Over the last 4 years I have organized and/or hosted many different co-ops and have learned many lessons along the way! I must say that this co-op is my favourite to date! What a fantastic group of kids. They are all getting along so well together and seem to respect each other's abilities and inabilities!
Here is the low down on today's activities.
Making Words:
We started with a Making Words activity. Each child was given 12 letters. The letters were the same for each child and spelled the same challenge word. They had to use the letters to come up with as many words as they could. They also had to see if they could come up with the challenge word which was THANKSGIVING. Three of them were able to figure out this word. A few worked in pairs. As they made words we talked about adding prefixes and suffixes and coming up with new words. We also tried adding different letters/sounds at the start of the words. There was a lot of discussion and sharing of answers. We took them up and made a list of 43 words. We're aiming for 60 next time!
Family Virtues:
We did a quick review of Respect and Obedience (our previous two virtues) and talked about how these two virtues came into play over the last week at home. Today's virtue was loyalty. Lots of good discussion and everyone had a fairly good understanding of what loyalty is and who they are loyal to. We also talked about events that lead to loyalty being questioned.
We made this art project today from Pinterest. I love Pinterest for everything and anything. This project is a really good intro to sculpting and it was achievable by all age groups. Our youngest (age 6) was able to complete the tree with little help. I'm going to try a different spin of this project with my grade 8s at school for Halloween, so stay tuned! Our two older kids opted out of this project and worked on their lessons. They were quite focused on what they were doing!
Snack and Break Time:
Micaela was in charge of organizing and running a game of Octopus and Pickle! I love the game Pickle. It's fun to watch.
Activity - Part 1:
I divided the kids into two groups. With the first group we did a slime science experiment. It's never a good idea to try an experiments out for the first time with a group of kids without first trying it yourself. However, I didn't have time and just crossed my fingers. It worked beautifully! I used this site for the instructions. The kids had a blast. Even for those who had a little bit of water left over in their cup, I just dumped the water and they manipulated the slime with their hands and it firmed up. Here is a good explanation for how and why this reaction occurred. I didn't have this resource available until later, so parents, if you get a chance, you may want to go over it with your kids.
While one group created their slime, the other group worked together to continue their research on their provinces.
Just before we broke for lunch we talked about Terry Fox. Most of the kids didn't know much about him. We watched a short video, had a discussion, and made a plan to complete the Terry Fox run next year.
Lunch and free time outside:
Read Paddle to the Sea:
Activity - Part B:
The boys who were doing the research before lunch were now able to try out the science experiment and had lots of fun playing with it afterwards. MB had time to work on her assignments!
Research Continued:
While the two older students finished up their studies, these boys continued their research. One liked it so much that he chose to continue while the others went outside!
I think that's it for today. I am hoping to start a book club next week but I'm waiting to see if I can get enough copies of the book.
Thanks for another great day! See you next week!
1 comment:
Looks like the kids have a wonderful time!
Post a Comment