What We Studied

While we took time off for Thanksgiving and a bit of a break, we did end up having school Monday and Tuesday, and a bit on Wednesday. The kids benefit from structure and routine, so we kept at time albeit at a relaxed pace.

Literature and Poetry

We finished reading our collections of African folktales before starting our next read aloud, The Wind in the Willows. We also covered a few picture book studies.

• A Pride of African Folktales by Donna L. Washington

• Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee (poems)

• Wake Up House! Rooms Full of Poems by Dee Lillegard

• Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Math

We focused on some math puzzles this week. Both boys progressed in the Khan Academy math program. Arthur also did some multiplication and division practice during independent time. And Quentin got to play some math board games.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

None this week

Arthur Independent Time

To allow for one-on-one time with Quentin, I have added an hour of independent work time for Arthur. Each week, he will have a mix of packet work (mostly grammar and math review), independent reading time, and special projects. Many of his projects will be aligned with our literature selections (some taken from B&R Language Arts curriculum) and history. This week, he focused on packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered Pterosaurs, Mesozoic Mammals, and Marine Reptiles.

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

• Monster Fliers: From the Time of the Dinosaurs by Elizabeth MacLeod

• Beyond the Dinosaurs: Monsters of the Air and Sea by Charlotte Lewis Brown

• DK Find Out

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where in Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaur Bones

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaurs Age by Caroline Arnold

Art/Music

Nothing this week

Quentin

I have scheduled at least four 1-hour time blocks for one-on-one time with Quentin. I bought Blossom and Root’s Early Years Volume 2 curriculum to use as our base. I love the variety of activities and some of the bigger projects included. This week was all about reading and playing games.

ELA

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

• Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

• High Five Magazine

Math

Other

Field Trip

No field trips this week on account of it being Thanksgiving week.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee

• The Little Auto by Lois Lenski

• Chester’s Masterpiece by Mélanie Watt

• The Gold Leaf by Kirsten Hall

• Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge by Raúl the Third

• Go, Go Trucks! by Jennifer Liberts

• The Artists by Canles Porta

• Monster Trucks by Anika Denise

• Dinosaurs in Disguise by Stephen Krensky

• The Luckiest Snowball by Elliot Kreloff

High

• Arthur spent an entire morning and most of an afternoon creating a solar powered robot.

Low

• Too many days off from school has created a bit of a lazy attitude. We need to get back to our routine.

Next Week

• Continuing to read The Wind in the Willows

• Moving back to Europe for history

• Playing more math games and puzzles

• Reviewing the alphabet (for Quentin)

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering robots and engineering for coop

Next up on the TBR pile: