Term Four Evaluation

Read Aloud Books:

DK: The Greatest Intergalactic Guide to Space Ever by the Brainwaves

- Stars of the Show

-Our Star

-Starry Starry Night

-Recycled Universe

-Meet the Family

-Home Planet

-Best Mate Moon

-Sun Baked World

-Holiday On Mars

-Ring of Rubble

DK: The Most Explosive Science Book In the Universe by the Brainwaves

-Good Vibrations

-Heat Wave

-Let There Be Light!

-Beyond the Rainbow

-Endless Energy

-Brute Force

-Hard at Work

-It's All Relative

-Powerful Attraction

-Shocking Behaviour

-Bright Sparks

-Electric Chemistry

-Bursts of Ideas

-Future Science

Finding Out About Great White Sharks - Greg Pyers

Again! - Emily Gravett

Chesney Runs Into Trouble - Kes Gray

Banana Skin Chaos - Lilli L'Arronge

Superfrog! - Michael Foreman

I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato - Lauren Child

One Blue Sock - Emily Ballou

If I Ran the Zoo - Dr Seuss

Hunches in Bunches - Dr Suess

McElliot's Pool - Dr Suess

Everything You Need to Know About Sharks and Other Creatures of the Deep

How Animals and Plants Survive in Australia's Oceans and Coasts - Greg Pyers

The Octonauts and the Scary Spookfish

Australian Habitats Oceans - Greg Pyers

The Water Cycle - Water in Oceans by Isaac Nadeau

Australia's Most Dangerous Sharks and Their Relatives - Kathy Riley

DK Eye Wonder - Ocean

Oceans and Seas - Catherine Chambers

Australia's Most Dangerous Spiders - Australian Geographic

Panda - Judy Allen

Daisy and the Puppy - Lisa Shanahan

The Dragon's Lie - Kim Lardner

Jandamarra - Mark Greenwood

Mr McGee and the Elephants - Pamela Allen

Bear and Chook - Lisa Shanahan

Bear and Cook by the Sea - Lisa Shanahan

Everything You Need to Know About Snakes and Other Scaly Reptiles

Earth's Changing Coasts

** We read aloud MANY more books than this - please see printed list **

Independent Reading:
see written list

Other Reading Activities:

13 Storey Treehouse audio book

Maths:
Maths Plus Year 3 textbook
Maths Plus Year 2 textbook

Excel Basic Skills English and Mathematics Year 2:
Units 24 - 30 and Test 4

Handwriting:
Foundation Handwriting 2

Writing:

wrote and illustrated his own Angry Birds book (comic book style)

Scripture and Character Building:
Bible (read aloud) Ezekiel 15 - Luke 10
Book of Virtues by William Bennett
Big Ideas in the Bible by Chuck Swindoll
My Bible Friends

Science and Technology:
Octonauts Ready for Action DVD

Salvatore Vecchio Present "The Kingdom of the Oceans" DVD

DK: The Greatest Intergalactic Guide to Space Ever by the Brainwaves

(see above read aloud list for topics)

DK: The Most Explosive Science Book in the Universe by the Brainwaves

(see above read aloud list for topics)

David Attenborough Special - "Natural Curiosities" on TV

David Attenborough Africa Series - TV

Magic School Bus DVD #3

Wild Planet North America Series - TV

David Attenborough Life with the Baboons special - TV

Magic School Bus DVD

- "Meets Molly Cule" about molecules

- "Cracks a Yolk" - about eggs

- "Goes to Mussel Beach" - about tidal zones

The Private Life of Plants DVD - David Attenborough

- Episode 1: Travelling

David Attenborough Lion Special - TV

Spelling:
daily oral review of weekly lists as sourced from year 2 lists on the internet
written test taken every Friday

PDHPE:
walk to and from the library
walk to and from the shops
walk to and from various parks
free play at various parks

Creative Arts:
painted bushfire pictures

various fish crafts (paper craft)

Socialization:
weekly attendance of Sunday School
weekly attendance of story hour
scheduled play dates with friends

Other Activities:

