Week # 9

I came down with a nasty head cold on Tuesday. It really hampered our school efforts this week. We did manage to get a little done. Most of it on Monday and a few little things throughout the week.

English/Language Arts-
Field Trip Summary- the kids wrote about our field trip to Roloff farms and drew a picture of the things we did there.

DD-Workbook #1- page 48-49 + review of previously learned sight words.
Workbook #2- Still working on short vowels.
SPEECH CLASS

SPELLING- DS & DD- Spelling DVD 30 minutes each- new spelling words for both. They are still loving this game and are doing great with spelling!


MATH
DD- Saxxon Math Lesson 25
DS- Saxxon Math Lessons 31 & 32
DD- Math drill - addition and subtraction

GEOGRAPHY
Passport- Entered Belize- traded money for Brazilian real.
Intermediate World Atlas pg 52-55
Geography Game- (South America) By the end of the week, only having played it twice- DD could locate 3 out of 12 countries and DS could locate 7 out of 12!
A trip around the world- Interesting facts about Brazil- Crossword puzzle.
Started Brazil lapbook- Flag, Animals, layers of the rain forest


SCIENCE/NATURE
Tropical Rain forests-
Activity- where the jungles are- found all the rain forests on a world map- colored them, entered them in our World notebook
Wild Places- In the Jungle, Why rainforests are important, River Amazon, Strange Plants
Living World- Amazon, Rain forest plants

We started a potatoe plant experiment on Friday- more about it next week.

Video- Smithsonian National Zoo- Really interesting video- We learned about a lot of different endangered animals from all over the world and about thier conservation efforts. It led to a great discussion!

MUSIC/ART-
No special music this week- my head couldn't take it! We did an art project though. A local bank is hosting a pumpkin decorating contest. The kids worked on thier own pumpkins. They turned out SO cute! Pictures and results listed soon!

READING-
DS- Read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to page 68
I read aloud- 5 Little Monkeys reading in bed. Nate Saint Chapter 3 and Rain Forest.

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES
Cheerleading, soccer, Girl Scouts. DS went hunting for the first time with Hubby and Grandpa! Had a great time! DD had her first real sleep over at a friends house. She had a great time. I, on the other hand, did not. She did call me quite a bit which was nice, but it was hard for me to go to bed without tucking her in :( and waking up without her here... It will be a long while before another sleepover happens!

Nature Study- Tree identification field trip

As much as I love it, nature isn't my strongest subject. I have to ask for help a lot when it comes to teaching the kids anything new. Before the leaves fell I wanted to an activity with the kids about the different trees that are native here in Oregon. I was lucky enough to meet a park ranger who was willing to lead an activity for me. I decided the activity was too neat not to share so we invited my Girl Scout troop to come along.
It was such a fun activity. The kids walked around the lake learning how to identify different trees by thier leaves and bark. Afterwards, they did leaf and bark rubs and made a book to take home for reference.
The kids had fun and so did all the parents!

Field Trip to Roloff Farms

Our family ran across the show "Little People Big World" A couple of years ago. I had seen the familiy years before the show appeared on a few talk shows and really admired them. They had been through so much and had persevered through it all with thier heads held high. Anyhow, we began recording the show and watching it every weekend. It opened the door to so many conversations with the kids. The kids became very interested in the subject of dwarfism and we began studying it over the summer. The kids love watching it also for all the references to Oregon, as they live only a couple hours away from us! It also doesn't hurt that one of the sons, Jacob, LOVES soccer and Chandler does as well. (You can guess who his favorite family member is!)
Anyhow after talking about it for the last couple of years we decided to take a trip to thier pumpkin patch this year. I am SO glad that we did!
We had such a great time! We got to meet Amy and Matt, and also Matt's mom and dad. Oh and we can't forget Rocky- Thier dog! They were all so friendly and exactly how we had pictured them to be. We took two different tours of the property and got to see all the neat places we had seen on t.v. After we finished the tours, got a snack to eat, and visited all the other fun little places they had set up around the farm we finally picked our pumpkins! It was an awesome day! We hope to go again next year!
The kids and I with Amy
Matt

Our family with Matt's parents

One of the kids favorite places on the farm!

In the western town

My lil pumpkin with her pumpkin!