Craig was absent today.

Henry continued his study of the Revolutionary War today. We discussed George Washington becoming head of the Continental Army and how the soldiers suffered from hunger and lack of supplies during the war. We also talked about how the British loyalists would intercept the mail to learn what the patriots were doing. He watched another episode of Liberty's Kids called Washington Takes Command. Henry loves this series and looks forward to watching each episode.

Today we finished watching Anastasia and recording similarities and differences from the movie and what really happened to the Russian royal family. Jayne is loving getting bits of history in our world travels and so am I! Next time we meet, we're heading to Guadalahara, Mexico!

Today we continued our discussion from our Florida Studies Weekly about bartering and trade. We looked at four children and the items they had for a picnic lunch. We looked at how each could trade with others to balance their meal as some had items that others did not. Next, we reviewed Community Helpers with the Brain Pop Jr. learning video. We then read the Florida Studies Weekly packet about jobs that people do. We read about various workers in the community. We discussed the vocabulary of job, money, pilot, income, and dentist through a word search. Additionally, Danny answered follow-up questions related to the topics of money and trade as well as jobs people do. Danny has been quite inquisitive when learning about the presidents. To expand this topic a little further, we enjoyed looking at pictures and learning the names and basic facts about our country’s first five presidents with the book, Our Country’s Presidents: A Complete Encyclopedia of the U.S. Presidency, by Ann Bausum. Finally, in Danny’s Geography textbook, he worked to find and color the four states that start with the letter W. We discussed the state names and found which state is closest to FL. He also found the pictured items that are spherical like Earth.

Charlie spent the class working on his civilization game and his SchoolHouse Rock song. He changed his plan with regard to the game and created a new alien civilization that lives in dark matter in a black hole. He imagined an organized religion, specialized jobs, government, etc. He needs to think of a way to create a gameboard and a challenge for players. He decided upon a goal - to solve mathematical equations and work towards finding a way back to Earth after a meteor destroyed everything. We worked on the SchoolHouse Rock song together, looking to various sources for reminders of what communism is about. We put together some verses and Charlie was enthusiastic, with matching dance moves! His goal, with this song, is to teach other children what communism is.

Today our travels took us to St. Petersburg, Russia where we were able to visit some the Winter Palace (former residence of Russian imperial family), the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Hermitage Museum!

Later we made a quick stop in Moscow to see the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral. As an extension activity, we began watching the beginning of the film Anastasia (making comparisons with the movie and the real story of the Romanoff family). What a great day!

Craig and I looked at maps to identify the Barbary Coast and the Ottoman Empire. He traced the route from America to the coast of Algiers, through the Straits of Gibraltar. We read from a lesson on navigating the Mediterranean "To the Shores of Tripoli" (for the book we are reading). Craig answered questions about geography, using the map from 1876. He also used the scale on the map to estimate distance. Finally, we looked at two articles from The Palm Beach Post relative to current issues we discussed yesterday - "South Korean leader: Let Trump get Nobel" and "Trump floats DMZ as location for meeting wtih North Korean leader."

In order to align with Jayne's interests, we've turned our map and geography unit into a world traveling "trip" - in which we will "travel" to many different places together, learn about their cultures/history/sights, and map out/budget for our trips (tying in mathematics and science where necessary)!

Today we traveled to Cairo, Egypt where we found out airfare is VERY expensive, we made a list of things we wanted to do and see, and budgeted for our expenses during the trip. We took a virtual tour of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the inside of the Great Pyramid in Giza.

Henry continued with the American Revolution today. We discussed The Second Continental Congress and how the delegates met in Philadelphia to decide if they wanted to go to war against the British. We also talked about the Battle of Bunker Hill and how even though the British won the battle, they had many more casualties than the colonists . He watched two more episodes of Liberty's Kids on both of these topics.

We began by completing Danny’s seasons of the year calendar page for April. We talked about the pictured bunny for Easter and Danny colored rain as we get a lot of April showers! Next, we read Recycle Everyday by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. This book reviewed various ways to recycle at home as a young girl works on a recycling poster project. We then moved on to our study of economics, in which we are currently discussing needs and wants. We read the book, Lily Learns about Wants and Needs by Lisa Bullard. Lily wants a new bike, a new raincoat, and an ice cream, but what does she need? We read to learn her story about wants and needs. For Danny’s Interactive Notebook, he cut and colored a needs and a wants pocket. We then sorted the 15 pictures into the correct pockets. We began a Florida Studies Weekly study on Money and Trade. We read about how long-ago people bartered for goods and services. We read that money was invented long ago and people used different items instead. We saw that Mexican bills are called “pesos”. Danny expanded his vocabulary on the topic by completing a crossword puzzle with words like bank, services, money, and trade.