U is for Umbrella

This has been a really great "boring" week.  No major events occurred- thank you, Jesus!  If you had experienced all the things that happened so far this year, you know why I am so thankful for a "boring" week.

Wednesday night was the kick-off for AWANA at church.  Matt is assisting in the games department, and I am the AWANA secretary.  However, I also played the dual role of 3rd grade teacher, and it looks I will continue to do so until they find a permanent one.  I was surprised that I actually really enjoyed teaching those kids.  I am praying for a permanent teacher to be found though, so i can fully delve into my secretary duties.  Evelyn, however, is loving having me as her AWANA teacher for the time being.

In school, we've been learning a lot.  The letter of the week was U.

Math:  Jacob has mostly been reviewing thus far.  The past couple days though, we have started a new topic: prime factoring.  I don't really remember learning this (although it's possible I may have), but I am enjoying learning it alongside him.  Evelyn has also been mostly reviewing so far.  We are focusing on multiplication tables 0-4 and division tables 0-1.  Aiden counted to 100 this past week and he was so excited!!

He also is learning to put numbers in order.

And learning how to write the numbers- we focused on number 2 this week.

Claire is working on counting as well.  She played a little game where she had to count the raindrops and match the correct number to each picture.

Language Arts/: Jacob is reviewing the capitalization rules and just finished the book Message of the Mountain.  He completed a book report form that goes along with the book as well.  Evelyn is also learning the capitalization rules.  Aiden is learning vowel sounds and learning to sound out words using his phonics ladders.  He also learned two new sight words: he & it.  Claire used letter tiles to spell umbrella.

Using the phonics ladders to make new words.

Aiden likes to put his letter tiles in order after he's done using them.

Bet you didn't know Lincoln Logs could be educational.  You can use them to spell out sight words.  Funny thing is, I didn't even know what he was doing until Aiden proudly called me into the living room to show me his masterpiece.

Figuring out the middle vowel sounds.

Spelling: Jacob and Evelyn have been doing their Sequential Spelling DVD's on the computer.  I love that curriculum.

Literature: Jacob and Evelyn are still reading Dr. Dolittle.  This week they learned about the protagonist and antagonists.  

History: Jacob just finished a chapter in his History book on the Ancient Middle East.  He learned about the Hittites, the Israelites leaving slavery in Egypt, how the Lydians were the first to mint coins, the Phoenicians creating the first alphabet, the evil Canaanites and the Babylonians.  It was a fun chapter.  Evelyn is just starting to study Pocahontas.  Today we read about how she was kidnapped because a greedy Indian chief wanted a shiny copper pot for his wife.  He told the ship captain he would help him kidnap her if he could have the pot for his wife.  

Science:  Jacob has been learning about different mammals.  We've studied rodents, marsupials, dogs, cats, horses, and primates.  I love seeing how God designed each one with a special purpose in mind.  Evelyn is finishing up a chapter on plant life.  We have learned about the different parts of a plant, the process of photosynthesis, and about mold and spores.  

Art: Jacob and Evelyn are still studying the works of Picasso.  This week we took a deeper look at his painting The Three Musicians.  Aiden did a tree where he fingerpainted the leaves on (totally forgot to get a pic).  Claire made and umbrella and colored a picture of one as well.

(We are still working on getting the letters in her name in the correct order.)

Do-a-dots are a favorite around here!

And of course, Aiden wanted a pic with Claire!  

Miscellaneous:  

I ordered the game Rush Hour for Aiden and he loves it!  It is a logic puzzle game.

Evelyn and Claire went on a letter U scavenger hunt and they found a Unicorn pillow pet.

Claire also worked on her lacing skills.

In Home Ec., (No, I don't formally teach that, but it is everyday life and it sounded fancier.) Jacob made his first omelet.  He did great.  That boy loves to cook!

We ended our letter U week by eating Spicy Black Pepper Shrimp w/ Udon Noodles while watching the movie Up.  It never fails, the beginning of that movie makes me cry every time.  

Here's to praying for another uneventful week as we get ready to study the letter B!