We began our new science unit: Diversity of Life/Animal Growth and Changes. Lily studied plants cells in depth our first week of study, reading about cells, drawing diagrams, memorizing parts and making and examining her own slides. She also compared plant and animals cells. The boys enjoyed looking at the slides and Gabe drew what he observed. John is spontaneously observing nature, especially birds and following up with finding coloring pages and asking us to read to him about the birds he sees.
Gabe and John are both making steady progress with their reading and spelling. John has decided that he wants to be a writer when he grows up and has been asking lots of questions regarding this.
We finished our study of Ancient Greece with a Greek dinner and even sang our usual hymn in Greek. John loves the Greek version and is now asking us to sing it in Roman. We've started reading about the Ancient Roman Empire and Lily has been doing independent reading. She especially enjoyed Rotten Romans and would read passage aloud that especially caught her interest.
We bought a new book for Fine Arts: Story of the Orchestra which has been lots of fun. It includes a CD which relates to specific pages. As an instrument catches someone's interest we read about it and then listen to the appropriate track.
The usual math, physical education and piano studies continue.
1 comment:
What a lovely start Lily, Gabe, and John made to the Diversity of Life and Animal Growth and Changes units! I appreciate how Lily made her own slides and was able to compare plant and animal cells. It is great that Gabe jumped right in there and did his own drawings. John is charting his own course with this unit. It is wonderful to hear of his passion for learning about his world.
What a fine ambition John has to be a writer like his Dad! :0) He might not have to wait long to publish his work with the growing opportunities to create e-books.
A Greek dinner and hymn was a wonderful way to wrap up studies of Ancient Greece. It sounds like the Roman Empire really captured Lily's interest.
Thanks for sharing highlights from your new music resource. What wondeful ear training!
I have been following an online forum on project based learning this week. As I read through the material, I couldn't help but think that this is very much an approach to learning that you use successfully with your children. When you finish the school year, your children have projects that summarize their learning and that they can showcase. One of the current thoughts in education is to have students create an online graduation portfolio that shows the work they did in high school to potential employers or even for university entrance. You are cutting edge in how you are educating your children. :0)
It was fun to chat with Lily this evening. I am glad that the butterflies arrived safely and that all is in order there.
Enjoy your week!
Karyn
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