United States Trivia Pack Review

As you can tell from my blog, I homeschool my children. Even when my son was in public school, for two years, I still did extra work with him at home. I am always delighted when I find fun, useful learning tools for homeschoolers, as well as public schooled children.

The United States Trivia Pack is a set of trivia questions for all 50 US states. It covers 15 questions for each state, for a total of 750 questions all together. The questions cover such things as state capital, flowers, bird, and other even more difficult questions one may not know about their state. Since we just started making lapbooks for the 50 states, in Social Studies class, I find these very helpful and fun. For all 50 states you only pay $19.95, and you will receive your link to download the United States Trivia Pack via email. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee, just in case you are not satisfied.

The United States Trivia Pack is put out by Python Printables, and they offer many other printables as well for the holidays, slumber parties, puzzles, birthdays plus many more. They also offer the option of some free printables for you to print and use. Be sure to check them out, and give it a try. If you like doing affiliate programs, Python Printables offers a generous 35% sales commission for all affiliates. You can learn about their affiliate program, by clicking on the affiliate link at the bottom of their website.

[Product review & giveaway disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

Halloween Is Almost Over, Time To Think About Christmas

Well Halloween is just about over, with most trick or treating tonight. We actually did ours Thursday night, which was nice because I have to work 11-7 tonight, and will be napping at the time that trick or treating would be going on.

Now I begin to really get into the groove of Christmas shopping. Last year my husband Santa, bought a Nintendo Wii. This was not an expected gift as we already have the PS2. I have to say though it has worked well for us as far as homeschooling goes too. Why? Because the Wii offers educational games as well as other games that are skills, or just for fun. So far we have Science Papa, and the Night at the Museum, both which help enhance Science and Social Studies learning. Of course neither DJ or Caitlin complain about having to play the Wii to learn LOL. We don't always have a lot of time for games, so it usually comes at the end of the day, or into the eve for fun time. This year DJ has asked for Endless Ocean video game for the Wii. I have checked it out, and it definitely is one of their educational games. Since each child only picks 4 presents this year I will definitely be getting this one for DJ. If you have a Wii, like educational games, and have little kids, check out the link below to purchase Endless Ocean video games.

My Review Of Preggers By Therafirm

Before anyone congratulates me, I am not pregnant. I was asked to review Preggers compression hose, by Therafirm. Preggers was made by women for women, either pregnant or planning to be pregnant in the future? Why? Because compression hose can help improve circulation for both pregnant, and non pregnant women, thereby making your pregnancy easier.

Poor circulation can be the cause of varicose veins, sore achy legs, or even blood clots in the legs, none of which any woman wants. I was lucky when I was pregnant, with my two children, I did not get varicose veins. However, I did and still do, suffer from frequent leg cramps probably from being pregnant and not wearing compression hose.

So, what do I think of Preggers? I love them a lot. I put on the trouser socks in the morning, and wear them until around 2 when it starts to get really hot. I do find them uncomfortable when it is warm, but not from a fault of the product, but from my own body temperature. They come in different styles, sizes, and medium or high compression. I received a pair of trouser socks, and pantyhose. The pantyhose are very attractive and fit smoothly under my work clothes. Because I am on my feet a lot when I work, Preggers was perfect. I did not have the usual leg cramps and aches at the end of my shift. One thing I must add is you really need to know your proper size, and for the trouser socks measure from your ankle to your knee. The sizing comes according to the length of your ankle to your knee. Mine were just a little too long and I had to fold them over, which can be uncomfortable at times. So know your size and measurements. Give Preggers a try, and see what you think of them. I found their prices to be very affordable as well.

Product review & giveaway disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Art and Music on Fridays and The Mayflower Compact

If I can get the plugin to work properly Caitlin and DJ will be enjoying kids songs on Kididdles, tomorrow. If I can't get the plugin to work they can read and sing along to the lyrics. This is a free website with tons of kids songs to download, print, and listen to.

Tomorrow is Art class as well. Since we have been learning about recycling this year, and inspired by my very crafty mother, we have decided to pain Halloween themes on jars that were washed and dried. I have some cute templates they can use to make the patterns to paint. I will share pictures when they are completed. DJ took shadow pictures yesterday. He got some really good shots, but we will do it again on a sunnier day. It is hard to take pictures of shadows and make them look right. We had fun doing it though. That was his 4H project for the week. DJ is reading The Mayflower Compact this week, with a book report. The video below is a short video to accompany any lessons about The Mayflower Compact.

