Ocean update

I just wanted to post about some of the work Q has been doing on her ocean unit.

So here is the food web that we created on the living room wall. Fred's actually been really nice about us hanging up school stuff all over the house. First paintings and drawings, then the time line, now this. What's next?

She had a really good time making this. First she went to enchanted learning and printed out the information sheets on like a dozen different ocean animals. I don't even know how many she finally printed out, colored, and then cut out. We used the information sheet to decide who eats whom and connected them with yarn. We worked on this for over two hours without taking a break and only stopped because M woke up from his nap and we had to eat lunch. Q was so into it she wanted to keep working on it even after "school" time was over. Which we did. It really came out great! She is really going to give me a hard time when it is time to take it down.

Q has been doing work on addition and subtraction with one digit numbers and we just introduced place value. She really likes using manipulatives especially the kind you can eat!

She is still working hard on her coral reef diorama. She happily showed me the star fish Dad made while I was at work and she can't wait until her clay coral and clownfish are dry and ready to be glued in. I'll put in pictures of this as soon as it is done.

Q used the "specimens" she collected at the beach to create her own beachcomber book like the book Out of the Ocean by Debra Frazier we read together. She took a picture of each item, printed the pictures out, stapled them together with a cover, and then wrote a short description of each one. It turned out really nice and although she won't admit it, I know she is proud of her work.

Today we finished learning about undersea explorers. Q researched Sylvia Earle and created a mini-book about her for her lapbook and we added the important people and inventions of deep sea research to our time line. My nephew stopped over the other day and I saw him looking around at the time line. In order to visually create the time space I wanted for the time line it stretches from our front door, down the bedroom hallway and back around to the back door. It took him a while to ask about it though, which was kind of funny. Q was so excited to tell him about the things on the time line. It was great hearing her explain about "Richard Trevithick who invented the modern locomotive in 1803" like she was an expert. Sometimes I think she just isn't getting it, but I guess something is getting in.

Mottainai

Mottainai is Japanese for "it's a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full." Just let the idea sink in for a second. Hmm... that this word can mean so much seems monumental.

I read this word while searching online for Furoshiki folding techniques. Weeks ago as warm weather started in I was smitten with the need for yard sale rummaging and thrift store finds. Then I found this awesome blog that has been really inspirational and this site about crafting new finds. And now mottainai. It must be a sign.

But where are my good deals? What do I even need? I would love to make a frame collection on the kitchen wall sorta cottage chic only with a more modern twist, I am in desperate need of a bed frame and Q has been bugging for a new bed too. I have always wanted to make a clock, and we need a larger space for our growing collection of homeschool supplies. I just got a new sewing machine for Christmas that has been screaming for more time out of the closet. Now if I could only figure out how to infuse the caffeine straight into my veins so I can skip all the coffee drinking and have ALL 24 HOURS of the day! But alas, my body does require some restorative sleep (as does my mind evidently). So I'll have to be happy searching and planning, I've always been better at that aspect anyway.

Our Beach Field Trip

Yesterday was great weather for a beach field trip, so that's what we did. I woke Q up earlier than usual and asked her if she was in the mood for a trip. We packed a lunch (and breakfast too), stopped for some sunblock and we were off.

Cape May Point State Park

It was M's first trip ever to the beach. I think he had a good time.

Here's some pictures of our trip:

Q looked out on the water to see if there were any boats or dolphins around and we collected lots of sea debris in our bucket that we identified later at the beach museum. We found some whelk egg sacks, scallop shells, mussel shells, crabs, a skate egg pouch, and some sea weed to name a few.

We thought these rocks would be the perfect place to find a tide pool, but sadly no little creatures were living there.

The "class" certainly enjoyed their field trip!

Just another school day

Today may have been "just another school day" but it was so great. It has been raining here all week and everyone was being annoying and annoyed. The weather report called for more of the same dreary and rainy weather. But it never came. The sky was blue and Q pointed out that there appeared to be cumulus clouds in the sky (we learned about clouds a few weeks ago) and this meant we were in for a nice day. So we decided to start our day off with a walk around the neighborhood. It was a little humid already but a great energizer. When we returned M went in for a nap and we got to work. Q chose dolphins for her animal study and we were going to finish this up with a short report today and some dolphin painting. Which actually got done. So did a hands on activity to learn place value, a worksheet for phonics, AND copywork and cursive writing practice. What's going on here. We rarely ever get done all the things I plan for a day. But we took a walk...

And swung on the swings...

And helped Dad work on a car, all before our 3pm quiting time.

What happened here? Serendipity I'm sure.

Ocean Unit

I have been thinking about creating a lens about this unit on squidoo, but I think I will actually finish the unit and see how it goes first before I commit to too much with. Especially a Squidoo lens. The ladies in the Unit Studies group on Squidoo are really thorough! Anyway, here's what I was thinking about including. We will not be able to cover it all I'm sure before Q looses interest in it and wants to do something else but at least I have a lot of ideas to work with.

Science
animal study
animal classification
food chain/web
habitats/ecosystems
human/nature connection
waves, currents, tides, salty
water cycle

Geography
identify and locate 5 oceans
map reading skills
landforms

Language Arts
vocabulary and spelling
creative writing
compare and contrast
alphabetizing
personification

History
explorers - undersea and over sea
human uses of the sea

Art and Music
crayon resists
mobile
mosaic
diorama
not sure of the music part just yet

Math
Q is working on:
1 digit addition and subtraction
patterns
graphing
place value
I figure we can use her shell collection and goldfish crackers for manipulatives as well as some undersea stickers I found at the craft store.

There are so many trips that we can take I'm not sure how we'll decide where to go. Of course we have to go to the beach, that was one of the reasons Q wanted to do this unit in the first place. Down the shore there is also whale watching cruises, aquariums, and a marine mammal stranding center. This should work out wonderfully.

Saturday - Sunday

My work schedule is set so our school week runs Thursday through Sunday. This allows for me to go into the office on Monday and Wednesday mornings and gives Q three days off a week. When I first arranged this schedule it sounded great. Now I think it is somewhat of a bother.

Here's the thing - there is just too much going on on Saturday and Sunday for us to have a "normal" school day. First of all there is the fact that the neighbor is out of school and now that the weather is nice, she is outside and Q can see her playing through the dining room window. Second, there are birthday parties, engagement parties, communions, and other friend and family obligations. There are also so many fun and interesting community events scheduled now! What's a mom to do? Oh I know - let it go - have some fun! Afterall kids learn best through play, right?