Q Week Wrap Up....

This week in our school we....

Learned the letter Q...

In Poetry...
Ava started to say the poem of the month with me, I think she'll have it memorized by next week.  We both really enjoyed the poem of the week, The Song of the Queen Meadow Fairy, she is really beautiful.

Our theme for the week...
Was Earth Day!  I wanted to have a lot of time to talk about Earth Day, so we started this week talking about different aspects of the earth.  Monday I gave them each an Earth Day gift, used books!  Big Momma Makes the World, by Phillis Root (for Ava) a very sweet creation story.  This gave us an opportunity to talk about why people use creation stories, and their importance in our culture's history.   Earth, by Dana Meachen Rau (for Cyrus) a non fiction look at the attributes of our planet, and how we fit into the solar system.  A Pig is Big, by Douglas Florian (for Sol) a simple story about size getting larger and larger 'till the whole universe.  To demonstrate the vastness of the earth's cultures we read Hello World Greeting in 42 Languages Around the Globe (I really want to own a copy of this!!!) by Manya Stojic and Where in the World?  Around the Globe in 13 Works of Art by Bob Raczka.  Specifically on the topic of Earth Day we read three non fictions, Let's Reuse, by Sara E. Nelson, Recycling, by Rhonda Lucas Donald, and Earth Day by Trudi Strain Trueit.  We are still experiencing the kind of weather that keeps everyone out side, so that's were we spent all of our free time.  Next week to celebrate Earth Day we have some special songs to learn, a garbage in our neighborhood walk, and some planting to do!

In Math we learned...
~ To count objects by 2s
~ To add 1 to 2-digit numbers
~ To construct a graph showing colors
~ To add 2 to 2-digit numbers

In Science we...
Covered two lessons concurrently.  Air is a substance, and Gravity; The earth's gravity, horizontal and vertical.  These two lessons were chalk full of hands on experimenting.  We also talked about how in science we don't make decisions based on votes, or opinions.  We look at the evidence derived from investigations.  Having the activities allowed these rather advanced concepts become first hand observations, putting them at her level.  Plus it was just really fun, or as Ava said "science is so cool!".

In Art Study we...

Explored Manuel Osorio Manrique de  Zunega, by Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes.  There seems to be a lot of cruelty in this painting.  When asked if she would like to dress like him, Ava let me know that he looks uncomfortable, and his outfit looks like pajamas with a plastic bow.  That about sums it up.


We were able to get a lot done this week, which was a surprise to me.  The weather isn't going to hold, it's going to get HOT.  Soon.  I don't mind arranging our day around playing in the backyard.  I'm pretty sure that they are learning more outside on their own than any lesson I could put before them!