Day Two September 2, 2010

*Well folks, still figuring some of this out...pictures seems to only want to load first, before text.*

"Housekeeping" Day

Activities (randomly chosen by Sophie): Game, Craft, Creative Writing

We used our second day (another scorcher in Maine!) to set up the schoolroom and Sophie's desk. I call today our "housekeeping" day—we talked about 5 x 5 for 5^th Grade and I provided an example for her about horses. I explained to Sophie that the 5 x 5 system is to help organize her learning. She will complete a 5 x 5 for each school day. Some days the 5 x 5 will be subject-specific, as in the example on horses I provided. Sophie was quick to remark that her first 5 x 5 that she did yesterday was like that because all of the information was about the Popham Colony. Other days, I explained, will be full of all kinds of learning and on those days her 5 x 5 work will include more general information, like today.

We also spent time looking through the activity cards, which are all on bright cards and kept in an envelope, and wrote all the possible activities on a large sheet of paper and hung it in the schoolroom. We spent time talking about the various activities and all the fun possibilities we have to look forward to. Sophie asked questions and we made some plans. I explained that on Sunday afternoons we will choose our activities for the week. She can either randomly choose from the envelope, choose activities that's she's most interested in, or let me choose them for her. We will choose 3 activities for 3 schooldays a week: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Sophie randomly chose 3 activities for today: Game, Craft, Creative Writing. We played Apples to Apples, which was kinda funny because there's just the two of us and the game needs four players to be fun, so we each played as two players—Sophie's was George, mine was Hazel. George won. For a craft today Sophie made three great posters to decorate the schoolroom wall. Sophie wrote three great poems for her creative writing activity, which you can read below.

We had a great, yummy lunch—Sophie had quail eggs on toast with grapes and carrots. Then she played in the pool with Lily for recess. After a nice break Sophie was back to school and worked on her 5 x 5 for the day. Her plan is to play a math game in the car on the way to skating practice and then on the way home she will complete her reading assignment for the day (at least one chapter). Tonight I will read aloud from a great old book Sophie found at the library yesterday told from the perspective of a doll called Hattie: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field.

Tomorrow we begin our exciting unit on Exploration! I will introduce our first major project: Exploration Maps Scrapbook with Pockets (more to come…).

5x5 for 5^th Grade Day Two

5 Facts/ Details

1. I'm doing 3 activities a day and 9 a week

2. I'm learning about the early exploration for my first semester

3. I'm going to be taught by a lot of different people

4. I'm going to do math daily

5. I'm going to volunteer at meals on wheels and nursing homes

5 Vocabulary

1. domesticate: to tame

2. Olympus: The mountain where the Greek gods live

3. volunteer : someone who offers to help

4. agriculture : farming or growing food

5. investigate : to look carefully and close

5 Questions & Answers

1. What does dad do at work? I will find out at his workplace as one of my activities.

2. What kind of art will I do with Gama ? I'll be doing oil paints and sculpting and shading and more

3. What will I do in my freetime? I'll go see Caca at the library and do a theater project and chess club there.

4. How will I learn music until I find a teacher ? I will study a genre of music or a musician or just listen to music.

5. How did the U.S win the revolutionary war ? I will find out by Mom.

5 Sentences

1. A lion tamer domesticates a lion

2. Zuez rules the Greek gods on top of Olympus.

3. A human being volunteers for charity or meals on wheels.

4. All of our food comes from agriculture.

5. Detectives investigate to find out clues.

5 Pictures/ Illustrations

*See Ablove*

Creative Writing: A Trio of Poems

Assignment: Write three poems:

1. Write an alphabet poem with the word HOME
   
   
2. Write an alphabet poem with the word SCHOOL
   
   
3. Write a third poem about homeschool using any of the lines from poems 1 & 2 in a new arrangement.

Poem 1

Houses, warm and cozy

Open only to invited guests

My bedroom walls are pink and rosy

Everyone leaves in the morning and comes back in the evening to take a rest

Poem 2

Smart to be in school

Cool to be in school

Hurry to go to school

Old is not to be in school

Over 24's not to be in school

Loved inside of school

Poem 3

The house of Education

Houses, warm and cozy

Open only to invited guests

Smart to be in school

Cool to be in school

Loved inside of school

Blog Day Two September 2, 2010

What did you like most about your second day of school? What were the three activities you chose today? Tell us what you did. What does your desk and schoolroom look like?

On my second day of school I liked playing Apples to Apples! Me and mom played as two people my other person was George and moms was Hazel! The three activities were crafts, game and creative writing! In creative writing we did the trio poems above. For crafts we decorated my workspace and made cool signs around my desk and organized my desk. My classroom is in the computer room. Right next to my desk is my Library. It has all my books for silent reading and read aloud. I have my 5x5 stuff above Library, as well as my activities. I can't wait for tomorrow!