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Monday, January 14, 2013

Notes on finalizing Unit 1 & starting Unit 2

Sophie has almost completed 75 days of school--then 100 more of 7th grade! She has worked hard and her final projects reflect her dedication and her learning.

Latin--after completing her third Latin learning book, Sophie wrote and illustrated her own version of the Narcissus myth in Latin and will share her book with Lily's kindergarten class at Follow the Child Montessori school.

Science--Sophie completed her workbook on Cells and also wrote and illustrated a book "What is a Cell" to share with Lily's class.

Government--she just started these worksheets and received a score of 100% on the first review! She will continue to work through the prescribed unit and we will visit and tour Washington, D.C. in April. She will work on Government for one 7 x 7 a week for Unit 2.

Voice/Music--Sophie has learned so much about music this year! She is working so hard with her voice teacher Stephanie Fisher at the Midcoast School of Music in Bath. She is learning to accompany herself on the piano. She received a guitar for Christmas and has already shown a lot of talent and intuitive in learning this new instrument. I am very proud of how hard she's working on her music and how much she's learned! We did hear back from Maine State Music Theater and she will be auditioning for this summer's season sometime in March.

Art--she's still working through the Art Styles-ism book. There's no rush on this book. Her music is more important to her lately. We will finish the book by the end of the year and then take a trip to the Portland Museum of Art and she will complete a final report on Art Styles.

Reading & Writing--Sophie continues to work through the two workbooks and we do our Daily Sparks. She's an excellent reader and writer.

Math--Sophie is on Chapter 17 of her Math Doesn't Suck book. She has completed over 20 Math tricks and hints posters she learned from the book. When she finishes the book we will compile the posters as a slide show and then send an email to the author to share Sophie's hard work and her enjoyment of this awesome math book for middle school girls. We've also added in a Math Tricks book as part of the Daily Spark routine.


Now we're starting a new unit. Some subjects and materials will change and some will not.

Math--she will continue with the Math Doesn't Suck book chapter by chapter and complete her posters. When she's done, she will start the next book, Kiss My Math,


Science--Sophie chose Physics, so that's what we're learning about! She will be working through a book about Issac Newton--his life and his theories. She and I will also work through a very challenging book, Cartoon Guide to Physics. My plan with Physics is to help her learn the theories and principals rather than working out the actual math.

Reading and Writing--continue with the workbooks, Daily Sparks, and additional assignments.

Spanish--she will start with basic vocabulary and then read a few children's books. I got her a great DK Language Learning kit that includes a CD, flashcards, two dictionaries, lessons, some games and puzzles. There are great videos on-line to listen and learn conversational Spanish and more than one person we know to practice speaking.


Music & Art--same plan and arrangements.

History--Sophie chose to learn about World War II. The plan is for to continue studying Government for the Monday 7 x 7 due Tuesday. We are planning a trip to the Senate in Washington, D.C. in April. For the other two 7 x 7s a week she will learn about World War II. We have put aside reading a poem as part of the Daily Spark routine and instead read a short true story from the collection Best Little Stories from World War II .

We've also added reading one question a day from a book in the "Good Question!" series: Why Did the Whole World Go to War? and other questions about World War II. The questions are complex and the answers are general but it's a good way to get started every day learning about the war. Her primary text books for this unit are Great World War II Projects You can Build Yourself  and The Split History of World War II, which is a series of books that gives two perspectives of complex historical events. The book is divided--one half is the story (in a timeline structure) of the war told from the German and Axis perspective--not necessarily from Hitler's and Mussolini's point of view but from the perspective of a German citizen, while the other half of the book tells the American point of view, namely why the country shied from the war for so long and what we did to help end the war. Sophie will use what she learns from the two books together--a couple of pages from each-- for each 7 x7 twice a week.


The final project for her study of World War II is to meet and interview two veterans (hopefully one female and one male) and then write a report about what she learned.

This unit will be complete by mid-March.



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