Second Grade, Bible, Set Seven

Week One:

• Hymn: Wonderful Grace of Jesus
• Memory Verse: John 3:18
• Searching for Treasure: we colored the game board and talked about why different areas were described as they were, for instance, why would "Complaining" be a marsh or "Friendship" a river?
• Lost in India: we continued watching the videos and completing the activities
• We reviewed our catechism.
• We prayed.
• We continued reading Kidnapped by River Rats

Week Two:

• Hymn: Something Beautiful
• Memory Verse: John 3:19
• Searching for Treasure: we played the game. It took four days to complete a game. We played it for ten or fifteen minutes each day, then put sticky tabs with our names on it where our markers stopped each day so we could continue where we left on the following day.
• Lost in India: this was the final week of this program.
• We reviewed our catechism.
• We prayed.
• We finished the book, Kidnapped by River Rats

Week Three:
You can tell that this was a really strange week. There was a lot going on and we scaled a lot of our studies back to the bare minimum.

• Hymn: We Gather Together
• Memory Verse: John 3:20
• Searching for Treasure: we played the game through once, which took two days.
• Bible Reading: Exodus 36 - 40
• We prayed each day.

Week Four:

• Hymn: We Gather Together -- we only sang it twice last week, so we decided to have it for another week
• Memory Verse: John 3:21 (yeah!)
• Searching for Treasure: we played the game through once, again.
• Catechism: #106, 108, 109
• Reviewed all previous catechism
• Prayed daily.
• Began reading Danger on the Flying Trapeze about D.L. Moody

Week Five:

• Hymn: Come Ye Thankful People, Come -- you can tell it's Thanksgiving time
• Reviewed John 3:1-21 each day
• Princess and the Kiss -- read book and lesson 15
• Reviewed catechism
• Prayed daily
• Finished reading Danger on the Flying Trapeze

Second Grade, Math, Set Seven

This last planning week was also the week before our middle daughter's wedding, and making the detailed plans for math just didn't happen. So I have picked up books at the library with projects and games for us to do each week.

• We are continuing to complete one lesson in Map Mysteries and Mirror Magic each week.
• Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy -- this is a great book because it not only gives the assignment so you can do it, it teaches how to do it, and it is a fun story to read. The book is about a school project using measurement. The book explains the project completely and then describes how Lisa did her project.
• We read the book one day
• On two succeeding days we completed our own project following the assignment in the book.
• It's Probably Penny by Loreen Leedy -- this book follows in the same style as the above book, except it is about probability.
• We read the book one day
• The next we completed the assignment.
• Exploring Numbers by Andrew King
• We played the game, Fifteen!; this is a game for two players. K. liked this game and wants to play it again.
• Make a board with the numbers 1 through 9 on it.
• Each player needs five markers.
• The players take turns covering one number at a time.
• The winner is the first person to cover numbers that add up to 15. If you go over 15, you lose.
• We added the rule that you have to use at least three numbers.
• After using the board with 1 through 9 on it a couple times, we decided to make a board with twelve numbers: it has two each of numbers 1 - 4 and 6, one 5 and one 7. This board was a lot more fun and worked better.
• Plotting Points and Positions by Andrew King
• We played the game, Coordinates
• Make a game board that is a graph with numbers 0 - 6 across the bottom and up the side.
• Lay out the dominos from a double six set upside down.
• Players take turns turning over dominos and putting their markers at the coordinates it shows.
• We played that you could turn the domino around to get the coordinate that was the most to our advantage. For instance, a domino with 4 dots and 6 dots could be (4,6) or (6,4). Remember, horizontal number is first.
• Scoring Points: Every time you can place a marker, you score a point. If you make a line of two markers, score two points. A line of three scores three points, and so on.
• The player with the highest score after twelve turns wins.
• Shape Up! by David Adler
• Some of this book was review (like triangles), some was new (like quadrilateral), and some was beyond her (like obtuse and acute).
• This book has some fun ways to explore shapes, like cutting a triangle out of cheese and making shapes with pretzels and a slice of bread.
• Sir Cumference and the Viking's Map by Cindy Neuschwander
• This book is a story that introduces the X and Y axis and positive and negative numbers of a coordinate graph.

Second Grade, Reading, Set Seven

We are using Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett for our reading book. It has eighteen very short chapters and is in the Step-Up Books series.

Comprehension Skills
This set focuses on oral reading. K. has always hated putting expression in what she reads, but I picked up a dvd of the StoryWatchers Club, which has four or five storytellers telling stories to a group of children. She enjoyed it, and wants to learn to tell stories (which is something I had already planned for third grade). Anyway, now she is reading with more expression, and even when we recite our Bible verses she is using expression.

To practice oral skills, we are focusing on diction and obeying the punctuation. Since Thanksgiving is near, I pulled out a book of Thanksgiving poems that we are reading aloud to each other.

From Games for Reading:

• See it - Name it -- we played this on our nature walk
• Zip Cards (pg 72) -- in our last set of weeks, one skill we were working on was reading in phrases. This game reinforces that. There are a list of two or three word phrases to copy on to 3 x 5 cards. First, you go through them to make sure your child knows all the words. Next, you flip through the cards quickly seeing how fast they can read them. I also put the phrases of a couple Thanksgiving poems on accordion folded paper to flip through.
• Picture Labels -- we actually did a variation of this game, combining it with Race of Words from Games for Writing. I had a picture from an old calendar and we each wrote a list of all the things we could find in the picture.

Second Grade, Grammar and Writing, Set Seven

As you can see, I have grouped Grammar and Writing together for this set. We are doing the workbook from National Novel Writing Month during this set. You can download it for free.

 

We just started at the beginning and are working our way through it. Since we did it last year, K. is familiar with the idea of what we are doing, and is more willing to work through the workbook instead of just wanting to write the story.

 

Instead of using the questions in the workbook for developing the main and supporting characters and the villain, I used the What a Personality activity work page from Games for Writing. For her age, this was much better, and since we had played What a Personality a few times this year, it was pretty easy for her to complete. I completed some also, just for the fun of it.

 

We had written the plot, through the climax. It is really neat to have K. come running to the kitchen with a book she is reading for fun and tell me, "Mom, I just got to the climax in this book!"

We completed the workbook during our third week, which left just two weeks for K. to write her novel. This has turned out not to be enough time, so, even though we are technically through with our school year, she is continuing to work on her novel.

Next year we will start the workbook during set 6 so K. has all of set 7 to write her novel.

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Seven

Piano

• One page a week

Art

• We completed the Art Museum book.
• K. has been enjoying painting with watercolors.

We didn't really do much with fine arts during this set of weeks. We had some things come up and K. was working on some other projects, so I decided to let it slide, although she was looking through the My Art Book and showed me a couple things she wanted to do. We will try to do them during our winter break.

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Seven

Spelling is another subject that didn't get all the time it needed during the last planning week. I normally print out one colorful worksheet, based on the ones in the teacher's book, for K. to complete on Tuesdays. This did not get done. Instead, we are working together to do something similar to the worksheets.

Second Grade, Science, Set Seven

Our first two and a half weeks we spent learning about heat. We used the book, Really Hot Science Projects with Temperature by Robert Gardner.

• I read the introduction of the book, which talks about the difference between heat and temperature, to K.
• We went on a temperature hunt (pg 10).
• We measured the temperature in different places inside to find the warmest and coldest places.
• Is it warmer near the floor or ceiling?
• Is it warmer near a window or beside an inside wall?
• Is it warmer inside or outside a closet?
• Is it warmer upstairs or downstairs?
• We went out side to find the warmest and coldest places.
• Is it warmer in the sun or in the shade?
• Are the temperatures on the north and south side of the house the same?
• Are the temperatures on the east and west side of the house the same?
• We took our own temperatures (pg 14). K. and I took our temperatures every two hours from the time we got up until we went to bed. We could see that our temperature changes throughout the day.
• We froze water (pg 34). We a couple inches of water in a clear plastic bottle and then put a laboratory thermometer in it. Then we put it in the freezer. We recorded the temperature every ten minutes until the water started to freeze, then every fifteen minutes. The next day we charted the information we recorded. (We left the experiment in the freezer to use in another experiment.)
• We learned about temperature and evaporation (pg 16).
• Set up a fan and measure the temperature in front of it before turning the fan on.
• Turn the fan on and measure the temperature.
• Have your child lick the back of one of their hands and hold their hands in front of the blowing fan. Which feels cooler? Is it still wet? What happened to the water?
• Dampen a paper towel and wrap it around the bottom of the thermometer. Hold it in front of the blowing fan. What is the temperature?
• Does evaporation cause a drop in temperature?
• We took the temperature outside (pg 18).
• Put a thermometer outdoors in a place where it will be in the shade all day.
• Starting when you get up in the morning, record the temperature every hour until you go to bed at night.
• The next day make the information into a chart.
• Did the temperature increase or decrease faster?
• What was the hottest time of day?
• Endothermic or Exothermic? (pg 30). This is really fun!
• Put 100 ml of water in a glass (make sure your thermometer will fit in the glass). Record the temperature of the water. Add two tablespoons of Epsom salts to the water and stir to dissolve. Measure the temperature of the solution.
• Put 100 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide in a container. Record the temperature of the hydrogen peroxide. Put the container in the sink, add 2-1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast (one packet) to the hydrogen peroxide and stir. Push aside some of the foam and measure the temperature of the liquid.

