WED. AND THURS. FEB. 27-28

HISTORY 2 - learned about Robin Hood. He was actually the Earl of Nottingdon but had his land and title taken illegally by King John while King Richard was fighting the crusades. He became Robin Hood and took over Sherwood Forest and charged the rich coming through a toll (or he just took their money for safe passage) and gave it to the poor. Maid Marion joined him there after the Sheriff of Nottingham threatened to have her married to a his cruel friend Sir Guy. Robin Hood and Marion were married by King Richard when he returned and lived peacefully for 5 years until Richard died. Robin Hood was soon after mortally wounded by Sir Guy and was buried in Sherwood Forest. This was a good lead-in to the next lesson on King John and the Magna Carta. King John was such a dishonest and selfish king - people had no right to a trial or to protect their land and money from seizure by the king - that the nobles finally captured him and forced him to sign the Magna Carta. It was the "great charter" which ensured that the king still has to follow the rule of law and that people have a right to a trial. It was signed in 1215 and became a model of justice for most democracies. The boys were concerned about Robin Hood being killed and also that he stole (was it ok since he gave the money away?) Makes for a good discussion on vigilante justice, I think. We talked about other important dates in history 476, 1492 and they included the end of the each world war. I'll pass around the Robin Hood book - it's very interesting.

SCIENCE 2 - Learned about erosion and how it can be prevented by planting. Plants roots help hold the soil together. We did an experiment outside where we poured water on soil with plants and without to see which had more run-off. We also measured the leaves and stems of 2 different plants to compare them and talked about the difference between plants growing in desert soil and richer loam. They did very well on the unit assessment. Had fun talking about the sun absorbing the earth in 27 billion years. Be prepared to hear about that! Next unit is on plants, I'll be having them start a potato to root and we'll be doing the bean experiment again.

SCIENCE K- Began the next unit. Talked about why we need trees, what we use them for and how we can conserve them (only take what we need, replant when we do chop them down, use sustainable wood like bamboo). Explored the house to find wood products and made a drawing of a tree and how they like to use them (Quinn's whole family, including grandparents and me, are climbing his apple tree, Nadia had herself on a tree fort picking apples and Ella's tree has apples and animals). They are so cute! We talked about how we use and conserve water, also.

WE NEED THE NEXT UNIT HANDOUTS FOR SCIENCE 2 NEXT WEEK

Rachelle