How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World and Night of the MoonJellies
Two weeks of Five in a row have passed since my last post. We have enjoyed How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Marjorie Priceman and Night of the MoonJellies, Mark Shasha. We own How to Make an Apple Pie... because the library did not have it available when I went through this week with Tristan. The children love this silly book about sourcing ingredients for a recipe from around the globe. This story provides opportunity to analyze, where does food come from? It is a light-hearted, fun story with bright pictures and simple text.
Night of the Moonjellies is a beautiful story! It comes from a real place in Mark Shasha's past and has all of the nostalgia of childhood summer adventure as well as rich family values. I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book. Mark dedicates this story to his parents, though they are not mentioned in it. I was able to remind the children that the extra text in books is often important and interesting, (introductions, forwards, author's notes, etc.).
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World provided opportunity to add and subtract apples, work on map skills, learn about NaCl (salt) and apples and talk about repetitive text. We learned about color choice in art class, using bright colors and, thanks to our dear friends, we made individual apple pies. It was rainy the day we visited our local apple orchard, so we did not pick our own. We did see the trees and purchase some of their pre-picked apples.
Night of the Moonjellies involved counting money, talking about grandparents and New England-again-. We learned about jellyfish and drew with oil pastels. (God always works things out for my homeschool, He is so faithful!, Anastasia worked with oil pastels at co-op the week before this lesson and she was giving me pointers!!! Love that.)
I saw this great idea on Frugal fun for boys for a pumpkin patch math game. We read the story, Ready for Pumpkins, Kate Duke Monday followed by the game, and then played this game to start our school day every day that week. Ana and Gwen had to put up the number of pumpkins shown on the card they chose, and Tristan had to put up the number of pumpkins that matched the solution to one of his flash cards. This was a fun activity to mix things up, though the children tired of it by the end of the week.
A few quick highlights from two weeks of second grade:
History- the question arose, "Are there no girl kings of Egypt?". I was able to tell the children about Cleopatra- happened to have a book from the library out on her.
Science- mummy making. Tristan mummified an apple slice.
Computer skills- We began a touch typing program, Typing Instructor for Kids. I purchased it from Amazon, and both children are taking the course. It will register up to five users and was reasonably priced.
Science- Tristan learned about oceans the same week that Anastasia was learning about jellyfish. This was a nice overlap and we enjoyed learning together.
Art- We made paper Mache sarcophaguses. The kids enjoy making paper Mache things- really they enjoy anything that involves balloons. Anyway, their finished products do not look very Egyptian, more like colorful potatoes, but they had fun, and Tristan has a home for his mummified apple slice:)
Other books we enjoyed the last few weeks:
The Apple Pie Tree, Zoe Hall (Simple presentation of an apple tree through the seasons.)
Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Appple Story, Anna Egan Smucker (Loved this book! True story of Golden delicious variety of apple.)
Apples, Gail Gibbons (Gail Gibbons books are go to's for us. They have all been winners)
Manzanas, Ann L. Burkhardt (Still trying to build our Spanish vocabulary!)
Because your Grandparents Love you, Andrew Clements (At the end of this one the children said, "I liked that book, Mom", "Yeah, me too!")
King Tut's Tomb, Amanda Tourville
Salt, Melinda Lilly
What Makes An Ocean Wave, Melvin and Gilda Berger
Joseph, Brian Wildsmith (Such a beautiful book!!!! We loved it! The children looked at the pictures while listening to The Story of the World, Volume 1, by Susan Wise Bauer, Chapter 6 and then we had to read it again. The detail in the pictures is amazing! This story could be used for a Bible lesson or history. Really loved it!)
The Great Book of States, J.P. Alice
Oceans, Don P. Rothaus
Summerhouse Time, Eileen Spinelli (A fun story, but maybe a little advanced for my kids because of the complex family issues presented, ex. coming of age, loosing job, marital struggles, etc.)
Popcorn! Elaine Landau (fun and informative book!)
Night of the Moonjellies is a beautiful story! It comes from a real place in Mark Shasha's past and has all of the nostalgia of childhood summer adventure as well as rich family values. I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book. Mark dedicates this story to his parents, though they are not mentioned in it. I was able to remind the children that the extra text in books is often important and interesting, (introductions, forwards, author's notes, etc.).
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World provided opportunity to add and subtract apples, work on map skills, learn about NaCl (salt) and apples and talk about repetitive text. We learned about color choice in art class, using bright colors and, thanks to our dear friends, we made individual apple pies. It was rainy the day we visited our local apple orchard, so we did not pick our own. We did see the trees and purchase some of their pre-picked apples. Night of the Moonjellies involved counting money, talking about grandparents and New England-again-. We learned about jellyfish and drew with oil pastels. (God always works things out for my homeschool, He is so faithful!, Anastasia worked with oil pastels at co-op the week before this lesson and she was giving me pointers!!! Love that.)
I saw this great idea on Frugal fun for boys for a pumpkin patch math game. We read the story, Ready for Pumpkins, Kate Duke Monday followed by the game, and then played this game to start our school day every day that week. Ana and Gwen had to put up the number of pumpkins shown on the card they chose, and Tristan had to put up the number of pumpkins that matched the solution to one of his flash cards. This was a fun activity to mix things up, though the children tired of it by the end of the week.
A few quick highlights from two weeks of second grade:
History- the question arose, "Are there no girl kings of Egypt?". I was able to tell the children about Cleopatra- happened to have a book from the library out on her.
Science- mummy making. Tristan mummified an apple slice.
Computer skills- We began a touch typing program, Typing Instructor for Kids. I purchased it from Amazon, and both children are taking the course. It will register up to five users and was reasonably priced.
Science- Tristan learned about oceans the same week that Anastasia was learning about jellyfish. This was a nice overlap and we enjoyed learning together.
Art- We made paper Mache sarcophaguses. The kids enjoy making paper Mache things- really they enjoy anything that involves balloons. Anyway, their finished products do not look very Egyptian, more like colorful potatoes, but they had fun, and Tristan has a home for his mummified apple slice:)
Other books we enjoyed the last few weeks:
The Apple Pie Tree, Zoe Hall (Simple presentation of an apple tree through the seasons.)
Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Appple Story, Anna Egan Smucker (Loved this book! True story of Golden delicious variety of apple.)
Apples, Gail Gibbons (Gail Gibbons books are go to's for us. They have all been winners)
Manzanas, Ann L. Burkhardt (Still trying to build our Spanish vocabulary!)
Because your Grandparents Love you, Andrew Clements (At the end of this one the children said, "I liked that book, Mom", "Yeah, me too!")
King Tut's Tomb, Amanda Tourville
Salt, Melinda Lilly
What Makes An Ocean Wave, Melvin and Gilda Berger
Joseph, Brian Wildsmith (Such a beautiful book!!!! We loved it! The children looked at the pictures while listening to The Story of the World, Volume 1, by Susan Wise Bauer, Chapter 6 and then we had to read it again. The detail in the pictures is amazing! This story could be used for a Bible lesson or history. Really loved it!)
The Great Book of States, J.P. Alice
Oceans, Don P. Rothaus
Summerhouse Time, Eileen Spinelli (A fun story, but maybe a little advanced for my kids because of the complex family issues presented, ex. coming of age, loosing job, marital struggles, etc.)
Popcorn! Elaine Landau (fun and informative book!)
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