allegretto on the cello and is practicing making good sound when he plays Long Long Ago.  Elsie is on her last song in the book for violin.  She is working hard on Gavotte so she can move to book 2.  She is also polishing up The Happy Farmer.  
Adam played a Zombie game with his siblings and neighbors (like tag).  He also walked all over the neighborhood as he went trick or treating.  

For Language Arts I read The Witches by Roal Dahl to my kids.  We got half way through, and all the kids were entranced.  It inspired Anna to dress up as a true witch for Halloween.  Elsie dressed up as a half-blood from Percy Jackson.  Anna went over the blends sm, sp, sc, sk, sw, st, fl, gl, cl, and bl.  she read several short stories and some directions on how to build something.  She also went over some sight words and read a book called Lucky for Me.  She also reread the book Slim Sam to herself and then to me as well.  She practiced writing her entire name, first, middle, and last.  She also did some copy work.  Elsie read the 3rd book of Harry Potter again (making it the fourth time this month). She also read 10 pages from The Hobbit and about 80 pages from The Princess Academy.  She wrote a couple chapters in her story about bears and 1 chapter in her story about dragons.  Adam reread the book Cat from the previous week and learned the blends ad and am.  He reviewed previous blends by reading words and by playing kinesthetic games to help.   He also read the short stories "Dad Had A Cat" and "Pam and Sam".  He practiced writing his first name as well as he learned to write J and e for Jeppson in his last name.  he had to practice the "e" lots. Kimball read 2 chapters of Harry Potter.  He also wrote in his journal and did some copy work. 

For math Adam learned to count by 2s in chapter 17.  We also sang a song that helped him learn how to count my twos, and he reviewed some addition facts he had already learned.  We realized Anna was behind on a bunch of math tests, so she spent the week taking a bunch of tests (5).  To do so she had to review her addition and some subtraction facts as well.  Elsie did chapter 13 where she learned how to find the prime factors of numbers by either using a factor tree or by repeated division.  She also learned how to simplify a fraction by finding all their prime numbers.  She reviewed adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions and then she simplified her answers.  Elsie also reviewed long division, for example 9442 divided by 53, and did several related problems.  Kimball finished chapter 16, learning to divide with a remainder, and took the test.  He also did lots of story problems and did some review adding, subtracting, and multiplying.
For tech, the Elsie and Kimball worked on mapping out their rooms for their minecraft assignment.  They mapped their rooms and and then scanned, uploaded, and turned in their assignment.

Learning Log 11

For science this week Elsie, Kimball, Anna, and Adam learned about the Pampas ecosystem in South America, mainly Argentina.  They learned about the animals and plants that grow there.  They also finished up the unit study of the Atacama desert and learned about volcanoes and how they work and the pH scale.  They learned what an acid and a base was, and using pH strips, found the pH of various kitchen solutions.
For music Elsie, Kimball, and Anna went to their piano lessons and Bows and Bridges music school.  They practiced their songs on their piano and string instruments.  For piano they decided on a Christmas song they wanted to play.  They also had a recital where they performed at a retirement home their Suzuki piano pieces they had worked so hard a polishing.
For Math Kimball took 4 tests to catch up on tests he had fallen behind on because he had lost his test booklet.  Adam worked on learning the addition facts 4+4 and 5+5.  He reviewed adding 1, counting and writing to 20 and building and saying 3 digit numbers.  Anna finished the chapter where she was learning to subtract by 2.  She reviewed her addition facts and solving for the unknown, and she did some story problems.  Elsie did chapter 12 in her MUS book.  she learned about using the greatest common factor to reduce a fraction.  She also reviewed long multiplication, multiplying 4 and 3 digit numbers, and did lots of story problems. 
For language arts, I read some more of The Four Story Mistake to the children.  I also read a story called Chucaro from the Junior Classics series about a boy who lived on out on the pampas.  We learned lots about the lifestyle of the famous gaucho.  Elsie wrote an article about our family trip to the West Heritage Center for our family newsletter.  She also wrote her weekend story.  She read the book Inside Out and Back Again, which she got from Literati.  Kimball read 50 pages of Harry Potter.  He also wrote an article about an event we did the previous week, and had 2 journal entries.  He did a little copy work for 2 days as well.  Anna learned writing is getting easier for her, and she wrote several long sentences from the books we were reading for copy work.  She also started on her new Hooked on Phonics level for 1st grade.  She learned about the ch, sh, and th blends and read a short story and a recipe she is really excited to try out.  Adam worked really hard at writing his name over and over, trying to keep the "d" going the right direction.  He also played lots of games trying to help him remember the letters and the sounds of the letters.  We played BINGO, musical letters, and we read an ABC book.
For Tech Elsie and Kimball printed out patterns to build Minecraft guys.  They cut them out and put them together.  As a family, we also had a lot of fun at the Family Search building by the temple in St. George!  We learned how to find out who our ancestors were, how we were related to famous people, what percentage we were of various nationalities, and all sorts of fun information.  We spent over an hour exploring our personal history!
For PE, Adam, as well as the rest of the family had a lovely time climbing on Dixie Rock: exploring slots, catching lizards, and climbing the highest peaks.  We also had a fun time at a pumpkin patch, going through another corn maze (this time Adam was the leader), and playing on the activities: slides, zip lines, trampolines, and other fun!  Everyone played hard! 

