10/19

SCIENCE:
Avery opened the class with prayer and then we dove into exploring volcanos. I read a devotional about volcanos. 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! Mia N., Sebasiten, and Noah helped form the layers of the ash, dirt, and lava around the "magma chamber" (bottle), a few other students added rocks to the formation. Avery was our photographer and Ryan poured in the vinegar. We all stood by to watch it flow! Once we were back in class we read a National Geographic book about Volcanos filled with fascinating facts and then filled out a diagram to label the various parts of a volcano. We placed the diagram behind our "Notes" tab and then completed our experiment worksheet. I realize this experiment tells us more about chemical reactions than it does about volcanos, so I did let the students choose to write anything they learned from the day on their "Checking it out" form. We couldn't pass up a day studying volcanos without making something erupt :)

GEOGRAPHY:

Avery led us in the flag salute and then chose a clue card that led us to the Australia in the Southern Hemisphere. Ava and Abbie shared about their trip last week to Hawaii and Mia N. told us about her trip to Montana. We found both on the map - so fun! I showed the students a photo of an Arctic Tern and Jax knew right away what it was. He 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! Finally, we worked together to separate Arctic from Antarctic animals on a Venn Diagram.

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 as we soft-clapped for strong verbs. 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 missed you Marty & Miah G. !