• Melting Ice (pg 36)
• Set a thermometer in a warm room and record the temperature.
• Take the ice and thermometer from the freezer. Set it in the same vicinity as the "room temperature" thermometer.
• Record the temperature of the ice/water every ten minutes until it reaches room temperature. Ours took five hours and twenty minutes to come to room temperature.
• Seasonal Temperatures (pg 24 and 26)
• Take a thermometer outside and place it so it faces the sun -- the top of the thermometer  will point away from the sun (the thermometer should cast a long shadow). Record the temperature.
• Change the angle of the thermometer so its top is pointing toward the sun -- the bulb should still be in the sunlight (the thermometer will have a very small shadow). Record the temperature.
• Take a flashlight and shine it directly over the tropic of Capricorn on a globe. This is where the sun is on the first day of winter. Then, without changing the angle of the flashlight, move it so it shines on where you live. Does the light cover more area?
• Next, shine the flashlight directly over the tropic of Cancer on the globe. This is where the sun is on the first day of summer. Then, without changing the angle of the flashlight, move it so it shines on where you live. Does the light cover more area?
• Talk about why it is cooler and warmer in certain seasons.
• Moving Liquids by Temperature Difference (pg 12)
• Fill one cup with hot tap water; use several drops of food coloring to color it.
• Fill a second cup with cold water.
• Fill an eyedropper with hot water from the first cup.
• Place the end of the eyedropper on the bottom of the cup of cold water. Squeeze out a drop into the cold water. What happens?

Notes:

• On the all day long temperature measuring experiments, if you miss a time, or forget to start as soon as you get up, keep going with it. We did, and we were still able to see the desired results.
• When moving thermometers, we let them sit for three minutes before recording the temperatures.

Then we went on to learn about water. I used two books from the library for the experiments.

• Science Experiments with Water by Sally Nankivell-Aston (ww)
• Super Simple Things to do with Water by Kelly Doudna (ss)

Here's what we did:

• I started off by reading a couple books to K.
• What is the World Made Of? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld -- this book is about solids, liquids, and gases. There are a few activities at the back of the book. We made a chart of solids, liquids, and gases
• A Drop of Water by Walter Wick -- we looked at the pictures in this book
• Water Everywhere (ww pg 4) I read the introduction to K.
• Water on the Move (ww pg 6) -- this shows why water towers are higher than the houses

• You will need a funnel, a piece of tubing, water proof tape, a pitcher, transparent outer case of a ball point pen, water, and two people
• Use the tape to attach the funnel to one end of the tubing and the pen case to the other.
• Hold the pen case upright and higher than the funnel.
• Pour water into the funnel until the tube is filled and the funnel is half full.
• Lift the funnel higher than the pen case.
• Cold as Ice (ww pg 8) -- this shows that water expands when it freezes
• Fill a balloon with water and tie the balloon.
• Draw a line around the balloon and measure the distance around the balloon on the line.
• Put the balloon in the freezer until it is completely frozen.
• Measure around the balloon again.
• Vanishing Water? (ww pg 10) -- this shows the water cycle

• You will need: a clear glass bowl, modeling clay, hot tap water, and clear plastic wrap
• Use the clay to make the banks of a lake, about one-third of the way up the side of the bowl. You can stick small plastic animals, etc. in the clay to make a scene.
• Fill the lake with hot tap water.
• Quickly stretch the plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and seal it around the bowl.
• Set the bowl in the sun for a few hours.
• Bottled Up (ss pg 8) -- this shows air pressure pushing the water out of the bottle

• You will need a baking pan (or sink), an empty bottle with a screw-on cap (it works easiest if the bottle is not squishy), nail or screw or ice pick, water
• Poke a hole near the bottom of the bottle.
• Hold your finger over the hole and fill the bottle with water.
• Screw the lid on the bottle.
• Hold the bottle over the pan or a sink and remove your finger from the hole. What happens?
• Unscrew the bottle cap. What happens?
• Boiling Hot (ww pg 12) -- shows water changing from a liquid to a gas

• Make some tongs by attaching a clothes pin to a wooden dowel (we used a rubber band).
• You will also need: aluminum foil container, candle, and matches
• Light the candle.
• Attach the aluminum foil container to the tongs. Put a small amount of water in the container.
• Hold the container over the candle flame.
• It is supposed to boil. Ours did not, but we could still see steam rising. If yours boils, you may want to keep it over the fire until all the water has turned to steam.
• Water's Skin (ww pg 16 and ss pg 14) -- this shows surface tension
• You will need a tray of water, dish washing liquid, thin plastic, eye dropper, 40 toothpicks
• Cut a fish from the thin plastic. Cut a funnel shape out of the tail.
• Put the fish at one end of the tray of water, facing the opposite end.
• Drop one drop of dish soap in the funnel of the fish. The dish soap breaks the surface tension and the fish goes "swimming" to the other end of the tray.
• Dump out the water, make sure you get all the soap out of the tray. Put clean water in.
• Carefully place the toothpicks on the surface of the water.
• Drop one drop of soap in the middle of the tray. What happens?
• Sealed Up Tight (ss pg 17) -- a thin layer of water keeps the water inside the glasses
• You will need a jar, a cloth, the sink, and an index card
• Put the cloth over the jar and push the cloth down into the jar.
• Fill the jar most of the way full with water.
• Pull the cloth down around the outside of the glass until the cloth is stretched tight.
• Put one hand over the top of the jar and turn the jar over with your other hand (continuing to hold the cloth tightly across the opening of the jar).
• Remove your hand from the opening of the jar. What happens?
• Fill the jar with water all the way to the top.
• Put the index card over the mouth of the jar. Hold it in place while you turn the jar upside down.
• Remove the hand that is holding the index card. What happens?
• Liquids that Float (ww pg 20) -- learning about density
• Use sand, pebbles, and shells to make an ocean scene in the bottom of  clear bowl.
• Add water. You can also float a boat on the water.
• Pour some cooking oil into the water. What happens?
• Stir the oil and water. What happens?
• Add some dish soap. What happens?
• Stir the dish soap in. What happens?
• Straw Pole (ss pg 20) -- more about density
• You will need: 4 jars, food coloring, salt, teaspoon, clear straw, and an index card
• Fill each jar with water.
• Add ten drops of a different food color to each jar.
• From left to right, add salt to each jar. One teaspoon to the jar on the left, two teaspoons to the next one, three teaspoons to the next, and four teaspoons to the last jar.
• Stir until the salt is dissolved.
• Going from left to right, stick one end of the straw about one inch into the water. Put your finger over the other end of the straw to hold the water in.
• Put the straw straight down into the next jar, about two inches. Remove your finger, then replace it.
• Do the same with the third and fourth jars.

• The colors don't mix because the salt has made the water be different densities.
• Now take the jar on the left and the one on the right. Put then in a baking pan.
• Fill the jars until they are completely full.
• Place the index card over the jar that was on the left (the one that had just one teaspoon of salt added to it).
• Hold the card in place as you turn the jar upside down.
• Set the jar on top of the other jar and line up the jar rims.
• Have someone hold the jars in place while you slowly pull out the index card.

