Monthly Archives: August 2011

Aug31

Postcrossing!!

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Today we started postcrossing!!  Postcrossing is when you go to the website, create an account (or log in), and select ”send post card.”  After that, look at the address and the paragraph about the person that you are sending it to, find a post card that you think the person will like, write a message on the back, and send a post card!  Be sure to include your ID number that you get on the web site so that the person receiving it can record it.  Today, Emily and I sent postcards to people in Russia, Belarus, and New Zealand.  I love postcrossing!:-D  If you would like to start postcrossing, go to www.postcrossing.com.

This is the very first post card we sent out .... it went to New Zealand. :)

-Grace

Aug29

Skills and Topics – August 31 through September 2

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Due to some scheduling oddities, we decided this would be a great week to take a short break.  In light of that, we are only having school Wednesday through Friday this week. :)   And what will we be learning?

  • Language Arts:  We will continue reading the novel, Scat and discussing characteristics of fiction.  We will also continue working on writing personal narratives, spelling, and using apostrophes correctly.  In addition, to encourage Grace’s love for greek mythology, we will begin reading an adapted version of The Odyssey.
  • Math:  We will continue learning about decimals.  This week we will focus on writing fractions as decimals, finding patterns, and solving application problems.  We will also continue studying multiplication facts.  On the fun side, we’ll keep on reading Cool Math.
  • Social Studies:  The American Revolution continues to be the topic at hand.  We will be reading If You Lived in the Time of the American Revolution and a short book about the Declaration of Independence.
  • Science:  We will be taking a look at the effects of weathering and erosion of all kinds.  We will also be taking a short hike to look for and document signs of weathering and erosion.  There may be time in there for a documentary on the planets since that’s one of Grace’s favorites. ;)

Other than our hike, we don’t have any field trips on the agenda for this week.  I think we’ll still have plenty to do. ;)

-Emily

Aug28

Guilford Courthouse Military Park

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Grace and I took a field trip last Friday to Guilford Courthouse Military Park to expand our learning about the Revolutionary War.  Grace really enjoyed looking at the weapons that were in use at the time (she seems particularly entranced by bayonets) and hearing the different perspectives of various militiamen and soldiers (the short film does an excellent job of supplying that information).  Of course, she also enjoyed looking in the small bookstore there….she picked out copies of If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution and A Slave Family. 

Grace reflecting and sharing about what the Revolutionary War means to her.

-Emily

Aug25

Is This Your Card?

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Today in math we played cards..math cards!  No, it wasn’t flash cards, we played cards with math.  So you have nine cards (9 is best for beginners like me!:-)) and say “pick a card, any card,” and thrust the cards at your friend.  They should pick a card, memorize it, and put it back in the deck.  This is when you shuffle the cards.  You lay the cards out in three rows from left to right.  Ask your friend to point to the row that has their card.  After they point, memorize the number the row is, for example, if you had nine cards, the rows would be one, two, or three.  Next, pick up the cards IN THE ORDER YOU SET THEM IN.  If you don’t, the trick will not work.  Lay the cards in three columns from top to bottom.  Now ask them to point again.  Now you know where the card is!  Remember the row the card was in the first time?  Lets say that it was row 2 first, and 3 now.  The column is two, and the row is three.  Point at the card and say, “Is this your card?” If you did the trick correctly, it is.

-Grace

Aug24

BOOOOM!!!:-D

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Today I wrote a personal narrative about a thunderstorm.  A personal  narrative is a true story that is told from the perspective of the person it happened to.  This is going to be my blog today, so enjoy.

 Do you like thunderstorms?  I do.  I like to sit on the porch and look at the rain like this. O.0  I remember  when we had a really bad storm.  Okay, so Emily, Daddy and I were watching the rain when we started to hear thunder.  That’s when we went back in the house to eat dinner.  It looked sort of spooky, so we ate by candlelight.  We left the porch door open so we could still see the rain.  There we were, just sitting all quiet, when, BOOM-FLASH!!!  We all jump out of our skin!  There had been a lightning bolt in the parking lot.  It was so scary!  We all just sat there  kind of making sure we were all still alive.  It was terrifying.

