Gracyn enjoyed playing jellyfish subtract so much that she asked to play it again today. We took turns completing subtraction of 10 problems using numbers up to 90. If answered correctly, a square was colored and the longest line of colored squares won the game. Gracyn then worked on a make 10 or use a double worksheet. She had to solve three digit math problems by being efficient and choosing a strategy. Finally, Gracyn took the 5-minute timed addition quiz.

Friday, December 02, 2016
09:00 - 10:00; 60 min. -
Science Enrichment:
The Queen Triggerfish -
Gracyn selected the queen triggerfish to color today. She used greens and blues and worked hard to make her rendering match the one in the book. We examined several types of triggerfish and learned they come in many colors, live in the ocean (not in the river) and eat shellfish, using their human-like teeth. She did an excellent job and we enjoyed talking about the fish she sees from her deck.

Gracyn played a board game that required reading a short paragraph and determining its main idea (we did this together; I read the story to her and helped her choose the correct main idea option). The game also required simple addition to figure out how much money would be needed to buy items at the shops.

Today we worked on why you can use addition to check subtraction. Gracyn completed subtraction problems and then added to check her answer. We focused on the concept of subtracting one part from the whole to get the difference or the other part. Then, the two parts added together get the whole. Gracyn really understood the logic behind this when she subtracted incorrectly and then added to find the numbers didn't correlate. Together, Gracyn and I played jellyfish subtract. We took turns completing subtraction of 10 problems using numbers up to 90. If answered correctly, a square was colored. The longest line of colored squares won the game.

We continued reading our Magic Tree House novel with chapter 8, "A Giant Shadow". We read about how Jack was trying to escape from the T-Rex! Gracyn did a nice job writing in complete sentences for our follow-up questions. As Gracyn, at times, mixes b and d, we completed a word sort of three word families -ud, -un, and -ub. She sorted the words and then wrote them without looking at them, sounding them out and spelling them correctly. We finished off our session with a game of ZAP! using the primer words. Gracyn's tricky words today were white and eat.

Gracyn finished the unit on natural resources today. She did a crossword puzzle in her science book and answered the benchmark questions at the end of the chapter. We continued discussing our chicken project and went over the different parts of an egg. We broke open an unfertilized store bought egg and a fertilized fresh egg to observe the differences. We scrambled both eggs and Gracyn did a taste test to see which she liked better. We looked at pictures of embryos on day 3 and discussed the changes that were happening.

Gracyn requested that we have yoga outdoors today. We did "head to toe" yoga movements, moving down the body from the head to our toes, incorporating stretches and strengthening.

Gracyn and I enjoyed an nice session outside today. We warmed up by walking the perimeter of the building a couple times. We then spent some time swinging and stretching in the hammocks (which she loved!). We took her beam outside and she practiced some cartwheels and leaps on it. We also worked on her balance by playing a game she invented involving balancing on rocks while swinging foam "swords" at each other. While back in the hammock, I taught her how to do some visualization of skills she is practicing so that she can "practice" in her head almost any time she wants. She really enjoyed being outside and asked to do it again next week!

Today we played through the entire chorus of Jingle Bells. Gracyn also listened to my playing of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Russian Dance" both from The Nutcracker, and learned to play the first few notes of the former, which introduced the concept of sharps. We also played through pages 10-14 in The Bastien Piano Method primer.

We continued reading our Beezus and Ramona story, making predictions and connections as we read. Gracyn read another Fly Guy story for her independent reading. We practiced our word wall words with a Guess My Word game and completed a word sort with consonant digraphs.