'15/16 Week 10 Days 4 and 5

The rain did not arrive on Friday and we managed to go to the choir practice without getting soaked. The children had even time to play outside in the evening. 
On Saturday, however, our studies were constantly interrupted by heavy lashing of water against the windows. It was kind of gloomy and none of us were very enthusiastic about the school work. But we got it done. The reading part was the our favorite. We could just cozy up and the kids listened while I finished reading of Andrew's recent read-aloud book. 

Jedi in the kitchen cooking his own breakfast.

Science. Andrew's book about Alexander Bell talks about the Morse code. He wrote a message to Saara in this code and she had to decipher it. 

'15/16 Week 10 Day 3

We had a lot of hands-on activities to do in Saara's science class. Her lesson was about skin. Among other things she learned how it stretches and that skin grooves and ridges on her fingertips are uniquely hers. We used some ink to make fingerprints and then the kids compared the prints and found how different indeed they were.

Science. The caterpillar I drew on the inside of Saara's elbow shows how our skin stretches. Here's the caterpillar all stretched out ...

... and here all squished up.

Almost like at the police station, I think. The kids making the fingerprints.

Andrew comparing his and Saara's fingerprints.

Andrew learned about how the light bulb was invented.

We also finished our studies of this book. It was most interesting.

Geography. The last class of the day taught Saara a lot of new names. Almost all of them ended with '-stan'. It took her a while to to get the pronunciation of the different countries correct.

Park Day! We made it, and I am glad we did because the rain in the forecast is going to rob us from outdoor play for a few days now.

'15/16 Week 10 Days 1 and 2

It has been two quiet days. The highlights probably being the art project we did yesterday, and the math test the kids took today. 
We are living in anticipation of rain. The forecast predicted cooler temperatures and rain this weekend. We have been trying to get in as much outdoor play time as possible. Andrew had another baseball game, and today he and Dad joined other men and their sons from our church for an evening of kickball. 
If it does not rain tomorrow, we might be able to do some more playing at the park - it is our Park Day!

An evening of kickball at the park. Getting the rules of the game.

While the boys were having fun playing, Saara and I explored the park trails.

Art. The children learned about the paintings of Degas. As his focus was depicting natural movement of people both in sculpture and on canvas, we built moving bodies with pieces of construction paper. Saara has been learning about joints and how they make our arms and legs move, so we used this knowledge in our artwork. The children had to cut out body parts and organize them into a layout that showed movement. They were free to add a background of their choice.

BV Fair and Rodeo

What fun we had this past Sunday! For the first time in their lives, Andrew and Saara went to watch a rodeo. Andrew learned about cowtowns that sprang up in the 19th century West and the kind of life the cowboys lived. It was interesting to get a glimpse of some of the things they did (and still do), like roping. 
Besides the rodeo, the kids had fun at the fair riding the rides, seeing and petting some farm animals, and trying their own hand with the lasso.

'15/16 Week 9 Day 4

Dad's going to be home tomorrow! That means, today was our last day of school for this week. We have been going straight without any breaks or holidays for nine weeks now, and taking a day off for a longer weekend seems rather reasonable. The more that we have a bunch of birthdays to attend this weekend. 

Our writing class was an interesting mixture of frustration and laughter. Today, the kids had to follow their own directions to the library on a map. That's were the funny moments were born. Left and right turns got pretty confusing. That's when the frustrating moments happened. The kids saw, how important it is to give precise and detailed directions. If you don't, you will end up at a wrong place. So, we edited the drafts, and the kids wrote much better and clearer directions of how to get to the library from our house. 

LA. After following and editing his own directions to the library, Andrew was ready to write a final copy.

Science. Saara built a model to explain how some of our bones, joints, and muscles work.

'15/16 Week 9 Day 3

Today, we spent some considerable time on Googlemaps website. 

First, in science, Andrew was learning about how electricity is produced in power plants. He was rather surprised to learn that we live very close to one. This power plant supplies power for our town and is located only a few miles from where we live. We see the steam rising to the skies over the trees all the time. I believe, our power plant is fueled by natural gas.

Second, in LA writing class, we brainstormed for words one uses when giving directions. The kids started writing down directions how to get from our house to the library in town. We have driven there countless times, but when you really have to start thinking about how to get there, it puts a different spin on the journey. It is not just about passing the fire station or driving over the railroad tracks. You are actually paying attention to signs and turns and street names. 

LA. Andrew writing down directions how to get to the library.

I found this guy among my cucumber plants. The kids were mighty excited about this encounter.

'15/16 Week 9 Days 1 and 2

At the end of our Day 1, Andrew and I sat down and built a small electromagnetic motor. We followed all the instructions, but our model did not work. We tried our best to tweak it, but as it was getting late, we decided to call it quits. It looked so easy on the paper, but even the 'science' guys on the video clip that accompanied the lesson about motors, could not get it working well. They gave us a few things to check or try differently next time we assemble the motor again. I think, we will try it again one day.

Science. Our electric motor did not work unfortunately.

Saara has been learning about joints and muscles.

This year, I have been putting a lot of emphasis on writing and developing writing skills. The kids are constantly in the middle of writing something for the LA class. How joyful it is for a teacher to see them night after night sitting down and writing a story just because they want to, because they enjoy writing and think it a lot of fun.