Lesson Plans For 10/29/10:

DJ:
Art: Hopi Indian homes from Draw Write Now, plus painting on jars
Music: As above
Reading: The Mayflower Compact with book report
Writing: Create a Halloween poem, blog post on his blog
Math Test
No spelling test this week

Caitlin:
Art: Same as DJ
Music: Same as DJ
Reading: Wet Legs and one other book of choice
Math Test
Read and listen to Native Americans book
Clock work, calendar work, sight words, skip counting

If any work needs to be caught up, Friday is the day. Plus they can have computer time if time permits.

The Respiratory System For Kids

Tomorrow is Health class, and DJ is up to the Respiratory System. This accompanies his reading assignment. He likes these videos because the lady has an interesting accent. He gets a kick out of it. Our About 4H lesson this week is all about the food groups, and eating healthy. Each kid had to try a new vegetable, and make the healthy treats they offered a recipe for. Both tried cherry tomatoes. DJ said they were OK, and Caitlin said too sweet. Then we cut bananas in half, stuck a popsicle stick in the end, dipped them in orange juice and rolled them in crushed peanuts. Then you freeze them and eat later. Caitlin loved them, DJ not so much. I had one and they were very good. You could roll them in anything healthy like granola, or chopped candy if you didn't want the healthy route. You only have three days left to enter the giveaway for membership to free printable games. No one has entered yet, so go here to enter. It is easy.

Lesson Plans For 10/28/10:

DJ:
Health: Respiratory system
Math: Division, mixed math
Spelling: Chapter six review
Sign Language
Proof Reading: Worksheet
Cursive Writing
Writing
Language Arts: Action verbs

Caitlin:
Printing Practice
Health: Nutrition
Math: Addition
Spelling: List six
Language Arts: blends sk, words in pictures, long vowels
Clock work, calendar work, sight words, skip counting

All About Totem Poles and Sight Word Dragon Story

Wednesday is Social Studies day and we are still learning about Canada. The next subject is totem poles used by Indians from Canada. This fits in nicely also to Caitlin learning about Native Americans. If you want a short reading about totem poles and directions to making your own totem pole, you click this link. If you have the time, and plan ahead unlike me, you could have your kids design a totem pole for your own family. I think that is a great idea. We are also on our second week of making our states lap books. This week is Georgia. You can design them any way you like to suit your child's age level. To find free printable states you can go here. The video is a cute way to help your kids learn sight words.


Lesson Plans For 10/27/10:

DJ:
Social Studies: Ancient Times chapter 7, map skills, plus above listed activities
Math: Division, mixed math
Spelling: Chapter six review
Sign Language

Caitlin:
Social Studies: As above
Spelling: List six
Math: Addition
Language Arts: Blends sk, finding words in pictures, long vowels
Printing Practice
Clock work, calendar work, skip counting, sight words

Teach Kids The Months Of The Year and Taking Care Of A Rabbit

Caitlin has been learning all about calendars. Days of the week, how many days in a month, and months of the year as well. She has the days of the week down, and even dates in a month pretty good. She is not liking learning the order of the months in the year. I am hoping the video below will give her a fun way to learn and remember them. We have a playdate at the park tomorrow with our play group friends. We always look forward to these every two weeks.
DJ will be doing his next chapter in his 4H photography book, which is all about shadows. He is going to ask his friends to make some cool shadows for him. They should have fun. I posted the video below to give him some ideas on taking pictures of shadows. Whomever shot those photos is talented indeed. Caitlin will be getting her rabbit for 4H, in the next two weeks. So now she has to begin learning how to care for a rabbit. See the video below.

