Week In Photos ~ Week 10

Apparently, the teacher did not take many photos this week! Whoops!

The silliest girls I know

 We have discovered that origami takes time, patience, and attention to detail. Thanks to one of our parents, the girls got to try their hand at "Scari-Gami". Check out these creepy rats.

 Often, you can find the girls in strange set-ups during independent reading.

 For the next 5 co-op meetings, we will study the music of a famous composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky. You are probably familiar with his music from The Nutcracker or Swan Lake.

One co-op family has saved a few squirrels from abandonment and they are ready to be released back into nature. They brought them in for a look this week.

 One of our little students found a "Jacksonville Rocks" rock at the park.

Week 10 Overview

As we begin our first week of the new 9 weeks, we are enjoying this fall weather and the girls got a little holiday treat. Striped knee-high socks are always fun!

Our studies for this week, week 10:

Language Arts

• Identifying nouns and pronouns
• Reading Nancy Drew, book 1
• Finishing Beyond the Desert Gate
• This one was a big stretch for everyone. Set in A.D. 70 during the time of Roman invasions, the way of life, names, places, and harsh events during sieges were outside of our current knowledge. But, this is one way that we grow. Plus, it helps us to understand the facts in the history books on Rome becoming a powerful force in history and how that affected Christians. It is one thing to read the definition of a gladiator fight or that a town was burned, but it becomes more "real" when you get to know a character and read the emotions of a family torn apart by death, choosing sides to fight on, and having to give up your life plans and dreams because of war. It is not the same as experiencing it for ourselves and hopefully, we will not experience it. But, reading Beyond the Desert Gate was a good start to understanding our world in Roman Times.
• Spelling patterns: -ode, -oad, -at
• Advanced phonics: adding suffixes -ed, -ing, -ly and prefixes re-, over-, in-
• Word winner for lesson 5 is.... route! We were hoping for thwart or foolhardy or lure, but all our reading the last two weeks have proven to use route more than any other words
• Writing letters

Bible, additional history, and geography

• Memorizing Psalm 139: 1-18 (Yes! They really are up to the 18th verse!)
• Book of Joshua- I am fascinated at how well the Children's Field Guide explains each book of the Bible, the main idea each shows, promises from God, and our part in it all (which is always to be obedient to God). Even in Christian groups, today we hear a lot about the promises of God, but an important part of that promise is often left off... our obedience. It is expected, as a believer. Consider Joshua 1:8
• Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
• The rise of Rome, power of Rome, Roman builders, Roman roads (which the ruins of can be found today because they were so well made), gladiators and gladiator school
• Map: Rome and Carthage

Math

• Multiples of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
• Fact families: multiplication and division
• Making arrays
• Adding and subtracting money review
• 6th grade: ratios and proportions

Science

• Fascinating sea creatures, to include fish, reptiles, and mammals
• Terrifying deep sea creatures and their strange characteristics

We also enjoyed visiting a local antique shop (our 3rd graders were able to see how two different tools can be used to determine what size ring one wears and what size specific rings are), piano practice, and dance.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Usborne Quicklinks ~ Week 10

Mysteries & Marvels of Nature (3rd grade)

Pages 56-57: Fish working together

Pages 68-69: Fish noises and movements

Pages 80-81: Ocean babies

Pages 92-93: Photos of other sea creatures, like eels, coral reefs, and otters

Pages 104-105: Deep sea creatures

Pages 116-117: Prey and predators of the sea and their defenses

12,000 of World History

Pages 90-91:

Rome
Julius Caesar and the Roman senators
Roman Republic
Carthage (in North Africa)
Rise of Rome

Week In Photos ~ Week 9

Week 9 Overview

We did it! We completed our 1st 45 days or 1st 9 weeks of our school year. We've made it through a hurricane, a house re-piping, a leaky roof, and a worn out car. If our students can do as well as they have through all that, then I can't wait to see what they do in the 2nd 9 weeks!

We are super excited to start this 2nd 9 weeks because we get to learn through Mrs. April's favorite season. It is sure to be filled with fun and exciting events that will make wonderful memories! In fact, we have already started with a visit to the pumpkin patch yesterday!

Here's what we have been studying this past week:

Language arts, Bible, and history:

• Our 3rd graders have begun the very first and original text of... Nancy Drew! So exciting!
• All students have memorized Psalm 139:1-16 (Ask them to share with you!)
• Wars of the Greeks (fighting with Persia and themselves), origin of a "marathon", Peloponnesian War, Parthenon, Alexander the Great, expansion of his empire and the refusal of his troops to invade India, & the Nazca and Olmec people of the Americas (North, South, and Mesoamerica)
• Numbers & Deuteronomy have shown us how God blessed those who loved and obeyed Him and he has punished those who have disobeyed Him. Moses led a whole generation through the desert for 40 years because they did not trust God and obey Him in the taking of Canaan. Their children did get to enter, as they obeyed God. God loves us and we can show love to Him through our obedience to his laws and commands.
• One of our 3rd grade students has especially enjoyed trying to impress Mrs. April with her use of our vocabulary words in everyday situations. Words, such as: approximately, terse, optimist, and despair.

Science:

• Reptiles & amphibians climates
• Fish and other sea creatures: movement and defenses

Math:

• Adding and subtracting money
• Skip counting by 7s and review of skip counting by 2s, 3,s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 9s, and 10s.
• Memorizing our 0, 1, and 2 multiplication facts

No co-op this week, so we enjoyed watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown today!

Enjoy your weekend!

Usborne Quicklinks ~ Week 9

Do you know what he is?

As we move out of our reptile and amphibian study and into fish and other sea creatures, enjoy learning more through the Usborne Quicklinks.

Mysteries and Marvels of Nature (3rd grade science)

Page 106-107 and 118-119: climates for amphibians and reptiles

Page 8: fish and feeding

Page 20-21 and 32-33: sea creatures' movements

Page 44-45: sea creatures' defenses

12,000 Years of World History

Page 60-61: Greek city-states, body armor, and ships

Page 66-67: Alexander the Great and the city of Alexandria

Page 82-83: Early North America

Page 84-85: Nazca drawings and Ancient South America

Week In Photos ~ Week 8

Can you see the mama cardinal above?

Look below for a closer look.

Not the best quality photo, but we saw her close up from the window.

We hope to see more, as we know they stay together in families.

Elise was so excited that her name was in a math problem and

included a scenario she dreams about for her future...a boutique in Paris!

 Double barrel rubber band guns.
Who knew office supplies could be so dangerous?

This was our last Backyard Ballistics class. They had such fun!

Week 8 Overview

Well, we are moving right along and getting closer to the end of the first 9 weeks. What? The end of the first 9 weeks already? That's right. We just finished week 8. All of our students have grown so much in just 8 weeks. Here are some things we are studying this week:

Language Arts, Bible, & History:

• We are finishing up our second Ramona chapter book titles Ramona Quimby, Age 8.
• We have finished reading enough different books that we punched all the holes in our reading challenge bookmark! We will celebrate with a special showing of Charlie Brown Halloween next Friday.
• We are up to verse 14 in Psalm 139 for fluency and memorization.
• Finally moving out of the ancient world and into the classical world by jumping into Greek life. Our timeline covers 500 BC to AD 500 for the next several weeks.
• Course is our word winner for vocabulary lesson 4.
• We learned more about the Ten Commandments and the Holy Tent (Exodus & Leviticus)

Math:

• We have moved on from addition fact fluency to multiplication fluency. We are busy memorizing how to skip count by 6s and 9s this week.
• Single digit multiplication and the division facts that go with these expressions.

Science:

• Reptiles and Amphibians: how they move, defend themselves, sound, eat, work together with other animals, and all about their poison

Co-op:

• How to play 9-square in the air in PE
• Our 3rd graders finished their last "backyard ballistics" class by making double barrel rubber band guns from a handful of office supplies
• We had our 2nd week with the baby chicks...they grew so fast!
• It was our last week to study the artist Winslow Homer in ACP and we continued our study of Emily Dickinson

It's the weekend, so everyone enjoy yours! Mrs. Coleman will be celebrating her 43rd birthday! It's going to be a great weekend. :)

Usborne Quicklinks ~ Week 8

Use the Usborne Quicklinks link on the right of our blog page to access exciting resources for what we studied this week in history and 3rd grade science.

Book: 12,000 of World History

Page 68-69: Scythian coin and dress ornaments

Page 62-63: The Olympic Games, chariot racer, Ancient Greece, Greek theatre

Page 64-65: The Acropolis, Ancient Athens, influence of Greek building styles, and more

Book: Mysteries and Marvels of Nature

Page 10-11: reptiles eating

Page 34-35: reptiles poison

Page 46-47: reptiles' defenses

Page 58-59: working together

Page 22-23: How reptiles & amphibians move

Page 70-71: purpose of sounds of reptiles and amphibians

Week In Photos ~ Week 7

Starbucks treats above!

What is that above? That is one of the ways we practice spelling. This is the book our 3rd graders use. They are asked to spell 25 words on the first day of a 4 day rotation. The following days include 25 new words each day, but most of the words are a form of that first word. For example, splatter changes to splatters, then to splattered, then to splattering. The students are not given the list ahead of time. If they spell a word incorrectly, it must be corrected immediately. This is a method called Sequential Spelling. Just think, 25 words a day for 180 days... now, that's a lot of words!

Lunch in the park