Plants

We did an experiment with coloured water and celery to see how
plant stems work! It was so cool!



Me and Ella also created a mini Japanese garden with potted plants!

Wiggly Village

Ivy wrote this puppet play and enlisted Ella to help with acting, props and marketing materials. It is the pilot episode of a show for very young children. After several practise runs, suggestions, and adjustments Jeremy did the filming. He showed Ivy how to use Windows Movie Maker and they edited it together.

Sketch-Up

In addition to playing with Google Earth we've been learning to use Google Sketch-Up to design buildings. We are all starting from scratch but the girls are catching on quickly to the various tools. The biggest challenge has been learning to think in 3D rather than the 2D we're used to on the computer screen. Ivy has had the most persistence in muddling her way through. Mrs. Stewart-Heale (gifted program teacher) has been encouraging and is planning to send us some notes she's made on the program to simplify our learning process!

Here are a couple of screenshots of works in progress.

Ella's Yellow House

Ivy's House #1

Art Inspiration

The girls spend a lot of time doing art, and we did another art inspiration activity where they picked a piece of art out of a stack of prints and art books, then drew and coloured their interpretation of the piece or something that it inspired them to work on. After completing their pictures, they did some research to find out about the original artists and the times they were creating their art.

This video shows their selections, finished works and some conversation about the process:

Ella Art - Winter '10

1. Music - Ella has started to learn both basic recorder and piano. She is grasping the ideas quickly and has an amazing memory for tunes. Like Ivy, she is not focusing on reading music but rather on learning by ear and having fun.

Video of playing will go here

2. Gymnastics - In late November Ella participated in a gymnastics fun competition. She memorized simple routines in all 4 apparatus and performed them well (video in this post). Although she is not in any dance I consider the floor routine in particular to utilize some of the same skills.

3. Art Inspiration - Chinese painting from the Tung Dynasty period

4. Wiggly Village video & accessories

5. Sketch-Up house

Ivy Art - Winter '10

1. Ivy fiddled at the Olympic Torch Relay with the Fiddlekidz and Irish dancers. She also participated in the Penticton School of Music recital in February. Ivy attends Fiddlekidz once a week, has private lessons every other week and practises almost every day.

CLIP of new song will go here

2. Eco-posters on Ivy's blog

3. Art Inspiration - Bosch

4. Wiggly Village video & accessories

5. Sketch-Up house

Canada & Socials

Canada and Communities related work this term:

-Louise Erdrich novels
These books incorporate North American history, cultural learning, exposure to a different language and spirituality and language arts. Last summer we traveled to within a few hours of where Omakayas and her family ended up after their displacement so the girls have a frame of reference for the type of landscape.

- Mapwork
We have worked with blank Canadian maps to learn the provinces (Ivy and Ella) and capital cities (Ivy). In addition we are spending time locating places on our world map. Cardinal directions, grids and scales have also been introduced. Ivy knows the inter-cardinal directions as well. We procured a dated travelogue from the library that was entertaining and somewhat educational. Canada has scenery, beautiful cities and...many recreational golf courses!

- Socials Project
The girls' uncle Mark is traveling over the next few months so we are following him and marking his progress (Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam). We are also making an effort to learn something about each place he's in. Fortunately he's keeping a blog so we can see pictures too! In addition their grandparents are spending the winter in the Dominican Republic working on local projects. They volunteer their time there and have kept us up to date on what is going on in the communities there.

- Google Earth
This program has been a blast to use. Both Ivy and Ella enjoy searching and "zooming" in on specific places. This is the program we're using to mark the locations and trails of various family members over the winter. Ivy discovered the feature that allows you to also explore the landscape of the moon, Mars and some constellations (more solar systems - while I'm on the topic she went through this Cosmic Quest game too).

More Loiuse Erdrich

We continued reading about Omakayas in Louise Erdrich's books "The Game of Silence" and "The Porcupine Year". We are starting to recognize some of the Ojibway words when they come up in the text and don't always have to check the translation at the back!

The relationships between adults and children are very well written and impressed all of us. We had interesting discussions about the responsibilities and expectations of children being so different in that time & culture. We were treated to big laughs as well as quiet, sombre moments. Ivy in particular asked keen questions about "white" culture and showed frustration with our heritage.

Community Involvement

We've discussed communities of various sizes in different countries. Ivy has had an email exchange with her grandparents who are doing relief-type work in the Domincan Republic. They discuss food, housing, schooling and lifestyle.

At the local level, Ivy spent a morning at the SPCA with friends to learn about what they do for animals. She has been to the food bank and is eager to find a way to contribute to it. Together with her Brownies group she did a walking tour in Summerland and they paid particular attention to public art.