• Water Power (ww pg 28) -- shows that the energy from moving water can move things
• You will need: two ping pong balls and two water squirter bottles.
• Mark the balls so you know which belongs to which person.
• Use the water squirters and see who can get their ball to the finish line first.
• We used a groove between slabs of cement for our track. I marked the middle with chalk as the finish line, and we each started from opposite ends.

Second Grade, History, Set Seven

We started with chapter 74 from Child's History. This chapter covers:

• Frederick the Great
• Maria Theresa
• Seven Years War

In addition we read:

• A Brief Political and Geographic History of Europe by Frances E. Davey -- actually we just looked at the pictures of Frederick and Maria Theresa on page 44.
• Ten Queens by Milton Meltzer -- we read the chapter about Maria Theresa, which also talked a little about Frederick the Great.
• Austria by Deborah Grahame -- we looked at the pictures and read short excerpts.
• Can't You Make them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz -- this book is available on an audio cd, so we listened to it while we were driving, and K. followed along in the book. It is interesting, informative, and short -- perfect for kids.
• Captain Cook, Pacific Explorer by Ronald Syme -- this book was very interesting. It covered Cook's life from the time he was eight years old to his death.
• The World of William Penn by Genevieve Foster -- this is the first of this series of books that I have actually read. I really wanted to read it to K. because it covered so many people/events we have read about and showed how they fit together and included some that we had not read about yet. This book was interesting to K. I let her color and draw or eat while I read it. She stopped me sometimes to ask what a word meant or to comment on something. I read about 50 pages each day and we finished it in a week.

Chapter 75 from Child's History covers:

• George III
• American Revolution
• Taxes
• Benjamin Franklin
• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson / Declaration of Independence
• Lafayette
• Lord Cornwallis
• General Greene

In addition we read:

• Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz -- another audio book. Reading so many books, we start "bumping" into events that we've already read about and are able to "weave" a better understanding of the time. For instance, it mentions in this book that Patrick Henry met Thomas Jefferson at a house party. Well, we read about that in Tom Jefferson in the last set of weeks, so we had more information about it.
• Daniel at the Siege of Boston by Laurie Calkhoven -- this is a story about a fictional character, Daniel, in a factual situation. A lot of the books I've picked up are about the siege of Boston, and so we are getting a good understanding of it from many directions.
• Emma's Journal by Marissa Moss -- another book about the siege of Boston. Emma is sent from the country to be her Aunt's maid during the siege and is able to help the Sons of Liberty.
• Thomas Jefferson for Kids by Brandon Marie Miller -- we are using this book for some activities.
• We made the game "The Royal Game of the Goose". The Jefferson family enjoyed playing this game. We have played it once. It was fun. I think we will play it again. Here is a link to a printable version.
• We made a Compass Rose. Instead of painting with colors, K. painted with glue and then we spread colored sand on the glue. You have to do one color at a time, letting the glue dry between colors.
• We learned a new word game, "I love My Love with an A". To play this game the first person says, "I love my love with an A. I took him (or her) to the sign of the Arrow, and I treated him to Apples." The next person does the letter B, and so on through the alphabet. The phrase "sign of the . . ." referred to the sign on a restaurant or tavern.
• We were going to make the Macaroni and Cheese recipe for our celebration dinner on our last day of school, but we just discovered the K. is lactose intolerant, so we decided not to.
• Why don't you get a horse, Sam Adams? by Jean Fritz -- the true story of how Samuel Adams finally learned how to ride a horse.
• And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz -- a witty book about the harrowing details and narrow escapes during Paul Revere's midnight ride.
• The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Normal Richards
• George Washington by Augusta Stevenson
• John's Story: 1775 by Joan Lowery Nixon -- this book deals with Governor Dunmore freeing the slaves if they would fight with the British.
• Did It All Start with a Snowball Fight? by Mary Kay Carson -- I used this book to learn about the end of the American Revolution, pages 27 - 29.
• If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore
• Thomas Jefferson: Author of Independence by Anne Colver
• Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett
• What Are You Figuring Now? by Jeri Ferris -- a story about Benjamin Banneker
• The Winter at Valley Forge by James E. Knight
• Five Smooth Stones: Hope's Diary by Kristiana Gregory -- we learned about life during the time period, but the book does not have a conclusion
• Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit -- this is about Henry Knox getting the big guns from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in order to break the British siege of Boston.
• Phoebe and The General by Judith Berry Griffin
• John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor by Armstrong Sperry
• Benjamin West: Gifted Young Painter by Dorothea J. Snow
• Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry

Notes:

1. The easy reading books I assigned for K. to read on her own.
2. We still have the last three books to finish, but then that is a reason we homeschool -- so learning is confined by walls or days.

Evaluation of Second Grade, Set Six

• Bible -- We completed the lessons in Searching for Treasure. K. has really enjoyed these lessons and I think we will have fun reviewing with the board game in the next set.
• Math -- K. has a good grip on her addition and subtraction facts. She really enjoys the map book and wants to work in it more than once a week. Her multiplication and division facts are coming along fine.
• Reading -- K. reads well, and is really very good about stopping when she comes to a word that she does not know the definition and asking about it. Sometimes I tell her and sometimes we look it up in the dictionary.
• Grammar -- I know K. is learning and understanding the concepts because she brings them up at other times.
• Fine Arts -- K. likes to play the piano by ear, but is learning about the notes. She is enjoying the sewing projects.
• Writing -- K. enjoys most of the projects and games we play.
• Spelling -- K. is doing well with alphabetizing and dictionary skills. Her spelling is good.
• Science -- K. has enjoyed the experiments. Yesterday we were on a hike and part of it went up a hill. The trail zig-zagged back and forth. I asked her what she noticed about the trail. She was able to tell me it was a ramp and the zig-zag made it easier to climb.
• History -- The other day I came upon K. telling her aunt about Louis XIV and his palace.

Second Grade, Bible, Set Six

Week One:

• Hymn: When We See Christ
• Memory Verse: John 3:11
• Searching for Treasure: Study 18, Intro - #3
• Review Catechism
• Pray daily
• Finished reading Escape from the Slave Traders (We met some people from Malawi, which is next to Lake Nyasa, which we read about in this book. It was really neat how it all worked together.)
• Reviewed previously memorized passages

Week Two:

• Hymn: He Touched Me
• Memory Verse: John 3:12
• Searching for Treasure: Study 18, #4 and Study 19, Intro - #2
• Bible Reading: Exodus 31 - 35
• Prayed daily
• Began reading Sinking the Dayspring about John Paton

Week Three:

• Hymn: He's Everything to Me (K. really likes this one, I've heard her singing it around the house)
• Memory Verse: John 3:13
• Searching for Treasure: Study 19, #3 - 4 and Study 20, Intro
• The Princess and the Kiss: Lesson 14 in the Life Lessons book. This lesson is about being pure in your life so you don't build walls between yourself and God or yourself and those in authority. We also read Mrs. Rosey-Posey and the Chocolate Cherry Treat.
• We prayed each day.
• We continued reading Sinking the Dayspring

Week Four:

• Hymn: Face to Face
• Memory Verses: John 3:14-15
• Searching for Treasure: Study 20, #1 - 4; this study was on was on working hard
• Catechism: # 100, 102, and 104
• We reviewed all the catechism we have learned once, and this year's catechism once.
• We prayed
• We finished reading Sinking the Dayspring

Week Five:

• Hymn: To God be the Glory
• Memory Verses: John 3:16 - 17 -- this is a long section, but K. already knew verse 16, so it was really only learning verse 17
• Lost in India: This is a four week program that Mission India and Sonlight Curriculum are doing. Each Tuesday and Thursday there is a new video to watch about Chris, who went to India to see a friend, but flew to the wrong airport and now has to travel through India to meet his friend, Justin. There are activities that go along with each video, which include stories about children who have become Christians through Mission India's Bible Clubs. The goal is to raise money for these Bible Clubs.
• We prayed
• We started reading Kidnapped by River Rats, which is about William and Catherine Booth.

Second Grade, Math, Set Six

Addition

• K. completed six addition problems (three addends to ten thousands place with renaming). Then she marked which sums were odd or even, compared the sums using the < or > signs, and rounded to the nearest ten or hundred.
• We played games from the books, Adding and Subtracting Book 1 and Book 2 by Ann Montague-Smith.
• We practiced the order principle and grouping principle.

Problem Solving
Map Skills -- I discovered I had the book Map Mysteries by Lisa Trumbauer. It is for grades 2 - 4. We are completing one mystery each week. K. is really enjoying it.

