Sunday 2/7 it snowed and snowed. Patrick took the kids outside and they built several rad snow forts. I even wrestled Norah into her snow pants for a few minutes. The sky after the snow ended was absolutely gorgeous.
Norah (I realized how much her coat needed to be washed after I took the photo)
Micah
Emmett and Jonah
Emmett had a great week of science. He learned about ear and sinus anatomy and physiology and we did a great lab that I challenge you to try at home!
1. Take about a 3' piece of string or twine and tie it around the end of a serving spoon.
2. Wrap one end of the string around your index finger and plug your ear.
3. Do the same with the other end of the string and the other index finger.
4. Bend forward at the waist and let the spoon bump gently against a door jam or wall. What do you hear?
5. Unplug your ears and see what it sounds like when the sound waves are traveling via air instead of through the string!
So cool, right!? We used a variety of kitchen utensils (the large whisk was really neat!) and different lengths of string. Micah and Jonah also got in on the action and Maddie stole the spool of twine. Oy.
Emmett also finished up his unit on Tristan Strong and discussed the elements of this particular story that defines it as a hero's journey. He continues to deconstruct fractions and use both multiplication sentences and the sum of the fractions to define them. Cursive and Spanish are short daily occurrences as well. He also memorized a poem by Langston Hughes called Final Curve.
Micah spent his week in math working on place value and greater than, less than, or equal to. He is continuing through his word lists with improved confidence and using some of the skills that he is learning via Fundations. His science this week was about weather forecasting and prediction. He was less interested this week than he was with the natural weather predicting last week. We read one of the folk tales but it ended up being quite confusing and so we spent the time with handwriting, writing in his Grammy journal, and talking about China on the globe.
Jonah is working his way through his Fundations book and has been really interested in learning words. He also has been spending a lot of time with his vehicles and learning about dinosaurs.
Norah spent the week diaper free per her request! I am impressed. She's taken to the potty training well. One accident. I would call that a win.
And Maddie, well, she gets chased around and chases the boys right back. She is also in the midst of potty training. Who will figure it out first? It's a race.
The kids also had a special treat on Tuesday. Emmett and Micah had been asking for potato cones for weeks. Garden Catering is a local place here in Greenwich. When the kids are in school at OG, once a semester or so we stop in on our way home and get french fries or potato cones for their snack. So on Tuesday at 2:30p it was decided that it was a potato cone day. Ha! Yum yum.
The kids have also spent time this week dressing in their superhero costumes. This would include particular powers to which I am not privy as well as a variety of outfits. I love them all.
A snowy cold week. We took a snow day and a half on Monday and Tuesday to enjoy the snow and just relax a little. I finally convinced Norah that her boots were a good thing to wear outside in the snow. Sheesh, you'd think that I was asking her to climb Everest in full hear. *eyeroll
I also got in some cross country skiing early a couple of mornings. The snow here wasn't great for it but it's always a good morning when I can get my skis on!
Emmett continues to focus on cursive, Tristan Storm Punches a Hole in the Sky, and Langston Hughes. He started a new math unit that is leading up to adding fractions. He also did a cool anatomy lab examining the way a pupil works. Don't judge but we used flashlights to see how the pupil dilates and constricts. The boys were really interested in how the light gets in and out. We added both noses and eyes to our paper guys!
Micah - He started a new unit in math this week that stresses place value. After teaching 4th grade math this year to Emmett, I can see the information building on itself. Micah also studied how we can take cues from nature about what the weather might be like. Plants and animals and the sky have really interesting habits and he was very interested. One of the experiments that we tried was with a pinecone!
Jonah - J continues to work through his Fundations work with me. He also is learning with the older boys about the anatomy topics. On Friday we made cards for our friend Betsy! The kids wanted to do something nice for her. They each made a card and we took some surprises over to her. Dad even got in on the card action with Jonah!
