ivey league academy: weeks in review!

Here's what we did for the past two weeks!
We took a fall break during the second week of October; we had completed nine weeks of school so I figured it was a good time to take a breath!  The week after that, Grandma and Grandpa were in town so we did a lighter school week (Language Arts, Math, Science, and Countries).

Reading:  We continued doing a Word Ladder every morning to start off our school day.  Caleb is getting more comfortable with them and has even started attempting them on his own (though sometimes he still needs help reading a word).  During the "light week," we didn't do additional reading, but the week after that, Caleb read Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman and completed several activities, including a maze and an opposites activity.

Language Arts:  During this two-week period, we completed Lesson 5, which mostly focused on verbs.  Caleb learned how to identify the verbs in sentences, how to write verbs that occur "now" versus "in the past," and about "special" verbs like tell, give, and sing that have different past forms.  We also did a lesson about homophones which Caleb enjoyed the most.  He took Test 5 at the end of the two weeks and did very well!

Spelling:  We took a break from spelling during the light week but started on Week 10 during the second week.  Caleb missed 2 out of 10 on his test.

Word of the Week/Journal:  The word of the week for the light week was "colossal."  The word of the week for the second week was "avoid."

Math:  We continued in his math workbook.

Bible:  We only did a few days of our Bible curriculum during the past two weeks.  We're still learning about the Three Persons of the Trinity.

Zoology:  The first day of our "light week" was the perfect time to release our butterflies!  We got four healthy butterflies from our cup of caterpillars and it was time to let them go into the wild before it got too cold. 

In our zoology curriculum, we completed Chapters 10 and 11.  In the story, the twins gets separated due to a glitch in the program, so one sibling gets sent to a eucalyptus forest in Australia (Chapter 10) and the other gets sent to a bamboo forest in China (Chapter 11).  The next two chapters will continue to switch back and forth between the two forests as the twins try to get their data so they can reunite at the next location.  In Australia, we learned about koalas and rabbits.  In China, we learned about giant pandas and golden eagles.  Caleb continued to fill out his animal fact sheets and his food chart (which I expanded since we were running out of room!), and the day we learned about golden eagles Caleb did a "beak study" where he experimented with a variety of tools (which represent the different shapes and sizes of bird beaks and bills) to see which did better with a variety of small objects (which represent the different foods birds eat).  We did something similar last year but Caleb loved it so it was fun for him to do it again.

Countries:  During the "light week," we learned about Spain.  We read a few library books, including The Story of Ferdinand, and Caleb made a bull out of a toilet paper roll.  At the end of the week, I made a Spanish gazpacho.  The boys didn't like it but I did, so I eat some of it and froze the rest.

During the second week, we learned about France.  Caleb constructed an Eiffel Tower out of plastic straws and also helped me make crepes!  We tried a recipe from a cute children's book called Crepes by Suzette, and I got some Nutella to spread inside. 

Misc:  The boys also painted pumpkins to put by the front door, and one evening before dinner we spotted a praying mantis on one of the tires of my car!  Looks like it was laying eggs so we looked up how long praying mantis eggs take to hatch (given that they're on a tire, it's not looking good for them!).  One site said several weeks, plus they do better in warm weather, so either way I don't think we'll see baby praying mantises any time soon!

Links:
Toilet Paper Roll Bull Printable (Crayola)
Gazpacho Recipe (Genius Kitchen)
Eiffel Tower Craft (What We Can Do With Paper and Glue)

ivey league academy: week in review!

We're on a fall break this week (after nine weeks of school I figured we could both use a break!), but here's what we did last week!

Reading:  I decided to try another literature-based reading curriculum with Caleb.  I find he does better (and stays more engaged) if there's a story to read and hands-on activities to do along with it.  So we started a fun book I found at Goodwill awhile back; it's the teacher copy so I just make copies of the pages we need.  This week's book was Cliffored at the Circus by Norman Bridwell.  We checked out a library copy and Caleb read it through with minimal mistakes!  Then every day we'd do a different activity related to the book, such as a word search, putting events in order, etc.  Then at the end of the week he made a fun evaluation of the book in the shape of a bag of popcorn.  In addition to this curriculum, we're also going to do a "word ladder" every day to help Caleb's spelling and sounding out words skills.

Language Arts:  This week Caleb finished his final draft of writing instructions, and then we reviewed for our Chapter 4 test which he did very well on.  This curriculum often has cumulative reviews as well, which I've decided to take advantage of since I don't want Caleb to forget what he learned.

