Show and Tell

Here's what Bella's learned lately:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

• Spelling words are easy
• Grammar is about pluralizing nouns (irregular and regular), digraphs/blended sounds, types of sentences and how to write a sentence correctly (capital letter and punctation), capitalizing proper nouns...I think about half of the lessons are review for her and the other half are helpful concepts.
• In literature, she's learning about different types of stories: fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction; recognizing other writings like magazing articles and talking about the authors and illustrators. She's read the following assigned stories in addition to books of her own choosing:

Clara and the Bookwagon

Several of Aesop's Fables

Independence Day

Sam the Minuteman

George the Drummer Boy

• We work on handwriting in each lesson, which was much needed.  I see progress. 
• Bella has to turn in a writing sample every month or so, and her first assignment is a narrative.  She chose the topic: If you were granted one wish, what would it be and why?  Guess what Bella's response was? 

Rockstar Wishes

If I could be granted one wish I would be a rockstar.  I like wishes when they come true.  It would be my wish because I love when they sing on stage.  People cheering for me, dancing, and the lights are awesome!  If I were a rockstar I would play the drums.

• With our curriculum, we also have the option of joining interactive class sessions online.  Last week, Bella presented a book report this way, and I thought it was cool.  She got to decorate a page with pictures and text to help her share her story with a teacher and students online:



MATH:

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  Bella's still flying through this subject as most is still review for her.  Counting money, using dollar symbols and decimals, telling time to the nearest quarter hour, understanding a.m. and p.m....  I have to skip activities when I sense she knows a lesson and move on, or I lose her attention.

HISTORY:

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  We both love history!  We're learning about Ancient Rome, legends, the government, gods and goddesses, Greek influence...After each lesson, Bella draws a picture and describes something she thought was interesting that day.  Here's a sample:

SCIENCE:

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  These lessons take us a little longer, because of the experiments we dive into.  It's probably the most challenging of all the subjects for Bella, since she has to be exact and memorize terms that she doesn't use regularly.  Last week we talked about the scientific method, making a hypothesis, and testing it by seeing which rubber ball would bounce the highest.  She liked that :-)

We do the bulk of our lessons on Mon, Wed, Fri mornings while Brody's in preschool.  The rest of the week, we try to fit in what we can.  So far, I think it's working.