Geometry
We are continuing the book Mirror Magic. This book covers congruence and symmetry.

Subtraction

• K. completed six subtraction problems (to thousands place with borrowing). Then she marked which differences were odd or even, compared the differences using the < or > signs, and rounded to the nearest ten or hundred.
• We played games from the books, Adding and Subtracting Book 1 and Book 2 by Ann Montague-Smith.
• I made up word problems that had to do with comparing. Such as, John had 3 apples. Ken had 7 apples. How many more did Ken have?

Multiplication with Marvelous Multiplication

• We used the squares we made for the four times tables to play a game.
• I put the squares out with the words showing (one, two, three, etc.)
• We took turns tossing tokens.
• We had to give the answer for which ever square it landed on, even if there were already tokens on that square.
• We kept going until we used all the tokens.
• If a wrong answer was given, we took any tokens that were on that square off and put them back in the pot to be thrown again.

• We explored the ten times tables by putting sets of hand prints on a large paper. Each set is a ten, so one set is 1 x 10 = 10; two sets is 2 x 10 = 20; up to 10 sets is 10 x 10 = 100.

• We played the dominos game with a double 6 set.
• Each player has a card with the numbers 1 through 36.
• Players take turns choosing dominos and solving the multiplication equation it represents. That player puts a token on the answer on their card.
• The first person with six in a row wins.
• Dominos with a zero, mean you can put a token anyplace on your card.

Division with Dazzling Division

• We practiced our 3's
• I would give K. a number of colorful game pieces and she would divide them evenly between three circles I drew on a sheet of paper.
• We practiced our 4's
• I printed out pictures of ten animals that have long legs (horse, cow, giraffe, zebra, etc.) then I cut the legs off of them.
• I gave K. four legs. That was enough for one animal. (4 ÷ 4 = 1)
• We continued with 8, 12, 16, . . . 40
• We played computer games to practice our 1's, 2's, 3's, and 4's. K. really liked playing Flurry of Flavors. I liked it because it was not timed, which allowed her to skip count to find the correct answers.

Second Grade, Reading, Set Six

We switched to the reader, Pilgrim Boy. It is a third grade A Beka reading book that I picked up at the thrift store. I decided to use it now since it goes with the time period we are studying in history. It has comprehension questions after each chapter. There are 16 short chapters.

We finished Pilgrim Boy and started reading BJU's 3-1 reading book again.

Comprehension Skills
This section is learning to read at different speeds. You read rapidly when skimming to find an answer or searching for a name in the phone book (yeah, who does that anymore!). You read carefully when studying, following directions, etc. A normal rate is used when reading for enjoyment.

• Obey the Speed Limit; this was a board game in the book, players took a card, read it and followed the directions. Cards said things like:
• Whoops! That is too fast to read directions for putting a model together. Move back 2 spaces.
• The directions to the game you want to play are complicated. Move ahead 1 space very slowly.
• Good for you! You found the key word in the paragraph. Move ahead 3 spaces.
• This joke is pretty good. Move ahead 2 spaces and read at a normal rate to enjoy it.
• Where are the Phrases?; one way to read rapidly is to read in phrases rather than word by word. We looked at a poem and broke it into phrases.
• I had K. read a science experiment rapidly. Then asked her what we were supposed to do. Then I had her read it slowly and asked her again.
• We searched for friends names in the telephone book.
• I read a story to her and we found the five most important words in some of the paragraphs.

From Games for Reading:

• See It - Name It page 138 -- we did this on the way to the park one day
• Goofy Sentences page 64
• Interview with an Alligator page 171
• Go Togethers page 140

Second Grade, Grammar, Set Six

Parts of Speech

• We used an old reader and underlined the verbs, pronouns, nouns, proper nouns, plural nouns, and adjectives in one story. The story had four pages, so we did one page each day.

Sentence Structure

• We divided sentences between the subject and the predicate.
• We added subjects to predicates.
• We added predicates to subjects.

Usage

• We learned that 'I' gets used in the subject of a sentence and 'me' is used in the predicate.
• We completed sentences to avoid using double negatives.

Listening and Speaking Skills

• Giving an oral book report from an outline

Writing Skills

• To prepare for writing a descriptive paragraph (she chose to write about chocolate cake), we completed a Word Web and a Senses Chart.
• We practiced combining sentences that had common subjects or common predicates.
• I had K. pick two words from her word web and two from her senses chart that were plain, everyday words. We used the thesaurus to find more interesting words to use. For instance, soft was exchanged for spongy.
• She spent two days writing sentences from the things on her charts. I asked her to write five sentences each day.
• The next day we looked for sentences that had the same subject or predicate and she combined them into one sentence.
• She decided on the order her sentences should be in the paragraph, and wrote the paragraph in her best writing.

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Six

Art

• We completed pages 20 - 24 in the Art Museum book. I found a video on You Tube of someone carving (time lapse) and we watched it.
• Making a Assemblage (My Art Book)
• We read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau. We copied one of his jungles from My Art Book this year, so when I saw this book at the library, I picked it up. It is about his life. An interesting book with great illustrations.

Piano

• One page a week

Sewing
I looked on-line for hand sewing projects for children. Then I let K. choose one. I found a pinterest board that is just felt ornaments -- so most are hand sewn. K. and I were looking at the pins and saw a few things that she would like to make.

• We made Flower Broaches.

 

• We are working on Felt Pumpkin Magnets. They are almost finished.

Second Grade, Writing, Set Six

• Forbidden Letters; the letter was H this time. It was on the "less easy letter" list, but it is a really hard letter to not use. You can't even use the word 'the'. 'H' is really pretty popular. After a few sentences we were frustrated and stopped. (Games for Writing)
• Welcoming Words; K. made a sign to welcome her friends to our End of Summer Party. (Writing Hangups)
• That's Good / That's Bad; we take turns writing a story where each sentence is followed by either "That's good." or "That's bad." (Games for Writing)
• I created a monster this week! Rules and Regulations was the writing assignment, so I had K. write rules for the bathroom. She came up with about ten. Some were funny, such as: No throwing flies in the toilet. But then she decided to add fines to each rule, and now she is making rules for other rooms. (Writing Hangups)
• We wrote a poem using Rhyme Time. I had written out six words, and had K. pick two. These were the words that had to rhyme in our poem. We took turns writing two or three lines at a time.

Cursive Writing Made Easy and Fun:

• Riding the Cursive Wave; Write a word in cursive. Then imagine you set it down on water. If it was floating or starting to sink, where would the water go? Color in the "bottoms" of some words.
• Cursive Concentration; a game where the manuscript and the cursive forms of a letter are the matches

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Six

At the end of this week I gave K. her spelling test in sentences, using three or four words in each sentence. She seemed to like this better than just writing a list of words.

Examples: (spelling words are underlined)

• The other zipper is better.
• I found another letter under the banner.

This week's lesson in the spelling book was reviewing words from the last five lessons. The last time we had a review lesson, K. didn't like having to review. I know that review is important, but since we are dealing with words that she can already spell (she spells them correctly on the pretest), I decided to go with an alternate plan this week.

• Monday I gave her the children's dictionary and had her pick ten words that interested her and she didn't know how to spell. (Her words were: chaps, delphinium, estuary, delta, bison, birch, chameleon, chandelier, chimpanzee, circus)
• She wrote the words in her spelling notebook and wrote them again putting a dot between the syllables.
• Tuesday I gave her a sheet of paper with a picture of each word. She wrote the words underneath the correct picture.
• Thursday I gave her a blank graph and had her fill it in for a word search. Then I found the words.

Second Grade, Science, Set Six

We are learning about and experimenting with one simple machine each week. The two books I'm using for experiments are:

• Mighty Machines by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone -- experiments from this book will be denoted by (MM)
• Simple Machines by Deborah Hodge -- experiments from this book will be denoted by (SM)

Levers

• We started out the week by reading the book Levers by Chris Oxlade -- it teaches what a lever is, the three classes of levers, and shows many ways levers are used in everyday life. The photos in the book are large and colorful with just three or four sentences on each page.
• (MM) page 14 -- experiments to see the three different classes of lever at work; you just need a spring scale, a rod or yard stick, a small bag of rice or pebbles, and a chair. Use the chair for your fulcrum. Use the spring scale to measure the amount of force it takes to keep the lever level when:
• the fulcrum is in the center and the load (rocks) is at one end and the force (scale) is at the opposite end.
• the fulcrum is at one end, the load is in the center, and the force is at the opposite end.
• the fulcrum is at one end, the force is in the center, and the load is at the opposite end.
• (SM) page 4 -- Table Trick -- you need a sturdy table, a chair with a strong back, a broom handle, and a volunteer or a heavy box. Have the volunteer sit or lay on the table. Put the chair with its back to the table. Use the chair back as the fulcrum and lift the table with the broom handle. You may want to have your child try to lift the table with their hands first. Have them experiment with lifting the table with different length levers. They will find that the longer the lever (on the side opposite the table) the easier it is to lift the table and volunteer.
• (MM) page 16 -- You need four tennis balls and a bat. Go to the park (if you don't have a big back yard) and put one ball down on the ground. Put one hand close to the small end of the bat, and the other hand (second hand) as far down the bat as you can reach. Hit the ball. Get the next ball. Move your second hand up the bat a ways and hit the ball. Get the third ball. Move your second hand up the bat more and hit the ball. Repeat with the fourth ball. Which ball went the farthest? This experiment plays very well off yesterday's experiment. Also, Curious George has a good episode about leverage.
• (SM) page 6 -- Balancing Act -- use a ruler, blocks, and a fulcrum, such as a toilet paper tube cut in half. Experiment with balancing blocks. Put some blocks far from the fulcrum and some close to the fulcrum -- Can you make it balance?

Wheels and Axles

• We read the book Wheels by Chris Oxlade -- it tells all about wheels, axles, gears, and shows them in use
• (MM) page 26 -- this experiment shows how adding a wheel to the axle makes turning it easier. Put two chairs back to back, about 1 foot apart. Place a broom stick across the backs of the chairs. Fasten a bucket to the broom stick with a length of string or yarn, etc. Put a small load in the bucket (we used sidewalk chalk). Turn the broom stick to raise the bucket. Then add a ruler to the end of the broomstick. (You can use tape.) Use the ruler to turn the broom stick.

• (SM) page 10 -- Candy Collector -- Make a pinwheel with a pencil for the axle. Attach a piece of candy to a string and the other end of the pencil. The instructions have you put the pencil in two slots of a half gallon juice container, but our would not stay in place, so I made holes for the pencil and put a rubber band on one end. As the child blows the pinwheel, the string winds up and they get the candy. Just make sure the string isn't too close to the end of the pencil, or it keeps falling off. See the video below.

• (SM) page 12 -- Bubble Race -- You will need a hand rotary eggbeater for this experiment. Half fill two bowls that are the same size. Put 1 teaspoon of dish soap in each bowl. Do not stir it. Give one person a spoon and the other the eggbeater. Let each whip up bubbles for 30 seconds. The wheels (gears) and axle of the eggbeater allow the beaters to spin fast and make more bubbles that the person with the spoon.
• (MM) page 28 -- this experiment shows that since a screwdriver (wheel) is bigger around than a screw (axle), it doesn't take as much effort to screw the screw in. Get a piece of styrofoam and a screw. Try to screw the screw into the styrofoam with your fingers. Then try it with the screwdriver.
• (SM) page 8 -- Whacky wheels -- make two cars by cutting a half gallon juice box in half from top to bottom. give one wheels by using colored pencils and spools. Make a ramp by placing one end of a board on a stack of books. Put both cars at the top of the ramp and let go. The car without wheels doesn't move down the ramp as well as the car with wheels because of friction. Wheels reduce the amount of friction so that the other car can zoom down the ramp.

Inclined Planes and Wedges

• We read Ramps and Wedges by David Glover -- this book explains ramps and wedges and has lots of illustrations to show them in use.
• (SM) page 18 -- Egg drop -- You will need two eggs, a plate, a food can, an empty aluminum foil box. Cut the top and one end from the box to make a ramp. First, place your hand on the can and drop one egg onto the plate. Next, set the top of the ramp on the can and roll the egg down the ramp. Both eggs went from the height of the can to the table, but the ramp lessened the force of the egg. The egg had to travel farther, but it had a safer landing. An inclined plane allows you to lower or lift heavy objects using less force, but you must move the object a greater distance.
• (SM) page 26 -- Funny face -- You need a paring knife, a carrot, a soft apple (such as Golden Delicious) or a pear. Cut the carrot into 1/4" slices. Try to push a slice of carrot into the apple. Then cut a carrot slice into a point (wedge) and push the point into the apple. Which is easier?

• (MM) page 38 -- You will need a piece of styrofoam, an unsharpened pencil, and a sharpened pencil. First, try to push the unsharpened pencil into the foam. Then try the sharpened pencil. Which is easier? The sharp end of the pencil is a wedge. The wedge changes the direction of the force: you push down, but the wedge pushes down and sideways.
• (SM) page 20 -- Marble lift -- Make a ramp by putting one end of a board on top of a pile of books. Attach 2 yogurt cups to string or yarn. The yarn should be just a little longer than your ramp. Tie the other end of the yarn to toy trucks or cars. Put the cars at the bottom of the ramp and hang the yogurt cups over the end. start putting marbles or coins in the yogurt cups. How many does it take to pull the truck up the ramp? Change the height of the ramp. Now how many marbles does it take? The steeper the inclined plane, the more force (marbles) you must use.

• (MM) page 32 -- Make a ramp by putting one end of a board on top of a pile of books. You will need your bag of rocks or rice (weight), a spring scale, and a toy truck. First, use the scale to pull the weight up the ramp. Check the scale to see how much effort it took. Next, place the weight at the bottom of the stack of books and use the scale to lift it to the top of the stack. Does this take more or less effort? Last, put the weight in the truck and pull the truck up the ramp with the scale. How much effort does it take? You can raise and lower the ramp to see how it changes the amount of effort if takes.
• (MM) page 34 -- Change the length of your ramp from the above experiment (longer or shorter) and see how it effects the amount of effort.

Screws

• The book I had requested from the library on screws had not come yet, so I read the two pages about screws in Mighty Machines.
• (MM) page 44 -- You need an unsharpened pencil with an eraser, string (2 feet long), tack, ruler. Push the tack a little ways into the eraser. Tie one end of the string around it, then push it in all the way. Hold the pencil upright on its unsharpened end. Hold the string out so that the untied end is on the table. (The table, pencil, and string will make a triangle.) Use the ruler to measure the distance from the pencil to the end of the string. Rotate the pencil so the string winds up on it. This shows that a screw is really an inclined plane wound around a rod.
• (SM) page 22 -- You will need a tall can (Pringles can) or a thermos, a clear plastic tube, tape, a bowl half filled with water, and food coloring. Put some drops of food coloring in the water. Tape one end of the tube to the top of your container. Hold the other end at the table top (so it makes an inclined plane). Rotate the container so the tubing winds around it in a spiral. Place one end of the container and tubing in the water. Slowly turn the can until some colored water moves into the tubing. Lift the container out of the water, tilt it slightly, and keep turning it slowly. The water will climb the tube and come out the top. If it doesn't work the first time, try holding the container at a different angle. It would be difficult to make water go up a straight tube, but the spiral makes it easier.
• (MM) page 42 -- You need different types of screws so that you have some with ridges close together and some with ridges far apart, (we used drill bits from a set for a hand drill) styrofoam, and a screwdriver. Let your child guess if it will be easier to screw one into the styrofoam that has the ridges close or far apart. Then let them try it. The one with ridges close together should be easier. Remind them of the experiments with short and long ramps. Talk about why one screw is easier than the other.
• (SM) page 24 -- There is a pattern in the book to make a twirling "helicopter" from paper and a paper clip. We each made one and flew them. Then I took a wadded up piece of paper and dropped both it and my helicopter from the same height. We talked about why one got to the floor faster, and likened it to the egg experiment from last week. Here is a link to the same helicopter pattern.

Pulleys

• We read Pulleys by Sarah Tieck -- this book was from a different series, and I did not like it as well. It didn't give a much information as the other books.
• (SM) page 14 -- you need a pole (broom stick will work), an empty spool, yarn or string, ribbon, plastic bucket with a handle, and the bag of pebbles that you used before. Find a place where you can set up your pole so it is supported on both ends and is level. You can use the backs of two chairs. Thread the yarn through the spool and tie it around the pole. Tie one end of the ribbon to the bucket and thread the ribbon over the spool. Put the pebbles in the bucket. Have your child lift the  bucket. Then have them pull the ribbon (using the pulley) to lift the bucket. Which is easier? A pulley changes the direction of the force.
• (MM) page 20 -- for this experiment you need a pole at least a couple feet off the ground, two buckets with handles, a spool, a ribbon, yarn or string, and marbles or pebbles. Find a way to position the pole so it is level -- you can put each end on a chair. Put the yarn through the spool and tie it to the pole. Tie one end of the ribbon to one bucket handle. Thread the ribbon over the spool and tie the other end to the other bucket handle. One of the buckets should not be on the floor. Have your child start putting marbles in the bucket that is not resting on the floor. What happens? This shows that a single fixed pulley lets you pull in one direction and move something in the other direction. See video below, although you will have to look at it sideways!
• (SM) page 16 -- for this experiment you need two broom sticks, a rope, and three children (so we did this at a park day). Have two children hold the sticks about one foot apart. Tie the rope to the top of one stick, then loop the rope around both sticks a few times. Have the third child hold on to the rope, when she is ready to pull, the children holding the sticks pick them up off the ground and try to pull them apart, while child #3 is pulling on the rope. Who is stronger? The child pulling the rope should be able to force the sticks together. Each time the rope is looped around a stick, it is like a pulley. Pulleys multiply the force of your muscles, giving you extra pulling power. Here is a diagram of this experiment, although they have the broom sticks horizontal instead of vertical.
• (MM) page 22 -- set up your pole, again, tie one end of the ribbon to the pole. Tie the yarn that goes through your spool to the bucket handle. Thread the ribbon under the spool. Lift the loose end of the ribbon. This is a pulley that moves. The bucket has two supporting belts (one from pole to pulley and second from pulley to hand) this should make the bucket seem lighter. We went on from here to make a block and tackle. To do this get another spool and put yarn through the spool and tie it to the pole. The ribbon will go from the pole under the spool attached to the bucket and over the spool attached to the pole. Now you can pull down to lift the bucket, which is easier than pulling up.

Second Grade, History, Set Six

We started out by reading chapter 72 from Child's History. This chapter covers:

• Louis XIII
• Louis XIV
• Richelieu
• Thirty Years War
• Gustavus Adolphus
• Treaty of Westphalia
• Oberammergau / Passion Play
• Versailles

In addition we read:

• The King's Day by Aliki -- this book takes you through a typical day of King Louis XIV. There are more illustrations than text, so this is a great book for young children, but has enough information to interest me.
• Welcome to France by Kathryn Stevens -- I have decided to get books about countries that are mentioned in Child's History. This book has lots of large photos and not too much text.
• Sweden by Deborah Grahame -- this book was a bit above K.'s level, but it was the best one our library had. We mostly looked at the pictures and I read small excerpts.
• John Wesley by May McNeer and Lynd Ward -- this is a well-written, interesting biography of John Wesley. It has some black and white illustrations.
• Palace of Versailles by Linda Tagliaferro -- this is an interesting book with lots of pictures and not too much text that gives good information about the palace.

For this time period in American history, we read:

• Witch Hunt: It Happened in Salem Village by Stephen Krensky -- I assigned K. to read this book. I had already read it to make sure it was appropriate. This is a "Step into Reading" book. It handles the subject well and is interesting and well illustrated.
• Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars 1689 - 1763 by Betsy and Giulio Maestro -- this book has lots of good illustrations. I let K. color while I read it. I re-cap the main points to make sure she has understood them.
• The Thirteen Colonies by Brendan January -- this is in the A True Book series. It has lots of illustrations and easy to understand text.
• Tom Jefferson: A Boy in Colonial Days by Helen A. Monsell -- this book was published in 1939 and I came across it at a book sale. It is well written and at a second or third grade reading level. The book is about Tom's boyhood, what it was like being the son of a rich family during the colonial period.
• George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz -- a book about a boy who wants to know what George Washington had for breakfast, and how he finds out.
• The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds -- a story that takes place in New York during the French and Indian War about how a family defends themselves -- okay, I'm not giving it away, but it is very exciting and a bit scary at times, but it all ends up fine.
• If you Grew Up with George Washington by Ruth Belov Gross -- learning about what life was like in this era.
• If you lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern -- New England from 1630 - 1730; helps children imagine what it was like to be a girl or boy during this period.
• George Washington's Mother by Jean Fritz -- an easy reader that tells about Mary Washington's life and it's effect on George Washington.
• Welcome to Felicity's World, The American Girls Collection -- lots of illustrations and information about the time period of 1774
• The New Americans: Colonial Times, 1620 - 1689 by Betsy Maestro -- very well written and illustrated; I used this book as a review, mostly looking at the pictures and reading snippets here and there.
• Dangerous Crossing by Stephen Krensky -- picture book about John Adams and his young son, John Quincy Adams crossing the Atlantic Ocean to France during the Revolutionary War.
• Write On, Mercy by Gretchen Woelfle -- a picture book about the life of Mercy Otis Warren and the part her writings played in the Revolutionary War.
• Daring Women of the American Revolution by Francis Walsh -- short accounts of eight women and the part they played in the war.

We read chapter 73 in Child's History. It covered:

• Peter the Great
• Charles XII
• St. Petersburg

In addition we read:

• Russia by Martin Hintz -- this is in the "A True Book" series, so is written for young children. It has lots of photos and easy to understand text.
• Peter the Great by Diane Stanley -- this book was very well written and illustrated for children, although it didn't seem to exactly agree with what we read about Peter the Great in Child's History.
• Catherine the Great by Elizabeth Raum -- this is Catherine II, who married the grandson of Peter the Great. It was interesting, but there were parts I skipped since it was written for a little older child.

Evaluation of Second Grade, Set Five

• Bible -- K. is doing well with her memorization and comprehension of our discussions.
• Math -- K. remembers more and is better at the things we are studying each time we "visit" them.
• Reading -- because K. reads on her own, enjoys reading, and reads well, I try to keep reading a fun time, concentrating more on comprehension and pronunciation than reading.
• Grammar -- we are finishing the book report and report on penguins during our weeks between set five and set six.
• Fine Arts -- K. is enjoying the art projects. We did the Paint to Music one during our weeks off. She is also becoming more interested in playing the piano.
• Writing -- K. enjoyed the writing projects we did in this set. She really likes it when we write stories together.
• Spelling -- her overall spelling is becoming better, and she seems to be more aware that words should be spelled correctly -- she is asking more often how to spell words she doesn't know how to spell.
• Science -- I think my attempt to keep the experiments fun in this set was successful. She does say she is tired of experiments, and wants to learn about animals again, but she enjoys the experiments, too. (Lesson for me: Don't plan a whole year of one type of science.)
• History -- we are getting into a time period where there are more books written for K.'s age and comprehension, so it is easier. We borrowed the movie, Felicity: An American Girl Adventure and watched it. Then I showed her the series of books. She is quite excited to read them.

Second Grade, Bible, Set Five

Week One:

• Hymn: Take My Life
• Memory Verse: John 3:4
• Searching for Treasure: Study 14, Intro - #4
• Prayed daily
• Started reading Listen for the Whippoorwill about Harriet Tubman

Week Two:

• Hymn: It Took a Miracle
• Memory Verse: John 3:5
• Searching for Treasure: Study 15, Intro - #4
• Bible Reading: Exodus 25 - 30
• Reviewed this year's catechism
• Prayed daily
• Continued reading Listen for the Whippoorwill

Week Three:

• Hymn: He Leadeth Me
• Memory Verse: John 3:6-7
• Searching for Treasure: Study 16, Intro - #4
• The Princess and the Kiss: Lesson 13 in the Life Lessons book. This lesson is about not making decisions based on your feelings, but on God's Word and giving Him your whole heart and about reaping what you sow (or plant). We did two art projects with this lesson.
• The first was to remind us that our feeling change and are "blown about" by circumstances. We took paper and colored an ocean scene with a wavy ocean. Then we took brown paper and drew a boat and cut it out and wrote "FEELINGS" on it. We used a brad to attach the boat to the ocean scene, so it would rock back and forth.
• For the second project, I drew four seeds on a large piece of paper and colored them. We named them faithfulness, love, kindness, and joy. K. drew a stem and flower from each seed. We talked about what we reap if we plant these characteristics in our lives. We decided on trust, love, friends, and happiness. Then I drew roots coming from each seed and dirt around the seeds and roots. We talked about how roots get nourishment for plants, and where would she get nourishment to plant these things in her life. Then I wrote "God's Word" below the roots.
• We reviewed our catechism.
• We prayed each day.
• We finished reading Listen for the Whippoorwill.
• We reviewed previously memorized passages.

