We watched another Australia documentary...but it wasn't as interesting as the first. Georgia visited a few internet sites on Australia and took some quizzes online as well. She was really interested in reading about the fossils found in Australia. She was interested in reading how fossils are formed. She can't wait to study geology. I still need to gather some things for that unit, and we want some nice weather for some rock hunting trips. I am ordering a rock and mineral field guide to help us identify what we see...but this will come much later.
When I read a news article I know Georgia would enjoy I print it out or have her come to the computer. They are usually on endangered animals, or of a topic we have studied or that she is interested in. One we read recently was of a frog entombed in amber that was found in Mexico and is possibly 25 million years old. Another article we read was on the recent and recordbreaking collosal squid catch off New Zealand!
Georgia had finished typing her report and today she drew an illustration for it.
Georgia had me quiz her on locating countries on the globe. Every single one I mentioned she could find it pretty quickly. Chile, Jamaica, Sweden, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Iraq... Olivia wanted in on it too. I quizzed her on the continents and she did amazingly well. It helps that we have maps hanging on the walls and will always point out to where an animal is from and where we live. Ask her where an anaconda lives (a library book she was interested in) and she will go to the map and point to northeastern South America. Pandas....she finds China. And of course, penguins are found on Antarctica. She amazes me more and more each day. Yesterday she did a map activity on identifying the continents. She loved it.
Olivia also practiced puting the letters of her name in the correct order. She does it correctly more times than not. And if she does put a letter in the wrong place she realizes that it is not right pretty quickly.
We did number cups today, as well. She counts better everytime. She used to count faster than her finger could point and she would always count more than what was there. But she slows herself down and will double-check her counting on her own. After the number cup activity she had fun stacking the cups up...
And then knocking them down...
Olivia also worked on recognizing and completing patterns. I used coins to make patterns and she had to add what went next to the series. This also helped her in recognizing and learning the names of each coin. We also worked with patterns using worksheets.
Georgia has finished reading Ramona the Pest, and tonight finished Ramona the Brave. She has also been reading up on whales with the library book Meeting the Whales. We also got some books on dog breeds. We'll be studying dogs, pet care, safety, etc, when we finish up a few things. We did play veterinarian, where the girls brought their pets to me and we weighed and measured them and talked about its needs and how to take care of the animal. As a vet, I saw several dogs, cats, a polar bear, and a fennec fox. Quite the practice I have, huh?
Last night she stayed up late to watch a hippo show on Animal Planet. The hippo is one of her favorite animals. We'll be seeing one when we visit the National Zoo in Washington D.C. this May. They also have an adoption program where you can choose an animal to adopt. The money goes to providing direct care for that specific animal. And you also receive some neat things, like a photo of the animal you are helping, and a newsletter. We plan on each of us choosing an animal to adopt. Georgia will no doubt choose the hippo. Mark is thinking of adopting a wolf. I'm leaning towards the Indian elephant. And Olivia has not narrowed down her top choices yet.
Georgia was going to play indoor soccer at the YMCA but the class was full when we called. She will be taking another gymnastics class, though, and has decided she wants to take swimming again in the spring.
Stay warm and have a great weekend!
Sarah
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