Henry went to the preschool today and read an Easter book to the kids. After the book, he did a craft with them where they used paper plates and cotton balls to make bunnies. He did a great job reading, explaining the craft instructions, and helping the kids. After they were finished, he glued each child's picture to the face of their bunny.
Charlie and I reviewed our study of where dinosaurs might have lived in the past and today based on climate maps, climate and vegetation, geologic time and the theory of Pangeo. We looked to a World Atlas. Charlie knew how to find information from the index and in alphabetical order. We reviewed latitude, longitude, cardinal and intermediate directions, absolute and relative locations, etc. related to Rome. Charlie and I discussed the location of Rome and the differences that we see with an historical atlas. We briefly looked at the 7 ancient wonders of the world, the additions to that list, and the location on the map. We speculated as to why there were large regions without any "wonders." We reviewed the story of Romulos and Remus. We defined "republic" and will add it to Charlie's word wall. We discussed how these ideas are used in America and are reflected in the Constitution. We read in the text about the rise of the Roman Empire.
This morning we continued our study of American symbols. We read, The American Flag, by Lisa M. Herrington. We worked on our flap picture for the flag in which Danny wrote four facts based on the information we read in the book. He wrote that it has 50 stars, it has 13 stripes, there is one star for each state, and the colors are red, white, and blue. We worked on sounding out the words for his writing. We also discussed the Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem. We listened to the song. In Danny’s Geography textbook, we looked of a picture of the United States. We found Florida. Danny then colored the four states that start with “New”. We looked at large states like California and Texas as well as small states like Rhode Island and Delaware. We added March to Danny’s Seasons of the Year project. He colored a shamrock in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and he drew a picture of him skiing as he typically skis over spring break (in March). We discussed that spring starts in March and it is seen as a spring month. We then watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video about spring. We were reminded that we get more hours of sunlight and longer days in the spring. Animals who have migrated begin to return home and many have babies in the spring. Plant seeds sprout and grow while flowers grow and bloom.
Henry helped with the preschool today by assisting the kids in their dance class. He also began a new project where he is designing a lesson plan to read a book and do an Easter craft with the kids on Thursday. He will choose a book, research a craft, gather the materials, and present it to the preschool kids.
I suggested Charlie spend more time on his Quiz and respond in more than one word. He was able to earn more points after we discussed this. I questioned him about historic periods, explanations, and cause and effect. We also looked at a Life Magazine together. It was from 1961. Charlie and I found the old advertisements interesting. We were able to clearly see how time has changed people's ideas about certain things - cars, appliances, cigarettes, etc. He would like to learn more about dinosaurs. Today he investigated dinosaurs of Antarctica.