So, what do you think?  Do you like it?

-Grace

Aug23

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

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Today we were in an earthquake.  Don’t worry,  it was very small.  The epicenter of the earthquake was in Virginia, we could hardly feel it.  The quake in Virginia was a 5.9 earthquake, tied with the biggest quake in Virginia history!!  I only got a little of the real power.  Do you know what’s funny?  When we were studying  hurricanes a hurricane started to come this way.  Now we were studying earthquakes, and an earthquake happened!  It’s so weird!  I’m never learning science again!!  Who knows, we may make a volcano erupt!  Yikes!

-Grace

Aug22

Slime!

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Today we made a liquid-solid.  It’s made with corn starch and water.  You can thump it and it will be solid.  If you lay your finger on top of it, it will fall through.  We made this to see what rocks are like underground.  They are hard and soft at the same time.  They can move like a thick liquid.  I liked when we dropped a penny in it and the penny would sink.  It was like it was swallowed!  It feels kind of weird, like it’s hard and soft at the same time.  I love science!! :-D

-Grace

Gooey! :D

Aug20

Skills and Topics – August 22 through 26

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So many things in the plans!  Since next week marks the start of  public school in our area, Grace and I will be ramping up to full-time homeschooling.  :D   Here’s what’s on the agenda for next week:

  • Math:  We will be finishing up our work with fractions.  (Well, except for review that will continue throughout the year, of course.)  We will be moving on to decimals.  We will also be working on general number sense and math history.  I’m really looking forward to reading Cool Math next week.
  • Language Arts:  We will continue working with personal narratives and mythology.  We’ll also start looking at biographies (cross-curriculum with Social Studies).  We started a new novel, Scat, this week, and we’ll be continuing with that throughout the next couple weeks.  In addition, we’ll continue working with spelling and grammar.
  • Social Studies:  We have opted for a new and exciting method for Social Studies.  We have kicked our textbook to the curb due to criminal boring-ness.  Instead, we’ll be using Don’t Know Much About American History, The Smart Aleck’s Guide to American History, and supplemental books from the library.  As mentioned earlier, we’ll be reading biographies this week.  Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, and Paul Revere are in the line up.  We’ll also be taking a field trip to a significant Revolutionary War site.
  • Science:  We have completed our unit on weather, though we’ll be paying attention to the weather all year.  It’s time to move on to Earth Science.  Next week we’ll be looking at the make-up of the Earth, earthquakes, and volcanoes.  We have more books, documentaries, and activities than you can shake a stick at.
  • Supplemental (Subjects that Grace has chosen):  We will continue working with Arabic and Mythology.  At Grace’s request, we will also begin exploring astronomy.  I love that we can just dive into the subjects she’s interested in! :D

I hope it’s a great week for everyone!

-Emily

 

Aug20

Grace and Kylie at the Science Center

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We took a field trip (with Kylie) to the Science Center yesterday.  The girls had a blast!  There was sting ray petting (of course!), planetarium visiting, physics experimenting, and animal observing.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. :D

Going in for a closer look at the aquatic life.
A very excited Kylie when a sting ray stops by to say hi and give a splash. ;)
Grace loves the vortex display. She spends several minutes here every time we visit.

-Emily

Aug18

Rocket Math

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Today we did Rocket Math.  Rocket Math is a game that helps you learn math.  It has adding, subtracting, shapes, and things like that.  I use it to practice multiplication.  Kids younger than me can use it too.  You get to build a rocket and send it out to space.  You have to answer math questions too.  Little moons that have numbers on them float around, and only a few have the answer to the question.  You also have money.  You have to answer MORE questions to earn money.  the more money, the more parts for your rocket, and the more parts, the faster it goes.  I love Rocket Math!!!:-D

-Grace