Reading list, and more schooling…

Mr. Brilliant needs to read.  It is just part of 4th grade.

The Powers of Three – Warriors – Outcast – by Erin Hunter.   Also from same series, The Sight and Dark River

Pendragon – Book Four: The Reality Bug by D.J. MacHale

Sgt. Frog by Mine Yoshizaki

Pendragon – Book Five: Black Water by D.J. MacHale

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander

Also and unending amount of comic books.

We’re about 3/4 finish with ‘Shades of Gray’.  We’re reading aloud ‘The Civil War for Kids – a History with 21 Activities’ by Janis Herbert.

Spelling: Completed up to unit 12 in Spectrum Spelling 5th grade.

Cursive Writing Practice: Jokes & Riddles.  5 lessons finished.  Mr. Brilliant is enjoying this and doing excellent work.

Math: Division continues.  I believe Mr. B is actually grasping the concept and we are finally approaching being able to drill.

Grammar: Adverbs.  Mr. Brilliant finished his short Adverb project.  Good heaven – it took a long time to get this completed.  He knows the material he just dislikes doing basic work.

Writing Skills: Continue and nearly finished with Thank You cards.  Writing Special Instructions.  Writing a Poem.  OMG – I wish I never had to do writing a poem with Mr. Brilliant again.  He has a very narrow view of what is a poem and he won’t listen to alternatives.   He did actually get this project done.

Reading Comprehension: Details: Tornadoes.  Venn Diagrams.  I think Mr. Brilliant grasps this completely.

Science: The Nuclear Option – How safe are nuclear power plants.  Atomic.  Reactors.  Radioactive.  Alternative.  Chernobyl.  Renewable power.

I have an obnoxious amount of filing to do.

Struggling

Mr. Brilliant will have standardized testing in the spring, so I have added test preparation to his curriculum.

I’m able to keep with Mr. Brilliant’s lessons but keeping up with the documentation?  That’s another thing.  And the filing?  Oy.  Not good.

So, forgive me if I’ve covered some of these items already…

Math:  Division, checking the answer.  Addition and subtraction review.  Play math games (blackjack).  Problems solving using multiplication.   Review division facts.   Multiplying 6, 7, 8 and 9

Geography: Watershed, reading a watershed map.  Tributary.  Erosion.  New England.  Reading a special purpose map.  Diversity.  Service business.  Climate.  Economic.   Tourist Attractions.  Economic Regions of the United States.  The Great Lakes region.  Draw regions on a physical Map.  Political boundaries.  What are regions?  Landforms.  What makes each region of our country unique?  Read a historical map.  Cultural history.  Mid-Atlantic region.

Science: The Ever-Changing Moon.  Orbit.  Visible.  Waxing.  Gibbous moon.  Waning.  Blue moon.  “Bottled Raindrops’  Currents.  Condenses.  Compresses.  Expands.  Planetary Weather.  Extreme.  Atmosphere.  Mercury.  Venus.  Mars.  Jupiter.  Saturn.  Uranus.  Neptune.

Spelling.  Silent letters, kn, mb, wr. Knapsack, Rewrite, Knead, Climber, wreath, Knee, Wren, Knack, Numb, Wrestle, Knot, Wrist, Know, Plumber, Wrong.  Consonant Blends, bl, fl, br, cr, gr, sk, sp, st.  Blend, Conflict, Branch, Cream, Grant, Risk, Respect, Frost, Bloom, Flash, Breakfast, Secret, Grade, Skunk, Spinach.  Consonants Digraphs, ch, ph, sh, th, wh, tch.  Chestnut, Thorn, Chipmunk, Month, Speech, Trophy, Pitch, Phone, Patch, Width, Shutter, Whale, Toothbrush, Whistle, Watch.

Reading Skills: Main idea in paragraphs.  Sequencing.  Main idea in sentences.

