9th Street Academy: 1st Week of School: Part 2

History

This year we are using Story of the World volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer.

Each day we listen to the audio recording by Jim Weiss (which you can purchase here. We also read these books from the library

These were excellent books that I thoroughly enjoyed. The books were very poetic and gave many great options for discussions, and if we had time further discussion . If you have kids go to your library and check them out!

Great informational books that helped us further understand what history and archaeology is. Matthew really liked I Can Be An Archaeologist.

At the end of the week we used our knew knowledge by creating our very own archaeological dig site in the backyard.

The kids dug up their area, sifted the dirt so that they wouldn't
miss any small findings, and then bagged and labeled their artifacts
in plastic bags.

Once all artifacts were bagged we moved inside out of the heat to "read" the clues of this past civilization. The kids studied their artifacts and tried to gather as much information as they could from each object. They hypothesized what some of the tools could have been used for and we discussed. After each item had been discussed they each picked their favorite find to write and record on a notebook page to be placed in our history notebook. Here is Matthew's:

"The people could have used it to eat, drink, as a mirror, as a spy device, for spanking children, for digging, and as a backscratcher."

Music

We are starting off our year by studying the Carnival of the Animals by

Camille Saint-Saens. So we began music this week by listening to the Royal March of the Lions

while coloring our 1st picture in our Carnival of the Animal's book

Kaitlyn's lion

Afterwards we attempted to "march" around the kitchen on all fours as the lions to the beat of the music. It was quite hilarious.

We also started our 3- part music cards I bought from Montessori print shop.. This week we used the string instrument pack because those are the instrument featured in the lion's march. It also seemed like a good starting point because all the kids already knew most of the string instruments. It was to easy so next week we will be moving on.

We also sang "Go Bananas"

and "B I N G O"

Kaitlyn wasn't thrilled with BINGO but I reminded her that the songs are not just for her and that BINGO is a perfect song for Samantha. Hopefully I will get my act together next week and we will spend more time singing next week.

Art

Art this week was very simple but the kids loved it! It seems I am the one who loves complicated projects when they are very happy with the simplest things.

We decorated cover pages to slide into the front of our binders. The kids went crazy over the puppy stickers!

Kaitlyn's art page from I Can Do All Things art book. Kaitlyn and Matthew started this art book last year but we never finished it because it is a little to worksheety for me. However we are using it some this year because I do think it helps improve actual art skill.

We then started learning our Ancient Egypt 3-part cards. I searched the web this summer thinking surely cards on Egypt must already exist and I couldn't find any! So I ended up designing my own cards which took much longer than I would have thought.

Matthew was enthralled with these pictures. He would not let go of King Tut's Burial Mask card he just kept staring at it. He then asked if I could take a picture of it because he just wanted to know everything about it! I never would have guessed that reaction from him. I can't wait till we actually start studying Egypt in 2 weeks he is going to flip!

Math

We switched to Right Start Math when Kaitlyn was at the end of 1st grade and that was the best curriculum purchase I ever made! We love it! It is Singapore math based and uses Montessori style manipulatives. I don't often think to take a lot of pictures during math but here are a few moments I did think to capture:

Right Start uses a lot of games to aid in memorization. This is a math game called "Who's on top" that reinforces multiplication concepts. In this picture Kaitlyn and I are practicing the 8s. The cards in the green stack are numbers 1-10. The 1st player pulls a card and then multiplies whatever number they got by 8. Then they place their colored tile on the correct product. For instance if you pulled 3*8 you would place your tile on the 24. If later in the game your opponent also got 3*8=24 they would place their colored tile on top of yours. When all green cards have been pulled you count up how many of your tiles were on top and whoever has the most tiles wins. Today Kaitlyn won.

Last year I debated on whether or not I should teach Kaitlyn any tricks or rhymes to help her memorize her multiplication facts. This week I decided I would go ahead and teach her a rhyme for 6*6. When I started to say the rhyme she cut me off,

"Mom I'm never going to learn if you don't let me explore."

So I guess no short cuts for her!

This is Matthew's favorite math game-Swim to 10. You pull number cards and move your swimmer across the pool towards the 10. If you land on an x you go back to start. Honestly it is a very simple game that I think should be geared towards preschool or kindergarten but he loved it last year and he begs for it this year so we play it at the end of a lesson for a treat.

This week part of Matthew's work has been to build different shapes using different shapes. Earlier this week it was with rectangles. Today it was with right triangles. The first challenge was to build a bigger triangle.

Matthew's hand photobomb

The challenge here was to build a square. The
picture on the right was his first answer. Do you see the square?
That answer wasn't given in the book. I encouraged him to
find another way and he eventually found the answer pictured
in the book the answer on the left.

His next challenge was to build a rectangle using all 4 triangles. He told me he could build a big and a little one. These two answers of course weren't in the book.

So eventually he made this one which was in the book:

For some reason Matthew has become enthralled with selfies lately and so everyday after math he steals my phone to take a few. I don't mind. It is an easy reward for doing a good job.