Henry and I began watching the movie "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". The characters travel back in time and witness historical events and meet famous people. Today they went back in time to the French Revolution. We met Marie Antoinette and learned about the reign of terror.

Today we continued our Holidays Around the World project. We first reviewed Hanukkah. Danny remembered that we studied “Hanukkah”, they light nine candles, and that they celebrate for 8 days and nights. He copied the sentence for his project: One candle is lit on the menorah each night of Hanukkah. We worked together to nicely color a menorah with the nine candles. We enjoyed a fiction book called Hanukkah Bear by Eric A. Kimmel. In this funny story, an almost blind and deaf ninety-seven-year old woman who is known for her delicious latkes, mistakenly takes a visiting bear for her rabbi! We laughed at all the silly things the woman did with the bear while examining the traditions of Hanukkah. Next, we read about Los Posadas in our packet. This holiday is celebrated in Mexico for nine days in December. People celebrate in the streets of Mexico each night and break star shaped piñatas. Danny wrote on his bubble map about the holiday: Mexico, break star shaped piñatas, nine days, and walk through the streets. Danny added a sentence to his project: Children enjoy breaking star shaped piñatas during Las Posadas. Danny worked hard to cut out a picture of a star-shaped piñata. He colored it and we added the picture to his project.

Craig and I finished watching "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", a great movie! We then continued learning about reconstruction and working on flashcards. We reviewed a HOMEWORK assignment for the weekend. It will not be due until Wednesday of next week. We read in the textbook about settling the west, the plight of Native American Indians, and cowboys. We learned about exodusters, assimilation, the Dawes Act, the Homestead Act, the boom and bust, the long run, and closing of the frontier.

Charlie has almost finished making his helmet, sword and shield. He has put a lot of effort into this project and has proved to be very creative. He will decorate the hilt and shield in our next class, based on what we've learned about heraldry and his Simpson family crest.

We continued to watch 15 more minutes of the movie today.

Today we continued our Holidays Around the World project. We reviewed Christmas and the four facts that Danny had written on his bubble map from last week. Danny worked on coloring a Christmas tree on his bubble map. Next, we began learning about Hanukkah. We read a fact sheet from our project kit and a non-fiction book by Lisa Herrington entitled, Hanukkah. We then completed the bubble map in which Danny wrote: menorah, eight days and nights, nine candles, and dreidel game (and he drew an illustration). We watched a video to see how the dreidel is played. Danny was very focused to meticulously cut out a menorah, working gingerly around each protruding candle. We discussed the menorah as he cut with the reminders that they light a candle each sundown for eight nights using the helper candle that is in the middle to light the others. We will finish up our study on Hanukkah tomorrow. We continued reading the Vacation Under the Volcano historical fiction book. We began with a review and I was blown away that Danny remembered that the “soothsayer” gave the warnings of bad things to come! In chapter 5, the kids try to watch the gladiators fight in the amphitheater and also find the house of Brutus. After searching the villa for the books, they locate a room full of rolled papyrus, which was the form for books back in ancient Roman times. We compared books of the present to books of the past, making reference frequently to past and present while describing the differences of our flat, covered books to the rolled papyrus scrolls of long ago. In chapter 6, we found that the end is near! The children discover that the volcano that destroys Pompeii erupts at the exact time and date that they are there! We discussed the meaning of the word “erupted”. Additionally, we talked about how in modern day we use a watch or clock to tell time, but the kids in the book, in the past, used a sundial to tell time. We talked about how a sundial works.

Craig and I continued watching "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". We stopped the movie to discuss different "stops" they made in their journey through history - the French Revolution, the reign of terror, ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and different people - George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Leonardo DaVinci.

Arianna and I began watching the movie "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". It is an excellent adventure and journey to the past. Today she learned about the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette's reign. Afterwards, George Washington was introduced. She loves this movie and is excited to learn more about her favorite characters in history.

We watched the beginning of the movie "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", which is an excellent adventure and journey into the past with a time machine. This morning the characters visited the French Revolution and saw Marie Antoinette come to life! We discussed the significance of her alleged statement, "Let them eat cake!" and stopped the movie occasionally to discuss historic events.

Today we discussed "The Curious Incident" and Craig was surprised to learn that it was a Broadway Show. We looked at several excerpts/clips from the show and two examples of monologues, something for Craig to consider. We discussed the use of the stage and props for these two monologues. We also watched the beginning of the movie "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", which is an excellent adventure and journey into the past with a time machine. This morning the characters visited the French Revolution and saw Marie Antoinette come to life! We discussed the significance of her alleged statement, "Let them eat cake!" and stopped the movie occasionally to discuss historic events.