Arianna and I had a lot of fun today doing an aerobics/cardio class using her giant blow up ball. Then, we learned almost an entire cheerleading dance routine. She even used her pom poms during it - so fun!

Today's lesson focused on how place value can be used to compare and order decimals. Arianna compared numbers, looking at the tenths place first and then the hundredths place, to determine the greater or lesser number. Then, she ordered sets of decimal numbers from least to greatest by looking at the ones, tenths, and hundredths place. Arianna also completed two mental math minutes and quick quizzes on tally charts and 2-digit subtraction. We finished with 3-digit by 1-digit division, 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication, and 4-digit multi-addend practice problems.

Arianna read two articles on Time for Kids that were related to Earth Day. The first article was a kid's report from North Carolina sharing her perspective on COVID-19. The second was highlighting the efforts of 6 kid heroes who are working to improve the planet's health. She practiced spelling words with -eer,-ear and -aire. We visited Harry Potter at Home and she completed a vocabulary word search. Once again, she has read ahead in HP :-) and she related what she read with good detail and sequence. We continued reading to the end of the chapter, which ended with quite a cliffhanger. She reviewed her journal but didn't have time to add an entry today.

We warmed up with some sticking exercises, and then introduced the rudiment called the flam. We played some flam exercises, and then introduced the buzz stroke. We played several exercises incorporating single strokes, double strokes, flams, and buzz strokes. We then watched an instructional video demonstrating how these strokes can be applied on the drum set.

This morning we completed our section on the adaptations of cactus and Arianna was able to answer the question, Why do cacti have spines? Arianna completed a matching activity and short answer quiz to demonstrate her knowledge.

Absent

Today we began a new unit on understanding decimals. Our lesson focused on the different ways to represent decimal numbers by using decimal models or place-value models. Arianna practiced saying decimal amounts using the word "and" to represent the decimal. Also, she wrote decimals in expanded form, standard form, and word form. Finally, Arianna was shown decimals and gave the value of each digit and wrote decimals and fractions to correlate with the shaded part of decimal models.

To begin our session, Arianna wrote in her journal about another way her life has changed because of the coronavirus. Next, we read an article on Newsela about a new web collaboration between JK Rowling and several audio and digital sites. After reading the article, we visited the 'Harry Potter at Home' site where Arianna took a quiz and read some behind the scenes articles. Then we read the next chapter in our Harry Potter book and confirmed a prediction she made yesterday.

This morning we continued to learn about the adaptations of cactus and other desert plants. We discussed two specialized structures: shallow roots and folds. Both of these structures enable cactus to store or reach water in the desert habitat. Arianna completed a reading and matching activity.

Arianna continued to research Weeki Wachee, Florida to add to her travel Brochure. Using the web, she learned about Weeki Wachee State Park and Buccaneers Bay Springs. She added photos and information for the reader.