Katy and the Big Snow
This week we read the story Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. This is such a fun story, and very timely for us this week. We were all geared up for the weekend storm.
Vocabulary: drizzle, water main, emergency, patient, three alarm fire. In language we also discussed personification.
In Math, Anastasia counted things from the story illustrations, telephone poles, trucks, etc. She also learned to count by fives to 55. Virginia Lee Burton illustrated this story perfectly for teaching math. Tristan's math lessons involved measuring by feet, and learning how to use a ruler. He was able to demonstrate proper measuring skills for Ana when we measured out the one foot, two feet, three feet, five feet drifts of snow. It is nice to enable Tristan to share his knowledge with Ana.
Art appreciation: Hunters in the snow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. We cut out paper snowflakes, and sponge painted over tape snowflakes on paint paper. When we pulled the tape away from the dried painting, the effect was magical (idea courtesy of Ranger Rick Jr. February 2016 nwf.org/snowflakepainting). We also attempted molasses snow candy. Yummy, but it didn't really last more than a day. It turned into syrup almost immediately after being removed from the snow.
History and Geography are a little light for this story. Geopolis, though set in America, is not a real place. Social studies this week involved learning basic map skills. Again, Ms. Burton's illustrations are stellar. Tristan and I began a few new books about Pennsylvania history (Indian Trails to Super Highways, William H. Shank and Pennsylvania Yesterday and Today, Blair Seitz).
In Science we continued our conversation about weather, water and precipitation. Snow! Winter weather, and more about snow! I freaked the kids out totally on Friday when we read about blizzards. I loved seeing their eyes as big as saucers when I took a breath from reading, "Not all snowstorms are blizzards. But blizzards are the most dangerous type of winter storm." (Blizzards, Patrick Merrick, page 8). Moments later we receive a text from Nana showing a blizzard warning sign on I-95 where she was driving. These are the priceless moments in homeschool where I see the learning merge with reality, and I think, "they will never forget this."
We learned classroom words in Spanish this week.
Almost covering the first story windows... Molasses Candy.
Other stories we enjoyed this week:
The Little Snowplow, Lora Koehler
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Micco A Seminole Indian Boy, Platt & Munk
Winona A Little Indian of the Prairies, Platt & Munk
Winter's Gift, Jane Monroe Donovan
Snow, Marion Dane Bauer (I loved that Tristan could read this book to me and narrate back what he learned. Nice, basic science.)
Glaciers, Zappa
Avalanches, John Hamilton
All About Winter Weather, Clay
Jason and the Argonauts, Gunderson
An A-Maze-ing Zoo Adventure, Jill Kalz
Vocabulary: drizzle, water main, emergency, patient, three alarm fire. In language we also discussed personification.
In Math, Anastasia counted things from the story illustrations, telephone poles, trucks, etc. She also learned to count by fives to 55. Virginia Lee Burton illustrated this story perfectly for teaching math. Tristan's math lessons involved measuring by feet, and learning how to use a ruler. He was able to demonstrate proper measuring skills for Ana when we measured out the one foot, two feet, three feet, five feet drifts of snow. It is nice to enable Tristan to share his knowledge with Ana.
Art appreciation: Hunters in the snow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. We cut out paper snowflakes, and sponge painted over tape snowflakes on paint paper. When we pulled the tape away from the dried painting, the effect was magical (idea courtesy of Ranger Rick Jr. February 2016 nwf.org/snowflakepainting). We also attempted molasses snow candy. Yummy, but it didn't really last more than a day. It turned into syrup almost immediately after being removed from the snow.
History and Geography are a little light for this story. Geopolis, though set in America, is not a real place. Social studies this week involved learning basic map skills. Again, Ms. Burton's illustrations are stellar. Tristan and I began a few new books about Pennsylvania history (Indian Trails to Super Highways, William H. Shank and Pennsylvania Yesterday and Today, Blair Seitz).
In Science we continued our conversation about weather, water and precipitation. Snow! Winter weather, and more about snow! I freaked the kids out totally on Friday when we read about blizzards. I loved seeing their eyes as big as saucers when I took a breath from reading, "Not all snowstorms are blizzards. But blizzards are the most dangerous type of winter storm." (Blizzards, Patrick Merrick, page 8). Moments later we receive a text from Nana showing a blizzard warning sign on I-95 where she was driving. These are the priceless moments in homeschool where I see the learning merge with reality, and I think, "they will never forget this."
We learned classroom words in Spanish this week.
Other stories we enjoyed this week:
The Little Snowplow, Lora Koehler
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Micco A Seminole Indian Boy, Platt & Munk
Winona A Little Indian of the Prairies, Platt & Munk
Winter's Gift, Jane Monroe Donovan
Snow, Marion Dane Bauer (I loved that Tristan could read this book to me and narrate back what he learned. Nice, basic science.)
Glaciers, Zappa
Avalanches, John Hamilton
All About Winter Weather, Clay
Jason and the Argonauts, Gunderson
An A-Maze-ing Zoo Adventure, Jill Kalz
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