Week Four:

• Hymn: Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul
• Memory Verse: John 3:8
• Searching for Treasure: Study 17, Intro - #4
• Catechism #95, 96, 98
• We reviewed this year's catechism
• We prayed daily
• We started reading Escape from the Slave Traders about David Livingstone
• We reviewed previously memorized passages.

Week Five:

• Hymn: Christ Arose
• Memory Verse: John 3:9-10
• Searching for Treasure: the summary lessons from studies 14 - 17
• K. was disappointed that we were reviewing, so each day I let her tell me what she remembered about the study we were reviewing that day. Then we would just look up the Bible verses for the ones she did not remember.
• We reviewed this year's catechism questions twice and the questions from previous years once
• We prayed daily
• We continued reading Escape from the Slave Traders.
• We reviewed previously memorized passages.

Second Grade, Math, Set Five

• Counting
• We counted to 500 by 5s
• We counted to 60 by 2s
• We counted to 30 by 3s
• We counted to 40 by 4s
• We counted backwards from 100 to 0
• We counted by 10s, starting with 4 (4, 14, 24, 34, etc.)
• Addition
• We did six more problems from the worksheet I got in the last set. Instead of drawing columns so K. could keep the place values straight, I did each place value in a different color. After she solved the problems I had her circle the sums that were odd numbers. Then we compared (&lt; or >) the sums. After that we rounded the sums to the nearest ten or hundred.

• Subtraction
• We did six more problems from the worksheet I got in the last set. After she solved the problems I had her underline once the differences that were odd numbers and twice the differences that were even numbers. Then we compared (&lt; or >) the differences. After that we rounded the differences to the nearest hundred.
• Another day we did word problems
• We solved missing addend problems using subtraction.
• Multiplication with Marvelous Multiplication
• We played Counting Corners on page 17
• Cut out 10 squares (about 3 inches)
• On the first one have your child write the word "one".
• Turn that square over and count the corners and write the number "4".
• On a piece of paper write 1 x 4 = 4
• On the second square, write "two".
• Turn it over and count on from 4 (5,6,7,8) and write the number "8" on the back side. 2 x 4 = 8
• Continue until all 10 squares have been done.
• We played Nickel Mania on page 22
• Use nickels and pennies to figure the 5 times tables.
• One set of five is one nickel.
• One nickel equals 5 pennies, so 1 x 5 = 5
• Continue through 10 x 5
• Division with Dazzling Division
• We played It's All in the Eyes on page 20
• Find ten pairs of eyes and cut them out (I used an old puppy and kitten calendar).
• Cut the pairs in half, so you have twenty individual eyes.
• Have your child take 2 eyes and put them in a group of 2. How many groups do you have? 2 ÷ 2 = 1 "Two eyes in groups of two makes one group."
• Do the same with 4 eyes; 4 ÷ 2 = 2 "Four eyes in groups of two makes two groups."
• Continue with 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.
• Geometry -- I found the book Mirror Magic by Janet Abbott at the used book store. It is a California textbook from 1968 that teaches symmetry, same shape & size, and congruence in a fun hands-on way. The book had never been used. The mirror was even still in the book! There are 12 units, we are completing 1 unit each Friday.
• We used blocks to count faces, edges, and vertices.
• The next day we made figures from clay and counted the faces, edges, vertices, and curves.

• On our errand day, we found 5 each horizontal, vertical, parallel, and intersecting lines.
• Fractions
• I made flower for the fractions halves through tenths -- two flowers for each. One side of each petal is blue, the other side is yellow.
• K. and I each made a fraction, then she wrote the fractions, then she put out the &lt; or > sign.
• Money
• I had a worksheet that had problems that stated an amount of money, then K. had to figure out how many quarters, dimes, nickels, or pennies she needed to make that amount.
• We also did word problems with money.
• Time
• I made up word problems for elapsed time equations. Such as: Sally went to the park at 2:00. She played with her friend for 1 hour and 20 minutes. What time did she go home? Use a clock with movable hands to figure the answers.
• I wrote out things that happen during our day and K. had to mark them as AM or PM
• Statistics and Graphs
• We looked and talked about the bar and line graphs on pages 14 - 16 in Statistics by Srivastava.
• We did the bar graph activities in Bar Graphs by Bodach. I had made the forms ahead of time.
• From Great Graphs we made a line graph to show how many times K. jumped rope without a miss on five different tries (page 52). We also made a line graph of the temperature forecast for the next ten days (page 60). Now, on the same graph, we are marking the temperature at our house at 2pm each day.

Second Grade, Reading, Set Five

We are reading the Bob Jones 3-1 reading book now. I found a spinner to use for asking questions about a story. The spinner is divided into eight parts. In each part there is a question. After each story, K. answers four of the questions.

1. Who are the main characters?
2. What is the main idea of the story?
3. What are the problems or conflicts in the story?
4. What is the solution to the story?
5. What would you do if you were one of the main characters?
6. What is an important detail in the story?
7. Where does the story take place?
8. How did the story end?

Comprehension Skills
The comprehension skill in this unit is building vocabulary. I didn't think any of the activities in the book were applicable to us, so we are looking for new words every day, finding out the definitions, and making a list of the words.

From Games for Reading:

• Puzzles -- K. and I started a 250 piece puzzle. We have the frame done. (5th week) We have finished the puzzle. I had to hide it under a couch to keep my husband from finishing it!
• Recipe -- K. made corn muffins for dinner one night from a box of Jiffy mix. This really is a good reading exercise. She had to read the instructions, understand them, and follow them in order.
• Tell a Tall Tale of Your Day
• Problems and Solutions

Second Grade, Grammar, Set Five

• Mechanics & Sentence Structure
• Punctuation / Capitalization / Types of Sentences -- we read and did the activities in Child's Own, pages 150 - 153a. This has you learning about "stop" and "go" signs in sentences, then capitalizing words and putting punctuation in a story.
• I downloaded a supplemental curriculum called Punctuation Theater. It teaches the use of periods, exclamation marks, question marks, and commas by using percussion instruments when the punctuation should appear in sentences. It has a lot of sample sentences to work through (because it is made for a classroom) so I was only going to do some of them, but K. wanted to do all of them.
• I found a story in an old book that had plenty of opening phrases and extra information. I read the story and K. underlined the opening phrases and extra information.
• Writing Projects
• I let K. pick an envelope (the information she gathered about penguins). Then we work together to write a paragraph.
• All the paragraphs are written. We will do the editing and publishing during our week off.
• Book Report
• K. picked the book A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. I am having her make a book jacket as her book report. I took the jackets off about six books and we looked at what was on them -- illustration, author, illustrator, a paragraph to interest a person in reading the book, etc.
• Writing Skills
• Step-by-Step Chart -- K. wrote the five steps for getting cereal ready in the morning
• Story Map -- K. filled out the form -- the characters, where the story takes place, the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
• Speaking Tips
• We talked about speaking in front of a group
• Look at the audience
• Smile before you start, and while you are speaking
• Talk to the person in the back row so you speak loud enough
• It is important to speak clearly
• Here are a couple books you might want to look at:
• Speaking Up, Speaking Out by Steven Otfinoski
• Speak Up! by Patricia Sternberg

Second Grade, Fine Arts, Set Five

Art

• We completed pages 18 and 19 in the Art Museum book. We looked at abstract paintings in the book A Child's Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait
• We gathered nature supplies at a park to use to design a face. 

 

 

• Paint to music -- I used a Beethoven's Wig CD and we painted while it played.

Piano

• One page a week

Sewing

• We completed the little dolls we started in the last set. Here is a link to the pattern. Here is the one I made. K. gave hers away to a friend.

