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Two weeks have flown by, and I have neglected to blog! Anastasia and I are still working through the Frances Study Guide. We enjoyed Bread and Jam for Frances and A Birthday for Frances, by Russell Hoban. During the Bread and Jam week, we learned about healthy eating and our digestive system. For art we explored food art. Andy Warhol's Tomato Soup Can inspired our lunch menu, and we attempted to paint an apple using 3 shades of the same color for 3d shading effect. Anastasia made a book jacket for the story, and learned about the information we can obtain from the cover of a book. Last week we read A Birthday for Frances and we learned about the calendar and birthdays. Anastasia is still learning how to count money. We counted out different amounts of money each day using nickels and pennies. She enjoyed filling in a few calendar pages and marking family birthdays for those months. She also decorated place cards for an upcoming get-together. Second grade is a blast! We ...

Last week in Kindergarten we read the second story in the Frances Study Guide: A Baby Sister for Frances, by Russell Hoban. This story hit home for us, because we recently added a baby to our family. Anastasia could relate to how Frances felt neglected, or overlooked. I heard her repeat the line, "Things are not very good around here anymore" several times. We learned about what pretend means and we pretended to talk on the phone to each other. During circle time I incorporated the unit Learning about Telephones from Ruth Beechick's Language and Thinking for Young Children. I filled the same container with different items, we shook the containers and she guessed what was inside. This was fun for her, and built her vocabulary as she described the sound each item made. I put all of the items together in one container when we were finished to be used later in a problem solving activity. We also baked a chocolate cake this week. Great way for Ana to use her measuring skill...

Last week we began Kindergarten properly and amped up some of our 2nd grade subjects. I am using the 6 week Frances Study Guide by Valerie Bendt for these first weeks. It is a lot less prep than 5 in a Row. We read Bedtime for Frances,  by Lillian Hoban this week and enjoyed the story sequence strips, alphabet puzzle and poetry moment. Ana also learned about the clock, how to tell time to the hour. We compared and contrasted Bedtime for Frances and Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown, and she learned about moths and badgers. I began reading Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick to Tristan for history. He narrates what he remembers to me. I am also using the Draw and Write Through History: Creation to Jonah. This counts as History, handwriting- cursive- and Art. I love activities that span multiple subjects. We are learning about Earth in Science. It has been great this week to hear the Biblical account of Earth's beginning in History class and then to jump into science an...