Week Four Notes

We started the year in our Outdoor Classroom! Here are some week 4 notes:

Monday, Sep 26

Art History - finish Calder-inspired butterfly mobile

Independent Work Time

Penmanship - learn remaining letters in Chancery Script (diagonal downstroke letters and sibilant pair), hide treasures and draw maps for friends ("x" marks the spot), copy and illustrate poem from Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word (creative)



The Letter X - read "Treasure Hunt" and other selections from When You're a Pirate Dog and Other Pirate Poems by Eric Ode at snack time



The Letter V - read The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Duboc at lunch



Field Trip - visit the University Museum to meet the curator, tour the exhibits, and see a piece of art by Alexander Calder

Tuesday, Sep 27

Farm Day for Z&K

Lowercase Letters - write uppercase letters along sidewalk with chalk, make Alphabet Rocks (Chancery Script lowercase letters with silver Sharpie on river rocks), match corresponding rocks with chalk letters

Independent Work Time

1 on 1 Meetings with Plastic Utensils

Living History Day - continued reading and research and one child learned to purl and began a knitted scarf for his costume (K2 P2 rib)

Historical Fiction - begin reading Stranded at Plimoth Plantation 1626 by Gary Bowen at lunch (entries from Nov/Dec 1626)



Board Games - WatchamaDrawit



Map Skills - set up orienteering course in the field using Copper Plant Labels



instructions are here: Schoolyard Compass Game (pages 7-9 of PDF)

Number Bases - look at the Montessori Golden Mat (base 10), consider making a Binary Mat (base 2) and an Octal Mat (base 8)

Wednesday, Sep 28

Lowercase Letters - read Turtle Knows Your Name retold by Ashley Bryan



explain capitalization rules (first letter of a sentence, first letter of a name), practice writing your name in chalk in the driveway, practice writing your name with your finger on construction paper, write your name with liquid glue on sand colored paper and add tiny seashells



Poetry - read "Sandpipers" by April Halprin Wayland (p.19) and other selections from Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems edited by Paul Janeczko



point out rhyme schemes, consider rhyming and non-rhyming poetry and ask what is it that makes it a poem?

Handwork - Pterodactyls finish finger knitting and braiding, practice sewing like sandpipers (running stitch) with pearl cotton and burlap

Board Games - WatchamaDrawit

Historical Fiction - read Stranded at Plimoth Plantation 1626 by Gary Bowen to Plastic Utensils at lunch (entries from Jan/Feb 1626)

Alphabet Book - read The Alphabet by Reg Down to Pterodactyls at lunch (chap 16 M, chap 17 N, chap 18 O)



Independent Work Time

Number Bases - recall exponents on Multi-Base Bead Frame, calculate the seven place values at the top of a Binary mat and an Octal mat

BINARY

n⁰ = 1
n¹ = 2
n² = 4
n³ = 8
n⁴ = 16
n⁵ = 32
n⁶ = 64

OCTAL

n⁰ = 1
n¹ = 8
n² = 64
n³ = 512
n⁴ = 4,096
n⁵ = 32,768
n⁶ = 262,144

Science Club - detailed notes are on my Meteorology page (bottom)

Thursday, Sep 29

Number Bases - measure and draw lines for green felt Binary Mat (this project will get its own post)

Mapping / World Geography - final day to add maps to the MLB



Living History - all reading and research for your profession should be completed by this day, explain dimensions of presentation backboards



PPI (Projects of Personal Interest) meetings with Plastic Utensils

Lowercase Letters - recall reading The Wise Enchanter: A Journey Through the Alphabet by Shelley Davidow last year



remember how the O chapter (opal/Opal) was confusing because even though the Reader gets the clue of the capital letter at the beginning of a person's name, the Listener does not

reread chapter 15 and have children keep their hands lowered when "opal" was read aloud (the gemstone) and raise their hands when "Opal" was read aloud (the person) by listening to the context clues

Board Games - Ocean Bingo, Da Vinci's Challenge



Read Aloud - read Emma's Dragon Hunt by Catherine Stock at lunch



Art History - do our final lesson for Alexander Calder using markers, listen to selections of Dragon Classical Music



Dragon Party!
notes are here: The Faerie Queene (1596) by Edmund Spenser

The photos to go with this week are here.

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