What We Studied

We love our coop. I love the creation of a community and the opportunities we have with them. But... there have been a few hiccups lately that have really thrown me. Despite delegating and appointing others to certain roles, balls are being dropped and I have to scramble to pick them up. Hopefully a few conversations this week will fix it. On the flip side, the kids are having a ton of fun learning about a variety of topics. Arthur’s group is creating board games this cycle and I cannot wait to see what they come up with!

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished Tristan Strong Destroys the World. It’s number two in the series. B&R has the first book in its curriculum for grade 4, but we’ve already read it. So I’m just adapting. I have the third one (last in the trilogy) coming and we might read that over Christmas break. I really want to see how the story ends. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

Quentin got back into the Blossom & Root curriculum with two tales and their variations. I’m really enjoying the format for this year. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Pumpkin Butterfly: Poems from the Other Side of Nature by Heidi Mordhorst

• Fairy Tales Collection

• The Other Side of the Story

• The Magic Fish by Freya Littledale

• Luba and the Wren by Patricia Polacco

• The Fisherman and His Wife by Rachel Isadora

• Tortoise Races Home by Jill Atkins and Beccy Blake (Q read)

• Hare and Tortoise by Alison Murray

• The Tortoise and the Hare by Jerry Pinkney

• The Fastest Tortoise in Town by Howard Calvert

• The Great Race by Kevin O'Malley

• When Turtle Grew Feathers by Tim Tangle

• The Hare and the Tortoise by Ranjit Bolt

• The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit by Susan Lowell

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. We’ve moved onto new skills dealing with multiplying and dividing fractions. Time for me to relearn some math! We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin finished the Tinkeractive Math Book. We’re all about review right now. I don’t anticipate starting Singapore 2A until January. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Tinkeractive Math Grade 1

Social Studies

Arthur covered industrialization and more about immigration with an aside about the San Francisco Earthquake. He also finished reading his historical fiction read aloud, Prairie Lotus

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• A Different Mirror for Young People

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

• I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 by Lauren Tarshis

• What was the San Francisco Earthquake by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

Quentin learned about the Andes Mountain cultures of the Chavin, Moche, and Nazca. Short chapter, but an important one.

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

Science

Arthur review Periodic Groups this week with an experiment featuring the effects of baking powder. We also caught back up with our Story of Science chapters.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• DK The Elements

Quentin covered the last of the invertebrates with crustaceans.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Hermit Crabs by Ellen Lawrence

• About Crustaceans by Cathryn Sill

• Crayfish by Deborah Coldiron

• Mantis Shrimp by Josh Plattner

• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

STEAM Coop

Arthur continued his exploration of board games. By the end of the six weeks, the kids will have created their own board games. We learned about the various types of games and played some as examples. Quentin’s class started their exploration of Native Americans.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

We got back into it covering two artists (Leonardo da Vinci and Jan Vermeer) and one composter (Cecile Chaminade). I’m working these subjects in as we can, but proud of our progress so far. They are always the first on the chopping block if we run out of time during the week.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

• Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci by Gene Barretta

• Steal Back the Mona Lisa by Meghan McCarthy

• If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur by Amy Newbold

• Fly, Kite, Fly: A Story of Leonardo and a Bird Catcher by John Winch

• Jan Vermeer by Mike Venezia

Field Trip

No field trip this week. The kids had dentist appointments and we did lots of errands.

High

The boys had an old fashioned playmate on Wednesday morning. Every once in a while, it’s great to have some free play with friends. As an added bonus, I got to talk to my friend for a few hours without kids interrupting us.

Low

Coop problems…

Next Week

• Starting a new read aloud

• Covering more classic tales

• Reviewing multiplying and dividing fractions (A)

• Lots of math review (Q)

• Move to Mesoamerica for Q’s History

• More about industrialization for A’s History

• Covering specific elements on the Periodic table

Next up on the TBR pile: