A, and I Week Wrap Up....

This week in our school we....

 Learned the letters a (as in apple), and i (as in igloo)...

In Poetry...
This week we finished our time with our poem of the month, While All The World's Asleep.  I really liked this poem, it may have been a little longer, but it had a really pretty flow to it.  For our poem of the week we read Under a Tree.    Ava liked the poem but wondered why we weren't reading the Song of the Apple Blossom Fairy.  The answer?  I had no idea she was going to advance through 5 lessons.  I didn't "schedule" us to start vowel work until next week!  (Reason #56 why I LOVE homeschool....  Watching my daughter learn at her own pace.)  I didn't expect us to start our vowels so I chose a poem to match our theme of the week.

Our Theme for the week was...
Arbor day!  We didn't get to plant a tree (we planted a tomato) so we read a lot of really great books.  I would add any of these to our personal library.  This Tree Counts, by Alison Formento, a counting book covering all the wonderful things trees do for our planet.  The Happiness Tree, by Andrea Alban Gosline, was Ava's favorite.  The serene illustrations complimented this books theme, the magical gifts trees offer like peace, courage,  and love.  Arbor Day Square, by Kthryn Galbraith, a story about a town that needed trees, and a note at the end about the origins of Arbor Day.  A Tree is Nice, by Janice May Udry, a simple poetic story with classic 1956 illustrations make this Caldecott Medal book worth reading.  Who Will Plant A Tree?, by Jerry Pallotta, was probably the most informative to Ava.  This book beautifully (even if it mentions poop) illustrated the many ways that trees are planted naturally all over the world.

 

We had a wonderful time at the park with another homeshool family this week.  I believe we will try to make this a weekly Wednesday outing.  It seems to be great for all  of us.

In Science...
We took most of the week off for Science.  We reinforced the ideas of energy transfer through teachable moments (making Easter dinner) and conversations.  Friday we'll talk about  gravity's effect the heavenly bodies, and satellites.  This will tie in nicely with the much anticipated launch of The Endeavor.

In Math we...
~learned to count with a calculator
~used the commutative property for adding 1+ a number
~reviewed ordinal counting (using jelly beans and our royal family)
~started using traditional names for the 10s

In Art Study...

We explored Portrait of Baby and Dog, by Joseph Whiting Stock.  Ava said she really liked this painting.  She said she'd like to take the dress, make it her size and wear it to her own wedding.  "I could have another wedding for that dress" she added dreamily.  She loves weddings.  Loves them.  Some how we are going to have to work in The Royal Wedding on Friday along with the Endeavor launch.  My opinion of the painting?  I think the baby is plain creepy.  Thankfully Ava didn't ask what I thought.  (My apologies to the baby, her family, and the artist.)


This was a really great week overall.  We veered way off my planned course, but I couldn't be more pleased with Ava's determination.  She seems to really love reading, writing and spelling.  She's learning so much, and she having fun doing it all.  What more could I ask?