Grammar: Use of ‘can’ and ‘may.  Use of ‘its’ and ‘it’s’.  Use of ‘good’ and ‘well’.  Use of ‘your’ and ‘you’re’.  Use of ‘This’ and ‘These’. Use of ‘Sit’ and ‘Set’.  Use of ‘They’re’, ‘There’, and ‘Their’

Reading Comprehension: Oceans.  Whales.  While Horses.  Giraffes.  Review of Venn Diagrams.  Sharks.  Dolphins and Porpoises.

Writing Skills:  Writing for yourself.  How to compare.

Vocabulary:  Onomatopoeia.  Shh!  Blare.  Yawn.  Lap.  Click.  Whistle.  Sneeze.  Press.  Flip.  Snore.  Yelp.  Bark.  Meow.

“Old Yeller”  test on chapters 7, 8 and 9.

Copywork:  Taken from ‘The Jungle Book’ by Rudyard Kipling.

We finished reading ‘The Perilous Road’ by William O. Stelle.  Mr. Brilliant took an oral test as well as a written project on homographs.

Mr. Brilliant continues to struggle with impulse control. The Rx he’s on makes him some what grumpy.

Aim for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars

Or, what I hope we’ll accomplish next week…

 

Reading Comprehension:

Animal Legends, use an organizer to write your own.

Discussion; what is a myth?

Short passage on the Arctic

Vocabulary:

Antonyms

Worsen, knowledge, inferior, synonyms, bashful, encourage, cautious, complain

Writing:

Write a police report, making use of a story map

Describe your room, using details.  One paragraph.

You hear a sound at the window of your room.  Describe in detail.  One paragraph.

Using the picture of the house provided, describe what is going on at the house.  Three short paragraphs.

Review use of main idea, topic sentence

Create a brochure about your town.  Include artwork.

Review, in detail, writing paragraphs, using clusters of ideas

Geography:

Imports and Exports of South America

Plants of South America

Animals of South America

Continued discussion of deforestation of South America

Responsible Tourism

Write a post-card about your vacation to South America

Art:

Paint an experience Stuart Little had in the story.  Use pencil to outline, then color in with watercolors

Math:

Division with Remainders, an introduction

Place value, expanded notation and standard form

Adding and Subtracting 3 through 5 digits

Return to three digit multiplication

Copywork:

Taken from Aesop, ‘The Patchwork Girl’ by L. Frank Baum

Literature:

Final review of Stuart Little

Life Skills:

How to Brainstorm

Predict what will happen

Use of proper equipment for sports

Social Studies & History:

Field trips planned, depending on Mr. A+’s situation

Continue reading ‘All Sail Set’ & ‘Look Homeward, Hannalee’

Continue work on Native American paper with Ms. B.

D.E.A.R:

‘The Search for Delicious’ & ‘Pendragon’

 

Reading Log

Mr. Brilliant finished ‘Who was Kelen Keller?’ by Gare Thompson

‘Harriet the Spy’ by Lousie Fitzhugh (book one)

‘Diary of an Early American Boy’ by Eric Sloane chapters 1-5

Coming up this Week

Vocabulary: frigate, necessity, patience, dilemma, obliged, exasperated, amble(d), lunatic, jostling, hospitality, undertaker, imposter, courteous, awesome, extractor, elated, petrified, peer(ing), elegant, exaggerated(d), emerge(d), notoriety, idly, bedrock, fisticuff

Words that sound alike/Homophones

Prefixes and suffixes

Read-a-loud: Finish ‘Turn Homeward, Hannalee’

Reading Comprehension: Main idea, recognizing details

Writing: The Hook, organizing a new article, write a news article, art for news article.  Topic sentences and supporting detail.  In-depth review of business letter.

Grammar: Similes, synonyms and antonyms, palindromes

Reading and Social Studies: Continue reading ‘All Sail Set’, ‘Helen Keller’, start a new book.

History, Art, Science: Continue work on Landscape with focus on Native Americans of LowCountry, dwellings, food, clothing.  Mammals of LowCountry.  Fish, birds, trees of LowCounty

Create a diorama from Stuart Little unit

Math: Place value to millions, rounding, review multiplication using ‘fact factory’, multiplication tens, hundreds, thousands.  Greater than, less than, equal to.  Introduction to carrying and borrowing in division.  Numeration through 1,000,000.  Adding and subtracting 3 through 5 digits.

