We read a loud p.129-135 in the book. We are approaching the end of the story. Therefore, I spent some time going over the post reading assignment that involves writing. The last 15 minutes of class was devoted to analyzing and clarifying the nature of the assignment. Stephen also began to brainstorm and write down some ideas he can discuss. Stephen was somewhat unsure, but I stressed that writing involves a process and that even professional writers are challenged with the written word. I was able to give him one idea he could address and explained why it would be appropriate. Stephen was able to come up with an example of his own. He is on his way.

This afternoon Baylie and I continued studying Leonardo da Vinci. We began reading the biography, Who Was Leonardo da Vinci by Roberta Edwards. We completed shared reading of the introduction as well as chapters 1 and 2. This gave us information about his upbringing with his dad and uncle. Additionally, we read about the beginning of his apprenticeship with Verrocchio. The well established artist could see da Vinci's talents early on as he painted an angel in Verrocchio's "The Baptism of Christ" painting. We then began work on a flipbook style report on da Vinci. Baylie began coloring the cover page and we discussed proper coloring techniques for uniformity and completeness.

Today we reviewed the seven continents and five oceans by practicing with songs. Morgan also wrote them down as she will need to be able to do this for her assessment. We reviewed her Geography study guide by writing down her country, state, bordering ocean, and capital. We discussed the five bordering states of Georgia. We will continue to review with plans to test at the end of the week.

Analise completed a full review of yesterday's lesson: map (flat)...globe (round)..find America (United States of America) on both...locate Missouri and Florida on a map of America...finding north,south, east, and west on a map...locating the North Pole and the South Pole on a globe...locating land and water. Analise worked on a cut and paste activity, labeling "water," "land," and "globe." She then worked on an activity involving "Reading a Map." She had to use the map key to find specific places. on the map

Today we reviewed the seven continents and five oceans by practicing with songs. Morgan also wrote them down as she will need to be able to do this for her assessment. We also worked on her Geography study guide by writing down her country, state and capital, as well as the five bordering states of Georgia. We looked at the map to find the bordering states and bordering ocean.

Today Baylie quickly reviewed her material on The Hundred Years War, The Black Death, and Joan of Arc. She then took her test, which I forwarded to her home school teacher for grading. Ms. Moore reported that she'll be entering a grade of 100 into their system and asked me to encourage Baylie to keep working on her handwriting. For the rest of our session, we continued our study of Leonardo da Vinci. We watched an Animated Hero Classics movie about his adult life. In addition to his many artistic and scientific talents, we learned that he was also a thoughtful and kind man. We began reading, Leonardo da Vinci: A Nonfiction Companion to Monday with a Mad Genius, by Mary Pope Osborne. We read a bit about the architecture of his time as well as his mirror writing.

I wrote an outline on Ethan's white board to provide him with an overview of what we would attempt to discuss during our session. I stated how important it is to be organized, but also to provide direction and establish expectations for others. Ethan mentioned three possible areas of study after we finish reading "The Barefoot Mailman". We discussed the post-reading editorial assignment. Also, I shared a possible format he can use related to organizing his social studies notebook. We will continue to work on the aforementioned areas next session.

I read the book "Looking at Maps and Globes." As I read, Analise and I noted that a map is flat. We looked at how a "symbol" helps us read a map and noted that many "symbols" make up the "map key" or "legend." We talked about the directions, "north," "south," "east," and "west." Analise started at one "symbol" on the map and stated which direction to go in order to get to another "symbol." We looked at my map of the world and found America. We looked at a map of the United States of America and found Florida and Missouri. Analise noted that a globe is round. She located America on the globe. We identified the water and the land on the maps and the globe. Analise then completed a cut and paste activity, labeling "map," "land," and "water."

Today we reviewed the seven continents and five oceans by practicing with songs. Morgan also wrote them down as she will need to be able to do this for her assessment. Spelling errors are allowed, but we looked over her writing and talked about trying to capture the consonants in her attempts.

Jackson continued research related to his project about Haiti. I want Jackson to begin organizing and citing his research material in a logical and sequential way that will also translate and apply to his finished product.