Tuesday's Adventures...

Today, we talked about the importance of communication. Through an activity, we learned skills that we need to communicate well with others. The kids broke into groups of two, sitting back to back. One student had to guide the other in drawing a diagram that he or she was given. The illustrator could not look at the picture, just follow the instructions! The illustrator was able to ask questions,which came in very handy! We then discussed how being a good listener, giving good instructions, being detailed, and asking questions all help us to communicate with the people are us.

Spelling- We went over our new list today, discussing the special sounds in each word. We talked about the “le” in parable and unable, the “u” sound that “o” makes in shovel, and the “o” that the “ow” makes in window and blown. Also, make sure to point out the capital letters in those proper nouns! We played a game today using letter tiles. We raced to spell each word correctly!

Handwriting- Today, I did an individual assessment of each letter of the alphabet. Because each child is different, I didn't want to spend any time practicing letters that were easy for a child, or to breeze by a letter than needs extra help! We will be moving soon to weekly handwriting lessons where we will work towards writing our weekly Bible verses. Before then, I want to customize the handwriting lessons to their individual needs! Check notebooks for handwriting pages for your child.

Grammar- Today's lesson was on forming plural nouns when the word ends in “y”. When it ends in a consonant followed by a “y”, you change the “y” to an “i” and add “es”. If the word ends in a vowel followed by a “y”, just add an “s”! We also went over some irregular nouns, such as “children”, “sheep”, “fish”, “women”, etc.

Reading- Make sure you have read chapters 3-5 by tomorrow! We are going to be going over the Study Guide questions and learning more about Indians!

Math- Our brains were really working today! We learned mental math strategies for subtraction. Although we may not use each strategy every time, it's good to have a “box of tools” for solving math problems. Some problems are easier solved with different techniques! After working through some methods, we put them to use with another math card game. Here's a video so that you can play at home!

Social Studies- The kids had some great knowledge to share about the Age of Exploration. Mr. Dennis lead them through Columbus' voyages as they used their knowledge of latitude and longitude! We're really using those map skills!

Art- We had a great lesson in weaving today! The students worked very hard, cutting, gluing, and most importantly, following Ms. Nancy's directions! The result? A beautiful weaving project!

Music- The kids did an awesome job showing Mrs. Beresford what they know! Keep it up and each one will be able to choose from the blessing bag!

Lessons can be learned, even during playtime! After lunch, we had a few minutes to run amuck outside. Two students wanted to play “zombie tag” and two wanted to play “monkey in the middle”. After much discussion, it was determined that they would invent the game “monkeys vs. zombies”. I used this as an opportunity to discuss compromises!