Learning Log 10

For music this week Kimball, Elsie, and Anna all practiced and went to their piano lessons and to Bows and Bridges music school.  Elsie finished her 100s chart.  They are working on their piano and violin/cello pieces dutifully.  On Sunday they picked a song and shared them with a sweet lady in our neighborhood who has been bed-bound for over a decade.  It was fun to share with her!  Elsie also finished her 100s chart for her Eccosaise song, and received her prize as well.
For science we learned about the Atacama Desert on the west side of South America.  We learned what living things grow their and the harsh environment it is.  We also learned it is a great place to star gaze and that NASA has practiced driving rovers on it because of its similar terrain to Mars.  After studying what rovers do and the past couple they have built, the kids also designed one on paper, and then went to an outlet store and created our own models of our own rovers out of candy they bought.  They had a budget, just as NASA does, and they each built very different models.  We all studied the phases of the moon and were able to build a small model using our globe, a styrofoam ball, and a flashlight.  Then they made a chart using oreos as well as wrote out a chart of the phases of the moon into their journals.
For Math Kimball did chapter 15, where he practiced reading and writing out in expanded and standard notation numbers in the billions.  He reviewed mental multiplication, long addition and subtraction, and did lots of story problems.  Anna started chapter 20,  where she learned subtracting by 2s.  She also did some story problems.  Elsie did chapter 11 in her Epsilon book.  She is learning how to find the greatest common factor from 2 different numbers.  She also did some review on multiplying and dividing fractions.  Adam did chapter 15 in his MUS primer book.  He learned how to add 1 to numbers under 10 and 2+2 and 3+3.  He did this using math blocks and building numbers.  He also reviewed counting to 20.
For Language Arts I read some Latin American based stories to the kids from the Junior Classics series.  One was Tomas Is Lost and another was Rosa-Too-Little.  I also read to them from The Four Story Mistake, and from a book about writing.  We learned that it is important to be concise when we write.  Elsie, Kimball, and Anna practiced writing advertisements for their rovers.  Adam learned to write his name, inspired by the Rosa story I read.  He practiced and practiced.  Adam also practiced reviewing his letters through games.  We played lots of BINGO with letters.  We played games with chalk outside, we built letters out of blocks, and played other games.   Kimball read about 30 pages from The Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter Illustrated version), and three days of copy work, a couple journal entries, and his weekend story.  Elsie read the the third book of Harry Potter, The Prisoner of Azkaban.  She had the idea of starting a family newspaper and wrote an article for it.  She also wrote her first chapter about dragons, once she got all her notes down that she had previously taken. 
Anna read from her Hooked on Phonics books.  She learned the blends eg, ell, and ck.  She also learned how to read compound words.  She read 3 short stories and 2 books:  Pig's Backpack and Big Bad Ben by Rosemary Wells.  She finished Level 2 of the Kindergarten level.
For tech, Elsie and Kimball learned how to take pictures of their characters on Minecraft and add it to their portfolio.   They also learned how to turn in their assignment.  Anna learned how to use the drop down menu from word to print off a picture.  She learned how to select the printer to print off (black and white or colored) and how many copies to print off.
For Adam's PE, we got a family pass to the West Heritage Center and we did the corn maze.  Adam walked a long way, and then played outside playing games and climbing on things.

