What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

Our read aloud was Stuart Little. I had never actually read the book before. It’s more of a series of vignettes instead of one cohesive story. We also read the Summer themed poems from Outside Your Window.

• Stuart Little by E.B. White

• Outside Your Window by Nicola Davies

Math

We flew through two more units in Singapore Math 1A. We’ll be close to finishing the book next week. Still lots of review and solidifying concepts of basic number theory.

Social Studies

This week we covered Paleolithic and Neolothic eras including the Agricultural Revolution. We did a little map work to help understand the areas we read about. We walked some great videos on YouTube showing the time periods. We learned about various ice age animals including the domestication of wolves. Arthur’s favorite is the Saber Tooth Cat. We also watched the NOVA episode about the mystery of Otzi the Iceman. Finally we learned about the first cities (Catalhoyuk and Jericho) as well as some notable Stone Age sites (Stonehenge and Skara Brae).

• The Secret Cave by Emily Arnold McCully 

• Painters of the Caves by Patricia Lauber

• You Wouldn’t Want to be a Mammoth Hunter

• Kali’s Song by Jeannette Winter

• Caveboy Crush by Beth Ferry

• Peter Kent’s City Across Time

•  The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein

• There was an Old Man Who Painted by Teri Sloat

• The Secrets of Stonehenge by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• The Genius of The Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages by Izzi Howell

• Hands-on History Stone Age by Charlotte Hurdman

• The First Dog by Jan Brett

• How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson

• Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler

Science

This week’s science was a catch-all of mini lessons on animal habitats, water conservation, Alexander von Humboldt (talking about being a naturalist), the water cycle, and landforms. For extra fun, we did a mini study of the Missouri River. We traveled the few miles down the to the riverwalk. We met the troll that lives under the bridge, played in the splash pad, explored the garden, and walked across the bridge to Iowa.

Art

During our study of prehistoric times, the boys made their own cave paintings. Q loved coloring his bull purple while Arthur made an entire scene.

Otherwise we did some fun side art projects dealing with color.

• Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Music

We listened to Classics for Kids episodes about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Arthur really like some of his pieces.

• Mozart Biography

• Play, Mozart, Play by Peter Sis

Nature Play Day

We took a field trip with our friends to the Tree Adventure in Nebraska City. We had a ton of fun exploring the natural areas as well as the nature classroom. The tree houses were still tons of fun, but I preferred the trail. We even got to see two deer in the woods! In total, we spent over 5 hours exploring and playing with our friends. A great day!

Unit Theme

No unit theme this week

Misc. - Random picture books read

• When Planet Earth was New by James Gladstone

• On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen

• What’s Your Favorite Bug?

• The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary

Highs

• I’m loving the flexibility to venture out to various places during school hours. Our field trips were so much fun (even if I was tired afterward). I’m hoping to do a field trip once every two weeks.

• We upped our picture book game this week and I love reading all the books!

• The boys were excited to see another frog hiding in the sign posts at the Tree Adventure.

Lows

• I’m not used to going out so much in a few days. I was exhausted!

Next Week

We are studying the beginning of civilization and Mesopotamia for our world history. We’re also starting A River of Voices with a lesson on Native American groups of the Northeast. Our weekly theme is the books of Doreen Cronin.

Next up on the TBR pile: