Category: School News

Today is Tuesday and it’s piano with Ms. G. and we are also doing double work, for tomorrow we head to the State Fair!

We did more math, 2 spelling tests and read further along in our 3 books. The only thing we didn’t do was Language Arts and science, we can do those on Thursday.

We headed down the hill early to the valley and arrived a bit early for our lesson. Afterward, Ms. G’s kitten, Hobbes, played with Isabel. Isabel loves the name and can’t wait to see him again at her next lesson!

This week she got 2 new songs to play, a fast moving one and a slower one.
I forgot the names of both.

Back in the classroom…

We started our day again with the reading of scripture, we read Genesis 3 and the story of Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden. We also read Luke 1:26-38 and the story of Gabriel visiting Mary.

We went over our poem/song.

Isabel did a great job reciting it and writing it out.

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“All Creation Sings God’s Glory“ window art was improved upon!

Today Isabel “Sings God’s Glory” about butterflies and turkeys.
She said she picked turkeys today because she’s thinking of Thanksgiving and turkey dinner.

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We read further (for Fair Day tomorrow!) in all 3 books that we had started yesterday:

“Walk the Worlds Rim”
“Pedro’s Journal“ and
“A Lion to Guard Us“

We got further along in all 3 books and it seems we might finish “A Lion to Guard Us” first, since it is the shortest of the 3 books.

This morning we dove right into our new curriculum for the school year. Isabel dragged her feet early on but soon got into the groove. It’s going to take us a few days to BOTH really get in the groove of this homeschooling business.

We started the day with reading Luke 1:1-25 and the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the foretelling of their son John. We also talked about the writer of the book of Luke, when and where it was written. Isabel said she’s read/heard the story before, so it wasn’t anything new to her.

We also went over the story of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:3. We started our window art project, “All Creation Sings God’s Glory“. All week, as we go over the book of Genesis, Isabel will add 2 draws to the project.

Today Isabel “Sings God’s Glory” about beaches and animals in the sea.

We also started our memorization of a Psalm 8 poem/song, which ties in the the story of creation in Genesis.

“O Lord, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth. Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes.
You have established strength.
(learning these verses this week)
Because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.
(learning these in week 2)
What is man that You take thought of him and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
(learning these in week 3)
You have put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field. The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea. Whatever passes through the paths of the seas, O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth!
(learning these in week 4)
(in week 5, we’ll start to tie the whole poem/song together.
It needs to be memorized by week 6)

For P.E. we took a 1 hour walk around the neighborhood (30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after dinner).

After lunch we were back into our curriculum with the true story of Spanish explorers coming to the southwest to tell the Native Americans about God, “Walk the Worlds Rim” by Betty Baker. We also charted the course that their voyage took on our map!

Spelling/Vocabulary for this week…

friars
inland
beset
crude
treacherous
roster
parcel
Canary Islands
mandarins
brocade
dinghy
ingenious
boatswain
as the week progresses I’m sure we will add more to the list!

Isabel also began reading “Pedro’s Journal“.
We charted this first part of their journey, from Spain to the Canary Islands, on our map!

Later in the afternoon, after Language Arts, a spelling test and science lesson,
we also started reading, “A Lion to Guard Us“.
Again, we charted this journey from London, England to Bermuda and then to Jamestown, Virginia.

This week’s American Indian prayer focus is on the Maya tribe. The Maya are from Central America and it’s going to be fun to learn more about these fascinating people.

Today is the first day of third grade and it’s also the first day of “school @ home”!

We are starting a new adventure in home schooling for this year. We didn’t come to this decision lightly and we know there will be struggles along the way. However we have faith that this is the path that Lord is leading us down and we are following it in hopes that Isabel will get more out of her year at “school @ home”.

She will have all the same subjects that she had in traditional private school including piano lessons.

Our school curriculum includes:

• History
• Bible
• Reading
• Language Arts
• Math
• Science
• Handwriting
• Spelling
• P.E.
• Art

Her sign states:
First day of “School @ Home” in the third grade!
September 8th, 2014
When I grow up I want to be a… scientist
My favorite color is… purple
My favorite food is… pizza
My favorite subject is… science

Isabel got several awards for the Fourth Quarter.

Her character award for this year is “gentleness”.

She got an award for perfect attendance.
No absentee days for this girl!

If she got actual grades, she would be on the HONOR ROLL for the year!
Isabel was the only person in class to get this award.

She will begin to get “grades” in third grade and with a little hard work she’ll make
the actual honor roll next year.

She got excellence in academics for the fourth quarter.

Year end photo with Teacher Mrs. A.

Today is Friday and it’s the last week of school!

Isabel had a great day.

She watched a movie before lunch. They watched Milo and Otis about a cat and a dog.

After lunch the class had their read-in. Isabel was so excited this morning, she didn’t understand why they didn’t do this more often during the year.

Later in the afternoon after the read-in, the class celebrated 5 summer birthdays. They had cupcakes and goodie bags were handed out. The goodie bags had candy, glow sticks, a paddle ball, and bubbles.