Learning Log #9

For music this week Elsie, Kimball, and Anna practiced their instruments and went to their lessons.  Anna is polishing up her Honeybee song on the piano.  Elsie is polishing up her Eccosaise on the piano and Gavotte on the violin (the last song in the book 1).  Kimball is polishing French Children's Song on the piano and Perpetual Motion on the cello.  He finished his practice 100xs chart for French Children's Song and got his prize!
For math Adam started on chapter 14 where he is learning to count and write to 20.  He also reviewed simple addition problems using the math blocks and building and saying 3 digit numbers.  Anna finished chapter 19 where she started learning about subtraction and subtracting by 2s.  She also revewed solving for the unknown and spelling out and reading numbers.  Kimball worked on chapter 14.  He is writing numbers in place-value notation up to the millions, and learning how to say them outloud.  He also reviewed his division facts.  Elsie finished chapter 10 where she is learning to divide by fractions using the rule of 4s.  She also reviewed long division and did multiple story problems.
For Language Arts I read to all the children stories from My Book House some fables from Latin America.  I also read to them from The Four Story Mistake, and they are enjoying that as well.  We learned from a book how to find the right words when we are writing to create the perfect imagery and preciseness. Anna fred from Hooked on Phonics Kindergarden Level 1 a book called Dog Bug and another one called Ted.  She learned some blends like ed, en, and et, and read a couple other short stories as well.  She copied a couple sentences about the Amazon Rainforest and did a little free writing.  Adam finished his Hooked on Phonics Preschool books, where he learned all the letters.  He started on the next set of books for kindergarten, but was having a hard time blending the letters.  We played some games to help him review the letters.  Kimball finished the book Cody and the Fountain of Happiness.  He also wrote his weekend story, did 3 journal entries, and copied 5 sentences from different stories.
For science we learned about the Amazon Rainforest, and Elsie, Kimball and Anna drew pictures of the various animals that live in the Amazon at different tree levels.  We compared and contrasted the Congo and Amazon rainforests as well.  We also went on a hike for Explorer's club and found some really amazing beaver lodges and lots of beaver dams!  One of the lodges we could walk right up to.  It was very beautiful.
For Adam's PE, he went to his last week of gymnastics.  He was so obedient and such a fast learner, he graduated quick from his gymnastics class.  He went on the hike with us for Explorer's club as well.
For Tech, Elsie and Kimball built their signs on a roof in Minecraft.  Elsie built a help sign out of glowing rocks and a beacon.  Kimball also built a beacon and built his sign using diamonds.  Anna learned how to find a drop down menu to cut art from pintrest boards from welleducatedheart.com and paste them into word.

Learning Log #8

For science this week our family finished learning about various biomes in Africa.  We learned about the Sahara desert and the minerals that are found there partly from the largest lake in the world that used to exist there.  We also learned about plants and animals that have adapted to live there, and what an oases is.  We also learned about the cape of Africa and why it is a microclimate because of the two different currents that meet each other there.  We learned about currents and winds and how they effect the weather and how the currents effect the biodiversity. 
For history we read folk stories from Africa and watched Wild Kratts about different animals that live there. 
Adam went to his gymnastics and passed off some of the elements he was tested on in his class.  He practiced doing a cart-wheel, keeping his balance on one foot, and swinging on a pole.  Anna, Elsie, and Kimball all went to their music lessons.  They went to Bows and Bridges music school for their string instruments and they went to their piano lessons.  Anna actually finished her 100s chart for Honeybee and got her prize.  She worked hard and is excited about her prize.  The other kids keep working towards their 100s chart as well. 
For Tech Elsie and Kimball finished their Minecraft assignment.  We had some technical difficulties signing in, but eventually we figured it out.  They learned how to take a screen shot and turn their assignment in. 
It was an exciting day for Language arts this week because our Literati packages came in from the mail!  The kids had such a fun time reading new books or listening to new books being read to them.  For Language arts Anna reviewed some words and learned some sight words.  She also went over blends ut, ub, and up.  She read a few short stories such as Tom's Pal and Tub Fun.  She also copied a sentence about the honey badger.  Adam finished recognizing all his letters from Q-Z from Hooked on Phonics.  He worked on figuring out what word rhyme, or have the same ending sound, and what beginning sounds words have and what they start with.  They both listened to some fun books about a lighthouse, a meteorite, and other books about light.  Elsie read some of book 10 of Wings of Fire, about 150 pages.  From her Literati package she started reading August Isle and is about 70 pages into it.  She also wrote her Weekend story and started a new story about a curse with dragons.  She is about 70 pages into it.  She also went to her first book club, where they discussed how to read with purpose and how to find principles in the story and to recognize truth.  They read and discussed a little book called "Your Happily Every After".  Kimball finished Nick and Tesla just in time for the Literati package to arrive.  He read the graphic novel of The City of Ember 10 times.  He also read 5 chapters of Cody and the Fountain of Happiness.  He wrote about his Weekend Story as well and also about the wind and the storms he had experienced the past week. 