Lesson Plans For 10/26/10:

DJ:
Science: Review of chapters 1-6
Spelling: Chapter six review
Math: Division, mixed math
Sign Language

Caitlin:
Spelling: List six
Math: Addition
Science: Weather lap book
Language Arts: Blends sk, finding words in pictures, long vowels
Printing Practice
Clock work, calendar work, sight words, skip counting
Watch care of rabbits video for 4H

Learn To Read Blends: First Grade Lesson

Caitlin has been working on blends for Phonics. The videos are repetitive and kind of boring, but they are wonderful in helping children learn to read. The link at the bottom takes you to a Hooked on Phonics video on blends. Your child can watch them over and over until they have them down.

Reminder enter my giveaway for PrintableGamesAtoZ.com no one has entered yet, and someone needs to win this.

Lesson Plans For 10/25/10:

DJ:
Blog Post: Fishy Monday
Math: Division, mixed math
Writing: Active voice
Language Arts: Action verbs
Sign Language
About 4H
Reading Comprehension: With Worksheet
Spelling: Chapter Six: Review of chapters 1*-5
Review errors from last weeks lessons

Caitlin:
Spelling: List six
Printing Practice
Language Arts: Blends sk, finding words in pictures, short vowels
About 4H
Math: Addition
Calendar work, clock work, sight words, skip counting






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-n5BNRPGQ

I Am Giving Away A Membership To PrintableGamesAToZ.com

I was asked to review PrintableGamesAtoZ.com and I am being allowed to give away a 90 day membership to the Christmas and New Years Game Collection. This is a $19.95 dollar value. But if you won and you loved it, you could upgrade for $18 dollars to access the rest of the whole site.

First off what is PrintableGamesAtoZ.com? It is a website with all games that are printable for you to use for parties, homeschool, daycare, Sunday school, after school programs, or anywhere you would play games with your children. There are some that are Christian based games for Christmas. Like What Would You Give Jesus? In this particular game you get a time limit to come up with a gift to give Jesus for every letter of the alphabet. This can promote Christian learning as well as help your child with phonics. They can work in pairs or alone to come up with the answers. The person with the most answers wins. There is also Bingo, Trivial Pursuit, songs, and general trivia, just to name a few. I could not possibly name them all there are so many. There are coloring pages too. I really love the printable games. We all know kids learn through play, and educational games are best. They have games for every major Holiday, and then even more.

OK, so now for the rules. They are easy. The contest will start on 10/22/10, and will run until 10/31/10 at 8 PM. That should give everyone plenty of time. There are only three requirements:

1- You have to be a fan, by liking, the Facebook page of Funsational, the parent company to PrintableGamesAtoZ.com.

2- You have to put a post on your blog with a link back to this contest. It doesn't have to be extravagant just a quick post with the link.

3- You have to come back and leave me a comment to this post, with the requirements shown.

At the end of the contest, all names will be put in the magic pumpkin, and one of my children will draw the lucky winner. Everyone has an equal chance of winning. I cut all papers the same size, and folded the same exact amount of time, so they all feel the same to tiny hands.

Good luck! I can not wait to see who wins. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments, or you can email me at melissaruede@yahoo.com The winner will be announced and contacted right after the name is drawn. You will have 48 hours to contact me and supply me with your email address. Once the winner has contacted me the winning email address will be forwarded to the spokesperson of the company, and she will contact you with your login info to the site. If the winner does not contact me within 48 hours another name will be chosen.

This Product Was a Free Giveaway

Halloween Fun On Friday

Friday is our more relaxed day of the week. We do makeup work if we need to, computer time, art and music. Since I have to work the night the kids will be going trick or treating, tomorrow I am dressing them up in the costumes and letting them have a picture pose festival. I hope to get lots of awesome pictures.

Tomorrow for Art DJ is studying Paul Gauguin. One of the art pieces mentioned to study is the Still Life With Three Puppies, shown to the left. The object is to note how Gauguin used geometric shapes repeatedly in his paintings. This one obviously is the pear shape even his puppies are pear shaped. Then DJ has to pick a geometric shape and make a drawing using the shape repeatedly as Gauguin did. This should be interesting as this is very new to him. DJ will be doing a blog post on Pool Safety tomorrow. Be sure to hop on over to his blog to read it.

Today is Health, and Caitlin is adding to her body parts lapbook with a cute craft where she has to replace the missing body parts of a face. DJ is doing bones and joints. The Schoolhouse Rock video below is entertaining and educational.

Butchart Gardens, and Joseph and His Coat Of Many Colors

We have a packed full day of History today, or Social Studies as some call it. We are continuing with our lessons about Canada by doing a virtual tour of Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. In chapter six of The Story of the World: Ancient Times we learn about David and his coat of many colors. I didn't care for the craft the student book offered, so we will be using the one here. DLTK kids offers all kinds of free crafts, and lesson plans for homeschoolers. Caitlin will continue to work on basic map reading skills, with a simple legend. They are both also starting a lapbook of the states. There are free templates of each state offered online. Print the state and then determine what you want your child to find about that state. DJ will be doing capital, flower, bird, year became a state, major industries, climate, and natural resources for each state. Caitlin will find and write the capital, then color the state. When completed they will each have a state book for future use. You can also add state flags to go along with each state. I like these lapbooks because you can add to them as the grades go on, making a complete story of what they learned.

Lesson Plans For 10/20/10:

DJ:
Social Studies: As above
Math: Division, mixed math
Josephs Coat of many colors: Craft to accompany chapter six of Ancient Times
Sign Language

Caitlin:
Social Studies: As above
Language Arts: Blends scr, short vowels
Math: Addition
Finding Words in Pictures: Worksheet
Printing Practice
Zoo Workers: Worksheet
Josephs Coat of many colors: Craft
Calendar work, clock work, sight words, skip counting

Life Cycle Of A Salmon, and Exoplanets

Today is a half day of school, and we are doing basically just Science. I must admit as interesting as I find space, I really do not know that much about it. DJ's chapter in his Science book today is about exoplanets. The two videos below will help you, me, DJ and anyone else who is interested understand this concept. The other video is the Life Cycle of a Salmon. This was actually under our History for the lesson on Canada, but I have switched it over to Science. We are also doing an experiment where we make salt. I will post that if anyone wants to try it, in a couple of days.

Lesson Plans For 10/19/10:

DJ:
Science: Exoplanets, life cycle of a salmon, About 4 H, making salt experiment, Read pages 32-35 in weather book.
Math: Word problems multiplication

Caitlin:
Science: Weather lapbook, About 4 H, salt experiment, life cycle of a salmon
Math: Addition with number line

First Quarter Report Cards

First Quarter report cards are completed, and both DJ and Caitlin did very good. DJ was very nervous because his 3 and 4 digit multiplication has been such a challenge. Report cards as follows:

Caitlin: Did not get a letter grade report card, but just a smiley face and generalized comment on advancing of work. She has done quite well and I am most impressed with her determination to get the math perfect. She has been doing addition with number line, and has begun flash card math. Reading is very good, handwriting good, Language Arts good but still finds parts of it confusing, Health, Science and History are all more elective at this age but she is doing very good.

DJ:
Reading: Excellent
Reading Comprehension: 89
Language Arts: 92
Spelling: 100
Math: 86
History: 94
Science: 92
Art: Excellent
Music: Good
Blog Writing: Excellent
Writing Workbook: Very Good
Handwriting: Satisfactory
Proofreading: Good

Tomorrow is a half day, and we will be mostly doing Science stuff. I will be posting videos and lessons tomorrow morning.

The Story Of The Star Spangled Banner

DJ just read a book with this title, and did a book report. Now I am posting the video so he can watch it too. If you don't know, or remember, the story of our national anthem, you can watch the video below.

Don't forget I am giving away a free ring on my jewelry blog. I have no entries yet and there is still plenty of time to win. So head over to Melissas Jewelry and enter.

Trick Or Treat Berenstein Bears

I love the Berenstein Bears. Their books and shows are always wholesome, and have a lesson to teach.

Portrait Drawing

Today DJ is finishing up reading about Leonardo DaVinci. As you know drew a lot of portraits, so DJ has picked a picture and will be drawing a portrait, and Caitlin is giving it a shot too. Plus they are drawing a cradle board from the Draw Write Now Native Americans book. A cradle board was kind of like a back pack for babies that Native Americans used to carry baby around and keep it safe. We have no school Monday for report cards, and half a day Tuesday.

