first week of Feb 2010

We finished Sonlight week 6 yesterday and started week 7 today!

This week, our schedule was kind of in mess, so we have been studying whenever we can. Yet, we managed to finished everything. Very happy!

Week 6 history is focus on I Heard Good News Today (under Bible & Christian books). We read 5 Missionaries stories from 400AD to 1000AD. I used this stories to replace the usual Bible reading.

Science we studied Grassland, Rain forest and Ocean. For the Internet link, check this out:

1. See a short movie about grassland here http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0511/quickflicks/

2. A few interesting sites for the rain forest:

• see the animal at the different level of rain forest at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/fun/deepjungle_flash.html


• See the rain forest at night http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/00/earthpulse/rainforest/index_flash-feature.html


• Meet the people from Amazon (note: naked people) http://tiki.oneworld.net/features/survival/survival_1_yano.html


• Longer video here, quite hard to load though http://www.ran.org/new/kidscorner/about_rainforests/forest_family_forever_video/

3. See the seabed here http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/extreme2002/virtual/index.html

We also read about the 5 oceans. It was not easy to remember and I tried to review it with Den when we had the time (like stuck in the traffic jam). After a few review, she almost remember all the names except for Atlantic Ocean.

The Children Encyclopedia (under Science) actually mentioned Malaysia - "The 88 floor Petronas Towers in Malaysia are among the world's tallest buildings. Even 28 of them stood one on top of the other in the Mariana Trench (Pacific Ocean) wouldn't quite reach the water's surface."

So in Den's scrapbook, we took a long long piece of paper and draw 28 Twine Towers one on top of each other. It was really fun but it is too long for me to scan in for you to see.

Week 6 experiment continue to focus on plant. We collected different type of leaves, put them under a piece of white paper, then Den rubbed over the paper with crayon and viola! The study really help Den to notice all kind of plants. Before this she has never taken notice on the different texture of the leaves.

Besides this, Den was really into reading I Can Read Book 1 (under Sonlight Reader 1). She has been reading 2-4 pages everyday. Sometime without prompting. I usually bring it along with me when we go out and she can read it when we wait for food in the restaurant.

Since I applied some of the technique I learned from Read Right! (under Language Book), I notice a great improvement in her willingness to read. From Read Right! I learned not to focusing too much on sounding out the word but led her in guessing some of the words. Before this, she refused to read aloud any book unless it is phonic reader and she can sound out every words phonetically. After I applied the Read Right! principal for less than two weeks, today she actually picked up Where's My Teddy? (Under Non-Sonlight Read Aloud) and told me she was going to read a story for me!!! I was so happy. Even though I had to help her with most of the words, I am just so glad that she took the initiative to read books aloud.

We also started a new Sonlight Read Aloud book this week - My Father's Dragon (under Sonlight K Read Aloud). We both enjoyed it very very much. It is a fantasy story about a boy who travels to Wild Island and saves a dragon. The dragon was enslaved by the wild animals in the island. Needless to say the wild animals are not too happy about the boy and try to catch him. The boy has a knack sack with him and inside there are lots of things that help him to escape the animals.

To help Den to understand the story better (and because it is so fun!), I make a knack sack using a free template from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/my_fathers_dragon.php. Den colored the knack sack and I cut out all the items and she put them in. Every time we read the book, we take out the items that the boy used.

When we flip open the knack sack, we can see all the things the boy has in his bag. All the items can be taken out and then put back. I am still going to put a few more things together with the knack sack and make it into a mini lapbook.

I also taught her minus with burrowing since she had no problem in plus with carrying. However, this time, we had a problem. She got confused about the burrowing and carrying. Hmm...interesting. May be I was going too fast. For the next few weeks, we are going to concentrate in working on these two areas.

We also have a new Chinese Lesson this week. Topic- Ballet Dance Studio. Something she is very familiar with. She loved the song that I made for her:

(Tune: Skip To My Lou）
Verse 1

快来跳舞，来跳舞 (x3) (Faster come and dance, come and dance)
快来跳芭蕾舞 (Faster come and dance ballet)

Verse 2

穿上你的紧身衣 (x3) (Wear your leotard)
还有芭蕾舞鞋 (and wear your dance shoes)

Verse 3

踮起脚尖往前走 (Tiptoes to the front)
踮起脚尖往后走 (Tiptoes to the back)
踮起脚尖往左走 (Tiptoes to the left)
还要往右走 (tiptoes to the right)

Verse 4

找个舞伴道万福(x3) (Find a partner and curtsy)
转个圆圈道万福 (Turn around and curtsy)

We took turn to be the Ballet teacher and the other would the mommy bring along the new students (dolls, bears, etc) to the studio. The ballet teacher would register the new students and the students' mommy would pay for the school fees. After that the ballet teacher would teach the students to dance using the song above.

New Words:
• 登记表(Registration Form)，
• 舞蹈(Dance)，
• 教室(class room)，
• 舞蹈员(dancer)，
• 紧身衣(leotard)，
• 芭蕾舞短裙(tutu)，
• 月费(monthly fee)
• 左右 (Left, Right)
• 点名册 (Attendance list)

Den was very familiar with some of the ballet terminology in English but it was the first time she heard them in Chinese. For the next few weeks, I'm going to continue to use the Chinese words for her leotard, tutu etc. She loved this game and wanted me to play again and again and again.

For review & info --For K books - http://www.squidoo.com/booksforK (updated 6 Feb 2010)
Pre K books- http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel