Peter's Ski Class

Happy Valentine's Day!!

First Grade and Pre-K, Weeks 21 - 23

Math:
Peter is working on both Math Mammoth and Beast Academy.  Math Mammoth is laying a strong foundation of the basics and Beast Academy is offering brain-stretching challenges.

Reading:

Elliot's reading has taken off.  He is cruising through his phonics lessons and has started reading Bob Books and other beginning readers.

Peter has read The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Superfudge and My Father's Dragon along with a plethora of picture and non-fiction books.

We just finished our read aloud of Mr. Popper's Penguins; next up will be either Nim's Island or The Story of Doctor DoLittle.

Science:

Flower Dissection

Art:

There is l.o.n.g story that goes along with Elliot's macaroni masterpiece, but the Cliff Notes are that the greens are good guys, the reds are bad guys and most everything else is a weapon...of course.

Misc.
We recently went to a movie with the boys' friend Ian.  A real movie (The Peanuts Movie) in a real theater.  This may not seem like a big deal, but it is an indication of just how far Peter has come.  A year ago he could not watch a Curious George cartoon on our own TV and now he can face the big screen.

Rainbow Rice in the Sensory Tubs

What a mess!!  
I mean, what a wealth of opportunities for the kids to practice their sweeping skills!!

Elliot is an Independent Swimmer!!

And Then That Happened

We bought a new oven for my early birthday present.  The next day I turned the oven on for the first time to cook pizza for dinner.  I opened the door to take out the pizza and...

So, that happened.  Obviously, it is going back.

Snow Shoveling Party

Baby, it's cold outside.

The big boys shoveled and Spencer just tried not to lose his boots while tromping around in the snow.

Then there was frolicking.

After shoveling it is time for a nap.

Rock Climbing Video

And a sideline spectator.

First Grade and Pre-K, Weeks 19 & 20

Math:
The imperial system of measurement is so awkward and inelegant!!  Peter is studying volume measurement and we cut up some pieces of paper to show the relative sizes of the imperial units.  Of course, that itty, bitty teaspoon cutout just taunts you to figure out how many would fit in a gallon.  Peter did the math - 768.  What an ungainly number.

Geography:
Since we are not formally studying history this semester, I am integrating some ancient history review into our geography study.  Since many of the ancient civilizations were in the Middle East, that is what we are currently learning about.  We are starting with the Mesopotamian region.

This is one of the mini-books that will go in our folders; in it the kids explain why Mesopotamia is called the cradle of civilization.  Peter has a very interesting text wrapping system going on.

Science:
The first three chapters dealt with living and non-living things, renewable and non-renewable resources and conservation.  Peter drew some cycles that illustrated renewable resources.

Chapter 4 was about habitats and populations; our activity was observing the organisms populating a drop of pond water.  The boys were hypnotized by all the little critters skittering about.  Elliot, really struggling with the concept of magnification, kept asking if the moving things were minnows...like I had somehow hid an inch-long fish on the microscope slide.

Peter's Rock Climbing Class