Snow books without snow
Two weeks ago, Anastasia's theme for the week was Snow. Book of the week: Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. We also enjoyed a documentary on Wilson Bentley.
We had fun learning about snowflakes and their hexagonal configuration. We learned about Vermont and made paper snowflakes and shaving cream art, and we learned about Penguins at library story time. But outside it never snowed. It rained a bunch! but never snowed.
Then last week we enjoyed the story Truman's Aunt Farm, by Jama Kim Rattigan.
This is a beautiful story that brings us into Spring. It is full of fresh color and outdoor activities and fun! The Latin word for Spring is Ver and from it we derive the French word Vert (Green), Spanish Verde (Green) and English Verdant (very green). This story is flush with the fresh green of Spring. After our first reading I closed the book and asked, "So if you could describe this book using one color, what would come to mind?" The answer, "Green!"
I love this little story because it is sweet and silly and the play on words is really nice for budding readers. It provided us with the opportunity to write letters to Aunts, make some Q-tip art ants and we memorized Proverbs 6:6, building on our study of Wisdom. Anastasia compared this story to Disney's Frozen. The connection: Solving your problem with love. Very sweet. We also learned about the phases of our moon and constellations.
That leads me right into what we are doing in Second Grade. We have begun a new science unit. We are studying space. It is really fun and I'm always amazed by how much a second grader can understand, even beyond my own comprehension of a subject.
We are also memorizing our 45 presidents and reading a little about each one. We have the first five up on our wall at this point. This little memorization exercise ties in nicely with the happenings in our country at this time, with the change of command. We took our lunch break to watch our new president take his oath of office and it has led to a lot of questions and discussion about the whole process. I love learning from real-life, when possible.
Last week we visited The Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, PA. I wanted to stop in to see their display of local quilts and it turned into a proper field trip. The quilts were amazing and inspiring. I was particularly impressed with two Crazy Patch quilts, a pattern I have seen on paper, but this was my first time seeing one actually pieced and stitched. Of course, some of the others were much more aesthetically pleasing, and many were made in the 1800's as wedding quilts and have been preserved by families in the community for that long. Pretty neat! The museum was also neat, and the children seemed quite interested in the relics from the Mennonite community in the area. They really enjoyed finding where we fit into the community map and where different places were on it. Educational all around.
Additional books we read over the last two weeks:
Aunt Lulu, Daniel Pinkwater
Color, Ruth Heller
Every Color, Erin Eitter Kono
The Terrible Storm, Cynthia Horst
Snowmen At Night?, Carolyn Buehner
Super Snowday Seek and Find, Michael Garland
Flight School, Lita Judge
Cork and Fuzz, Dori Chaconas (Tristan has read all the books in this series to us. He really enjoys them!)
Eight Cousins, Louisa May Alcott
Rush Revere and the Presidency, Rush Limbaugh
Thomas Jefferson, James Cross Giblin
Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library, Barbara Rosenstock
Discover the Stars, Cynthia Pratt Nicholson
The Kids Guide to the Constellations, Christopher Forest
We had fun learning about snowflakes and their hexagonal configuration. We learned about Vermont and made paper snowflakes and shaving cream art, and we learned about Penguins at library story time. But outside it never snowed. It rained a bunch! but never snowed.
Then last week we enjoyed the story Truman's Aunt Farm, by Jama Kim Rattigan.
This is a beautiful story that brings us into Spring. It is full of fresh color and outdoor activities and fun! The Latin word for Spring is Ver and from it we derive the French word Vert (Green), Spanish Verde (Green) and English Verdant (very green). This story is flush with the fresh green of Spring. After our first reading I closed the book and asked, "So if you could describe this book using one color, what would come to mind?" The answer, "Green!"
I love this little story because it is sweet and silly and the play on words is really nice for budding readers. It provided us with the opportunity to write letters to Aunts, make some Q-tip art ants and we memorized Proverbs 6:6, building on our study of Wisdom. Anastasia compared this story to Disney's Frozen. The connection: Solving your problem with love. Very sweet. We also learned about the phases of our moon and constellations.
That leads me right into what we are doing in Second Grade. We have begun a new science unit. We are studying space. It is really fun and I'm always amazed by how much a second grader can understand, even beyond my own comprehension of a subject.
We are also memorizing our 45 presidents and reading a little about each one. We have the first five up on our wall at this point. This little memorization exercise ties in nicely with the happenings in our country at this time, with the change of command. We took our lunch break to watch our new president take his oath of office and it has led to a lot of questions and discussion about the whole process. I love learning from real-life, when possible.
Last week we visited The Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, PA. I wanted to stop in to see their display of local quilts and it turned into a proper field trip. The quilts were amazing and inspiring. I was particularly impressed with two Crazy Patch quilts, a pattern I have seen on paper, but this was my first time seeing one actually pieced and stitched. Of course, some of the others were much more aesthetically pleasing, and many were made in the 1800's as wedding quilts and have been preserved by families in the community for that long. Pretty neat! The museum was also neat, and the children seemed quite interested in the relics from the Mennonite community in the area. They really enjoyed finding where we fit into the community map and where different places were on it. Educational all around.
Additional books we read over the last two weeks:
Aunt Lulu, Daniel Pinkwater
Color, Ruth Heller
Every Color, Erin Eitter Kono
The Terrible Storm, Cynthia Horst
Snowmen At Night?, Carolyn Buehner
Super Snowday Seek and Find, Michael Garland
Flight School, Lita Judge
Cork and Fuzz, Dori Chaconas (Tristan has read all the books in this series to us. He really enjoys them!)
Eight Cousins, Louisa May Alcott
Rush Revere and the Presidency, Rush Limbaugh
Thomas Jefferson, James Cross Giblin
Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library, Barbara Rosenstock
Discover the Stars, Cynthia Pratt Nicholson
The Kids Guide to the Constellations, Christopher Forest
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