We started back to our last term of school on Monday. I am so glad we're here! Today I got to introduce the elementary science kids to our last science unit of the school year. We are using the new Mammals unit from The Good and the Beautiful. This gorgeous unit has 14 lessons, plus additional extension lessons for 7th and 8th graders, as well as several books to read. I am using Mammals with Daniel (6th grade), Oliver (5th grade), Caleb (3rd grade), Mason (2nd grade), and Samuel (1st). However, as is typical in our little one room school house, today I had four tagalongs - Tobias age 4 and Rebekah age 2, as well as Joseph (9th grade) and Emma (8th grade). The youngest tagalongs loved the video that accompanied today's lesson, while the oldest tagalongs had great commentary to share from their biology studies this year.
We will spend about a week per lesson, including doing the 7th/8th grade extension. I read and prepare materials, and decide where to split the lesson in half. We do science twice a week for a longer time, instead of four days with shorter lessons. The Mammals unit includes photographs, art work, poetry, readings, integrated books, experiments/demonstrations of concepts, notebooking, and hands on pieces to manipulate. I also put a quick stack of books on hold at my local library that will go with each lesson for a book basket. These are popular for bedtime reading.
Every few weeks we will take a field trip to the zoo and do an animal hunt, seeking the animals we have covered in the most recent lessons. The kids are ridiculously excited about this part of the plan. I am counting on warming temperatures to arrive by the end of March so we don't freeze at the zoo.
Tuesday the kids were excited to get school accomplished because Frozen 2 came out on DVD. We did not see the movie in theaters, so we made a movie watching date at home for right after school was finished. This meant some fun perks like eating lunch in the living room during the movie, as well as passing out candy to enjoy. School went beautifully, the movie was a hit, and we had a great day.
Wednesday my sweet Oliver turned eleven years old. He started the morning opening his presents, getting to work using them right away (Legos to build and a drawing book for characters from How to Train Your Dragon.) By 8:30am everyone was doing school work. The day moved cheerfully along. Today was a history day. Our lesson was on the division of powers delegated to the federal government or the state governments. It was a fascinating lesson to the kids to really think about the 'why' behind some of these. For example, why are the laws governing immigration and the enforcement of them a federal matter? What would be different if that power was given to individual states to legislate and oversee?
Thursday we woke to cold, snowy weather. We really have had a much milder winter this year than the last few, with smaller snowfall amounts and many 'warmer' days in the 40s. It makes it much easier to enjoy and appreciate the beauty and wonder of the frozen days.
Friday was another cold, snowy day. We plowed through school cheerfully. Several kids spent time drawing. Others built elaborate train tracks for the little ones to enjoy. We also had a short visit from Grandma (my mom), who was dropping off a few things for the package we were sending to Makayla.
You got cold, snowy weather while our weather warmed up into the 60s! Your mammals study sounds fun--I hope it stays that way. :)
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to be able to report, "We plowed through school cheerfully." That's truly a blessing.