10/21

SCIENCE:
Brendan opened the class with prayer and then we dove into exploring volcanos. I read a devotional where we learned that it takes special circumstances of intense pressure to create a diamond. We remembered that God can be doing beautiful work on our lives during difficult times as well. We also got to see a picture of the biggest diamond ever found! We reviewed the chapter reading and then prepared for our experiment by filling out the first part of the "Checking it out" page. Once we had our hypothesis, we headed outside to create a volcanic explosion! The students helped form the layers of the ash, dirt, and lava around the "magma chamber" (bottle), a few other students added rocks to the formation. Isaac was our photographer and Kaden poured in the vinegar. We all stood by to watch it flow! It failed...miserably, actually. I had attempted to make it more epic from our Tuesday success by adding more color, but I think that blocked the vinegar from reaching the baking soda so it just fizzled out. Every failure is a lesson in disguise. We discussed dormant volcanos and were able to happily check the "not happy with the results" box while constructing ideas on how to improve it. I showed them a picture of our experiment from Tuesday so they could see what it should have looked like. Once we were back in class we read a National Geographic book about Volcanos filled with fascinating facts. We filled colored and labeled a diagram of a volcano. We placed the diagram behind our "Notes" tab and then completed our experiment worksheet. The students chose one new thing they learned to write on the bottom of their "Checking it out" form.

GEOGRAPHY:

Brendan led us in the flag salute and then chose a clue card that led us to the Asia in the. I showed the students a photo of an Arctic Tern and Kaden helped me explain that this bird has the longest migration of any known animal traveling from the Arctic to Antarctica and back every year. The students watched a beautful video of the Arctic Tern flying in slow motion as I read them a poem by Coleride titled "The Land of Ice at the South Pole" and a short passage from Charlotte Mason about the Poles. We watched a video about the Arctic and Antarctic regions while I stamped their passport homework from last week - really great job on those animal drawings! We discussed Venn Diagrams and worked together to separate Arctic from Antarctic animals on a Venn Diagram on the board. We finished by reading "Emperor Egg," a book about the egg of an Emperor Penguin in Antarctica.

IEW:

We started our IEW time with our new memory verse. This led into a good converstaion about how our good God (and our parents) discipline us because they love us. I gave the example about my own daughter who is nearing the age of one and how my son (8) will set up pillows to keep her safe and yell "Yucky!" so she doesn't choke. They seemed to grab onto the idea that it would actually be unloving to not care for her in that way. They turned in their crossword puzzles and I passed back the Rough Drafts for "The Crow and the Peacocks." After a few students read their storeis aloud, we worked to create morals (clinchers) and titles for our own story. They did fabulously. There was a big improvement from the first time we practiced this - it is so fun to see them grow! Lastly, I passed back thier first final draft (Belling the Cat). A few students read theirs aloud. I reminded them to tuck these gems into a sheet protector in the IEW notebook at home, but if you could double check, that would be great! We finished off watching the video on adjectives that we missed last week. It is a rewritten Frozen song, so there was a bit of an uproar about it...and an encore request :)

We missed you Jessie!