Henry began a project on early explorers. He printed out pictures of explorers faces and glued them to bodies and added facts about each explorer. He also began building a Caravel sailing ship out of popsicle sticks designed by Prince Henry the Navigator and used by explorers including Christopher Columbus. He researched facts about the ship and followed step-by-step instructions to build it.

Today we began with a booklet about timelines and past, present, and future. We read about each concept and looked at pictures related to each. Danny was asked to complete a sentence about something he thought would occur in the future. He wrote that cars will be able to fly. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he said “a daddy”. When I probed further about what type of job he wanted to have, he said he wanted to work in an office. We determined he meant a bank, like his dad. He drew himself at a bank! The final task in this booklet was to assemble an eight picture timeline for his day. He did a nice job. We compared a single day timeline to a timeline that covers a broader period such as birth to adult. To follow up on our Mummies in the Morning book, we watched the Brain Pop Jr. learning video about Ancient Egypt. We learned that this civilization started about 5,000 years ago and ended about 2,000 years ago. Cleopatra was their last pharaoh. We watched about the use of hieroglyphics (the language of symbols and how the Rosetta Stone helped us learn more about them. We also saw that it took 20 years to build the great pyramid and that cats were important to the ancient Egyptians because they protected them against snakes. Finally, in preparation for our science activity, we read a Time for Kids news magazine entitled Money Matters. We read that we can spend, earn, save, or give away (to the needy) our money. We talked about each topic including that Danny has a football shaped piggy bank. Also, we discussed various types of chores he could do around the house to earn money. We looked at coin values and counted up the pictures of coins to “buy” the items pictured on the page.

Arianna added another goal - ballerina - to her chart. We looked at a map showing three continents and The Red Sea. We charted the course of Arianna's cruise ship. She was able to guess that this was the route based on her identification of countries. I was very impressed that she wrote a wonderful written response to "If I Were President…." She used complete sentences, punctuation and excellent handwriting. We also looked at a map of the United States to see landmarks and to identify the state based on the landmark. Finally, we talked about the three branches of government and made a 3D foldable book explaining what each branch of government does. We read about the government and learned about what happens in the White House and the Capitol Building.

Craig and I reviewed Industrial Revolution game cards to match them for study. We made new flashcards and added new words to the word wall. We reviewed homework - questions for discussion - about World War I. We discussed the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Depression and watched two BrainPop videos to summarize. We briefly discussed a Newsela/Associated Press article about Trump's State of the Union Address. It will be assigned for homework in our next class. We discussed U.S. policy - isolationism and other new words - prohibition, Communism, nativism. We learned about the causes of the Great Depression. I printed illustrations of the business cycle for reinforcement, a visual for the wall. (Craig can logon to BrainPop for review of World War I and other topics over the weekend. I gave him login information.)
QUIZ MONDAY

Charlie took the Quiz today. We reviewed it together afterwards and discussed incorrect answers. He did not complete homework. I asked him to complete it for Friday. We watched two short videos from the National Geographic website about Martin Luther and the Reformation.

Craig was absent today.

Today we began with an assessment of past vs. present with a picture sort of items from each time frame. Danny scored 9/10 on this activity. We then matched up the past version with the present version of each item (candle and lamp, etc.) through discussion. We finished reading our historical nonfiction book, Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne. We read the final five chapters to discover how the children helped the ghost queen find the Book of the Dead and get back home. We discussed vocabulary concepts such as torchlight and panting. We also analyzed that when Annie was lost and calling to Jack and her voice was getting fainter, what did that mean and what would he need to do to hear her louder. We discussed how dark a pyramid would be when the torches went out as there is no natural light coming in the pyramid. Since it was dark, we discussed why Jack was described to be “feeling the walls”. We started to work on Danny’s follow up research project and looked up the word pyramid in the children’s dictionary. Danny started to type the definition, but indicated he was just too tired today. Therefore, we transitioned our activity to his Geography textbook. We’ve just started this book and read about how geographers study the natural world and human world. We looked at two pages of pictures and Danny wrote the correct label for the items to indicate if they were “natural” or “human”. Some of the natural items included island, volcano, and cloud. Some of the human world items included a plane, a bridge, and a boat.

Craig and I learned about the 1920s and the Great Depression. We read in the text and looked to PowerPoint presentations to learn about issues of the times - isolationism, nativism, The Harlem Renaissance, Communism and the red scare, prohibition, unions, flappers, and the KKK.

Henry was interested in learning about Groundhog Day so he did some research about the origin and what it means. He found a website and watched a video and discovered Groundhog Day falls right at the half way point of winter and spring. He also discovered there are many groundhogs around the United States but the most famous one in Philadelphia has only been right in predicting the weather 18 out of 138 times. We also began reading the book, "The Sign of the Beaver" which tells the story of a boy living in the wilderness in the late 1700's and how he befriends an Indian boy and what he learns from him.

Craig and I looked at a PowerPoint presentation today about trench warfare. The photos and primary sources had a significant impact on Craig. We discussed the benefit and advantage of primary sources of this type. We also looked together at an article in "The Palm Beach Post" about the flu pandemic 100 years ago. Photos showed attempts at quarantine and we read about the spread of the virus which was assisted by World War I. QUIZ Monday.