Tuesday Sept. 10th, 2013

Welcome back everyone! Nice to have our group back together again! It was supposed to be a HOT one so we started with a lovely hike down at the river before settling in the air conditioning. On our hike, the kids did some sketching of various plant species, in order to attempt to identify them next week. Lots of great observations and knowledge sharing along the way.

When we got back the kids had a writing task. I gave them a description of a trip to Scotland and they had to write up a packing list of things they would take on their trip. They got quite creative! Some were going on expensive trips!

In the afternoon we started our Zentangle design (more on this next week) and started our book club selection, "Runaway King" which is the second book in the "False Prince" trilogy.

Co-op Update: Monday April 15, 2013

Lovely weather today so we took advantage and the kids had a fair bit of free time outside. We have to grab it before it turns bad again!

To get into the 'Medieval' mood the kids started the day by building the playmobil castle.

After the castle building, the older two worked on their own while the rest continued with their Ted Harrison inspired art project.  See examples of Ted Harrison art below.

                       

Their art had to:

• be a landscape
• have organic lines
• have divisions of colour
• create flow
• bright colours

This was a mixed media project. The kids used oil pastel (but could have also used crayons) for their outlines to not only create some contrast but to also divide the colour blocks.

 

After some time outside we started our Medieval Studies unit. We worked on a KWL chart; filling in what we KNOW, and what we WANT to learn. The kids are quite excited and are eager to build some castles and weaponry. We'll have to see what we can come up with!

We began our book study, "The False Prince." We made predictions based on the cover image and text as well as the description on the back. Most kids took turns reading and has we read we discussion and talked about unfamiliar words and guessed their meaning based on the context. For next co-op (in two weeks), they need to have read ch. 4-6. For anyone who missed out on today, feel free to pick up a book at your library and catch up at home (ch 1-6).

After lunch we did a brief study of probability. The kids had to calculate the number of outcomes for:

• a Twister spinner (easy)
• a dice (easy)
• two dice (getting harder)
• coloured cubes in a bag (3 blue, one yellow, one black, 2 orange, 2 red, one green)
• 2 stacks on uno cards (2 colours, numbers 0-9) - really hard!

Terms we discussed:

• possible outcomes
• equally likely outcomes
• unlikely outcomes
• probability

Co-op update: Monday April 8, 2013

Thanks everyone for putting up with our renos. We're all doing the best we can! The kids have been awesome!

The day started off with some word work. We discussed the three rules for adding the suffix 'er.' Then I gave them a word and they had to secretly add 'er' and then share their answers on the whiteboards. 

Here is some additional practice if you'd like it.

We continued our map work of Canada. They did three freehand drawings of; Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

We reviewed the 6 different types of triangles and finished learning how to draw the 3 remaining; acute, obtuse and equilateral. All of them have a good grasp on using the protractor.

We had outside time in the morning, at lunch, and a little at the end of the day.

After morning break the kids got to design their own country with clay. They started with a thin layer of clay in a shape they wanted for their country. Then we talked about various geographical features and they had to add them to their country. We used the Waldorf cards as a visual add. The kids had lots of fun doing this. At the end, some added extra embellishments!

After lunch we finished off "BFG" which took quite some time and then completed the lapbooks.

Finally, we studied Canadian artist Ted Harrison, and looked at the common features of his art. They had to come up with a design that had the following qualities:

• flowing, organic, lines
• bright colours
• landscape
• blocks of colour

Next week we'll work on the good copy.

Training with Mickey