For math Anna finished chapter 18 and started on 19.  She practiced counting backwards from 10, subtracting 1s and 0s, and anything equaling 0.  Adam started chapter12 where he is learning what addition is and how to use the blocks to solve problems.  He also reviewed number recognition and how to build larger 3 digit numbers and say them.  Kimball did chapter 13 where he was finding the area of a trapezoid.  He reviewed division and finding the averages of a set of numbers, and converting different measurements.  He also did lots of story problems.  Elise finished chapter 9, took the test, and started on chapter 10.  She reviewed multiplying several digit numbers together.  She is learning to divide by fractions. 

Learning Log #7

This last week for Tech the Kimball and Elsie uploaded the new Education version of Mindcraft and played on the program.  They learned how to create a password and sign in. 
Anna, Elsie, and Kimball also worked on their music.  They all went to their Bows and Bridges music school and participated in their lessons and group playing.  Elsie and Kimball also practiced.  All three of them also went to their piano lessons.  They are working hard on their flashcards for note recognition and also on their "100s Chart" where they are working on playing their Suzuki piece 100 times. 
Adam had a fun time at his gymnastics.  He practiced his balance, cartwheels, and other coordination testing feats.  He loves to participate and go as fast as he can. 
For science Elsie, Kimball, Anna, and Adam learned about the water cycle.  Kimball and Elsie drew it out in their science notebooks.  We also created a storm in a jar with glow in the dark paint and shaving cream.  It didn't turn out like we were hoping though.  The shaving cream "cloud" didn't let the paint "rain" down, rather it pooped it out in one nasty clump.  However, it served its purpose in creating greater understanding. :)  The kids also gave small oral reports about an African animal that lives on the savanna.  Adam talked about zebras, Anna talked about crocodiles, Elsie told us about lions, and Kimball taught us about the symbiotic relationship between warthogs and meerkcats. 
For history we all reviewed stories we had learned about ancient Egypt.  Elsie and Kimball picked their favorite and wrote up their own narration.  We picked three stories to review, and then we presented them through drama.  The kids created a tableau of Cleopatra meeting Marc Antony, another tableau of 2 brothers who stole from the kings treasury, and a skit about King Khufu and a magician.  They worked hard, shared their narrations, and presented to their dad.
For language arts Anna learned the blends ob, og, un, and ug.  She read several short stories, such as The Fog and Fun in the Sun from Hooked on Phonics.  Adam worked on identifying E-P letters from hooked on Phonics.  He is getting better at rhyming and recognizing rhyming words in a story.  He is also working on and getting better at finding out what sound words start with.  Kimball read 3 chapters of the book Nick and Tesla.  He wrote his Weekend Story and about adventures of the sandbox he had during the summer in his journal.  He also memorized 2 stanzas from Godfrey Gordon Gustaf Gore.  Elsie read book 9 of the Wings of Fire series, which was about 400 pages.  She also wrote her weekend story and copied a couple articles of faith she wants to memorize.  We all had poetry and tea and shared a poem we had found or are working on memorizing. 
For math Anna worked on chapter 18, learning how to subtract and what it means.  She reviewed her addition facts and how to solve for the unknown. Adam finished chapter 11 of his MUS book, identifying MUS blocks with their number.  He also reviewed counting, writing, and saying 3 digit numbers.  Kimball finished chapter 11 and started on 12.  He is learning how to divide by 8s and 7s.  He also practiced 2 digit multiplication and finding the area in parallelograms and triangles.  He reviewed converting pounds and ounces and finding averages.  Elsie started chapter 9, learning how to multiply fractions.  She reviewed adding and subtracting fractions as well and did some story problems.