Imaginative Play - created a shop with Jeremy, made own money, bought toys from each other

Planted tomato seedlings with his grandmother

Excursions:

Sydney CBD - International Fleet Review and Christmas lights and decorations

Homeschool Group Topics:

Sculpture Day 

Third Term School Holiday Events and Christmas Events:
Riverwood Library - craft day

Riverwood Library - Bingo

Earlwood Library - check out books and visit favourite librarian

Riverwood Library - Games Day

ANSTO - Halloween

Riverwood Carols on the Corner

Mascot Carols at the Park

Children's Church Christmas Party

Earlwood Library Story Hour Christmas Party

Carols by Candlelight - Kareela

Homeschool Group - Sculptures

Several members of our homeschool group attended Sculpture By the Sea so we decided a sculpture class (or sorts) was in order.  The people who went shared their photos of the Sculpture By the Sea exhibits and we looked at different sculptures that some of us had made at home.

Then there was some free time to create sculptures with toys and various craft objects.

Munchkin is quite proud of his design - he created it all on his own!

 Monkey's creation

 One of the mum's brought in her cardboard sculpture and also showed the children how to make flowers using empty plastic water bottles and tissue paper.

Munchkin thinks he is one of the big kids!!

Schooling With Help From Nana

Nana was visiting so I had an extra pair of hands during our school day!!

While Monster worked on his school work the younger boys had their own things to do...

Monkey got busy working on some pre-writing pages that I had as he is keen to learn to write.

With the protection of sitting on Nana's lap, Munchkin was able to try putting the pipe cleaners in the bottle again - this time WITHOUT help from his brothers!

Then, in the afternoon, while Munchkin had his nap, Monster and Monkey has some sensory play time.  I mixed cornflour and shaving cream and let them explore.

The Beginnings of Tot School

I will most likely have Munchkin do some "Tot School" activities next year so that he can feel included in our school day and also to give him activities to occupy his mind and body while I'm schooling the other boys.

I have therefore been trying out a few different activities with him as I make some mental plans to see what he likes to do and what holds his interest.

This selection of photos was taken over a period of several days.

 Enjoying drawing with his own special set of textas...

 He LOVES water play...

 In between his tastes of the playdough he actually did some playing!

 Putting pipe cleaners in an empty water bottle... this activity would have held his interest much longer I think if his brothers hadn't decided to "help" him!

Collage with contact paper and coloured cellophane

Playing with our box of match box cars and other vehicles is a favourite activity at the moment.

Painting...

While Monster and Monkey painted their Bush Fire paintings, Munchkin gave Paint With Water a try.  It looks like it may take him awhile to get the hang of it but I hope he enjoys it once he does!

International Fleet Review

The boys and I thought it would be fun to spend a Saturday in the city during the International Fleet Review.  Unfortunately it wasn't as exciting for the boys as I thought it was going to be - but we still enjoyed ourselves.

First came the planes flying in formation...

Followed by the helicopters...

And lots of boats in the Harbour to admire...

More Library School Holiday Fun

All three boys enjoyed the games day the library held - particularly the game of musical chairs!

Bingo

Enjoying Bingo at the library with A during school holidays.

Term Three Evaluation

Read Aloud Books:

Animal Sneezes

Baby Wombat's Week - Jackie French

The Last Tiger

Pumpkin Soup

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

The Eagle and the Fox

Night Monkey Day Monkey

Green Lantern: Battle of the Blue Lanterns

Green Lantern: Guardian of Earth

Oops! - Jean Luc Fromental

Small Knight and George and the Pirates - Ronda Armitage

The Sound of the Sea - Jacqueline Harvey

Horton Hears a Who - Dr Seuss

Bunyips Don't - Sally Odgers

Father Christmas Needs a Wee - Nicholas Allan

Far, Far From Home - Elizabeth Pulford

Ella Kazoo Will Not Go To Sleep - Lee Fox and Cathy Wilcox

The Big Farm

The Magnificent Tree - Nick Bland

I'm Not Scared - Jonathan Allen

My Country - Ezekiel Kwaymullina

The Green Ship - Quentin Blake

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel - Virginia Lee Burton

Get Dressed! - Gwenyth Swain

The Colour of Home - Mary Hoffman

These Bees Count! - Alison Formento

Horton Hears a Who - Dr Seuss

Life in a Rockpool

The Boxcar Children

** We read aloud MANY more books than this - please see printed list **

Independent Reading:
see written list

Other Reading Activities:

