grade 2, block II fables, week IV

monday, september 20th


(heart) walk/hike with circle time


(head) main lesson:
*read on own 15 min, "patter paws the fox & other stories"
*2 pages in basic skills, grade 2 workbook
* math review, roman numbers I - XII




copy from board into main lesson book, roman number, number, and number word

*form drawing, christopherus, p. 26

reminiscent of the donkey & his load...

*tell animal intro for fable...


"the horse"

Galloping across the open plains, the stallion of a herd of wild horses stops to sniff the air for danger. Horses are able to detect smell & sound from great distance. Flicking his tail & moving forward, he signals to the others that the coast is clear. The herd races off with flying hooves.


Their bodies are lean & muscular, the necks thick & their legs long & slender. They use the sharp hooves to get at water in the earth. Most of their day is spent grazing & foraging for food.


Horses have been one of man's many helpers in years past as well. They have been seen carrying us into battle or on long journey's to explore new & unsettled lands. They have carried us along in carriages, over the cobbled streets before the invention of the motor car. Horses are proud & noble creatures, and their jobs have been as well.



"donkey"

Horses brother, donkey is both sweet and humble. He is the most simple and unselfish of animals, working long & hard days with little rest & poor forage.


He is sure footed and is one so man's best friends when their is work to be done! He will haul timber for our houses and carry heavy loads over rough and dangerous terrain. He will help a traveler reach his friend in the next village all without a single utterance of his own needs.

*tell story "the horse & the overloaded ass"

a man is headed out to market to sell his wares with his horse & his donkey.

he works hard making wooden bowls & spoons; his wife weaves beautiful cloth. they also have some extra fruit & vegetable from their garden to sell.

the man has everything in boxes & crates and has strapped all of these onto the back of his donkey.

he has loaded a small pack with his blanket, his food & a clothes onto his horse.

they set out on the long journey to the next village where the market is held. the road they travel is rough, and filled with sharp stones. the air is hot & soon the donkey grows week as his load is very heavy.

he asks brother horse for help..."please, brother horse, will you please take part of my load. your load is so very light & mine is so very heavy. i feel as though i might faint."

brother horse looks over at donkey and says, "why should i help you, what concern of it is mine if you are tired??"

upon hearing such a cruel response, the donkey collapsed. the man ran over & untied his load. he tried several times to revive his poor donkey, but alas, i was too late.

but he still had to get to market, so he loaded all of the crates & baskets that donkey had been carrying onto horse, and again they set off.

the horse was heard to murmur thoughts of regret, wishing that he had helped his fellow beast of burden in his time of need.

(hands) continue work on weaving pouch (30 min)

tuesday, september 21

co-op & play group on the island...:)

wednesday, september 22nd

(heart) walk/hike with circle

(head) main lesson

*read on own, 15 min, patter paw the fox

*2 pages in basic skills, grade 2 workbook

*math review, we ended up playing monopoly. aydin was awesome! not only did we have a ball, but he insisted on being banker & kept wanting to stop & count his money. so, we definitely got A LOT of math practice in.

*recall fable, illustrate in lesson book

(hands) baking day, blueberry muffins!

thursday, september 22nd

(heart) walk/hike with circle

(head) main lesson

*read on on own, 15 min, patter paws the fox
*2 pages from his basic skills, grade 2 workbook

*math review...

since we had no problems with the review i went ahead & introduce vertical math problems, adapting the squirrels story from christopherus', grade 2 math book (p. 16) to fit with our math gnomes.

we did a few examples on the board together, and then aydin worked one of each on his own.

*recall fable, write summary in main lesson book

(hands) continue work on weaving (30 min)

friday, septmeber 24th

(heart) walk/hike with circle

(head) main lesson

*read on own 15 min, patter paws the fox (finish)

*2 pages in basic skills, grade 2 workbook

*end of fables block...

look back through fables main lesson work...talk about fables & their animals, recall forms, read through summaries. talk about favorite stories...

(hands) painting day!

inspired by brunhild muller's verse,

"blue has a birthday party

& unto the party sped,

2 new friends yellow & red.

they gave, as is on birthdays due

their special presents for blue

they give a cloak & then a rig,

to wrap up blue all warm & snug."

egg-traordinary news & introducing the ladies...:)

while cleaning out the chicken coops today, i found our very first egg! (woo-hah!)

one of our ameraucanas...love it! :)

you can't really tell in the picture, but it is a very light blue-ish green....

i thought i would take this opportunity to introduce our lovely ladies, as well...

first our speckled sussex, we have 4 of them. none of which have names, yet... *blush*...
(we'll have to get on that)

they are the talking-est chickens ever! always clucking on about something or other...

and now the ameraucanas...this is honolulu, our rooster. we actually ordered our chickens 'sexed', hens only, but we are very glad to have him. the boys are already asking for more chicks...

this is one of the twins, fluffy. (aydin named her :)

some of the ameraucaunas have, what i call, beards & side burns...this one does, so 'fluffy' is actually quite fitting.

this is saradoman (who orin named), she is the most calm & people loving of the lot. always the first to fly up when we let them rummage around in the garden.

and *i think* the egg layer...:)

this is sarafina peckula...(hee, hee!)...is there a more perfect name for a chicken?? i mean really...

you may recognize if from the movie "the golden compass", she was one of the witches...

this is sasquatch, the largest & well...um...well, one of the less good looking-ish ones

(but please do not tell her i said that...)

and lastly, we have our other twin...tallulah. i actually was wanting to name our daughter that, but lance kiboshed it right of the bat! :(

this afternoon, when we got home from running a few errands, we check again in the coops & found another egg!

this is so very exciting...right up there with when we dug our first ever lot of potatoes!

may your day be filled with abundance as well!

grade 2, block II fables, week 3

(wildflowers from our garden :)

monday, september 13

(heart) walk/hike with circle time

(head) main lesson:

*read aloud 15 min with mama, frog and toad all year

*read through spelling words on board & copy into main lesson book *recall story, "the lion & the four bulls"

*write summary

(hands) handwork, continue weaving pouch

tuesday, september 14th

our first day of co-op!

wednesday, september 15th

(heart) garden day! 1 hour of weeding, mulching, bug hunting, & other wise exploring...:)

these little mantises are EVERYwhere right now!

i love how mother nature has gifted them with camouflage...so cool!

(head) main lesson:

*read aloud with mama for 15 min, frog & toad all year

*alphabetize spelling words, together on board, then copy into main lesson book

*form drawing, basic of own design, mirror image form to go along with story... (hare hopping)

*tell animal intros for today's fable, "the tortoise & the hare"

recall hare, and tell of tortoise

"tortoise"

the tortoise is very slow. he walks across the grass, through the woods...one step at a time, he makes no sound.

his neck is thin, with loose skin. he peers out at the world through his tiny eyes & sniff with his small nostrils/ if he hears you coming, then quickly, he pulls his head into his shell & firmly closes his legs against his shell.

if you site very quietly, he'll poke his head our again and slowly move his hind legs out & resume his walk.

once he reaches the pond or lake, he plops down into the water, he swims about, quickly & gracefully & seems very much more at home in the water than on land. after swimming, he looks for a rock on to which he can climb. he loves to bask in the warmth of the sun!

*tell story, "the tortoise & the hare"

(hands) baking, trail mix cookies! (from our lovely friend christina, @blog moment to moment)

these are so amazingly good & filling!

i don't even know how this sweet little kitty got there, but i am guessing he was framed by someone with very little hands...;)


thursday, september 16th

(heart) walk/hike with circle

(head) main lesson
*read aloud with mama for 15 min, finish frog & toad all year
*read through spelling words, spell out with bananagram tiles (from memory)

(i was planning on writing them on the walk with sidewalk chalk/in the dirt, but aydin insisted on using the tiles again :)

*check spelling & write those missed in book, 2x each



this is aydin's "victory face" @ having only misspelled 2 words...i told him it looks more like a war cry...;)

*recall story, & illustrate in main lesson book
(hands) handwork, continue with weaving
for some reason i have no pictures of his weaving this week :(...he works on handwork for about 30 min/session (unless he is really feeling it, i certainly don't limit it). i think with the weaving, it is very slow going, maybe a 1/2" done per 30 min session...

friday, september 17th

(heart) walk/hike w/circle

(head) main lesson
*workbook, 2 pages in math workbook
just your standard basic skills math book. aydin loves workbooks & i feel like anything that we might miss will be covered here...a win, win situation
*read aloud with mama 15 min, patter-paws the fox & other stories (W)
*spelling 'test'., pull words from hat & spell
aydin got all but one right, so i had him make a collage of the work withs letters from magazines, he 'wrote' the word 2x...

*recall story, write summary on board & copy into main lesson book

(hands) painting day...a moving picture for "the tortoise & the hare" (christopherus' "animal legends", p.16)

step 1) paint one, uncut piece of painting paper blue (or another color)...this will be your frame

step 2) paint another piece, cut about a 1" smaller (1/2" on each side) & edges rounded with a simple forest scene

step 3) draw/color a small hare & a small tortoise on another piece of painting paper/stock card

step 4) attach these animals to strips to serve as 'handles' for moving them along for the race

step 5) cut slits for the race in your forest scene, obviously the tortoise's slit should go from the race beginning to the finish line, while the hare's should stop a bit short...

step 6) attach forest to frame & insert character ins in their respective slits...

this was fun, though i need to think a bit on the best way to attach the lower portion of the forest picture...it has to be open for the animals to more, but our animal 'puppets' kept trying to fall through...any ideas??

on another note, ehren was up early with me at 7am, and he was really wanting to paint...& so we got him set up...

there is something truly magical about watching a young 'unschooled' child paint...i love listening to him narrate his paintings...and oooh & aaahhh over the colors as they mix & meld & blend & otherwise dance on the page...

he came back to paint with us for our lesson as well...

wip wednesday...

i finished evyn's rainbow smock...well, aside from adding "the perfect button", that hunt still continues. :)

great first sweater-ish project...100% cotton, i used pisgah's peaches n' cream, fiesta colorway.

ehren's birthday balaclava is finished! (though aydin is our model here...it is a present, remember? ;)

this is the year of the balaclava at our house...i made this one for orin last winter & they have been tops on the "make me one" list ever since for both ehren & aydin. so, these will be their knit goodies this year.

i am also knitting two more for my friend jenny's boys.

another pair of mitts, these are for the madison county heritage festival. our co-op will be tabling to spread the word about both homeschooling & our group. we will also be selling handmade arts, crafts, & baked goodies to raise money. :)

here is sweet baby evyn modeling orin's birthday crown...it fits her (18 months) all the way up to him (10 years old). though i don't think this was the best yarn choice...the bottom rolls up too easily. i don't think that would happen with a softer yarn...
she doesn't seem to mind though, does she??

also working on a *second* pair of mitts for our eldest, orin...rainbow this go round. :)

and lastly, a donkey for our fable story next week..."the horse & the overloaded ass". this pattern is from "toymaking with children", by freya jaffke. ok, so now i have a question for all of you...orin has requested a knit wolf for christmas, but i have had absolutely no luck in finding a pattern. any leads would be GREATLY appreciated!

cheers!