Lesson Plans For 10/15/10:

DJ:
Art: As above
Math Test
Spelling Test
Cursive Writing
Writing: Blog post on bicycle safety
Proofreading: Worksheet
Reading: The Story of Mount Rushmore with book report

Caitlin:
Art: As above
Printing Practice
Reading: Pig Jigs, Rub a Dub Club
Short Vowels: Worksheet
Finding words in pictures: Worksheet
Listening Skills: I read a Native American book to her

Kids And Germs, Muscles And Movement

Want a cute way to teach your kids about germs and preventing them? Then the Crawford the Cat video below is perfect for you. DJ this week is learning about muscles and movement, for Health class. Tomorrow DJ will be putting up a post on his blog about bicycle safety.

Lesson Plans For 10/14/10:

DJ:
Health: Muscles and movement reading, with video
Spelling: Chapter 5 put the words in alphabetical order
Math: Multiplication, mixed math
Sign Language
Reading: Reading comprehension with WS
Language Arts: Verbs
Writing: Time order

Caitlin:
Health: Germs and colds
Math: Addition with number line
Language Arts: Blends pr, short vowels, er and est
Printing Practice
Finding words in pictures: Worksheet
Clock work, calendar work, skip counting, sight words
Spelling list 5

History Of Halloween

If you have a child in elementary school, then you know a big part of their education is about our American holidays. While Halloween is not what I define as a holiday it is celebrated like one. The video below explains the history of Halloween. Both my kids will watch this, and then just a short discussion. We are also continuing with our learning of places around the world and Canada is our current topic. To see some cool videos about Canada you can find them in my archives. We will be making a Canadian flag tomorrow, and finishing up with other facts about Canada. DJ also has his other history lessons. By the way anyone who didn't read on my Facebook page DJ got elected to be club photographer at his very first 4H meeting. He is very excited. It was a beautiful day at the park for our playdate today. I love the weather this time of year.

Lesson Plans For 10/13/10:

DJ:
Social Studies: Story of the World Ancient Times chapter 5 with worksheets, plus above
Math: Multiplication, rounding numbers, and problem solving
Spelling: Chapter 5 write each word three times each
Map Skills

Caitlin:
Social Studies: As above, and she is starting map skills
Math: Addition with number line
Language Arts: Blends pr, short vowels, beginning sounds
Finding Words in Pictures: Worksheet
Spelling List 5
Printing Practice
Clock work, calendar work, sight words, skip counting

Safety And Science Experiments

Tomorrow in DJ's Science book he has a reading and question assignment on safety when doing lab experiments. I found this cute video to accompany the lesson. Feel free to use it in your lessons. We are also doing a small discussion experiment about how hot earth is and how we think it would be if the sun was both closer, and farther away. How would it affect life on Earth? Caitlin was going to do a zoo animal lapbook, but instead I found these cute zoo animal stick ons at Walmart, and she created her Halloween pumpkin using them. She made a Zoo Animal pumpkin. I will post pictures later this week, it is cute. They also had farm animals with the barn, and fences and everything. If you want something creative to do besides carving the pumpkin I think a farm animal pumpkin would be awesome too. Oh and for dinner tonight I made the cutest pizzas, I will share that picture later too. Tomorrow we also have a playdate at the park from 12-2, last week got postponed due to an emergency in one of the other families. Tonight is our first 4H meeting. I will let you know how it goes.

Lesson Plans For 10/12/10:

DJ:
Science: As above plus read pages 28-31 of weather book
Math: Multiplication
Spelling: Chapter 5 write each word three times each
Sign Language
4H Photography: Experimenting with natural light indoors

Caitlin:
Science: Zoo animals pumpkin decorating
Math: Addition with number line, money, math flash cards
Printing Practice
Spelling List 5
Language Arts: Blends pr, short vowels, beginning sounds
Find Words In Pictures: Worksheet
Calendar work, clock work, sight words, skip counting

History Of Columbus Day

Tomorrow is Columbus Day. We have no school, but the videos and any links provided will be used during the week. If you go to BrainPop Jr they are also offering a free Columbus Day video. I like BrainPop and Brainpop Jr. Kaboose has some really cute activities, crafts, and even food for celebrating Columbus Day. You can find songs, crafts, and other activities at DLTK Kids that can help enhance your lesson plans. If none of these options are what you are looking for try Scholastic2 for more Columbus Day resources.

Win Free Jewelry On My Jewelry Blog

Would you like to win this Pink Tourmaline and White Topaz ring? Then go to Melissas Jewelry, read the rules, and get your entry in. This would be an awesome Christmas gift for someone on your list.

Guest Post: Teaching At An Online College vs A Traditional College

Pros and Cons of Teaching at an Online College
It’s a form of education that is gaining in leaps and bounds, not just in terms of popularity, but also in terms of acceptability and respectability. No longer are online colleges the domain of people who cannot get into regular schools or who’re not qualified enough to secure admission to traditional colleges. Today, online degrees are sought after by most professionals and high school graduates as the best way to earn and learn simultaneously; and with even traditional and hallowed institutions like MIT offering online offerings, it’s only natural that this field is perceived as one that offers a host of opportunities.
So if you’re a professor, it’s not surprising if you’re considering venturing into the online world of education either full or part time. However, before you take such a step, it’s best to be aware of the pros and cons of this decision.
Among the advantages you stand to gain when teaching online are:
You learn more about the use of technology – with classes being taught entirely online, you must be tech savvy if you want to make it as an online professor.
You’re usually allowed to design your own lessons and modules because they need to include more than just text and be suited for the technology that delivers it. This helps you gain a better perspective of the subject and also broadens your experience.
You don’t have to worry about bad behavior, disrespect and unruliness from students because you’re insulated from them by technology. This makes online teaching an apt job for professors who know their stuff but are not authoritative enough to command respect in a traditional classroom.
But, on the downside:
Online classes are much more difficult to handle than regular ones – you have to do extensive research and be prepared to handle long discussions and deal with various questions from students who you interact with only through technology. This takes more time and effort, so if you’re not used to this kind of environment, you could find the going tough.
You will have to spend most of your time answering questions from students and helping them with any difficulties they may have – online learning is more of a student-centered activity than a teacher-centered one.
The remuneration you receive may not be as much as you would get at a regular institution.
Also, when you teach at a traditional college, you’re in line for tenure and your respectability gets a boost, something that is very unlikely to happen when you work at an online equivalent.
Some professors choose to do both – hold positions at regular colleges even as they take on part-time jobs at online schools. However, this works out well only if they’re adequately compensated and if they’re able to balance their time effectively.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Carrie Oakley, who writes on the topic of online colleges . Carrie welcomes your comments at her email id: carrie.oakley1983(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

Learn To Draw A Scarecrow And Pumpkins

Fridays here at Melissas Homeschool are dedicated a lot to art. DJ has been learning about Leonardo Davinci in his art book, but did not care for the videos, so I will post no more of them. He said they were too complicated for his age LOL! So tomorrow he will finish up his reading on Da Vinci and answer some questions, and watch the video of what some call his top twenty paintings. Next week he will actually be picking a picture from our family album and drawing a portrait keeping in mind what he has learned about Da Vinci. Caitlin and DJ both will be drawing the pumpkin and scarecrow, using the videos below plus a Native American hunter from their Draw Write Now book. Whew that is a lot. Other lessons are listed below.

DJ:
Math Test
Spelling Test Chapter 4
Reading: The Star Spangled Banner with book report
Writing Blog Post: Write a commercial ad for musical sneakers
Proofreading: WS
Cursive Writing Practice

Caitlin:
Math: Starting money identification
Reading: Pig Jigs and one other book of choice
Following Directions: Worksheet
Calendar work, clock work, sight words, skip counting, spelling words week 4

Hair, Skin, And Nails

Tomorrow for Health class we are learning about hair, skin, and nails, otherwise known as the Integumentary System. There is a reading assignment, video below, and then discussion. Since DJ is in 5th grade he will begin some more intensive health classes starting next year. We are preparing for that. Caitlin will be doing a lap book on body parts using magazines, and free printables I printed for her. This is our fist attempt at using the lap book approach.

