Concept Week #23: Prehistoric Life

For this unit we had no worksheets and a TON of library books!

What I really wanted to cover was the Ice Age and the early mammals that lived then (woolly mammoths, saber-toothed cats, etc), but I couldn't find books specifically covering that at our tiny local library so I had to work with what I had.

First up we had two DK books that partly covered the era we were interested in.  They were Eyewitness Visual Dictionaries: The Visual Dictionary of Prehistoric Life and DK Eyewitness Books: Prehistoric Life. These books actually covered EVERYTHING including the era before dinosaurs, the era during dinosaurs, and the rise of large mammals and neanderthals. We just covered the pages that were relevant to our unit.

Then, we had some storybooks that followed around some of the common animals for that time period.

• Ice Age Monsters: Glyptodon by Rupert Oliver
• Ice Age Monsters: Cave Bear by Rupert Oliver
• Ice Age Monsters: Megaceros by Rupert Oliver
• Ice Age Monsters: Saber Tooth Tiger by Rupert Oliver
• Woolly Mammoth by Ron Wilson

Lastly I couldn't seem to find any relevant worksheets (that weren't coloring pages) to go along with this unit. This unit was fun, and we enjoyed it, but I wish we had had more material to go through.

Quarterly Curriculum: November 2014 - January 2015

I'm posting this earlier than I normally do because I'm already working on next quarter's schedule. This quarter was VERY slimmed down both because of all of the holidays and because I was adjusting to a new medicine which was making me very sleepy. So, next quarter I want to bring back our full work load. This break was nice, but I'm already ready to do more and am full of ideas! So, here is our (current) super easy holiday schedule!

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee:

Schoolwork on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Subjects:

Magazine - We have some character magazines that cover handwriting, basic math, art, logic, and reading comprehension. We'll do one magazine a week.
Days - Everyday.
Textbooks - Character magazines.
Number of Pages - N/A

Spelling - Spelling words & units.
Days - Everyday.
Textbooks - None, just loose worksheets.
Number of Pages - 2

Other "Subjects":

Reading - Reading simple storybooks on their own.

Sign Language - Learning basic sign language to help Scooby-Doo communicate better, and to help us communicate better with him.

Some final notes:

• I got none :)

Scooby-Doo:

Schoolwork 2-3 days a week on any day

Magazines - Scooby-Doo is subscribed to a pre-k character magazine that covers letters, numbers, mazes, picture finds, reading comprehension, etc. We'll do one section a day, every other schoolwork day.
Days - Five days over two weeks
Textbooks - Character Magazines
Number of Pages - N/A

Other "Subjects":

Story Time - Reading a book every afternoon, even on days off.

Words Review - Going over simple words with him to help his speech.  This will be everyday, even on days off.

Sign Language - Learning basic sign language everyday, even days off.

Final Notes:

• Scooby-Doo's is still doing speech therapy, however he is only doing it two days a week now.
• We're still working on sign language to help his communication.

Two Week Review: November 30 - December 13

A Two Week Review post on time! Go me! ;)

So, Scooby-Doo. He still has his therapy twice a week. I sat down and talked to one of his therapists about the possibility of him having autism... and she said she suspects that he does. She also said his speech therapist suspects the same thing. I have a doctor's appointment set up to begin getting him tested. Meanwhile, for schoolwork he's still been working on his magazines. We had quite a few stories these past two weeks, along with some look-and-find and numbers. Actually, the layout of his current magazine means we are pretty much just did stories for these past two weeks. The next two weeks will be different.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee finished up the stack of magazines we had on hand. The next six weeks we'll be doing schoolwork based on the same formula as the magazines. We also practiced reading and did our two spelling units (which were the final long o unit and a unit on family words). Lastly, I had to rework our Concept Weeks so we could do our Native American one and our Native American Mythology one back-to-back since they overlapped so much. So, there is just one post up for those two units. The unit was a bit above them, but that's okay. You never know until you try!

Concept Weeks #21 & 22: Native Americans and Native American Mythology

These two Concept Weeks went hand-in-hand. Ideally, we were supposed to do Native Americans the first week followed by Native American Mythology the second week however the two units actually overlapped so we did them together spread out over the two weeks.

