Smart Play Home School Group

MONDAY FEB.5

Yeah Suzy, welcome to the blog!

LA - 2 hours - they did really well hanging in there. learned about synonyms (they call it cinnamon :) and antonyms. Synonyms (two different words that mean the same thing "happy" and "glad" for example) were a little tricky for them. they wanted to say things like "sun" and "son" which is clever thinking but not a synonym. they were getting it by the end of the lesson. I updated the LA Reference sheet in their folders to include these. discussed comparisons (how things are alike and different) and completed 2 handouts on this. read "over in the meadow" in classics for young readers book. it's similar to "way out in the desert." discussed how repetition in poetry can help you predict, and read quicker and better. discussed cadence.

Science - reviewed germination process. recorded seed observations in the chart. they can look at these every day without recording them - they get to tally how many days they've observed them (see the chart for more info.) learned about the parts of a seed - embryo, cotyledons, and seed coat. split open lima beans to observe these parts - their favorite part was smashing them at the end, they are such boys! i compared the parts to the parts of an egg. i bought some pots and soil to plant the grass seeds on at different levels either on wed. or next week. it was optional today and i didn't have the soil.

History - the Olympics. origins of the olympics and how they're played now. they really got into this. we had a mini olympics at the end throwing the discus, javelin and having races. it was really funny. they got into wrestling too. if my camera worked i could have gotten some good pics :)

I'll post fridays lessons tomorrow...

Thurs. LA for Ranae:
Lesson 7: Activity 3
"country mouse and city mouse" they are familiar with this story from an ISpy book i have. it is in "classics for young readers."

Lesson 8: Activity 4
more "country mouse and city mouse"

the next lessons pertain to "the mermaid who lost her comb" in pegasus series book 2. choose what you like out these lessons but you'll need to read them the story.

Lesson 5:Optional "mermaid" session 1
Lesson 6:Optional "mermaid" session 2
Lesson 7:Optional "mermaid" session 3
Lesson 8:Optional writing a comb poem (if you don't do this, this would be a good optional fri. assignment