More Books for the In-Between Time

I have a special shelf in my chapter book area for the "in-between" books. These are books that look and feel like chapter books but they have large print and are still meant for beginning readers. Besides Spike: The Story of a Whitetail Deer (and series) and Picta the Painted Turtle (and series), here are the other titles I have on the lefthand side of that shelf:

Coyotes by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson

Turtles by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson

The Secret Pet by Shelley Davidow

Branislav the Dragon: A New Tale of Old Russia by Mary Lou Masey

The Big Book of Wild Cats by Rachael Smith

A Big Book of Animals by Bobbie Whitcombe

On the righthand side of the shelf, I have books where the words are more difficult but there still aren't too many on a page and the print is still largish. The McBroom books also fall into this category.

Runaway Camel by Ruth Collins

The Last Little Cat by Meindert DeJong

The Garden Adventures of Griswald the Gnome by Daniela Drescher

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Two Brothers by Eugene Schwarz

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson

Now that Zac is reading books on this shelf, I will probably be getting new ones. I'll keep this list up to date!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

"See and Read" Series

I'm always on the lookout for excellent early reader book sets to invest in for our school. I've written before about The Magic Belt series for those kids who crave fantasy (and the progressively harder sets that come after that, which continue the adventures of Zak and Finn). For kids who prefer nonfiction, I love vintage Science I CAN READ / Nature I CAN READ books.

Now I have a new oldie-but-a-goodie series to add to the list!

Today Zac was reading Picta the Painted Turtle by Virginia Frances Voight -- which is the perfect level for him -- and I realized that the front of the book said "A SEE and READ Beginning to Read Book."

Aha! Time to track down the other titles in this 1960's series. Here's what I've found so far:

Night Outdoors by Naomi Buchheimer

Chipper the Beaver by Ed Dodd (purchased)

Brave Betsy by Miriam Dreifus (purchased)

Timmie Gets His Horse by Miriam Dreifus

Boy Who Lived in a Cave by Estelle Friedman

Biography: Osceola by Marion Eleanor Gridley

Jeffrey at Camp by Syd Hoff

Palace Bug by Syd Hoff

Wilfred the Lion by Syd Hoff

The Robber of Featherbed Land by James Holding (purchased)

The Labors of Hercules by Paul Hollander

One Luminaria for Antonio by Flora Mae Hood (purchased)

Mittens in May by Maxine Kumin

Paul Bunyan by Maxine Kumin

Biography: John Fitzgerald Kennedy by Patricia Miles Martin

The Lucky Little Porcupine by Patricia Miles Martin

The Raccoon and Mrs. McGinnis by Patricia Miles Martin (purchased)

The Parade Starts at Noon by Gloria Miklowitz

Biography: Henry Ford by Adrian Paradis

Amish Boy by Florence Wightman Rowland

Little Sponge Fisherman by Florence Wightman Rowland

School for Julio by Florence Wightman Rowland

The Singing Leaf by Florence Wightman Rowland (purchased)

Biography: Buffalo Bill by Eden Vale Stevens

The Horse That Liked Sandwiches by Vivian Laubach Thompson

Andrew's Amazing Boxes by Unada
available at archive.org

Ricky's Boots by Unada

Biography: Nathan Hale by Virginia Frances Voight

Patch, a Baby Mink by Virginia Frances Voight (purchased)

Biography: Martin Luther King Jr. by Beth Wilson

The Cowboy Surprise by William Wise

Giant Birds and Monsters of the Air by William Wise

The House with the Red Roof by William Wise

Monsters of the Ancient Seas by William Wise

Sir Howard the Coward by William Wise

The World of Giant Mammals by William Wise

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Roadside Geology Series

I absolutely love the Roadside Geology series! Waldorf does a main lesson block on Geology in grade 6, but I know that lots of families have children that are rockhounds early on... or sometimes you're just taking a long drive and wondering what you're looking at!

We have Geology Underfoot in Illinois by Raymond Wiggers and I refer to it often. In fact, it includes Tower Rock, and Zac and I took the opportunity while the Mississippi River was very low this week to walk out there. We went to the Missouri side, to Tower Rock Conservation Area in Frohna MO.

Amazing to see this ancient rock (Devonian Period, 400 MYA) so close. And Zac found a trilobite fossil in the layers of riverbed rock we were walking on!

#32 - A Fault-Seeking Expedition
Fountain Bluff to the Pine Hills Escarpment, Jackson County

Devil's Backbone Park and Tower Rock, Grand Tower IL

Inspiration Point Trail, Shawnee National Forest, Wolf Lake IL

Here are all of the books in the Roadside Geology series so far, in alphabetical order from Alabama to Wyoming. They are still adding titles:

AL Roadside Geology of Alabama - Steltenpohl & Steltenpohl
AK Roadside Geology of Alaska - Connor
AZ Roadside Geology of Arizona - Chronic
AR
CA Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California - Alt & Hyndman
CA Roadside Geology of Southern California - Sylvester & Gans
CO Roadside Geology of Colorado - Williams & Chronic
CT Roadside Geology of Connecticut and Rhode Island - Skehan
DE Roadside Geology of Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C. - Means
FL Roadside Geology of Florida - Bryan, Scott & Means
GA Roadside Geology of Georgia - Gore & Witherspoon
HI Roadside Geology of Hawaii - Hazlett & Hyndman
ID Roadside Geology of Idaho - Alt & Hyndman
IL Geology Underfoot in Illinois - Wiggers
IN Roadside Geology of Indiana - Camp & Richardson
IA
KS Roadside Geology of Kansas - Aber, Aber & Everhart
KY
LA Roadside Geology of Louisiana - Spearing
ME Roadside Geology of Maine - Caldwell
MD Roadside Geology of Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C. - Means
MA Roadside Geology of Massachusetts - Skehan
MI
MN Roadside Geology of Minnesota - Ojakangas
MS Roadside Geology of Mississippi - Galicki & Schmitz
MO Roadside Geology of Missouri - Spencer
MT Roadside Geology of Montana - Hyndman & Thomas
NE Roadside Geology of Nebraska - Maher, Engelmann & Shuster
NV Roadside Geology of Nevada - DeCourten & Biggar
NH Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire - Van Diver
NJ Roadside Geology of New Jersey - Harper
NM Roadside Geology of New Mexico - Chronic
NY Roadside Geology of New York - Van Diver
NC
ND
OH Roadside Geology of Ohio - Camp
OK Roadside Geology of Oklahoma - Suneson
OR Roadside Geology of Oregon - Miller
PA Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania - Van Diver
RI Roadside Geology of Connecticut and Rhode Island - Skehan
SC
SD Roadside Geology of South Dakota - Gries
TN Roadside Geology of Tennessee - Davis
TX Roadside Geology of Texas - Spearing
UT Roadside Geology of Utah - Williams, Chronic & Chronic
VT Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire - Van Diver
VA Roadside Geology of Virginia - Frye
WA Roadside Geology of Washington - Alt & Hyndman
WV Roadside Geology of West Virginia - Lebold & Wilkinson
WI Roadside Geology of Wisconsin - Dott & Attig
WY Roadside Geology of Wyoming - Lageson & Spearing

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Yarn Shops in Southern Illinois

A friend and I are working on making a list of yarn shops in Southern Illinois. As I wrote before, I'd love to start buying only white yarn and having the children and I dye all of our colors ourselves.

Why I Only Want To Buy White Yarn

BUT I'd also like to support local businesses, so it would be lovely to get the white yarn from them. And that would allow me to learn about classes and other opportunities to be part of the fiber community. So far, here is my list. Let me know if you know of others!

The Here and Now Shop
319 S Main Street in Anna

Knotted Gypsy Designs
as found at Sassy Nana Gifts
520 Makanda Road, Suite 1 in Makanda

Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch
1335 Hall Church Road in Makanda

Southpass Beads and Fibers
203 E Ash Street in Cobden

The Yarn Shoppe
105 N 16th Street in Herrin

Zac and Becca at Rolling Oak, Sep 2018

I'm also looking forward to joining Rebecca Desnos's Natural Dye Club in 2024. She has a wealth of practical hands-on experience (even dyes her own clothes and her children's) and her books are wonderful. Rebecca just sent out a coupon code for 50% off the first month of Natural Dye Club. Perfect timing!

Just enter the coupon code FRIENDS at checkout to join for £7.50. You can cancel anytime. This coupon code expires on Saturday Dec 30 at 8pm GMT.

Botanical Colour at Your Fingertips
Botanical Dyes on Wood
Grow Your Own Colour

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Homemade 2024 Calendars - Local Foods

We had a wonderful time making the 2024 calendars and I hope all the families really enjoy looking through them! Here are some notes for this year's calendar theme, "Local Foods, Farmed and Foraged." The children did all the seasonal artwork themselves, and wrote all the calendar numbers.

Favorite Jokes for Christmas Crackers

This year Zac and I are embarking on a brand-new holiday tradition: making homemade Christmas crackers!

Some videos that helped me when I was learning how:

DIY Easy Christmas Crackers
Hannah Weir

2-minute craft! British Christmas Crackers
Diane in Denmark

What's inside a Christmas cracker? Let's see!
Simple English Videos

If you -- like I -- were taught to save EVERYTHING as a child, you'll be happy to know that this is a lovely use of long bits of extra wrapping paper!

First we bought the snaps and tissue paper hats.

Next we went to HomeGoods to buy fancy individually wrapped candies. Then it was time to write up some jokes! This post goes well with Jokes for Reluctant Readers and Jokes for Reluctant Readers: Valentine Edition.

Here are some jokes that are especially suitable for putting in a Christmas cracker:

Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?
A mince spy.

How much did Santa pay for his sleigh?
Nothing. It was on the house.

What goes, "Oh, oh, oh"?
Santa walking backwards.

Why can't Christmas trees knit?
Because they lose their needles.

What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree?
A pineapple.

What was the snowman doing in the vegetable patch?
Picking his nose.

What falls at the North Pole but never gets hurt?
Snow.

What do you call an old snowman?
Water.

What do you call a penguin in the Sahara desert?
Lost.

Where do snowmen keep their money?
In the snowbank.

Where do snowmen go to dance?
Snowballs.

How did Mary and Joseph know Jesus's weight when he was born?
They had a weigh in a manger.

How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas?
Deep pan, crisp and even.

The Christmas sweater I got last year kept picking up static electricity. So I took it back and exchanged it for another one -- free of charge.

A gingerbread man went to the doctor's office complaining of a sore knee. "A sore knee?" the doctor said. "Have you tried icing it?"

I got a universal remote for Christmas. This changes everything.

I bought my mom a fridge for Christmas. I can't wait to see her face light up whens she opens it.

I have this incredible ability to predict what's inside a wrapped present. It's a gift.

You can also buy lovely printable Christmas cracker jokes on Etsy. I like the red set and green set (three pages of jokes in each set). $7.94 well spent!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Playworks

One of the things I want to do over the holiday is to go back and watch the links to recorded workshops I signed up for but wasn't able to attend in person. I love the offerings from Playworks.org. They have several online professional development opportunities each year (register here).

I so appreciate their work, educating and supporting public school teachers and sharing the value of PLAY at school.

Playworks Game Library - hundreds of game ideas for free
searchable by group size / ages / equipment needed / time

I just found out that the recordings are all available online for free as well!

2022-2023 webinar series

October 6, 2022: 5 Ways to Have a Great Recess
December 7, 2022: 3 Questions to Ask About Your Indoor Recess
February 1, 2023: Getting Groups Engaged Through Play
April 5, 2023: The ABCs of Empowering Youth

2023-2024 webinar series

October 25, 2023: Playground Mapping 101
December 13, 2023: Playing Across Age Groups
February 14, 2024: Resolving Conflicts Through Play (6:30 p.m. ET)
April 17, 2024: Ability Inclusion on the Playground (6:30 p.m. ET)

Love these Waldorf play resources from Kim John Payne!

Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years:
Games to Play and Sing with Children Aged 3–7

Games Children Play II:
Games to Develop Social Skills, Teamwork, Balance, and Coordination

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less
to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids

If I had the time to complete another Waldorf teacher certification, it would definitely be training in Spacial Dynamics®. It would be so fun to be a Waldorf Games teacher. And I love that Waldorf calls it that instead of "P.E."!

Let the Games Begin!
Waldorf Today

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

How to Put on a Play in 11 Days

The time between Autumn Break and Winter Break is always a busy one, filled with planning and preparations for our annual Class Play! This year's theme was "Stories from Mongolia." Here is how we organized our time:

WEEK ONE - build background knowledge

Day One - Nov 28
begin new lunchtime read-aloud, The Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations by Aisholpan Nurgaiv (Prologue)




Day Two - Nov 29

read chapter 1 of The Eagle Huntress


Day Three - Nov 30

read chapters 2 & 3 of The Eagle Huntress

WEEK TWO - hold play planning meetings, make decisions

Day Four - Dec 4
AM - read "The Horse-head Fiddle" from Play Me a Story: Nine Tales About Musical Instruments retold by Naomi Adler

make decisions about informational displays

fibers (baby camel fiber, bags of raw sheep fleece, clean washed wool, wool carders, wool felt)

ger (illustration on pages 16-17 of Houses of China by Bonnie Shemie, 3-D model)


listen to Mongolian music

"Sixty White Horses" by Equus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yqjg8In58g


read chapters 4 & 5 of The Eagle Huntress

PM - read "The Camel and the Deer"


Day Five - Dec 5

AM - read "Hunter-Boy"

read chapter 6 of The Eagle Huntress

PM - learn about the Mongolia Death Worm (cryptid)

make final decisions about legends we will perform

"The Yak" by Jack Prelutsky
from Eric Carle's Animals Animals
edited by Laura Whipple



"The Horse-head Fiddle"



"The Camel and the Deer"
https://www.culturev.com/mongol/mythology2.html
#antler

"Hunter-Boy"
https://www.culturev.com/mongol/mythology.html
#boy


choose and purchase foods for reception

Sea Buckthorn Juice - 32 oz
mix into cold sparkling water to serve
https://amzn.to/3TtuX2b

Fresh Camel Milk - 48 oz
never frozen, shipped the very day the camel is milked
https://desertfarms.com/products/pasteurized-camel-milk-fresh-8oz

Powdered Horse Milk - 250 g
from Kazakhstan
https://amzn.to/47IB3Qo

And, last but not least, a drink recipe we can make ourselves! This can be served warm in a crockpot.

Mongolian Millet & Green Milk Tea | Suutei Tsai http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/mongolian-millet-green-milk-tea-suutei-tsai/


Day Six - Dec 6

make final decisions about casting

read My Little Round House by Bolormaa Baasansuren

read chapter 7 of The Eagle Huntress


Day Seven - Dec 7

read Metropolis: Ten Cities, Ten Centuries by Albert Lorenz
"A Mongol Tent City, 13th Century"

pp.14-15, The Enormous Empire
pp.16-17, A Movable City
pp.18-19, Life in a Mongol City




read chapter 8 of The Eagle Huntress

PM - make clothing decisions

LL - Camel / Colored Snake - brown

KEL - Deer / Colored Snake - brown & white

CLH - Khan's Soldier / Colored Snake - red & black

GZ - Khan's Soldier / Colored Snake - red & black

AR - White Horse / Colored Snake - white

LR - Suho the Fiddle-Player / Colored Snake - grey & brown

ZCS - Yak / Hunter-Boy - brown & black

WT - Yak / Suho grandmother - brown & black

JT - Yak / Peasant - brown & black

KA - Khan / Sir Tiger - gold & orange

AZ - Princess Ling, Khan daughter / Sir Tiger - gold

JF - Khan's Soldier / Dragon Master - red & green

EF - White Snake, Dragon Master daughter / Peasant - white


look through sets from previous plays to see which ones we can reuse in this story, make list of sheets to be painted

Sets from previous years which we can reuse for this:

Mount Olympus from Ancient Greece - Hunter-Boy

Volcano from Hawai'i - Hunter-Boy

Cave from Hawai'i - Hunter-Boy

Rushing River from Hawai'i - The Camel & the Deer


New sets to paint this year for the Horse-head Fiddle:

king size yellow flannel sheet for Grasslands with Ger

full size white percale sheet for Palace


Order of sets (house left to house right):

1 - Grasslands with Ger
2 - River
3 - Hunter Boy's Mountain
4 - Cave
5 - Dragon Master's Palace / Khan's Palace


brainstorm list of possible props to make

WEEK THREE - make costumes/props/sets, rehearse & perform

Day Eight - Dec 11
AM - collect costume components (Camel/Deer antlers, Khan outfit, Sir Tiger mask & orange sheet, Dragon Master cape)

make additional pieces for costumes as needed (colorful snake masks, white snake headpiece, white horse headpiece, yak headpieces & chinpieces, Khan crown, Dragon Master staff)

read chapters 9, 10 & 11 of The Eagle Huntress

PM - Rehearsal @ Church

tour of church, set up sets, do initial walk-through, make decisions about blocking and special effects




Day Nine - Dec 12

AM - Rehearsal @ Church

walk through the play once again without dialogue, let children decide if they want to have speaking or non-speaking parts, walk through the play again with child-chosen dialogue

read chapter 12 of The Eagle Huntress

PM - finish all costume pieces, paint Palace sheet, make decisions on props, make additional props as needed





Day Ten - Dec 13

AM - make Pony Reins and Horse-head Fiddle, finish Grasslands with Ger sheet

finish The Eagle Huntress

PM - Rehearsal @ Church

rehearsal with costumes, props, sets, special effects & dialogue





Day Eleven - Dec 14

walk to church

set up

dress rehearsal

lunch

recess

final touches

parents arrive

play performance

tear down

THANK YOU to Cody, Destinee, and Bridget for leading the play rehearsals and helping backstage, and to Jayme for making the authentic Suutei Tsai for the reception. The children did an incredible job making all of their costumes, sets, and props, and they worked diligently to learn their roles so that we could bring these legends to life. I hope you enjoyed the show!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

The No-Fault Game

We have LOVED using The No-Fault Classroom so far and will be focusing on it a lot in December, as the children work together to collaboratively plan and put on our annual Class Play. That's a lot of social-emotional learning!

I wrote up all the details here: The No-Fault Classroom / The Alien Lessons.

The No-Fault Classroom:
Tools to Resolve Conflict & Foster Relationship Intelligence
by Sura Hart and Victoria Kindle Hodson

Thank you to Ms. Destinee for letting me know that The No-Fault Classroom book now has an accompanying No-Fault Game which you can get for at home. The website is https://thenofaultzone.com/the_no-fault_zone.html.

There are lots of free resources on the site as well, which you could print off if your child simply wants to draw another IOS Power Panel for at home use.

FREE downloads:

Feelings & Needs Cards (PDF)

Feelings List (PDF)

Needs List (PDF)

Game Manual (PPTX)

Check your office supplies stash. You can also easily make up your own Feelings, Needs, and Choices Cards if you have some old print-your-own perforated business cards lying around. These cards are a great size!

Choice Cards are white. Need Cards have a yellow border, and Feeling Cards have a border of red / pink. Simply punch out the cards, write the words you want on each card, and have your child draw pictures and color the borders.

Marshall Rosenberg's work on Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is truly life changing. I hope you enjoy having this resource for your family!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Art History - Yves Klein

In my Art History 2023-2024 blog post, I decided December would be Yves Klein. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Yves Klein
1928 - 1962

also

https://www.yvesklein.com

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yves-klein-1418

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/yves-klein

A Sound, Then Silence (Try Not to Breathe)
The New York Times - Sep 17, 2013

Who Is Yves Klein?
Tate Kids

Unit 8: 1962–1974
Lesson Five: Performance into Art
Oxford Art Online

Yves Klein – Anthropometries | TateShots
Youtube

Yves Klein - On Fire
Tornabuoni Art

ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s (PDF)
Guggenheim

New Definitions of Painting
Everyday Materials
Process
Environment
Network

Yves Klein and His Use of Blue: How These 5 Facts Made Him Famous

---

week of Dec 3:

Sun
read

Yves Klein Painted Everything Blue and Wasn't Sorry
by Fausto Gilberti

do activities from ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow (PDF)
"New Definitions of Painting"
p.4, Further Explorations #3

IKB 79 (1959)

Sponge (SE 328) (1959)

Yves Klein in his studio surrounded by his Sponge Sculptures, 1959

Not Cool Blue
Jolie Teal
Majestic Blue


Mon

Performance into Art lesson from Oxford Art Online

Anthropometry: Princess Helena (1960)

Untitled Anthropometry (ANT 106) (1960)


Sat

read quote from Oxford Art Online lesson:
"Klein claimed that International Klein Blue reminded him of the color of the sea and sky of his hometown on the Mediterranean coast of France. Using this color, he made many monochrome paintings, which he believed symbolized limitless space. He said, 'Through color, I feel a total identification with space; I am truly free!'"

read

Infinity and Me
by Kate Hosford

demonstrate to the children how to make a Möbius strip (and cut it in half to double it)

look at pictures of the daytime & nighttime sky in Mongolia

daytime sky #1

daytime sky #2

daytime sky #3

nighttime sky #1

nighttime sky #2

nighttime sky #3

use colored pencils on heavy vellum to make a piece of artwork that represents how the endless sky makes you feel

cut a strip of your artwork and turn it into a Möbius strip!


other ideas:
knit a Möbius strip... or take any scarf you have and sew the two ends together to become one

for more fun with a Möbius strip, enjoy this video

week of Dec 10:

Sat
Wreck This Art
draw on watercolor paper with water-soluble markers and then put your drawing out in the rain to see what happens!

(I suggest setting a timer and going to check on the artwork at 10 minute intervals so it doesn't completely disappear)

week of Jan 1:

Mon
Is It Music? lesson plan


Tue

do activities from ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow (PDF)
"Process," page 7
p.8, View and Discuss, Further Explorations #3, #4

work in small groups

supplies provided: colored construction paper, assorted materials from the paper recycling bin, colored pencils, scissors, glue sticks

Untitled Fire Painting (F 81) (1961)

Untitled Fire Painting (F 6) (1961)

Untitled Fire Painting (F 24) (1961)

Untitled Fire Painting (F 27) (1961)

Untitled Fire Painting (F 82) (1961)

Yves Klein at work, 1961

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Photos - Shelters & Roman Numerals week 2

Week 10 for us was the week that began on November 6th. Here are some blog posts that may be helpful for background information:

Quality of Numbers Booklist 2023
(main lesson block for Bobcats)

List of Shelters 2023
(main lesson block for Bongos)

Resources for Teaching About Clocks

The No-Fault Classroom / The Alien Lessons

Grammar & Charlotte's Web

Art History: Louise Bourgeois

Art History: Sister Mary Corita Kent

We continued to read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White at lunchtime.

The Bongos had a special Sundial field trip to Anna IL on Monday, Nov 6. Many thanks to Neth for showing us the amazing projects he has built!

This week we finished up our Art History lessons on Louise Bourgeois; her sculpture Maman was wonderful for 8 in the Quality of Numbers block. We also incorporated Art with our cut paper Square Numbers collage for 9, and our Skin Tone Painting lesson for 10. I so enjoy watching Cassie Stephens' video teaching children to paint their skin tone! We used only black, white, red, and yellow paint, just as described in The Colors of Us by Karen Katz.

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
our ten fingers (10 / X)

Other picture books we read for the Quality of Number block included Seven Blind Mice retold by Ed Young (7 / VII), Spiders Spin Webs by Yvonne Winer (8 / VIII), and Pezzettino by Leo Lionni (9 / IX).

In the Shelters block, we read My Great-Grandmother's Gourd by Cristina Kessler and learned about the amazing and easily hollowed out baobab tree. It is used in Africa to store water during the rainy season and as a shelter. We also read about modern day cave dwellings, and the children created a list of interview questions to ask my mother (who has visited one in Italy).

"Islands of Wonder: The Baobab Tree"
https://www.pbs.org/video/baobab-tree-8rmaic/

We also continued to do Word Study daily using Study Booklet #2 from the The High Frequency Word Project curriculum by Rebecca Loveless and Fiona Hamilton. Each day I would write a word on the board using the International Phonetic Alphabet and the children would try to figure out what it was. Then we would look at the story of that word from Old English to today. This week's words were < be >, < am >, < are >, and < were >.

Here are some photos from week 10:

three families which wound themselves together to create the great tree
"to be"

a special field trip for the Bongos to wrap up their Clocks & Calendars block

with this amazing sundial, you stand on the correct rock in the garden and your shadow points to the time

note that during each month of the year you must stand on a different stone
to account for the sun being lower or higher in the sky as the seasons progress, as this is a change which would affect your shadow

Neth did all the math for this and it's amazing!

Daylight Savings Time just ended yesterday so this is the perfect day for a Clock field trip

he explained that during Daylight Savings, you have to adjust your readings and add an hour to the stone your shadow points to

he also explained the math needed to build the awning the perfect size so that the sunlight DOES NOT come in the wall of windows in the summer (when the sun is higher in the sky) but DOES come in the wall of windows in the winter (when the sun is lower in the sky)

the children try to guess what color the floor of the room is painted so that the sun room is perfectly warm in the winter as the sunlight streams in

we go inside to check... it's painted black!

the children are amazed that this room is often uncomfortably warm in the middle of winter, just from the sunlight coming in and being captured

we get home to wonderful sidewalk chalk Roman numerals from the Bobcats' practice session

in Circle Time this month the Bobcats have lots of fun big movement verses from The Breathing Circle by Nell Smyth

"Looking Through the Garden Gate," p.94
"Rolling Seals," p.92
"Bear Has a Snout," p.93
"Galloping Horses," p.75

we are also learning and singing the skip counts of 2 and 3

Waldorf Skip Counting Songs

once children are 8, they write their main lesson book rough drafts in "best guess spelling" and then meet with me to get an edit

here I explain the word sum for < said >

say + ed (this is the suffix to mark a verb as past tense)
you can't have three vowels in a row in English, so it becomes say + d
the < y > toggles to an < i >, so it becomes said

the beautiful wet-on-wet circular rainbow paintings from earlier in the year

we painted these as part of Piet Mondrian and learning about Primary Colors
(they were painted using only yellow, red, and blue)

now we use them as the illustration for 6 / XI in the Roman Numerals MLBs

adding the Sundial Field Trip to the Clocks & Calendars MLBs and publishing them (all MLBs go home at the end of the year in the Portfolio Boxes)

making wire spider sculptures for Louise Bourgeois (and 8 / VIII)

Race to the Treasure

Elapsed Time Task Cards

looking at our book of spider poetry

adding 8 / VIII to the MLB

adding wigwam & longhouse to the MLB

there's something very special about the number nine!

the beautiful Square Number art made for me by a previous class

adding 9 / IX to the MLB

cut paper collages are a great use for my collection of scrapbook papers!
the children loved choosing colors and patterns

painting your own beautiful skin tone

matching the Rune Stones to unlock the secret door in the mountain (matching the corresponding Hindu-Arabic and Roman Numerals)

the Great White Bear opens the door in the mountain for them because they have solved the challenge of the Rune Stones

Calendula and Plantain follow the shy little mole into the Land of Numeria

they wander down the path, seeing sparkling gems on all sides, and finally come face to face with the Gnome King

their adventures will continue in our second Math Block of the Year:
the Math Gnomes!

in the Waldorf Math Gnomes block, all four operations (+, -, x, ÷) are introduced to the children, each as a character who acts in a certain way

https://waldorfcurriculum.com/Class1/mathgnomes.html

in Science Club this week, the engineering challege is Balloon Powered Cars!

a little lamb sits by

I get out all four of my bins of "Cool Stuff for Building Projects"

they are sorted into Wood, Metal, Cardboard, and Plastic & Foam

team planning meetings

a decoupage project inspired by Corita Kent in Saturday Art & Handwork

a kitten is born!

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