We learned about some of the many tribes out there, and how they all lived differently as well as had (and still have) different customs. We read about the "three sisters" of their diet - corn, beans, and squash. We learned how different tribes hunted different animals, and about the introduction of horses into their culture.

We also talked about some of the more negative things, such as the constant warfare with the Europeans, the superior weapons of the Europeans, and introduction of European diseases to the tribes. We also covered some sad historical events - specifically the Trail of Tears and the Wounded Knee Massacre.

We also took a closer look at both Pocahontas and Sacajawea - their early lives, their interaction with the white settlers, etc.

Throughout all of this we read a bunch of myths of many of the different tribes. Some of the myths we greatly enjoyed, some we did not.

We had a few books. DK Eyewitness North American Indian gave an overview of the many tribes and regions of North America before and during the white settlers coming. This book was VERY over my kids heads! I loved it, but they didn't really care for it. Deciding that since they didn't get much out of the DK book I figured we should take a closer look at one tribe in particular. We read a book in the American Indians series called The Cherokee: A Proud People by Suzanne Cloud Trapper. This book was much better. It talked about the different aspects of Cherokee life before, during, and after the coming of the white settlers, as well as talking about how they live today versus then. Lastly, we had the book American Indian Mythology by Evelyn Wolfson. It had nine different myths from nine different tribes within it. Like I said, some we liked, some we didn't.

Overall, I think the information was a bit above Optimus Prime and Bumblebee's heads, however they did enjoy some parts of the unit. I think we'll do it again in a year or two - hopefully by then they will be ready to learn more.

Two Week Review: November 16 - November 29

Well... I really don't have much to say...

Scooby-Doo is still working on his magazines and going to speech therapy. For magazines, these two weeks we had some matching, some coloring, some number review, a maze, and letter sounds. All of this stuff is very easy pre-k stuff, but some of it is a bit above him. My husband thinks Scooby-Doo might have autism, and working on these magazines with him I'm seeing it...

As for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee we did magazines as well, plus some reading and spelling (these two units were more long o words). We also had two Concept Weeks, covering Thanksgiving and Mythological Creatures.

I'm starting to get a new idea for Science next quarter... I'm going to have to think on this...

2nd Grade Spelling Units #13-24

Here's the spelling list! Some of these words are repeats from 1st grade. Also, fox is a repeat from last quarter. We're continuing with the theme of rhyming words to help them with their reading.

Unit #13 - Animal Words
bear
deer
fox
mouse
rabbit
squirrel
dog
fish
cat
owl

Unit #14 - Long o Words
cope
hope
lope
mope
nope
rope
slope
coal
foal
goal

Unit #15 - Long o Words Part 2
bloat
boat
coat
float
gloat
goat
moat
dome
home
tome

Unit #16 - Long o Words Part 3
dote
mote
note
quote
tote
vote
wrote
dole
mole
stole

Unit #17 - Long o Words Part 4
bone
cone
drone
hone
lone
phone
tone
hole
pole
vole

Unit #18 - Family Words
aunt
brother
father
grandfather
grandmother
mother
sister
uncle
daughter
son

Unit #19 - Short e Words
bet
get
jet
let
met
net
pet
vet
we
yet

Unit #20 - Short e Words Part 2
best
guest
jest
nest
pest
rest
test
vest
west
zest

Unit #21 - Short e Words Part 3
bent
dent
lent
pent
rent
sent
spent
tent
vent
went

Unit #22 - Short e Words Part 4
bed
fed
red
wed
help
yelp
dead
head
lead
read

Unit #23 - Long e Words
beep
deep
jeep
keep
peep
sleep
weep
beet
feet
street

Unit #24 - Long e Words Part 2
bean
clean
glean
lean
mean
wean
beast
east
feast
yeast

Concept Week #20: Mythological Creatures

On a scale of 1-10 I'd give this unit a 5. My kids, on the other hand, would give it an 11.

The unit was built around a jigsaw puzzle book called Fantasy Beasts Jigsaw Book. Inside was a bunch of pictures - with short descriptions - of different fantasy creatures and on the next page was a puzzle of them. It covered basic fantasy creatures like Eastern and Western dragons, as well as less known ones like bunyips. So, I set out to find worksheets to go along with this book. This is where I started hitting a stone wall... I found a TON of worksheets - if you consider coloring pages worksheets. I don't. Also, my kids aren't that big on coloring... So, I printed up the pages (both on animals in the book and animals not in the book) since they had little blurbs about the creatures on them. I hoped my kids would color them. They would not.

