Unit 3 Bigger and CTC

We are slowly starting to get into our groove.  Each week goes better than the previous one.  I find more and more things that I like about the curriculum at the same time that I find things I want to tweek.  So my favorite part of all is that it is completely customizable and flexible to meet the needs of each student or family!

BIGGER UNIT 3

 In Unit 3 for Bigger the history focus was on John Smith and the Jamestown colony as well as Henry Hudson.  Bean started the week with an artistic project which required her to step into some very uncomfortable territory.  Bean is a PERFECTIONIST!  Drawing a tree without looking at the paper and also without lifting the pencil was very challenging for her.  After watching me a couple times, she made the attempt and I think she did great!

 







We also studied a compass rose.  I drew a large one on the cement outside and gave her directions to follow. For example, "Walk two steps West. Now take three steps northeast."  Unfortunately, you can't really see the chalk drawing well in the sunlight, but it is truly there.

Vocabulary this week included the word "explorer."  She had to come up with her own sentence and then draw a picture to illustrate the word.  I chuckled when I saw her drawing and had to share with you all.  It's Dora.  Dora the Explorer.  Awesome!

Now I have a word of warning about the science project for this unit.  Two plates are placed outside overnight for water evaporation to occur.  On one plate is plain water, on the other is water saturated with salt.  The goal is to allow evaporation to occur overnight and in the morning observe that the water is gone, but the salt remains.  DON'T DO THIS OVERNIGHT.  Instead, start it in the morning on a projected warm day and check later that same day.  When we left ours out overnight, we woke to twice as much water on the plates from dew accumulation.

                             
                              We did repeat the project however,
                              and Bean was completely fascinated
                              to see the salt residue.  Very effective
                              lesson.

Creation to Christ Unit 3

As an art project this week Bug made an optical illusion of stars in a striped background.  This was tied to the key concept that God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  She really enjoyed this mostly as a break from the other strictly academic work she does for the rest of the day.

In science this week Bug learned about different kinds of bears.  She added to the animal track book that she started a few weeks back.  I am having her place the paper over the track image in the book and outline it first, then go back and label the parts.  This way she gets an accurate drawing for her to reference later.




After learning about a polar bear's black skin, she did an experiment to understand that black absorbs more light, thus keeping the object warmer.  This is when I tell you that I have yet another word of warning about the science experiment.  This is detailed in the Apologia science book as using two thermometers placed under a white and black trash bag in the sun.  Because we did not have two thermometers or a black trash bag, we delayed doing this project for about 4 days.  However, BE SURE TO READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE HEART OF DAKOTA BOOK!  At one point I finally noticed that there were alternate instructions which include using two ice cubes under black and white cloth.  Well, I had those things on hand, of course.  So we did finally do the experiment, even though Bug knew fully well the why and how of it all.  She still liked to see it happen. :)

Beginning

End

Middle

Her poetry painting this week was for the poem "A Peck of Gold" by Robert Frost.  We really had a hard time understanding the directions for the clouds part of this painting.  Somehow they were suppose to overlap each other and move from top to bottom, but Bug didn't want all her clouds to just be in a straight vertical line, so she did them separately.  I thought about looking at other blogs to see how they had done it, but as I mentioned earlier, I didn't want her painting to end up looking like someone else's, so I just allowed her to use her own artistic vision.

Well, that's most of the exciting stuff for unit 3.  Next week I'm going to showcase what I like to call the "nitty gritty" of our school day.  Stay tuned!