Spelling:  We did Week 9 of his spelling workbook and he got all his words correct on his test!

Word of the Week/Journal:  Our word of the week was "dilemma."

Math:  We continued in his math workbook.  He had his fourth math test and he got 100%!

Bible:  We started Lesson 5 of our Who is God? curriculum, which focuses on the three Persons of the Trinity.

Zoology:  We continued our stay in the Amazon rainforest this week, and learned about poison dart frogs and blue morpho butterflies.  Since both of these animals undergo metamorphosis, we also discussed that.  Our scientific demonstration for this week was to continue observing our caterpillars, who ended up in their chrysalises by the weekend.  I waited a few days and then transferred them to the butterfly habitat this week.  I'm worried that some of the caterpillars died since only one chrysalis was attached to the lid when I transferred it (it also wiggled while I moved it, which is a good sign!).  I went ahead and transferred the others and placed them on paper towels near the walls of the habitat just in case they're alive and just ended up on the floor of the cup!

Countries:  This week we studied Peru.  Caleb filled out his country fact sheet and we also tried making alfajores, which are shortbread cookies with dulce de leche sandwiched between.  The cookie dough ended up too sandy in texture to work with even after chilling, so instead I made a roasted Peruvian chicken for dinner one night.  That ended up delicious!  For our activity, I let the boys watch "The Emperor's New Groove" for fun....it takes place in what is now modern-day Peru, and even though it's fictional some of the architecture, customs, and rainforest habitat still shows through.  I printed out pictures of llamas for the boys to color as they watched.

Read-Aloud:  We finished The 65-Story Treehouse this week.  Our library doesn't have any more in the series yet, so I told Caleb he could pick something else.  His choice was a nonfiction book about Lewis and Clark!  So we started reading that.

Links:
Peruvian Roasted Chicken recipe (I Breathe I'm Hungry)

ivey league academy: week in review!

Reading:  Caleb finished the 2nd grade level of Hooked on Phonics this week!  He was very excited.  We'll continue to practice reading and phonics using other curriculum starting next week.

English:  This week we learned about time-order words ("first," "next," "finally," etc.) and how to write out instructions for something.  Caleb chose to write out instructions on how to make popcorn in the microwave.  I helped him with the planning, drafting, and revising/proofreading stages.

Spelling:  We did Week 8 of his spelling workbook and Caleb got 10 out of 10 correct on his test!

Word of the Week/Journal:  This week's word was "ruckus."  Caleb chose to write about the "ruckus" between two characters in the Narnia series!

Math:  We continued in his math workbook.

Bible:  We finished Lesson 4, or "What is God Like? Part 2."  We made another mini-book about God's attributes.

Zoology:  This week we started our unit on rainforests, specifically the Amazon Rainforest.  We learned about sloths and toucans.  Caleb filled out animal fact sheets based on what we learned from the curriculum as well as library books, and we also found short videos on YouTube.  Our science demonstration was a "rainforest in a bottle."  I cut an empty two-liter bottle in half and Caleb helped me put small rocks and potting soil in the bottom.  I then took a few weeds from the backyard (making sure to keep the roots and leaves intact) and "planted" them in the soil.  We watered the soil and then taped the top of the bottle back to the bottom.  We put it on the kitchen windowsill where it would get lots of sunlight.  After just a day, we could see water droplets forming, and we could tell that the mini-environment inside the bottle was warm and humid, just like an actual rainforest.

We also sent away for our "cup of caterpillars" for our butterfly habitat and they arrived this week.  We'll be studying the life cycle of the butterfly (as well as the frog) next week so this will be fun to watch.  It's amazing how fast the caterpillars grow after just a few days!

World Cultures:  This week we learned about Colombia.  It's nice that our science is overlapping with our country study right now!  We learned about Colombia's flag and other facts, and also more about the pink dolphins living in the Amazon.  I printed out a regular dolphin art project, which Caleb colored pink and cut out (he cut off the top fin; pink Amazonian dolphins have different physical characteristics than the dolphins we're used to!).  He also helped me make a coconut-lime smoothie as a snack.  He drank some of it but didn't care for it (I think the texture of the coconut milk was a little much for him).  Over the weekend I made baked beef empanadas, which turned out very well!

Read-Aloud:  This week we started The 65-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths. 

Links:
Dolphin Printable Craft (Learn Create Love)
Colombian Coconut Lime Smoothie Recipe (Katie at the Kitchen Door)
Baked Beef Empanadas Recipe (A Girl's Guilty Pleasures)