enjoyed five week free period of Reading Eggs

Maths:
Maths Plus Year 3 textbook
Schoolzone Giant Maths 2-3 textbook

Excel Basic Skills English and Mathematics Year 2:
Units 13 - 23 and Tests 2 and 3

Other Math Learning:
addition facts sheets practice to improve speed

Handwriting:
Foundation Handwriting 2

Scripture and Character Building:
Bible (read aloud) Isaiah 26 - Ezekiel 10
Book of Virtues by William Bennett
Big Ideas in the Bible by Chuck Swindoll
My Bible Friends

Science and Technology:
Absorption Experiment using food colouring

Science Experiment - How water travels through plants (celery/flowers in coloured water)

Spelling:
daily oral review of weekly lists as sourced from year 2 lists on the internet
written test taken every Friday

PDHPE:
tennis lessons with dad and a trial period of lessons with an instructor
walk to and from the library
walk to and from the shops
walk to and from various parks
free play at various parks

Creative Arts:
Art Gallery Tour and discussion about various art works

Listened to and discussed "Go Down Moses" by Louis Armstrong

Socialization:
weekly attendance of Sunday School
weekly attendance of story hour
scheduled play dates with friends

Other Activities:
Visited Sticky Lolly Shop at the Rocks - watched the process of making a lolly

Watched David Attenborough's series "Mammals" on TV

Lego Construction Days

Played various board games

Watched David Attenborough Galapagos DVD

Made Milo Balls

Excursions:

Homeschool Group Topics:
Art Gallery Tour

Alexander's Outing (based on the book by Pamela Allen)

Board Games Day

Sydney Observatory - weather study

Classifying Animals

Second Term School Holiday Events:
Liquid Nitrogen Show at Hurstvill Museum

Space, Stars and Planets Workshop at Hurstville Museum

Craft Afternoon at Riverwood Library

Backyard Bugs at Hurstville Museum

Puppet Show - Riverwood Library

Fly Me to the Moon Event - Hurstville Museum

Bingo - Riverwood Library

Kitchen Capers - ANSTO

Board Games Day - Riverwood Library

Cookbook Fun

 We found this GREAT kids cookbook at our library and were keen to give some of the recipes a try.  Today we decided to make "Ice Cream in a Bag"

A small (sandwich size) ziploc bag contained milk, sugar and vanilla essence while a large ziploc bag contained 25 ice cubes and six tablespoons of salt...

Then you place the small ziploc bag into the large one, hold the two bags together... and SHAKE for 20 minutes!!

 Counting the ice cubes as they put them in their ziploc bag...

 Shaking their bags like crazy...

It worked!!  And they enjoyed home made vanilla ice cream!!

Absorption Experiment Revisited

The boys and I first did this experiment back in July and we really didn't feel that it worked well.

We discussed what we thought went wrong and decided that perhaps the type of paper towel played a significant roll.

In our first experiment we used a very inexpensive generic brand of paper towel that was thin and rough and we thought, perhaps not very absorbent.

So we purchased some premium branded paper towel, tried again, and happily saw a much different result.

Our first experiment took 18 hours from start to finish - this one was MUCH quicker.

 11:18am

 11:23am

 11:55am

 2:42pm

 11:18am

 11:21am

11:50am

Learning in the Kitchen

Making Milo Balls

 Monkey (top two photos) and Monster took turns breaking up the biscuits (cookies) and placing them in the food processor.

 Monster blitzed them until they were crumbs...

I don't have photos because my hands were sticky but I mixed all the ingredients (after the boys measured everything out for me) and shaped the balls and the boys rolled them in the coconut!

Our finished product (shown above) was delicious!