Norah - I am apparently negligent on the photos this week. Oops. This girl just hangs with us! She's sweet and sassy and stubborn and starting potty training. Hmmmm, will Maddie or Norah be potty trained first? Your guess is as good as mine. We choose to follow the child's lead so we will see how interested she is.
Maddie continues to be 100% puppy. She loves shoes, grammy mittens (off limits of course), the kids toys, and her tennis balls. She follows me around the house, up and down the stairs, into the bathroom, and is next to my feet in the kitchen. She's also growing like a weed.
As I write this with Norah sitting on my lap (pointing out all the "r"s I type) the snow is coming down. It's like a snow globe outside with a gust of wind stirring everything up now and then. I love it.
We had a bit of a different week this last week. As some of you know, Patrick decided on Monday, January 18th, that we were going to apply for a rescue puppy. I was not convinced this was a good idea. I put down my sweet Kona in June 2017 but it just doesn't seem that long ago. I felt like I already had my hands full and that we were just moving out of the baby phase around here. I missed having a running buddy but I was happy not to have the dog hair, the expense, and the worry of an extra living being at our house. It has been some time since we had a young puppy (14 years to be exact) but I hadn't forgotten the extra work they are. And so, because Patrick had too many days off from work that week, we went through the process of getting a rescue puppy. After the referrals, the video home visit, the transport coordination and the promise from my husband that he would be training the dog I picked her up on Sunday, January 24th. She's an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue heeler) mix and she was found with her litter mates and mother in Texas, almost at the border of Mexico. They were living on an abandoned lot amongst a whole lot of junk. I'm happy to report that all of the pups and the mom were adopted and that makes me quite happy. She's basically afraid of everything with the exception of the broom and the vita-mix blender. Her tolerance for zippers and the kid's quick movements and loud noises has drastically improved but she still detests the cold, poor little Texas dog.
Picking up Maddie (photo courtesy of Wendy S)
First day home
All this to say that we spent all of our school time on the living room floor this week. She needed constant reassurance and supervision (little shoe chewer). In addition, our attic school room is freezing as there is no heat up there. So we spread out across the floor, watched the new puppy, and learned all sorts of new things.
Emmett has been working on geometry. We got a jar of geometric tiles for him to practice with (hopefully these will come in handy for the other kids down the line). He has enjoyed this unit more than long division (haha) and when he gets tired of waiting for me to finish with the other kids he makes intricate designs on the table.
Maddie also seems to be trying to learn geometry, through osmosis though...
He also continues with learning cursive, vocabulary, the elements of a story, Langston Hughes poetry, and his Tristan Strong book.
Cursive
Micah is working on handwriting, measuring in cm with a ruler, reading, Fundations, word lists, and weather/climate!
Word work
Climate chart
Micah and I are also working towards a belt test in Kempo. We have both done ALL of our work via zoom but we had the good luck (thank you to the Senseis!) to go into the dojo on our own to practice our belt moves once this week. I grabbed Micah's hair and this happened ↓↓↓↓↓... yikes, don't mess with this kid y'all.
Jonah continues to work on Fundations, 10 frames, and patterns. He is also getting in on the anatomy action (at a Kindergarten level of course).
Jonah's fundations page
Micah, Emmett and Jonah also put together presentations on their favorite dinosaurs this week. They each made a poster with facts they found interesting and pictures they liked. They put them all together and then presented them to Grammy on FaceTime!
Norah can be found helping me in the kitchen (she LOVES to cut with the knife), playing cars on the floor with the brothers, or following Maddie around.
Quietly meeting Maddie girl
Emmett even made her a pair of "sliding shoes/slippers". Pretty cute.
And can I just have one last minute to brag on my amazing nephew, Austin. He and my brother and sister-in-law live in Texas and so we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. He's quite the athlete (and hard worker) and he took first in his weight class in his first power lifting competition of the year! Seriously, he cleared 480 lbs on deadlift! What the what?! Great job Austin! We are cheering for you from CT!