Of course.

Then, I tried to find a book to go along with our unit. I hit ANOTHER brick wall. With Yule shopping going on right now cash is a bit short, so I went to the library. I found a really neat book called The Monsters and Creatures of Greek Mythology by Don Nardo which we read. It was an awesome book. The only problem? It only covered Greek Mythology. They didn't have anything else even remotely similar, except for a book on unicorns called Fantasy and Folklore: Unicorns and Other Magical Creatures by John Hamilton.

Yeah.

It was also a very good book, just not exactly what I was looking for. So, overall I consider the unit to be a bit of a bust, however Optimus Prime & Bumblebee LOVED it, especially the puzzle book, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Concept Week #19: Thanksgiving

This unit was pretty book and craft heavy! We did our usual assorted worksheet pages of math, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc. However, there were some reading comprehension pages (yes, yes, yes - from education.com) about the first Thanksgiving as well as the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, including Squanto. So they learned a bit about that. Then we had another book debate, which Berenstain Bears book to read? In the end, I read both: The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings by Stan & Jan Berenstain (a thunderstorm comes to Bear Country and the power goes out, so the Bear family sits in the dark and thinks about what they are thankful for) and The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks by Jan & Mike Berenstain (the Bear family celebrates Thanksgiving, but Sister Bear wants to keep the turkey Squanto as a pet, not make him the main course on the big day).

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee also helped make food for Thanksgiving. They helped with the pumpkin pies, and this recipe for Succotash (which, I had never heard of before but I found in a kids Thanksgiving cookbook) they made all by themselves (except for the cutting).

Succotash Recipe:
2 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp butter
1 bell pepper (any color)
2 cups frozen lima beans
2 cups frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop up the bell pepper
2. Melt butter in saucepan
3. Add bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes
4. Add broth, lima beans, and corn
5. Bring to a boil
6. Lower heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until broth is absorbed
7. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy

I also found a Thanksgiving activity book online for them that they could print up, staple together, and do, so they had fun with that. Then, I considered the unit closed, but when I went to the library to take out books for our upcoming Native American unit I found a book on Squanto, so we read that too. It was Squanto: The Pilgrim Adventure by Kate Jassem. It was pretty good for a kids book. While it was watered down, it wasn't overly watered down. It talked about how he was abducted and sold into slavery, how he came back to North America to find all of his tribe dead, etc. It was a sad story, but a good one.

The unit wound up being a bit more work than I thought it would be, however it was definitely one of our more successful units!

Two Week Review: November 2 - November 15

We had a fun two weeks, however, this post is going to be VERY short!

Scooby-Doo is getting a break this quarter, just like his big brothers. We worked on a magazine of his and covered a story, a maze, a picture find, counting, and letters so far. Next two weeks there will be more. He also had his speech therapy.

For Optimus Prime & Bumblebee we covered Yule in our first Concept Week of the new quarter, then we covered Texas in the second Concept Week. And for our regular schoolwork we worked on Scooby-Doo and Thomas magazines. Yes, it was easy work, but that's kind of the point for this quarter. The magazines cover basic Math, basic English, and Reading Comprehension, as well as some fun logic stuff and some arts and crafts. Are they getting too old for these magazines? Yes. But they enjoy the light load of schoolwork when we do it, and soon the subscriptions will expire and they won't get to do it any more. So, for this quarter we're going to have fun with them and with our Concept Weeks. They've been practicing their reading as well, but no new breakthroughs there. Lastly, we had Spelling. The first week we covered animal words, the second week we moved back to rhyming words with long o words.

Concept Week #18: Texas

Yup, we did a whole unit on Texas. We had to, we live here! We had some worksheets to go along with it, but mostly we used the book DK Eyewitness: Texas for our unit.

(I love, love, LOVE the DK Eyewitness books!!!)

I actually learned a lot of things about Texas that I was not aware of. I knew that it had been owned by Mexico and fought for it's independence, but I had no idea why. I knew about the Battle at the Alamo and how everyone died, but I had never heard of the Battle of San Jacinto, or knew that before that final battle in the war Mexico was winning. We also learned the history behind some of Texas's major cities, some of which were named after generals that fought in the war for Texas's independence! It was all very interesting!