Second Grade, Writing, Set Five

• We wrote a story about how the three little kittens lost their mittens.
• We drew pictures to go with our story (Writing Hangups, Yarn Yarn)
• We played What a Personality (Games for Writing)
• Planted Words; first I let K. make a plant with lots of crafty stuff, then she wrote about the plant. (Writing Hangups)
• Forbidden Letters; we couldn't use the letter 'K' when writing our story. (Games for Writing) Kids had to be children, liked became loved, park was changed to meadow, etc.
• To practice small muscle development/coordination
• I hid 28 googly eyes in playdoh for K. to find
• Three Color Road Race (Games for Writing)
• Obstacle Course (Games for Writing)
• How Many Words (Games for Writing) -- I made up a new list of words since we have gone through the list in the book about three times.

From Cursive Writing Made Easy and Fun:

• The Longest Word in the World -- write long words in cursive and have your child count how many times you lift your pencil. Then do the same thing with printing.
• Loopy Letters -- this activity has the child notice that certain letters have a loop pointing up (h, k, etc.) while other have a loop pointing down (p, y, etc.) and one has a loop pointing both directions (f). Then the child colors in the loops.
• Brush Off -- use newsprint, 1" wide foam brushes, and plenty of paint to practice the shapes in cursive letters.

Second Grade, Spelling, Set Five

Spelling is going well. K. is doing a good job with alphabetizing and using the dictionary.

Sometimes we run out of time for the spelling test on Fridays, so if the words are ones K. really already knows, I will give her a couple sentences to write. Each sentence has two or three spelling words in it. I will also give her a sentence with her climbers.

Interestingly, K. has started telling me words she wants to learn to spell, such as: planet, delicious, and geography.

Second Grade, Science, Set Five

Now we are learning about sound.

• Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer -- we read the book one day and then took two days to do the activities.
• Make a guitar with a box and rubber bands
• Make musical glasses
• Listen to sounds around you; we went to the local nature center to do this
• Sounds matching game -- get 10 identical containers that are not see-through and have lids. Make 5 sets of identical contents (example: put 10 paper clips in 2 containers). Mark one of each with an 'X' and the other with an 'O'. Mix up the containers and see if you can match up the sets (one X and one O) by listening to the sound it makes when you shake the container.
• The True Book of Science Experiments by Illa Podendorf, pages 40 - 43
• Listen to the radio, then cup your hands around your ears and notice that the sound is louder. Your hands help catch the sound waves.
• Put a watch or clock (with a loud tick) on the table. Stand 12 inches away and listen. Then put your ear on the table, 12 inches away from the clock. The sound is louder. Sound travels better through wood than air.
• Make a telephone with two cans and string. I pulled different ideas from other books to make a telephone that works really well.
• Hearing Sounds by Sally Hewitt -- we read this book in three days (pgs 6 - 23) and did the activities as we went along. Here are a couple :
• Cover a bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Put rice or colored sugar crystals on the wrap. Hold a 9 x 13 metal pan above the bowl and hit it with a wooden spoon. The rice/sugar will jump. The vibrations caused by hitting the pan make the wrap vibrate. This is sort of how your eardrum works.
• Gather a collection of tubes and bottles. Gently blow across the top of each. Compare the sounds.

• Sound and Hearing by John Farndon
• Making Waves, page 5 -- we used a large slinky to show how sound waves move
• Inside the Ear, page 13 -- we read about how the ear works
• 49 Easy Experiments with Acoustics by Robert W. Wood
• Hold a hacksaw blade about halfway over the edge of a table (we used a bench because our table has curved edges). Hold it very firmly. Thump the extended end with your finger. Listen to the sound the vibrations make. Move the blade so more or less is over the edge. Do the vibrations make a different sound? Try it with a yardstick and other things that will vibrate.
• Put water in a 9 x 12 baking pan until the water is about 1" deep. Use a medicine dropper to drop one drop at a time into the pan. You can observe the waves it makes. The drop is like someone talking and the waves are like the sound waves. Hold the dropper up high and drop a drop in. Watch how the waves react when the hit the sides of the pan. This is like an echo.
• We made an air shock wave. You may see this experiment in many books, but this one was the simplest, and it worked! You need a candle and an empty salt box. Remove the metal spout from the salt box. Light the candle (you should be away from drafts), point the opening in the salt box at the flame and thump the other end of the box. The wave of air you send out of the box will put out the flame.
• Stand about four feet from your child and tap the table with a pencil. Then have your child put their ear on the table (still four feet away) and tap the table. Notice the difference.
• Run your thumb down the teeth of a comb. Then fill a metal pot with water. Have your child put their ear against the pot, put your hand and comb in the water and run your thumb down it. Notice the difference. Sound carries better through wood and water than through air. Put the end of the comb against a door. Have your child put their ear on the other side of the door. The hollow door amplifies the sound.
• Tie a sting (about 18" long) around a fork. Tie the other end onto a baking pan. (If you have one with a hole, it is easy.) Place the pan upside down on a table with the end where the string is tied on sticking over the edge so the string hangs straight and the fork is suspended in mid-air. First, lift the fork by the string and tap it with another fork. Then, let the fork hang from the pan and tap it with another fork. The pan amplifies the sound.
• Use a stiff piece of manila folder or card stock. Cut a strip two inches wide. Fasten it around the frame a bicycle next to the wheel. You can use a clothespin, but we punched a couple holes and used a brad. Cut the paper so it touches the spokes when the wheel turns. The faster you peddle, the faster the paper vibrates, and the higher the pitch of the sound.
• Make a spoon chime. Tie a string (2 - 3 feet long) around the handle of a spoon. Tie a small loop at each end of the string. Insert an index finger in each loop and place your fingers in your ears. Lean over so the spoon hangs in the air. Have someone tap the spoon with another spoon. Listen to the difference when you don't have your fingers in your ears.
• Use old utensils to make a wind chime.
• Make a stethoscope. Insert the spout of a small funnel in one end of a hose (about 18" long). Listen to your heart. Listen to a watch, etc.
• Make a speaking tube. If you use a garden hose for this, make sure all the water is out of it. Stretch a long hose out to its full length. Have one person at each end. Whisper to each other. The hose does not need to be stretched tight, just don't let there be any kinks in it. You and go in different rooms, or around corners. Many parks have speaking tubes that work this same way.
• 365 More Simple Science Experiments
• Get two paper cups, glue, cotton balls, and a whistle. Glue the cotton balls to the inside of one of the paper cups. Make sure it is all covered. Blow the whistle in the paper cup without the cotton balls. Then blow the whistle in the cup with the cotton balls. The cotton balls muffle the sound of the whistle because the sound gets trapped in the tiny spaces in all the cotton balls.

Other books we read:

• It is the Wind by Ferida Wolff -- a picture book about sounds a boy hears at night
• The Ear Book by Al Perkins -- a book about sounds
• The Sounds Around Town by Maria Carluccio -- a book about sounds you hear all through the day

The last week of this set we did experiments with mixtures and ice from What Happens If...?

• Mixtures
• Fill three classes with water. Put a drop of food coloring in one. Watch is spread. Then put a drop in the other two. Stir the water in one. In which does the color spread faster?
• Add a spoonful of sugar to a glass of water and stir. Use a straw to taste the water at the bottom, middle, and top of the glass. What do you taste? Put ten drops of the water on a clear pie pan. Let the water evaporate. What is left? Pour all the water into the pie pan. Let the water evaporate. (This may take a few days. Ours took a week and started growing mold before all the water evaporated, so we made sure K. kept her fingers out of it.)
• Add a spoonful of oil to a glass of water. What happens? Stir the oil. What happens? Stop stirring. What happens?
• Ice
• Get two ice cubes the same size. Wrap one in a wash cloth and close it using a rubber band. Put them on a pie pan in a warm place. Which melts first?  The cloth keeps the warm air from getting to the ice and keeps it from melting as fast.
• Take two ice cubes that are the same size. Wrap one up in aluminum foil. Put each in its own glass of warm water. Which melts first?
• Fill an ice cube tray with water all the way to the top. Put it in the freezer. What happens when the water is frozen?
• Fill two glasses with warm water. Get two ice cubes. Crush one by wrapping it in a piece of paper and standing on it. Put the ice cube in one glass and the crushed ice in the other. Which melts faster? Each little piece of ice has warm water around it, so it melts faster.
• Get three containers that are different shapes (shallow bowl, glass, make a shape with aluminum foil). Put exactly 1 cup of water in each container. Allow them to freeze. Set them out and see which melts fastest.