Two Cowgirls Preschool - Letter B

Back to the daily grind!  This was our first week back after a two week break, proceeded by a few weeks of Christmasy fun.  It went a lot better than I thought!  I think the kids (and I) thrive on routine.

Here's what we did in preschool this week:

Day 1:

Our theme for the week was "hibernation".  We read a couple great books, did our "letter B" work sheet, and worked in Elise's new Preschool workbook.  I ordered the workbook to see if she could complete the tasks (sometimes I don't think I give her enough credit, and this was my way of finding out).  She loved working on it so much, that she ended up going through page 20 before I cut her off!  One thing she did that was kind of goofy, was on the page where she was given three objects, and was told to circle the two that are the same, she opted to draw on the 3rd "different" one and make it the same as the others.  So, not exactly following the directions (in true Elise fashion), but showing me that she could tell which one was different.  Silly kid.  We ended the day with a fun art project.  She drew a page of a cave where a bear might be hibernating, and we glued a picture of a bear on it.  It's pretty cute, and she had a lot of fun trying to think of different things a person might find in the woods.

Day 2:

We read about the Bugle Flower Fairy, read books, and worked in her workbook some more.  I was originally going to have her work on counting and identifying/writing numbers, but she wanted to work on that workbook so bad, so I let her.





Outings:

On Wednesday, Millie had Norse story hour at Ingebretsons as part of her book club.  While we were there, Elise got to spend some one on one time with Grandma Susie.  She loved it!  The had a tea party, built a castle kit, and made furniture out of Legos (what else?!) to go inside.

Friday Millie had another book club event.  This one was 2 hours long, and Elise had to tag along.  I brought along some fun activities (Legos, a cutting and pasting project, a book, and a doll).  Between those things, a snack, and meeting a new friend, Elise had a great time!

3rd Grade, 2nd Quarter Review

Well, this last quarter wasn't really a quarter, was it?  It went by so fast!  We're half way done with the school year!  It feels like we're just getting started.

Here's what we've been working on:

Language Arts:  We're still working on and loving Queens Language Lessons.  The lessons are gentle, and Millie seems to be absorbing everything.  No tears!

Samantha likes math, too!

Reading:  She reads out loud to Elise every morning still, which is good practice.  She also reads every day while I'm doing preschool with Elise.  I haven't had any control over what she has been reading this quarter.  I'm not sure why, but I didn't have anything planned.  She's been having fun reading lots of American Girl books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Magic Tree House, and other random book she picks out at the library.

Read Alouds:  This quarter we read Owls in the Family and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Math:  Still plugging away at Saxon 3.  We just started doing square roots.

Science:  We finished up our study of plants, and started up with physics.  I'll be honest, teaching physics a terrible bore for me, and Millie doesn't enjoy it either.  We pretty much gave up on it.  I'm supposed to be teaching it though mid-March, so hopefully I can find it in myself to get back into it.  She's got two outside-of-the-home physics classes scheduled, so if nothing else, she'll get that.



History:  Of course, history has been fabulous!  We are studying the European's arrival to "the new world".  We're using Story of the USA as our spine.  Along with the readings in those books, we read Pedro's Journal, We Asked For Nothing (this was an amazing book.  I highly recommend it.  This book led us to watch several documentaries on Netflix.  It was a great topic that the whole family got into), The Double Life of Pocahontas, Sarah Morton's Day, and Three Young Pilgrims.  We're also reading and doing projects from Easy Make & Learn Projects: Colonial America.

Spelling:  Plugging away with All About Spelling.  This is such a fantastic spelling program!  We're both learning so much!

Phy Ed:  Millie took ice skating lessons, and went swimming a few times.

Art:  She's still taking piano lessons.  It's fun to see her progress!  We did some handy crafts (although not as many as planned!) at home (doll puppets and card making), saw the Nutcracker ballet, and hit up the Children's Museum once per week to make art in the art room.

Outings:  We met up with friends at the Science Museum, Jr. Rangers classes (animal tracks and exploration by the Mississippi River, snow shelter and fire building, and snow shoeing), Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the Terra Cotta Warriors (once in a lifetime event, here!), space lessons and the opportunity to look through the HUGE telescope at the University of Minnesota, "bring a friend day" at the St. Paul Figure Skating Club, and 4H (she learned how to use a sewing machine!  They made hats to donate to charity).

Christmas:  We spend a lot of time talking about Christmas, and doing service projects, Christmas projects, baking, etc.  It was a wonderful, simple, slow paced Christmas this year.  I loved it!

That about sums it up!  Is there anything I'd change?  Yes!  I need to up the phy ed a bit.  Perhaps we'll get into the outdoor hour again.  Oh, nature study has sort of gone by the wayside.  At least our Jr. Rangers classes are outdoors.  They're so fun!!

What's new for next quarter?  Cursive!!