3/26 to 3/31

For the past couple of Sundays at eight o'clock we have watched the new Discovery Channel series called Planet Earth. It is a really interesting series. It is a series of eleven shows (March 25th to April 22nd) that took five years to make!


This week Georgia learned about the Jamestown Settlement, reasons for coming, figures and events, daily life, what they ate, the Powhatans and Pocahantas, etc. She visited three web sites to learn more:

• http://www.americasstory.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/colonial/jamestwn_1
• http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/famamer/Pocahontas/Poca-flash.html
• http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/CA/jam2.htm

This week she also learned about the British Colonies and life in Colonial times, including; what they wore, ate (with recipes that we are going to try out), studied in school, government, punishment, trades, kid's games, and how kids were expected to behave. She visited a couple web sites and played some games about the subjects she learned. Livy had fun with this, too.

• http://library.thinkquest.org/J002611F
• http://www.history.org/kids
  

We also discussed a little bit about the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, but we will get into this some more. (Thomas Jefferson's birthday is the 13th of April...perfect timing!)

She worked on multiplication and division, fractions, and time.

On Tuesday she had her gymnastics class.

One day this week she decided to make a map of an imaginary zoo. I pulled out our map of the Indianapolis Zoo from our travel drawer, and she used it to give her ideas. She also made rules for the zoo, had a compass rose, and hours of operation. It was quite cute, and a nice practice for her map skills.

She has been reading the second Henry book, Henry and Ribsy. We also received the Complete Dog Book for Kids from the AKC, and she has been devouring it.

We've started working on our plant unit. Both girls have learned about the parts of the plant and what their functions are. Georgia made a poster with a section for six plant parts in which she added a description of their functions. I also printed and cut out several items that we consume, and she needed to match them up to the correct part of the plant they come from. (Example: coffee is the seed, broccoli is both stem and flowers, cucumber is the fruit, lettuce is the leaf, carrots...the root, etc)



We learned what living things need and do.

We learned about pollination, germination, photosynthesis, etc.

We looked at a celery and identified its various parts. We then did a celery experiment in which we put cut celery in colored water to watch how the celery brings water up to the leaves. We used red, blue, and purple food coloring.









Georgia followed the scientific method to explain what she was trying to find out, and what she thought would happen, what procedure she would follow, and data collection.



One web site we found helpful in our plant studies is http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants. We still have more to explore at this site. There are also some fun game/quizzes to test your knowledge on what you learned.

Georgia reviewed verb forms and usage. She also learned some more Spanish words. She had fun trying to quiz me and Mark. (we also learned Spanish in school...oh so long ago) Her and Olivia watched some more of the Rock'n Learn Spanish DVD.


Olivia studied plants with us, identifying the different parts and what they do for the plant. And she enjoyed reading the book Oh Say Can You Seed by Dr. Seuss which tells all about plants. She completed a color by number of a sunflower scene, and was introduced to addition with beads. She practiced writing her numbers, her name, and letters. She also wrote "I love you"!



Mark likes to play a game called Age of Empires in which he needs to build a civilization from history, starting in the Stone Age and ending at the Iron Age. The girls always enjoyed sitting on his lap and watching him build his empire. Now its their turn. Georgia and Olivia have both played their own game. It takes a lot of strategy, and skill. They may not advance as fast as Mark, but they learn a lot on the way. For instance, they need to make sure they have a food source, water source, forests for wood, etc. They need to finance explorers to learn what's beyond their borders, and possibly battle a rival.


They have also played Petz and Zoo Tycoon this week.

On Saturday, we had a softball meeting at the high school. We met Georgia's coach and got our schedule and other important information.


On Sunday, we went to the Nature Center for a class on Latvian egg decorating. I will post another entry on this next.


After the class we went on a Nature walk. Back at home, we practiced catching and throwing the softball. Georgia's first softball practice is on Monday.