Isabel brought home a lot of work from throughout the year. She brought home her journal, her math folder, her easy dictionary and her phonic practice journal.

• The journal was written in almost everyday. Teacher Mrs. A would give the class a topic and they would have to write a short story about the topic.
• The math folder was where she kept math pages during class.
• The easy dictionary was a reference that Teacher Mrs. A gave the each of the kids with lists of common words they would need to know how to spell. In the back of the folder, Teacher Mrs. A left pages for the kids to write words they could ask her to spell for them.
• The phonic practice journal was used for phonics that were given each week.

She also brought home her reading challenge for the summer. She’s been given the challenge to read 2,500 minutes for 2 1/2 months over the summer. She needs to record the time, 20 minutes a day, on the Scholastic website.

Today is Thursday. There is 1 day left of school and 2 fun days next week!

Monday is a field day with games on the playground field and Tuesday is a special awards chapel with an early dismissal.

There was no P.E. today.

Today was the last day of piano until summer lessons start in July. Isabel says she’s looking forward to a break but she’ll still be having daily practices at home.

She didn’t have a whole lot to say about her day, she’s excited about tomorrow’s read-in and summer birthday celebrations that they are doing for those with birthdays in summer.

She got her Northwest Trek Mammal animal report back today. Today she had to read it aloud to the class and tomorrow she’ll get to hear the remaining students read their reports.

Her report on a Northwest Trek Mammal animal: Porcupines.

The cover page could have images from the internet.

The top photo is a South American porcupine.
The middle photo is an African Crested porcupine.
The bottom photo is a North American porcupine.

The remaining pictures had to be drawn by Isabel.

Her final grade is a: +
(which would be an A)

She also brought home this booklet (see below).

My second grade year was written at the end or beginning of a new month. The class was given several options written on the white board. The kids could pick 3 of the options from the list given.

The cover was completed today.

The predict page was written soon after school started.

“In September, I started P.E. My favorite game in P.E. is “clean the yard”. We also, started math.
And of course we started second grade.”  Isabel wrote.

“In October I learned horizontal, verdieal, and oblique. We also made pumpkin people.” Isabel wrote.

“In November, we had a book fair for a whole week! We also did honor’s chapel.” Isabel wrote.

“In December we had a Santa shop, and started cursive.” Isabel wrote.

“In January we had a marble jar party and we won the spirit banner.
We also had skate night.” Isabel wrote.

In February we started IXL math, had our Valentines party, had President’s Day, and
said good bye to Colby.” Isabel wrote.

“In March I made a wordless bible book, and we learned about Egypt.
Did you know that people in Egypt write backwards?” Isabel wrote.

“In April I practiced my spring program. And we had a prayer walk. We also started practicing capital letters in cursive. Cammy came to our room for three days. We also had spring break.” Isabel wrote

“In May we had a field trip to North west trek. We also had a spring program (King of th Jungle).
We were out of school for Memorial day. I also did a book report on Thomas Edison.” Isabel wrote.

“In June we went to the oral history museum. We also had a read-in, a field day, and our animal reports were due. They were a lot of work. We met our pen-pals too.” Isabel wrote

Today is Wednesday and it’s the 2/3 grade Oral History Report Museum in the gym.

No Chapel, last one was last week.

Usually it’s just the 3rd grade (something we have to look forward to next year!) but with having a combination class this year, the second graders participated. The students have to research a famous person in history. The students picked…

Clara Barton (Ms. Sydney)
Walt Disney
Amelia Earhart (Ms. Maddie)
Thomas Edison
Elvis Presley
Ben Franklin (Mr. Jackson)
Thomas Jefferson
Jackie Kennedy
Martin Luther King Jr.
Evel Knievel (Mr. Galen)
Abe Lincoln
Annie Oakley
Barack Obama
Rosa Parks (Ms. Isabella)
Pocahontas (Ms. Jasmine)
Eleanor Roosevelt (Ms. Joy)
Betsy Ross
Babe Ruth (Mr. Lincoln)
Sacagawea (Ms. Mila)
Teddy Roosevelt
Shirley Temple
George Washington

The kids need to write a report about the person of their choosing and then memorize the report. The report is then given to anyone who asks, all from memory. The kids are judged on their knowledge of the person they have researched.

She enjoyed the oral history reports and listened to all the girls reports and only listened to 3 of the boys reports. She enjoyed Babe Ruth, Ben Franklin, and Evel Knievel.

She didn’t finish the scavenger hunt but we talked about it at dinner.

When I picked Isabel up from school she told me all about her recess game called “Indian Kitties”. The “kitties” went to school during the first recess and during the later recesses the “kitties” had picture day at school and went to the babysitters. Isabel was a substitute teacher and a sister kitty.

Isabel said they went to library today as well. Mrs. D. read them a story but Isabel didn’t tell me what it was about.

Classwork…

Finish the math problems on this side, correctly…

and the picture on the back will turn out correctly.

The class did both pages today in class.

Connect the dots.