Copywork: 5 days this week.

Science: Use of flags to communicate from Stuart Little unit.  Parts of sailboats.  Use of natural power.

Social Science: Making choices from Stuart Little unit

Today at A+

I had to go into work today, that blew my morning apart.  Still, the job got done.

Mr. Brilliant meets with his Spanish teacher on Thursdays.  Today they reviewed transportation words and moved on to food and cooking words.

Social Studies and Reading:

‘Liberty for All’ by Joy Hakim – completed chapter 8

‘Indian Legends’ an Oak Meadow Collection – completed

‘Who Was Helen Keller?’ by Gare Thompson – completed chapter 4

‘All Sail Set’ by Armstrong Sperry – start chapter 3

Literature:  Different rules for different places, there should be a reason for each rule.  From the Stuart Little unit.

Spelling:  Review of plurals

Copywork:  Today taken from the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Reading Comprehension:  A passage on Native Americans.  Mr. Brilliant had been laboring under the impression that there were no Native Americans in existence anymore.

No Science, Art, D.E.A.R., Geography, Math or Read-a-loud today.

Today at A+

Field trip to the vet.  No, I don’t really consider this schooling, however our local vet does engage kids if they come to the exam, and she’ll take them back to the lab and the surgery and allow them to help with procedures and so forth, so a trip to the vet really is more of a field trip than otherwise.

Reason for trip?  Our elder kitty, Pinky, is pissed off, literally.  She’s taken to peeing on things all over the house.  This tells me she’s either got some major behavior issues coming up (again), and/or she’s got a UTI bothering her.  Pinky isn’t very old, only about five now, but it has been hard for her this last year.  Her twin sister died a year ago due to kitty leukemia.  Pinky had never been apart from her sister from birth until The Brain’s death and I feared Pinky would suffer a swift decline after her twin passed on.  Thankfully this did not happen.  After an extended period of mourning Pinky became her usual, cranky self again.

So, then, school work…

Art:  Make a small book movie of Stuart Little’s search for Margalo —  taken from the Stuart Little unit.

Math:  Place value to ten thousands, adding and subtracting using regrouping

Spelling: Continue spelling plurals

Social Studies and Reading Comprehension: Review short passage on Native Americans

Vocabulary: Rumbled, massive, maneuvered, scurrying

Grammar: Pronoun referents

Geography: Land area and population of South American countries

Copywork: Passage from ‘A Christmas Carol’

Science and Writing:  Use of graphic organizer

D.E.A.R. Comic books

Social Studies and Reading:

‘Liberty for All’ by Joy Hakim – completed chapter 7

‘Indian Legends’ an Oak Meadow Collection – completed chapter 14

‘Who Was Helen Keller?’ by Gare Thompson – completed chapter 3

‘All Sail Set’ by Armstrong Sperry – finished chapter 2

Read-aloud:

‘Turn Homeward Hannalee’ by Patricia Beatty

Mr. Brilliant says he feels too ill to work.  I think he’s mostly faking it, but I rather doubt we’ll get to his projects today.

Today at A+

Copy Work.  

We have nearly finished ‘Writing with Ease’ Level 1.  Yes, it’s aimed at a 1st grader and Mr. Brilliant is in 4th grade and doing 5th grade work, however, he has issuing with his handwriting and listening skills.  This work addresses both.  Additionally I am examining where he may have gaps in his grammar.

Spelling:

Plurals.  I have trouble getting Mr. B to slow down enough to do this right.  He knows it is fox/foxes but he keeps writing foxs.  *shrugs*

Writing & Research:

Research and write 4 facts about 2 breeds of cats, from the Stuart Little unit.  At this moment he’s sitting and looking at wiki and yelling at me that there no facts there.  *facepalm*

Math:

Rounding, place value

Science:

Short discussion and then writing paragraph on electricity.

