Presentation Day

We are not currently attending any of the classes that a local Home School co-op is running.  But every six weeks they host a presentation day where kids can show up and share what they've been learning about. It's a great outlet for some mild showing off,  and I think it's great for the kids to gain some presentation skills.

Since I was helping with some of the presentations, I didn't get many photos, but my girls managed a few.
My Kindy-boy showed off the calendar that he made all by himself

(Right Start Math Level B)


 as well as his sight word fish.  We write words on his fish when he has mastered them and we watch the fish fill up with colorful scales.  It's surprisingly motivating for him, as it was for my older girls at this age.

Here's a link if you'd like to print one out:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8DXg4_j5C40c0laaVgwWlVFM3M/edit?usp=sharing 

My second grader wanted to share some work she'd done in with her 30-60 triangle and the T-square to make a star inside of a hexagon. It was very beautifully colored

(Right start math Level C).


My 4th grader had more to share.  She showed off some posters she had made about the lives of George Washington and Abigail Adams after having read their biographies in class.  This was part of the reading badge  she earned as a Dolphin in the Frontier Girl's program.   www.frontiergirlsclubs.com 

Then she shared a salt dough map she had made of the US eastern seaboard, showing the Appalachians, the coast line, the continental shelf, continental slope, sea plains, Bermuda rise, and the mid Atlantic ridge, complete with rift. (Trail Guide to Learning Series, Paths of Progress unit 3)



 I'll be very glad to get my cookie sheet back now!

She also demonstrated what she had learned about folding the American flag. I was her partner for this.  This was also an activity from Trail Guide to Learning, Paths of Progress unit 3.

You can see that she is also wearing her Frontier Girl uniform.  I took the opportunity to publicly present the kids with the badges they have recently earned in Quest/Frontier Girls.

 

Kindy Boy earned his horse badge and his Joy badge.
2nd grade sweetie earned her violin, horse and Joy badges.
4th grader Big girl earned her reading, Joy, horse, and Dance (hip hop) badges.

I think it's so adorable that my 2yo keeps reminding me that when she is 3 she will be a PENGUIN! That's the preschool level of Frontier Girls.  She'll be ready!

American History-The Great Seal

This year my third grader has used the Paths of Exploration from The Trail Guide to Learning Series.


 We've enjoyed it for the most part. I love the emphasis on literature and American History. We especially enjoyed the task to learn more about the Great Seal. It's on every dollar bill. But how much do we really know about it? We spent some time doing a little extra research in addition to what was in the text and here are a few resources that you may find interesting on this topic:
http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/index.html

Here's a fun coloring page: http://www.classbrain.com/artteach/uploads/greatseal.pdf

And then we used the last page of this packet to make Great Seal bookmarks. http://www.americanheritage.org/AHEF_Elementary_Extraction_04_6_Great_Seal.pdf

After learning more about the symbolism emblazoned in the Great Seal, both front and back, it really hit home to me how desperately our Founding Fathers were trying to convey the essential concepts of American Exceptional-ism, Peace through Strength, National Unity, and the influence of divine guidance on this never ending American Experiment. I believe that if our current policy makers would take time to remember these things and apply them to their decisions we'd see some very positive changes in government.