Socials & Science With Friends

Seasons

As today was the first day of fall we reviewed the position of the earth and how the angles mark the changing seasons. Ella, Vanessa and Leigha also completed a fall crossword puzzle.


Animals

Ella and Vanessa finished their project on beavers. They made a posters showing what kind of homes they live in, their life cycle, what they eat and what is unique about them.


Fur Trade

Ivy, Cassandra and Jessica did some research for our fur trade party next week. They looked at authentic foods and how we might adapt those to suit our current tastes. So far we're thinking about beef jerky, dried fruit and bannock. That may not be exactly authentic but it will be fun over a fire.

The girls decided what role they wanted to play and started to consider what they would wear. Using a measuring tape, ribbon and stakes they marked off the size of a northern canoe to get an idea what it would have been like (sneaky math...). The biggest challenge now is deciding what we will trade next week and how the system will work!

Last week the focus was on the First Peoples and what their lives looked like before contact.

Summer Classes

The girls each took a few classes this summer and although they fall outside of the school year they did a lot of learning! Both girls attended and helped me teach a children's pottery class through the Summer Arts Program here in Summerland.

Ivy took a whittling course in June and then again in August because she enjoyed it so much. She made a walking stick, sailboat, hedgehog, "yip stick", whistle, boomerang and a bunch of other things!

Ella signed up for a week of gymnastics camp where she got to practise her basic moves, play games and learn a bit of hip hop. She was only planning to spend mornings there but stayed all day a few times! Her energy is astounding. Ella also loved the one week drama course she took with JenViens. The theme was "Twisted Fairytales" where the kids got to rewrite some classics with their own twists. Ella ended up playing the part of the frog prince and looked really comfortable on stage.

A few fun sketches from over the summer...

Ivy's portraits of space club members:



and Ella's "Hay Dude".

Nk'Mip

When we went on the Nk'Mip Cultural Centre field trip with home learners just over a year ago we had a fantastic time. We went again a few weeks ago and the girls explored some of the exhibits they hadn't spent as much time on then.

Allegria

We got tickets for the Cirque Du Soleil show "Allegria" last Christmas and finally got to go! Favourite acts included the Power Track (gymnastics - trampoline tumbling),Flying Man, and Aerial High Bar. It was fantastic but for most of us it was no match for the colours and intensity of Saltimbanco, which we saw a few years ago. Ivy was the exception to this and had a greater appreciation for the more subtle details.

Egypt

Serpents reading level

Ivy took out these two "Theodosia" books from the library and it got us both going on ancient Egyptians. We've had many books out from the library and have worked on several projects. We researched different types of stone and carefully purchased red carnelian for a protective amulet. Ivy used a stick as an experimental subject and followed the steps to making a mummy, even wrapping it carefully. She made a fantastic drawing of a pyramid and a winged disk and several "ankh", a symbol of life. We now have a passing familiarity with the various gods and godesses with Ivy's favourite so far being Thoth, God of wisdom and writing.

Nature Walk

On a hike up a local creek tonight the girls helped identify many native plants and some that are not so desirable, in this region. A sampling of native plants we named were; oregon grape, saskatoon, rabbit brush, yellow salsify (had to look that name up when we got home), night flowering catchfly although we call them salt & pepper flowers, old man's whiskers, and dalmation toadflax.

Active Living - Spring 2010

I have neglected to make a daily record of the girls active living this term so I'll make a summary report.

In an average week we go for several walks on nearby trails or around our property. Ivy and Ella spend a significant amount of time outdoors working on forts, riding bikes and helping with yard projects. We went to the home school skate nearly every week until it ended in April.

Ella has been asked to join the "pre-competitive" group in gymnastics so for the past month she has increased her hours to 4.5/week. The classes are much more intense and have specific times set aside for physical conditioning. In one 3 hour session Ella did 73 push-ups, although that was unusual! She loves the increased intensity and time in the gym. So far it's been a fantastic match and the coaching has been great. Here's a short video of Ella learning a new beam routine.




Ivy finds it harder to find physical activities she really enjoys. She participates when we do things but does not tend to like vigorous activity. This has been an area of challenge and we are still working on it. Ivy is game to try new things without the pressure of a class setting. Ivy and I had fun at "buddy night" at karate and are considering signing up in the fall as a way to stay engaged in regular exercise. Yesterday we took her bike to the Glenfir bike park and she rode over a few of the jumps, getting a feel for it. There were some fun moments and some more on the edge of terrifying but a good experience overall!

Ivy and Ella have spent a lot of time in the back corner of our yard, building a little village with personal huts. It is always evolving to suit the creative needs of the week. This week was all about wizards and collecting ingredients for potions.




Ivy loves to climb trees and explore once we're out on a trail...it's getting going that's hard!



On sunny Tuesday mornings we like to go into town and walk around the farmer's market, visit the library, play on the playground and have a picnic. Here the kids are heading out on their own to buy some apple chips to supplement our sandwiches. They love being responsible for the money and do a great job of keeping track of it.



This is not a great picture but shows all the kids on one of our walks at the Adams Bird Sanctuary in Summerland.

Ella's Art - Spring 2010

1. Piano


2. Environment Poster
3. Kerpoof pirate story
4. Money Scene
5.Tree Painting (submitted)

Ivy's Art - Spring 2010

1. Kerpoof

Sugol: A Cautionary Tale
- Ivy worked on this environmentally themed short story all in one session. Unfortunately due to program limitations (Kerpoof)we were not able to go back and edit once it had been saved!

Kandy Korn I & II
- These videos were also made on the Kerpoof site.

2. Environment posters

3. Violin


4. Egyptian drawing

5. Panda

Newsletter

This is a feature Ivy wrote on her grandma, Dianne Hiebert, in the spring edition of her family newsletter.

Earth Day

In honour of earth day the girls did a voluntary garbage clean-up in our neighbourhood. They had one bag nearly full when the employee of a local business came by (on his forklift) and offered to dispose of the garbage for us. Then he gave the girls $5 to thank them! It was a fun bonus. A few days later the Sparks and Brownies met to do a group clean-up along Prairie Valley and Giant's Head roads.

Ivy in particular takes environmental issues very seriously and it can keep her up at night. Along with 2 friends she started the "JEB" club and the 3 girls hope to raise money for a variety of causes, with Ivy's first choice being an environmental organization. Here are some posters Ivy's made on this theme.

Ella made some of her own posters too:

The Curious Garden

The Curious Garden is a story about a boy who lived in a bleak grey city.

Then one day while he is exploring an old railway he finds a little garden.

as he takes care of the plants ad the plants get stronger, the plants get restless and

the gaden expands to cover the whole track! by the next spring,it has grown

all the way through the entire city!

Related Links

An interview with the author, Peter Brown is here.

Peter Brown demonstrating his technique.

Pictures of the real Highline Park in New York.

Spanish

We are lucky to have an abuela and an abuelo (? did I get that right?) who are willing to spend time teaching the girls Spanish. Ivy and Ella put a lot of effort into a gorgeous sign welcoming them to our home last week (they live in Winnipeg). Grandma Pearl spent most of a morning teaching them the correct pronunciation of common words and short phrases. Very patient!

Money Math

It was girl guide cookie time again over the last month so we've been doing some extra work with "money math".

Ivy used the $4 boxes to practice the 4x tables and did a great job of using subtraction to figure out change. Midway through the selling we reconciled the number of boxes left with the amount of money taken in. It introduced the concept of balancing and we used addition, subtraction, multiplication and money counting to figure it out.

Ella worked on adding 4's to find out how much multiple boxes would cost. She also learned how to write the amounts down and add and subtract it on paper. Today we pulled out a pile of change and made equations with coins. One example was a loonie on one side equals 20 nickels on the other. She counted by 1's, 5's, and 10's. When that project was over she created this wonderful scene with the coins!

Baker

Ivy's first fougasse!

This term Ivy has decided to focus some of her energy on baking. She and Ella experimented with making up their own recipes and came up with "Butterfly Biscuits" and "Caramel Whizbangs"! They based their ideas on recipes they were familiar with and baked them independently in the toaster oven. The Caramel Whizbangs were particularly good and got great reviews! Their ability to adapt recipes and achieve not only usable but tasty results was amazing. The ratios they came up with were excellent and they made subtle adjustments in subsequent batches. A third recipe didn't turn out nearly as well but lessons were learned from that too.

The most recent goal has been to bake some good artisan bread. We took a few books out from the library and were most impressed with Richard Bertinet's "Dough". This afternoon we watched the accompanying DVD and made a batch of Fougasse. Ivy was frustrated that her dough was stickier than shown in the video but we talked about the fact that the baker had been doing it for years and this was a first attempt.

These cookies were made to take to a Valentines violin recital. A friend of ours makes the little flowers but the girls baked, iced and decorated the cookies. I help take them out of the oven but that's my main role!

The Man Who Planted Trees

Jeremy found this short movie for us to watch that followed our themes of environment, social responsibility and plants. The amazon.com summary of the 1987 film is this:

"The Man Who Planted Trees tells the story of a solitary sheperd who patiently plants and nurtures a forest of thousands of trees, single-handedly transforming his arid surroundings into a thriving oasis. Undeterred by two World Wars, and without any thought of personal reward, the sheperd tirelessly sows his seeds and acorns with the greatest care. As if by magic, a landscape that seemed condemned grows green again. A film of great beauty and hope, this story is a remarkable parable for all ages and an inspiring testament to the power of one person."

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: