Craig and I reviewed geography vocabulary flashcards. We added "cape" and "barrier island" and looked to images, examples and definitions of both. Craig completed the "Welcome to Earth!" activity, which really challenged his mapping skills. He is practicing recall of geographical terms and still needs practice. We continued reading in "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates." We stopped to look at maps and discuss new vocabulary.

Henry was absent today.

We began our session with a book entitled, Life on a Mountain by Laura Hamilton Waxman. We read about the types of animals, plants, and climate of this landform. Danny was fascinated with the over 29,000 feet tall Mount Everest! We talked about how the snow melts and can make lakes near the bottom. We continued on with our landform project in progress. Danny continued to color the pictures and write a sentence for each landform. Today we covered oceans and islands. We also watched the Brain Pop Jr. learning video about ocean habitats. We learned about the different zones and animals and plants in each. Danny used his Geography textbook to identify animals that live in the ocean and those that do not. We enjoyed reading Life in a Coral Reef by Kari Schuetz. We learned about the plants and animals that use these structures as their habitats, concurrent with our science curriculum. We continued on with our Florida Studies Weekly packet about Maps. We saw how landforms are represented on a map. We examined the key and saw how the mountains, rivers, and lakes are marked. Danny answered questions and filled in blanks to follow up items assessing his understanding of the topic. He did a great job! Lastly, we reviewed the cardinal directions with our fun video song.

Charlie successfully completed a quiz on Forms of Government. We then reviewed the information from yesterday's video presentation. Charlie successfully identified the combatants
in each World War. Leaders were named and the forms of government in each of the countries involved were identified. Charlie did an excellent job during this class segment.

Charlie and I reviewed geography vocabulary flashcards and added two more - plain and delta. We watched SchoolHouse Rock "Preamble" after reviewing the exercise Charlie completed from our last class, translating it. He worked to finish the "Welcome to Earth!" map skills exercise today. He had difficulty and wanted to stop, but he pushed on to understand it!

Craig and I played a social studies board game today with Charlie.

We continued our landforms project in progress. We went back through portions of the Brain Pop Jr. learning video on landforms, pausing and using it to support our study. Additionally, we are using online pictures and the book, U.S. Landforms by Dana Meachen Rau, which has colorful pictures and informational text. We are also completing related activities in Danny’s Geography textbook as we address each landform. Today we read and studied about plains and deserts. Danny colored the pictures and wrote a sentence about each one for his Interactive Notebook project. We read a nonfiction book about Prairies by Hollie Endres. We read about the seasons, animals, terrain, and people of these areas. Additionally, we read Life in a Desert by Kari Schuetz. We learned that there are polar deserts, too! We read about the climate, plants, and animals of this type of land. We reinforced the material with the Brain Pop Jr. learning video about the desert. Danny scored 5/5 on the follow up easy quiz. Next, we continued with Geography. We reviewed the cardinal directions with a fun video song about north, south, east, and west. We then completed a compass rose activity for his Interactive Notebook by labeling a map we cut out for the four directions. Danny colored a small map following the pattern of a map key (black roads, green land, and blue water). We began a Florida Studies Weekly packet about Maps. We read basic information about map keys and cardinal directions. In the study packet, we placed pictures on a map to match the stated cardinal directions and Danny correctly labeled a compass rose.

Charlie presented a video overview of the world wars and the Cold War. We discussed major points of interest. Our next lessons will go into more detail of these events and the impact on our world today.

We closed with a brief discussion of current news stories of interest to Charlie.

Henry continued learning about the Revolutionary War today. He learned of the back and forth battles between the Patriots and the British and the Battle of Danbury where the British burned the stores and the houses of the Patriots but not the Loyalists. We also discussed Benedict Arnold and how he helped win many battles but was passed over for promotion many times so became disgruntled and eventually resigned from the Continental Army. He also watched another episode of Liberty's Kids.

Craig and I revisited "The Preamble" on Schoolhouse Rock. He also finished the "Welcome to Earth!" activity he began yesterday, which challenges his map skills. We read together from "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates" and discussed. We took time to research and watch a video on PBS to learn more about the mysterious death of George Washington, since we are currently reading about his aide, Tobias Lear. We also discussed that George Washington traveled to New York, the country's temporary capital, while The White House was being built. We defined "maritime" and learned about the upcoming War of 1812.