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!
We are deep into the depths of dinosaurs. Last weekend the boys worked long and hard on a project and then came running to get me. They wanted me to come look at Micah's room. They had turned it into an aviary (complete with flying pterodactyls from the ceiling) and giant, ferocious, meat eaters on the walls. There were even blue pieces of construction paper on the floor that were filled with paper fish for the dinosaurs to eat. It was impressive. I've decided not to consider how they hung the ones from the ceiling. I'm sure it was creative and I don't think I want to know.
My runs each morning have been wonderful. I have been in the woods, at the beach, around the neighborhood and occasionally on the treadmill.
Emmett is now reading Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Clouds. We are reading it aloud at night with Micah. They seem to really enjoy it. He continues to read poems from Langston Hughes and is learning elements of stories. We have come to the end of the physics and engineering and have started in on Anatomy. This week I traced each of the kids on paper and for the next 18 weeks or so, we will be filling them in. He continues to work on geometry - angles, triangles, etc and he rocked his mid module assessment! Cursive is still a favorite and we've ordered a new Spanish book to try and increase his confidence.
Micah and I read Fly by Jane Yolen this week. This was not a story I was familiar with. We talked about ways to say things with creative language to make them more interesting. He practices with his word list each week and we have picked back up with handwriting to make sure that his letter formation is solid. We continue to work through the Grade 1 Fundation book. Phew, even first grade occasionally tests this tired mom's brain. Micah's science lesson was all about air and the atmosphere. This was interesting to him. He enjoyed the vocabulary and the discussion about the stratosphere and the troposphere. He is participating in the anatomy lessons and we have some cool dinosaur things planned for next week. He has also been playing his own football tournament in the backyard. Each day it is a new game leading up to the championship. Always in shorts and yes, it is freezing.
Handwriting
Jonah worked really hard on 10 frames and pattens this week in math! He's got it! He also finished up all of his letters and so we have gone on to flashcards and other puzzles to strengthen his skills. He has been asking to play basketball and soccer this year. I'm sure his dad will also encourage baseball. Here's hoping we can do some sports this year. Fingers are crossed for the covid craziness to subside.
Norah and Jonah and I picked up a few library books we had on hold. It was a fight but I managed to get them both in the stroller. This was a miracle as Norah almost always insists on walking.
We also all sat down and watched the Inauguration on Wednesday. Oh my stars, what a morning. I was so moved watching it all that my heart almost couldn't take it. I hope that someday the kids will look back on the history that was made.
It's always a good week when there is a birthday in the house. This week we had two! On Wednesday, Jonah turned 5 and Patrick turned 40. Hooray! Jonah's requests were a "Fancy Santa Birthday" and a "school holiday" so we got out the table linens, the goblets and the candles. I got a set of Christmas dishes that we can use year after year and I hung back up the Santa painting.
We all dressed in red and/or green and it was quite festive.
Yes, this was the best photo he would give me. *eye roll*
This is my chocolate kid. Chocolate layer cake with chocolate vegan butter cream frosting and vegan chocolate brownie ice cream
Not only do they share a birthday, they also share gifts! Jonah gave the jacket to dad and kept the helmet and badge for himself. We got a good chuckle out of this. Thank you Barb and Levin!
Earlier in the day, Grammy read "T'was the Night Before Christmas" on FaceTime.
It was a lovely day and Jonah was quite happy. I think Patrick had a good day too, although he worked for all of it except birthday lunch. I do have it on good authority that he was pleased with his new dumbbells, even though he has to go pick them up himself. Do you even know how hard it was to find sets of 15# and 30# dumbbells?! Good grief.
Don't mind our off key singing.
But I do love what he says after we finish. Be still my heart.
"Isn't it a Christmas miracle when it's a birthday?" 💓
Moving on to the school news...
For math, Micah has been learning how to accurately measure things. How to line them up to tell which is longer or shorter and using a ruler to measure with units. He is progressing through his Fundations book for 1st grade. We started talking about syllables this week, which he thought was great fun. Lots of clapping and coming up with words that fit the "rules" in his book.
Syllable practice
In science, we talked about bodies of water. We made a "tray shoreline" for the lab and it was fun to go back a bit to talk about previous topics like erosion. He made lots of hypothesis and had fun watching the "waves" he created. We made a big mess and had a lot of fun.
How the waves work on the beach.
We also reaped the reward of the rock candy experiment. 4 of the 6 jars turned out well and so that was cool! Emmett loved it (what's not to love?), Norah took a few licks, and Micah and Jonah were uninterested in actually eating it.
We also got some time outside. Micah always prefers to play football games in the yard by himself but he took a break to play with the favorite dinosaur. This topic has come back up thanks to a Nintendo Switch game and I have a sneaking suspicion that dinosaurs will be a focus for school in the upcoming weeks.
Emmett continues work with geometry and angles. He gets annoyed with me daily as I remind him of the importance of accuracy and neatness in his work. I keep reminding myself that he will hopefully see the value years from now in math classes. Oy. He is using a protractor and straight edge and learning all of the new terms that geometry brings.
In science we finished off last weeks lesson on density with another quick experiment. On the suggestion of Anica, I pulled out 5 liquids, including water, and he poured them equally into glasses. He then poured them into a clear up-cycled water bottle to see if they would mix or layer and in what order. He told me his guesses prior to the experiment and then we checked back to see how close he was. He then wanted to let it sit overnight to see if they would become even more obvious and he was interested to see that they did, in fact.
After settling over night
His next physics lesson was on solar energy and for engineering he was going to build a small s'mores solar oven. We never ended up with a sunny day so that project will have to wait until the following week.
For language arts, we finished up "Finding Langston" and talked more about The Great Migration. He read and copied down a Langston Hughes poem and continues to work on his cursive each day.
Jonah has learned all his letters! He was unimpressed with "Qu, Queen, qu".
"That one is too hard mom."
I got out some word forms for him to try too. He thought those were ok. I had to laugh because I thought that I would get to sit down and do a few with Norah but she didn't need my help. I continue to be amazed at the things that each one of them excels at. She can look into the letter box and pull out exactly the one she needs next. She identifies it with her eyes even if it is upside or backwards. She is able to identify and tell me about half of the letters, especially her favorites. Here's to learning through osmosis. Just crazy to me.
Jonah and I also played some trucks outside. I was the dump truck and he was the digger. I was then banished because I wasn't doing it right. Ahaha. I promised him another try one of these days.
Norah is just hanging right in there with us. She holds her own daily and is always right in the mix. She was interested in Micah's math cubes this week but they were pretty tricky to put together so that was a good activity to work on together.
