Thursday, November 24, 2022

Week Eleven Notes

Monday, Nov 14


Tuesday, Nov 15


Wednesday, Nov 16


Thursday, Nov 17


Friday, Nov 18 - Lantern Walk


Week of November 21 - Autumn Break

ages 10 & 11 assigned math practice over break

    Assorted Math Practice (PDF)
    KW - Time Units, green cards, pp.4-6, 10 (answer key)
    CR - Open Ended Problems, yellow cards, pp. 14, 16 (answer key)
    AH - Open Ended Problems, blue cards, pp.15, 17-18 (answer key)

    AG - Decimal Competency Packet, pp.16-20
    Multiplication
    Multiplication by Multiples of 10
    Division by Multiples of 10
    Division by Whole Numbers
    Division by Decimals


The photos to go with this week are here.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Good Night Oppy

I just watched Good Night Oppy and it's surprisingly wonderful. I'm so excited to show it to Zac! Free on Amazon Prime, it's about the twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Given a very short expected mission duration, Opportunity astounded everyone by lasting over 14 years!

I highly recommend this excellent heartwarming documentary, and it's very family friendly. It's rated PG for some very mild language (dammit).

    Spirit rover
    Landing date: January 4, 2004
    Last contact: March 22, 2010

    Opportunity rover
    Landing date: January 25, 2004
    Last contact: June 10, 2018

    Curiosity rover
    Landing date: August 5, 2012
    still active

    Perseverance rover
    Landing date: February 18, 2021
    still active


The newest rover exploring Mars is Perseverance (the mission mentioned at the very end of Life on Mars, the early reader by Mary Kay Carson which has a very nice overview of the missions sent to Mars thus far, with pictures).


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Saturday, November 19, 2022

Puppet Inventory

As part of getting ready for December, I'm working on an inventory of our existing puppets (marionettes, finger puppets, table puppets, rod puppets, and hand puppets).

Sadly one of the Moulin Roty La Grande Famille soft velour hand puppets that my girls had when they were small was damaged this summer at Touch of Nature. But I still have Agathe the cat, Charlotte the cow, Julius the dog, Nini the mouse, and Sylvain the rabbit.

La Grande Famille also includes Albert the lamb, Amédée the duck, Apolline the mole, Arsène the squirrel, Barbabé the donkey, Blanche the doe, Camille the turtle, Emile the hedgehog, Félicie the hen, Gaspard the fox, Gaston the raccoon, Hugo the horse, Igor the wolf, Isidore the owl, Jeanne the second duck, Léon the hedgehog, Mimosa the second cat, Perlette the frog, Philémon the pig, Pierrette the goat, Simon the raccoon, Victor the badger, and more.

And they have interchangeable clothes, which is super fun. I love these puppets so if we need some for a fable retelling I'll gladly get more. They are getting hard to find here, so the best thing is to order from France.


Walter the Scottish Terrier

NOT on the French website
available on Amazon!


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Wednesday, November 16, 2022

What Do You Do with Old Birthday Candles?

This week we are making Lanterns for Martinmas. The Feast Day for Martin of Tours is actually November 11th but our Lantern Walk will be this coming Friday. It is common for Martinmas to do a coat drive or canned food drive; we are doing a canned food drive.

We've also made Tissue Paper Transparencies in the past (these are absolutely beautiful but best for 6th grade and up because of the time commitment, planning and organization, and fine motor skills required).


There are lots of ways to make Lanterns but this year we are doing small glass jars. I really want to find a loving use for old short birthday candles and I think this is it! We are using the adorable tiny jars from Petit Pot puddings (available right now at Misfits Market).

First:
Thoroughly wash your jar and dry it. Cut or tear small pieces of tissue paper and use liquid white glue or Mod Podge and a paintbrush to adhere the tissue paper scraps to the outside of your jar. We used Elmer's glue with a bit of Sparkle Mod Podge mixed into it. It looks great (and this is the ONLY use I've ever found for Sparkle Mod Podge)!

We had lots of colors of tissue paper left over from a Valentine's Day Suncatcher.

I also had some gift wrap tissue paper with glitter in it and that worked well too.

Pro Tip - put your fingers of your non-dominant hand inside the jar and "wear" it like a mitten so that you can work with your dominant hand and decorate the jar without getting all sticky.


Second:
Let your jar dry for several days. We turned ours upside down and left them on a painting board.


Third:
Make a handle for your lantern. We are using wire since the children had so much fun doing wire sculptures for Alexander Calder. I also went through my bin of costume jewelry, donated to the school over the past few years, and pulled out charms that I thought would make good dangly embellishments.


Fourth:
Find the short candles (our jars are particularly tiny). For us, the beeswax candles that fit in a Waldorf birthday ring are the perfect size. These are beautiful and handmade... and somewhat expensive... so you really want to burn them all the way to the end. But having a super-short candle in a birthday ring doesn't feel very festive. So this craft is absolutely perfect!


Fifth:
Go on a Lantern Walk with your child one evening after sunset. Enjoy! ❤️


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