Lesson Plans For 10/7/10:

DJ:
Health: As above
Sign Language
Writing: Time order
Math: Multiplication, mixed math
Geography WS
Reading Comprehension: With worksheet
Language Arts: Verbs

Caitlin:
Health: Body parts lap book
Reading: Book of her choice
Math: Addition with a number line, and flash cards- this is new for Caitlin
Printing Practice
Language Arts: Vowel combos, blends gr, spelling list 4
Shapes: Matching WS
Same/Different: WS
Calendar work, clock work, skip counting, sight words

Making Scented Oil

OK so tomorrow is Social Studies, but we are only having a half day, because we are having our playdate at the park after lunch. We are up to Chapter 4 of Ancient Times and a lot of this chapter has to deal with embalming and mummifying of the dead. One of the activities you could choose to do was to mummify a chicken! Um, Um, Hmm, no I don't think I am doing that one. We could also make fancy jars, but I opted out of more painting for now. So that left us scented oil which is actually kind of neat. In ancient times they used oils and spices on the deceased bodies to help preserve the body. If you want to make some scented oil you will need a jar with a lid, oil either cooking or baby, and any spices you like. Fill the jar to the top with the spices, this will take a lot of spices, so I got a smaller jar LOL, then add the oil to the top to completely coat the spices. Set in a sunny location for a week, and shake the jar well two to three times a day. Then drain the oil and repeat the steps if you want a stronger scent. Then you can use the spices for embalming, well no please don't do that.

For tomorrows lessons Caitlin will be doing online computer games, and DJ has his Chapter 4 Ancient Times, plus he must do his math and spelling.

The History Of Aviation

Tomorrow for Science class we are covering erosion, photography, and the history of aviation. If you don't remember what you learned in school, ahem like me, then the videos below will refresh your memory. I find most interesting that the Wright brothers, neither one of them even graduated high school. I also found interesting that the problem with flying was not actually the flying part, but controlling the plane. We have a lovely childrens encyclopedia that was given to us by friends, and it has one whole book on the history of aviation. We will not be reading the whole thing tomorrow LOL! The videos are in black and white and quite old but you will get more from listening than by seeing in this case. Enjoy!

Lesson Plans For 10/5/10:

DJ:
Science: As above
Math: Mixed math, multiplication
Spelling: Chapter four, write each word three times each

Caitlin:
Science: History of aviation, with plane craft
Language Arts: Long I, short vowels, blends gr
Reading: Pig Jigs
Same/Different: Worksheet
Spelling: List four
Matching Shapes: Worksheet
Printing Practice
Math: Addition with number line
Calendar work, clock work, sight words, skip counting

Multiplying 3 Digits By 3 Digits

DJ is starting to learn multiplying 3 digits by 3 digits. Like any new math he is frustrated that it seems to take a long time to get it down. He has only been doing it a week, talk about impatience LOL! Anyways I am posting this helpful video for him to watch as many times as he need, and your child can use it too. I think math is one of the most frustrating classes that a child has to take.

Lesson Plans For 10/04/10:

DJ:
Language Arts: Verbs, spelling chapter 4 three times each
Writing Blog Post: Desjardini Tang
Math: Problem solving, mixed math
Sign Language
Reading Comprehension: With worksheet
Writing: Personal narrative

Caitlin:
Calendar work, clock work, skip counting, sight words
Spelling: List 4
Math: Addition with number line
Language Arts: Long I, blends gr and mixed blends
Reading: Hot Dog
Printing Practice
Matching Pictures: Worksheet
Oval Worksheet

Zhu Zhu Pets Halloween Costumes

Remember these crazy toys from last Christmas? Everyone wanted one, and they were selling for really high prices. Now your kids can be a Zhu Zhu pet for Halloween. Check these cute little costumes out.

100 Great Green Lesson Plans For The Classroom

We were supposed to be off today, but due to a family issue we took last Friday off. So if you want to know what we are doing today, you can view last Friday's post. We are starting Leonardo Da Vinci in Art, so that should be fun.

I was contacted by a gentleman who offered me this great article to share with all of you. It is titled 100 Great Green Lesson Plans For the Classroom. I have looked it over and bookmarked it for my own personal use later. We just finished up learning about being greener, so this will come in handy. If you want some interesting and creative ways to teach being green, saving the planet, or whatever you wish to call it go to http://www.mastersineducation.com/100-great-green-lesson-plans-for-the-classroom/ and check out his great options. This will also be posted at the bottom of this blog under my favorite education sights.

Have a great Friday everyone. I am off to do lesson planning for next week. Yay!