"This Pizza Box is in Second Person"

My daughter remarked to me Friday night at dinner (which was hot 'n' ready pizza from Little Caesar's... yes, I just wanted FOOD!), "This pizza box is in second person." While she was eating she noticed the phrases like "Tell us how we did and enter for a chance to win free pizza for a year!" and "Take our survey at littlecaesarslistens.com."

Yay! Our point of view lesson for Morning Pages stuck! We had a great time doing point of view with picture books. Kids are familiar with the idea behind first person and third person, so they only needed quick examples, but the question of "what might second person be?" required a longer story. It was a great lesson, and hearing the stories enlivened our water & snack break time after yoga on Friday morning:

• first person - I am a Bunny by Ole Risom
• third person - The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
• second person - An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler

More notes from week eight:

Yoga, Farm Day (including archery!), ASL

Philosophy: Friendship

Gardening: looking at the luxuriant foliage of the pineapple plant Natalie started from a pineapple top last school year (How to Plant and Grow a Pineapple Top blog post from 17 Apart), checking on our cozy little seedlings in their straw bale cold frames

Extra Lesson: What's It Worth? Add and Subtract Positive and Negative Numbers

Poem ("How Doth the Little Crocodile" by Lewis Carroll), Math Facts, lesson on the Montessori fraction circles material which we just received (our box of Waseca Biome material has also just arrived... there is a delay because the materials are hand-made... and we eagerly unpacked the Biomes of the World Mat), Morning Pages, making parent invitations for the upcoming Expo of student work!





Handwork: each student has individual projects including making knitting needles, finger knitting, potholder weaving, sewing felt gnomes, sewing a stuffed felt shark, knitting a horse, and corking

Art: sprinkle dyeing wet white wool felt with unsweetened Kool-Aid powder to dye it swirly fantastic colors! This felt will be used to make our dragon puppets

Great Inventors: hearing stories for Elijah McCoy, Chester Greenwood, Ada Lovelace (and celebrating Ada Lovelace Day), and Margaret Knight. Also... designing our own inventions, sketching them, and creating materials lists so that we can build prototypes. For those who don't have an invention they want to pursue, we have a Catapult Challenge!

NOTE: If you want a simple and fun activity to do at home on a rainy or snowy day -- and which will encourage problem solving, creativity, and scientific thinking -- try the Boat Float Challenge from this set of STEM Challenge Cards. All you will need is a roll of aluminum foil, a bathtub with some water in it, and about 120 pennies. Ada Lovelace Day (which moves around by the way; find out the 2017 date here) is described as follows:

Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) is an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and, in doing so, create new role models who will encourage more girls into STEM careers and support women already working in STEM.

So any STEM activity would be a good follow-up to learning about this extraordinary woman! In fact, for those in Southern Illinois, The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois in partnership with SIU College of Engineering is hosting a Family Stem Night at Carbondale Middle School on Thursday, October 20th 6:00-8:00pm. Come out and learn about robotics, technology, chemistry and aerospace. There will be fun freebies and DIY ideas to continue your science enthusiasm at home. To register, please contact Leah Hooper at lhooper@ces95.org.




Physics:

• finishing Sound with four activities from 175 More Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze Your Friends (Sound Waves, Seeing Vibrations, Vocal Vibrations, Make a Sound Cannon)
• introducing Light with activities from Physics is Fun! (The Properties of Light, The Propagation of Light, The Nature and Properties of Color)
• finishing Light with activities from an older version of the NEED StudentWorks curriculum guide (Protractor, Light 1, Light 3, Light 7, Light 8, Maze 1, Maze 2)

You can find the newer version of this curriculum packet here (PDF). This went along with their Greek Mythology and the Forms of Energy curriculum, which is also still available although it has been slightly modified from the earlier version as well.

THANK YOU to the family who has donated a copy of The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes. This book is a great fit with our study of Inventors. And I also appreciate the kind lady who will be custom-designing and sewing a Handwork tote bag for each student! I so appreciate everyone's support!