We covered other things too, like state bird, state flower, etc but as a history major I was more fascinated by the historical aspect so I focused on that. Now, will these obscure facts sink into my young kids heads...? Probably not. But that's okay, because we'll just do Texas again in a year or two!

Concept Week #17: Yule

Yup, we did a whole unit on Yule again! Last year we covered some fun stuff plus the different ways different countries celebrate, as well as reading a TON of Christmas themed stories and signing a TON of Christmas carols. That was too much stuff last year to fit within one week, so this year we just covered fun stuff. We had dot-to-dots, mazes, and picture finds as well as a lot of Christmas themed math pages. So, this year it was slightly less educational but we still had lots of fun. I think we're going to do a Yule unit every year so I think I'll cycle through the educational pages each year. One year cover different traditions, another year cover the stories, etc... Anyway, I'm getting off topic here.

We were torn over what our book should be, so we read two: Merry Christmas Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer and The Berenstain Bears Get Ready for Christmas by Jan & Mike Berenstain. And, of course, we wrote our letters to Santa and Odin!

Yes, we did this unit the first week of November, instead of the week before Yule, but that's because I needed time to get most of my shopping done! I hate the Christmas crowds.

So, this year's Yule unit was less educational than last year's, but sometimes that's a good thing - leaves time for more fun stuff!

Two Week Review: October 12 - October 25

The final two weeks of the first quarter!!! I can't wait for our one week break (and Halloween) before we move onto a lighter, easier second quarter...

Scooby-Doo is kinda, maybe warming up to his new therapists, but he's still very quiet. I don't like that, but hopefully it'll change soon. At home we're still working on the same old, same old.

Optimus Prime & Bumblebee are also same old, same old. English covered y as a vowel (Why is it only sometimes a vowel? That really bugs me...), days of the week, compound words, contractions, syllables, haiku, prefixes, and suffixes. In Math we did another addition and subtraction dollar book. Optimus Prime struggled but he had an easier time with it this time around. I guess doing that addition book did boost his confidence! Spelling was short o words and in Art we finished our books (pictures soon). In Religion we covered the goddess of winter the White Woman (also known as Holda) as well as going over the origins of Halloween and why we have some of the traditions we have.

In Geography we learned about ecosystems and food chains in one unit and why and how people live in certain environments in the other unit. In Handwriting we did handwriting, in Logic we FINALLY finished our picture find book, and in Science we finally finished our science book. We covered animal adaptions, defenses, and locomotion. We covered food chains and how the males, females, and babies have different names (like how with chickens the male is a rooster, the female is a hen, and the babies are chicks). We also read lots of books too to practice their reading. Optimus Prime is still working with Levels 1 & 2, Bumblebee is still working on Level 1.

I'm looking forward to a week off, a new schedule, and Halloween!

Two Week Review: September 28 - October 11

Scooby-Doo STILL hates his new therapists. And, to make matters worse, he's shutting down verbally. I'm pretty annoyed here. I'm seriously thinking that I might withdraw him from the program. Hopefully he warms up to them in the next couple of weeks... For schoolwork it's the same as always. Numbers, letters, logic... I think next quarter we're going to do something different.

As for Optimus Prime & Bumblebee, there is not much to report but they are doing good. We did Sharks for our concept week. In English we covered consonant blends, silent letters, hard and soft letters, short vowels, long vowels, and double vowels. For Math they had different workbooks. Optimus Prime had a first grade/kindergarten super easy addition book, Bumblebee had a first grade/second grade addition and subtraction book. They both did very well. Optimus Prime was so happy to have such an easy book to do! I'm hoping it'll give him a confidence boost for his next book. In Spelling we finished off long a words. In Art they still worked on their book and in Religion they learned about an Eskimo sea goddess named Sedna. That myth they really liked.

In Geography we started a new unit where we covered man-made vs nature-made changes to the Earth. For example, things like man building a damn, or erosion occurring naturally. Handwriting is still handwriting, Logic is still picture finds. (I think they are starting to get bored with them.) In Science we covered body parts of bees and clams, as well as the life cycle of the butterfly. And in Reading they practiced their reading. Like I said, nothing much to report! A nice two weeks, all in all.