Before Christmas we spent some time talking about what we are thankful for and where we might want to help people out. We took a more global perspective and the girls chose to put together a shoebox for a girl aged 7-9. Our extended families put money together at Christmas to send to a helping organization instead of buying each other too many gifts. This year the Paper Kite Foundation was the choice as it was founded by several of my brother's friends. We read through the website to see what the money was going to go towards.

Neighbours are a major component of our community so we are making a little more effort into these relationships. We called an elderly former neighbour and met her for coffee. Our neighbours are very generous and help us out by clearing our driveway of snow and giving us food from the orchard. We try to give back in small ways but I think we need to pick up the pace in that department!


Issues in Communities/Homelessness

Through the contact with the food bank and a having a grandma that works at a homeless shelter, we had the resources to talk through many scenarios where people might have to use these services. The girls did some role playing and came up with some of the challenges they'd face. Some of their solutions were very creative! Being homeless they'd need to find shelter (electricity - extension from outdoor plug next door, blankets, cope with seasons, bathing), food (scavenge, rely on handouts, shelters, food banks, finding odd jobs, how to cook?), clothing (re-purposing or reclaiming what others have rejected, making do with less, toiletries).

Two books that helped us understand more about it were The Boxcar Children and Family Under the Bridge.

Celtic Jam

This August Ivy had an opportunity to participate in a "Celtic Jam" with many other musicians at the Princeton Traditional Music Festival. She didn't know a lot of the songs but was game to try! She continues to attend "Fiddlekidz" every Thursday and has private lessons every other week. Ivy manages to practice about 4 times a week on top of that.

Rocket Science

This didn't exactly fit into the curriculum but was too cool to leave out. Grandpa and the girls have been working on assembling and painting rockets over the course of many months. All the planets aligned last month and we had a calm day, built rockets and multiple motors. Factors like wind, drift, power and trajectory came into play while planning the location and blast off times. I don't know who had the most fun, but with warm drinks, a short walk and lovely scenery to accompany the dramatic take offs, who could complain?

Girl Guides

Both Ivy and Ella (Brownie & Spark respectively) have been involved in the Girl Guide program this year. They attended camp where they participated in crafts, games and chores! Ivy's highlight was the careful packing of the exact recommended list, complete with correct knots and groundsheets. Ella loved the newness and sociability of the whole thing.

The girls participated in the Remembrance Day parade - Ivy carried a flag and Ella got to help lay a wreath.

Vancouver II

Back to Vancouver in October...

We put in many miles of walking. One afternoon Ivy and Ella were pretty keen to get back to the Granville Island Kids Market to spend some carefully saved money. We walked from our hotel to the taxi-bus stop (which was most of the way there). The ride was fun but much too short. Ella had very little trouble deciding what to spend her money on - a small penny whistle and a deeply discounted leather walled. Ivy took her time and ended up choosing a sparkly gel pen and saving the rest of the money for future considerations!

Language Arts - Ivy

Here is a list of some of the novels Ivy has read this term (books with stars are ones Ella has listened to as well):

*Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell
First Light, Rebecca Stead
City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau (book & movie)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Savvy, Ingrid Law
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
*Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth, Lee Welles
*Molly Moon, Georgia Bing
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Trenton Lee Stewart
*Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich
*Secret of Roan Innish, Rosalie K. Fry (book & movie)
A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L'Engle

Supplementary novel work:
- Gaia Girls discussion & activity pages
- comparison study of City of Ember and First Light
- contrast between Ivy & Bilbo (The Hobbit)
- group read aloud, discussion and posters for Birchbark House
- A Wrinkle In Time study sheets (here and here, adapted to appropriate level)

Other language arts activities:
- creative writing (halloween math story, posters & magazine pages)
- spelling & vocabulary (mostly oral, some written)
- editing own work with help, particular attention given to sentence structure & use of capitals
- extensive non-fiction reading for fun as well as on the topics of stuctures and the solar system

active living

This fall Ella has been enjoying gymnastics every Saturday. Other activities the girls like to do include biking, scooter, hiking, skating, swimming whenever possible, playing in the yard, raking and climbing around at various playgrounds.

Ella got home from gymnastics on a sunny day and immediately set to work raking leaves. She loved the new suit too much to take it off!



Ella took Irish Dance in summer and loves it. She was very disappointed that the teacher she had did not continue teaching this year. She continues to dance to Ivy's fiddle tunes when she's practicing.




