What We Studied

Two weeks of fairly intense field trips has left me extremely tired. While we are loving the fun, we need to better structure our weeks to allow for time to recharge. I am extremely tired going into our third week. We did tackle some great lessons this week and made progress on our projects.

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in alignment the Blossom and Root 2nd Grade Language Arts curriculum. The curriculum doesn’t actual start with The Wizard of Oz, but I reordered everything to align closer to our history this year. I’m really enjoying the spelling curriculum that I bought from The Moffatt Girls on Teachers Pay Teachers. And Arthur has taken to doing one spelling list spread out over the course of the week.

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• I Invited a Dragon to Dinner

Math

We spent the week doing a bit of math review and math games. And we started our new logic book: Primarily Logic. I am liking the different type of logic problems from our previous series, Lollipop Logic.

• Millions, Billions, and trillions: Understanding Big Numbers by David A. Adler

• Mind-Boggling Numbers by Michael J. Rosen

Social Studies

We continued with our map skills and did a review of our last year’s study of ancient history.

• Got Geography! poems

• If Maps Could Talk by Erika L. Shores

• How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz

• It’s a Round, Round World by Ellie Peterson

• Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke

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 some packet work and a creative project. He made emerald glasses with which to visit the Emerald City of Oz.

Science and STEAM Coop

No photos as I was busy teaching…

The second week of our Math in Nature theme. We had a bit of a hiccup with the older kids leader calling in sick the day before. Totally understandable! But it meant that I had to scramble for a new plan Instead of teaching the littles group, I switched to the older group and found another member to teach the littles. In the older group, we covered symmetry and tessellation. I was proud of my quick thinking and ability to be flexible.

• Nature Math by Penny Dowdy

• Math Art + Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp

• STEM Quest: Fabulous Figure and Cool Calculations by Colin Stuart

• Shapes in Math, Science, and Nature by Catherine Sheldrick Ross

• Math Lab for Kids by Rebecca Rapoprt and J.A. Yoder

• Math Everywhere Get in Shape: Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Shapes by Rob Colson

Art/Music

We started our music study this year with Fanny Mendelssohn. Our actual lesson was mostly just listening to her work, but we did find a good biography video to watch.

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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. We covered more counting and some basic math concepts as well as simple map skills. And we had some puzzles to round out the week.

ELA

• Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman

• LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

• LMNO Pea-quel by Keith Baker

• Llamas with Lemonade by Ariana Koultourides

• I Spy A to Z by Jean Marzollo

Math

• 10 Little Rubber Ducks

• Animal Numbers by Christopher Silas Neal

• Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr.

• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• Patterns by Joanna Brundle

• Shapes Around Us by Daniel Nunn

• Shapes by Joanna Brundle

• Shaping Up Summer by Lizann Flatt

Other

• High Five magazine volume

• Follow that Map: A First Book of Mapping Skills by Scot Ritchie

Field Trip

Our field trip this week was our first with the STEAM coop. It was a terribly hot day, but we did spend a bit over an hour at the OPPD Arboretum exploring nature and reminding ourselves of various shapes in nature. Wednesday was Zoo Member Appreciation Day so we had to stop in to get our ride tickets and special events. It was very hot, but we still enjoyed many animals, carousel, tram, stingray beach, and the splash pad.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. This week, we watched the second of the series about A to Z. This episode focused on book making and specifically the advent of the Guttenburg printing press.

• NOVA S47 E12: A to Z

Misc. - Random picture books read

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

• Heavy Equipment: Cranes by David Armentrout

• Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford

• Nick and Nack Float a Boat by Brandon Budzi

• N is for Nebraska: A Cornhusker State ABC Primer by Christin Farley

• Omaha ABCs by Ashlee Coffey

• Snappsy the Alligator by Julie Falatko

• Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese

Highs

• Although it was very warm, I loved our visit to the OPPD Arboretum. We will definitely go back. Maybe in the fall when the colors start changing?

Lows

• I’m still figuring out the scheduling aspect. How much is too much to aim for getting done in a day. It’s different from last year in that Q is in the mix and we have weekly activities and field trips (with coop). I overestimated this week…

Next Week

• Finishing The Wizard of Oz

• Starting birds for coop and science

• Listening to Beethoven for music

• Covering A and B for Quentin’s letter work

• Diving into the Middle Ages with the Islamic Empire

Next up on the TBR pile: