Owl Moon
This week we read the story Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen. This special story is about coming of age, and having big kid adventures. Tristan really enjoyed the text of this story. He remembered all the things you have to do when you go owling, and we were able to identify the similes and metaphors used in the book. The text and illustrations create a compelling story and you feel that you are there in the cold woods, seeing the great owl. We also enjoyed a field trip to John James Audubon's first home in America: Mill Grove.
For Math this week we learned about how to measure time in units of seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks. We learned how many seconds are in one minute, three minutes, a hundred minutes!
For language this week we learned about first person, personal pronouns and the children wrote their own paragraph stories of a personal experience with nature. We also learned about Simile and Metaphor.
For Geography we discussed the setting of the story Owl Moon, and tried to decide where the story was set. We decided that it could have taken place right here in Pennsylvania and that's where we placed our story disk. We tracked John James Audubon's travels from his childhood home in France, to PA, out west and then to England.
We read the biography of John James Audubon written by Peter Anderson. The facts were a little dull at times, however, John James Audubon was a lively, adventuring and creative individual. One take away from reading this biography: practice makes perfect. Audubon worked very hard to reach success with his artwork. His illustrations of wildlife are amazing, and I now have a much greater appreciation for his work.
For science we read about Owls and trees.
In Art we practiced sketching a Great Horned Owl, using a plastic figure as an example. Tristan tried copying pictures of leaves and seeds as illustrated in the guide to trees. We also made heart paintings using a toilet paper tube as a stamp.
For French and Spanish we learned colors and shapes. I found this website that worked well with our touchscreen computer for the children to hear the French pronunciation of the colors.
Our field trip to Mill Grove exceeded expectation. It is a neat place. The recreation of John James Audubon's bedroom is spot on with the description included in Peter Anderson's biography. We enjoyed looking at all the taxidermy as well as the children's sketch room and touching and learning about different types of bird feathers. We were introduced to Sam, Mill Grove's resident Eastern Screech Owl. He is beautiful, calm, and we were excited to see him up close. We also enjoyed the sculptures of North America's lost birds by Todd McGrain. These are temporarily on display around the property of Mill Grove, and we had to walk to see all of them. I believe Tristan has a little bit of John James Audubon in him; he is impervious to the below freezing temperatures. Thankfully Ana and Gwen are both troopers! Brrr. Interesting that John James Audubon documented and illustrated each of these birds in his time in America.
To finish off the week, we met Sister Bear from Berenstain Bears at the Library! Super fun!
For Math this week we learned about how to measure time in units of seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks. We learned how many seconds are in one minute, three minutes, a hundred minutes!
For language this week we learned about first person, personal pronouns and the children wrote their own paragraph stories of a personal experience with nature. We also learned about Simile and Metaphor.
For Geography we discussed the setting of the story Owl Moon, and tried to decide where the story was set. We decided that it could have taken place right here in Pennsylvania and that's where we placed our story disk. We tracked John James Audubon's travels from his childhood home in France, to PA, out west and then to England.
We read the biography of John James Audubon written by Peter Anderson. The facts were a little dull at times, however, John James Audubon was a lively, adventuring and creative individual. One take away from reading this biography: practice makes perfect. Audubon worked very hard to reach success with his artwork. His illustrations of wildlife are amazing, and I now have a much greater appreciation for his work.
For science we read about Owls and trees.
In Art we practiced sketching a Great Horned Owl, using a plastic figure as an example. Tristan tried copying pictures of leaves and seeds as illustrated in the guide to trees. We also made heart paintings using a toilet paper tube as a stamp.
For French and Spanish we learned colors and shapes. I found this website that worked well with our touchscreen computer for the children to hear the French pronunciation of the colors.
Our field trip to Mill Grove exceeded expectation. It is a neat place. The recreation of John James Audubon's bedroom is spot on with the description included in Peter Anderson's biography. We enjoyed looking at all the taxidermy as well as the children's sketch room and touching and learning about different types of bird feathers. We were introduced to Sam, Mill Grove's resident Eastern Screech Owl. He is beautiful, calm, and we were excited to see him up close. We also enjoyed the sculptures of North America's lost birds by Todd McGrain. These are temporarily on display around the property of Mill Grove, and we had to walk to see all of them. I believe Tristan has a little bit of John James Audubon in him; he is impervious to the below freezing temperatures. Thankfully Ana and Gwen are both troopers! Brrr. Interesting that John James Audubon documented and illustrated each of these birds in his time in America.
To finish off the week, we met Sister Bear from Berenstain Bears at the Library! Super fun!
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