We like to hike down the hill behind our house on the "secret trail". On this particular day the girls spent some time exploring the orchard. This trip involved checking out spectacular icicles made by sprinklers that were left on through a cold night. At the end of the walk they were rewarded by watching the small herd of alpacas that live on a farm down the road.

Click, Clack,MOO

Ivy and Ella adapted the storybook "Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type" by Doreen Cronin, to a short play. They wrote down the revised script with colour coded entries to match the character speaking. Ella made a marquis for the doorway and they practiced multiple times before politely inviting the Thanksgiving guests to attend the performance. It was well rehearsed and executed!

Props will be submitted as part of the art portfolio for the fall term.

Island of the Blue Dolphin

This was a read-aloud novel that we went though together (link in LA post). In summary, it's a story about a girl who survives alone on an island for over a decade. She builds her own shelters, finds food, builds canoes, makes tools and learns to appreciate animals as companions. This book was a great complement to the First Nations topics and histories we have covered so far. We were fascinated by the descriptions of her different dwellings for the various seasons of the year.

Ivy used ideas from the novel to make various beach villages during the early fall.

Stuctures

Ivy read the story "A Summer In Shapeville" from the text and found that it did not contain concepts that were new to her. She reviewed the "dictionary" section and found 4 words that were entirely unfamiliar, which she studied (buttress, chassis, gusset, strut). After that point we moved on to different resources to better support hands on learning on this topic.

The two books that we found most helpful were:
- The Ultimate Building Book by Stephen Caney and
- Arty Facts: Structures, Materials & Art Activities by Barbara Taylor

Other books we dipped into and remembered to record:
- Great Wonders of the World, Russell Ash
- Bridges!, Johnmann & Rieth
- Egypt in Spectacular Cross Section, Stephen Biesty
- Castles, Christopher Gravett
- The Great Pyramid, Elizabeth Mann
- Empire State Building, Elizabeth Mann


Here are some samples of work Ivy has done on the topic of "Structures". There were many others and she has listed most of them in her review of the unit (handed in).

Stick House
The Stick House idea came from the "Arty Facts" book. Ivy chose the materials and design to match a tropical location (the Amazon). Her ideas on why the house might be on stilts included protection from animals, floods and to catch breezes. Other features she noted were the open doors and windows because it's warm and a ladder to the loft in case it was better for sleeping.

Some of the bigger challenges she faced were finding a suitable roof material, attaching the siding and making sure it would balance and be sturdy enough once the stilts were on.


Ivy continued to add to her Stick House scene. The little shelters were made from popsicle stick tripods, covered by tissue.


Ivy likes to skim through the SAS Survival Manual we have at home. Along with great information on edible plants and first aid, it has a section on making your own simple shelters. She asked if we could try one so we chose the "tripod" shelter with tarp. We used bamboo poles for our three legs, lashed them together with twine and placed the tarp over top. The edges are held down by stones and logs. It didn't stand up all through a windy night but all the pieces were intact and it was easily reassembled. Nobody volunteered to sleep in this one.




A highway scene with overpass and scenery. This project was promptly donated to Ezra who enjoyed zooming his cars and airplanes
around it.



See also Island of the Blue Dolphin post for beach house.

trading post

Ivy and Ella independently set up their own trading post one afternoon after covering some fur trade history and reading the Birchbark House novel. They were careful to initially only trade supplies that they had found or made themselves. The early offerings included hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, carrots and windfall apples. The girls had to consider the relative value of each item and decide how to trade it. They also figured out how long their supplies could last, depending on how much they would eat or drink each day.

As they began trading with various family members the options became more colourful. Their grandma heard about it and brought some true treasures to trade with. She has worked extesively with the Mishkegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario (Ojibway) helping them to record some of their history in writing. She brought two small booklets, one contains stories from an elderly man who used to be a fur trader and the other is a book of traditional legends for the area. She also gave the girls a carved bone pendant made by the fur trader.

The Birchbark House

The Birchbark House, by Louise Eldrich

This novel follows a year in the life of Omakayas, an Anishinabe girl of 8 winters. The girls and I used it as a read aloud book so that we could talk about new ideas together as they came up.

Throughout the book we are exposed to the many ways in which animals are used and shown respect. Many different plants and their various properties are discussed. Canadian history is reflected in the life of the village, their Deydey's (father's) work as a voyageur, and the exposure of the village to smallpox. The culture of the Ojibway comes through in the language, stories, spirituality and relationships.

The girls and I made charts to keep track of some of the many ways in which animals & plants are mentioned. There is also a poster to show the different stories and legends that are told. The story is broken into very distinct seasons which we noted for Ella's science unit.