Native American names of local mammals:

Deer:

Catawba: wideboye (wee-duh-boy-yay)

Cherokee: ahawi (ah-wee)

Racoon:

Catawba: ciqene (chee-kuh-nay)

Cherokee: kvtli (cutt-lee)

Fox:

Catawba: depeyamuye (duh-puh-yah-moo-yay)

Cherokee: tsutia (joot-lah)

Rabbit:

Catawba pv(n)wa(n) (pun-wahn)

Cherokee: tsisdu (jesse-doo)

History & Art:

Continue work on Landscape.  Make list of items needed to build model of Native American – LowCountry home.  (LowCountry is spelled correctly, I didn’t forget the space between words nor capitalize the C in error).

Social Studies and Reading:

‘Liberty for All’ by Joy Hakim – completed chapter 6

‘Indian Legends’ an Oak Meadow Collection – completed chapter 13

‘Who Was Helen Keller?’ by Gare Thompson – completed chapter 2

‘All Sail Set’ by Armstrong Sperry – working on chapter 2 (despite Mr. B loving ‘Call it Courage’ he’s struggling with ‘All Sail Set’.  Ironically, Mr. A+ has spirited away this book and read it himself).

Read-aloud:

‘Turn Homeward Hannalee’ by Patricia Beatty

This Week at A+

Oy, I need to do a weekly recap from last week.  Here’s what we did today:

Vocabulary:

Slake, Imperative, Suspicion, Undaunted, Dire, Cholera, Anxious, Dispirited, Lurch, Baffled, Fierce, Molting, Penetrate, Despicable, Balance, Clamor, Scoundrel, Rogue, Oozed.

Antonyms

Grammar:

Nouns and Pronouns

Math:

Adding and Subtracting 1 and 2 digits, Multiples, Skip Counting.

Geography:

Distances, linear or distance scale

D.E.A.R.

The Halloween Party from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

Spanish:

Review words Miss Naomi gave on Thursday.

Art & History:

Research, then draw Native American homes of the Low Country.

We’re scheduled to go to a Home-school game club today.

Update:  The homeschool game club was fun.  Mr. Brilliant played Battleship.

It’s Thursday. It’s Flooding.

Common here in Chucktown, a heavy rain to start the morning, with wellies required to walk around downtown.  Miss Bliss has to wade to class, her school often being an island when there is a downpour.

So it goes…

Mr. Brilliant is still ill.  We are going to call today a school day.  I’d not send him to class if he were in public school, but he’s getting cabin fever just sitting at home watching TV and playing video games.  He’s healthy enough to do school work cuddled on the couch with me or Mr. A+.  Speaking of my husband, he went into A-Fib again last night.  I slept in my clothes with my phone on and under my pillow, just in case.  Thankfully we had a mostly peaceful night and Mr. A+ converted overnight.

Today is our 20th wedding anniversary.   I am so lucky we are celebrating our 20th anniversary, we nearly didn’t make it.   Mr. A+ suffered deep vein thrombosis last year and that resulted in 4 pulmonary embolisms and a cardiac thrombosis.  He also suffered a small stroke.  The cardiac thrombosis resulted in him suffering now from arterial fibrillation.

 

School items for today include:

• Writing: Putting Ideas Together.  Using Fewer Words.  Nouns, common nouns and proper nouns.  Review outlines using ‘Sing Down the Moon’.
• Vocabulary: Synonyms.  Unscrambling words.  Abbreviations of months.
• Animals that Swim — From the’ Stuart Little’ unit
• Placing Countries on the Map from the South America unit
• Subtracting 2 digits from 3 digits (with renaming)
• Copy-work
• Reading Comprehension: Stories from Kipling, related to fables and creation stories
• Read ‘Indian Fables’
• Read ‘All Sails Set’
• Read History text
• Spanish lesson with Ms. Naomi
• Review ‘The Great Turkey Walk’
• Continue building Catboat – from ‘Stuart Littl’e unit, with research of ship terms from ‘By the Great Horn Spoon’ unit.