What We Studied

It has been so nice to get back to our usual routine. We all needed a break over Christmas, but the fact that we couldn’t really leave the house made the break seem more like cabin fever after awhile. Judging by the increasing attitude from the kids, they need to be out and about or at least have a home routine. The attitude has receded as we got back into the regular week. Phew!

Literature and Poetry

Our literature selection for this month is Matilda by Roald Dahl. Arthur, J, and I attended a performance of the musical version (lyrics by Tim Minchin!), back in 2019. It was nice to start with a book that I have read before and that Arthur is mostly familiar with. After we finish (in two weeks), we are going to watch the movie with Mara Wilson and Danny Devito. Beyond our literature selection, I’ve been having Arthur read a book aloud to me a few times this week. We will be continuing this into the rest of the semester. He even picked out a few Level 2 readers to challenge his reading for next week. We also started a few winter-themed picture books literature studies. I found a couple of great resources online to go with 30 different books. We’ll be sprinkling these in through the month. And we grabbed a few winter themed poetry books.

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Winter is Coming by Tony Johnston

• Winter Lights by Anna Grossnickle Hines

• Snow by Marion Dane Bauer (Arthur read)

• Fox Versus Winter by Corey R. Tabor (Arthur read)

• Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright (literature study)

• The Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor (literature study)

Math

We’re finishing out our Ruby book this week and next. Arthur has really gotten into the various exercises from the book. We’ll be moving into using Codespark sometime next week. We are also continuing to supplement with Khan Academy’s math courses and various worksheets. We should be starting Singapore 2A in two weeks.

• If You were a Circle by Molly Blaisdell

Social Studies

This week was all about geography! We covered both Antarctica and South America for our continent studies. Antarctica because we are studying cold weather right now for our unit theme. And South America because we will be studying ancient Andes Mountain and Mesoamerican Cultures. We also learned about a few specific polar region and South American explorers from our Explorers books. (See Unit Theme for book list related to the cold)

Science

We covered the Endocrine System and Immune System for Anatomy this week. Next week will be our last week for anatomy before moving on to other science topics. I’m surprised at how much Arthur really got into this study.

• Eyewitness: Human Body

• My Amazing Body Machine

Art

Nothing formal

Music

Our composer was Leonard Bernstein. Arthur was not a huge fan except for West Side Story, which is one of my least favorite musicals. But at least he listened! He did like watching Kristin Chenoweth perform a selection from Candide.

Unit Theme

Our big theme was the cold weather regions and accompanying subjects. We covered the geography and weather of the Arctic and Antarctic, polar exploration, native groups of the Arctic, general weather, plants of the cold, animals of the cold, and animal adaptations. Plus we read a ton of winter themed picture books.

• The Coldest Places on Earth by Jennifer M. Besel

• Winter by Cynthia Amoroso and Robert B. Noyed

• Wonderful Winter by Bruce Goldstone

• Explore Antarctica by Bobbie Kalman

• Antarctic Tundra by Vicky Franchino

• Antarctica by Mel Friedman

• Eyewitness: Polar Exploration

• Winter, Winter, Cold and Snow by Sharon Gibson Palermo

• Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root

• The Snow Dancer by Addie Boswell

• My Winter City by James Gladstone

• The Inuit by Kevin Cunningham and Peter Benoit

• Igloos and Inuit Life by Louise Spilsbury

• Ituko: An Inuit Child

• Winter Dance by Marion Dane Bauer

• Caribou Song by Atihko Nikamon

• Big Snow by Jonathan Bean

• Snow Bear by Jean Craighead George

• Today is Snowy by Martha E.H. Rustad

• Whiteout by Rick Thomas

• Plants in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

• Weather in Winter by Jenny Fretland VanVoorst

• It’s Winter by Linda Glaser

• When the Snow Falls by Linda Booth Sweeney

• Red Sled by Lita Judge (Quentin’s favorite!)

• Mama, Do You Love Me by Barbara M. Joosse

• Sugar White Snow and Evergreen by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

• Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk

• Ocean Anatomy

• Reindeer by Dee Phillips

• Harp Seal by Dee Phillips

• Walrus Tusk Tusk by Stephen Person

• In Arctic Waters by Laura Crawford

• Immi’s Gift by Karin Littlewood

• Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

• The Stolen Sun by Amanda Hall

• Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle by Laura Prudie Salas

• Winter Sleep by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss

• A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson

• Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit by Sung Na

• Do Polar Bears Snooze in Hollow Trees by Laura Purdie Salas

• Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas

• Chaucer’s First Winter by Stephen Krensky

• Winter Trees by Leslie Evans

• Snowman’s Story by Will Hillenbrand

• Snow is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley

• The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow by Lora Koehler

• One Snowy Day by Diana Murray

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Thomas the Tank Engine: Easter Engines (Arthur read)

• If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy and Greg Newbold

Highs

• The routine is so nice! The attitudes have really turned around this week.

• On Wednesday, we stopped into the library for our usual. We also stopped at Half Price Books so I could sell some books. The boys each picked out a new book (Quentin picked a dinosaur book, big surprise, and Arthur picked a Captain Underpants book) and I grabbed a new Ravensburger dinosaur puzzle for us to put together next week.

Lows

• The melting snow made it impossible to go outside and play for most of the week. The slush makes parts of our year a mud pit.

Next Week

So many things on tap for next week!

• Finishing Ruby book

• Finishing Anatomy unit

• Covering Polar Bears

• Continuing Matilda, poetry, and literature studies

• Listening to George Gershwin

• Learning about the Nazca, Olmec, Toltec, and Zapotec cultures

• Possible visit to the zoo

Next up on the TBR pile: