Tuesday 9th June.

Well things have been manic here for the last few days. My mum has been in haspital for an operation so i've been running here, there and everywhere.
Though we've still managed to get some learning in.
In English we've finished reading Despereaux. Chloe's nearly finished answering the questions in the unit i madse to accompany it. We've also been do a HUGE spelling test. Just to see which words she can spell and which ones she's struggling on. Though she is a very good speller. But it has alrady highlighted a problem - words that sound the same but are spelt differently. For example fair and fare. She can spell both of them but i would just like to cover this in one of our lessons.
In maths we've been going over the times tables and also working on graphs and charts from the book.
We've done alot work on our science lapbook. It's lookin GREAT. Chloe's made several mini books 1) The animal kingdom 2) What is a mammal? 3) Mammal orders. 4) Echidna mini book. 5) Platypus mini book. 6)Marsupials. And the one she is currently working on Koala mini book.
She's wrote them all up on the computer and added pictures etc and they look really professional.
We've not done any work on history. Though we have been reading Wolfbrother which is set in the stone age.

Wednesday 20th May.

We had a FANTASTIC day today. We decided to do science all day. Chloe made 3 mini books for her mammal lapbook. She made the first two on the computer and they look very professional. The third book is an accordian book - we had to make our own one as it needed to have 18 'pages/folds'. But she made the front design on the computer. I managed to get some lovely handmade craft paper so we are using this for our mini books and it looks great. I just know that these lapbooks are going to turn out GREAT
We're off up town tomorrow to buy some more craft paper - while i's still on offer.I also want to buy some animal print card.

Later on we read the first 3 chapters of Wolfbrother. At first Chloe didn't want to read it. So i read the first couple of chapters out loud to her and now were at the bit where he discovers the wolf cub and she's hooked! Will he give in to his hunger and eat the cub or will he's desire for companionship be stronger and allow the cub to live? We'll find out tomorrow.

Tuesday 19th May.

We continued our work on our papier mache Stonehenge. We're still making the blocks! As we don't have enough lego blocks to make them all in one go!
I think we will have to work on this in the evenings too.

I'm thinking of changing things around abit with our timetable. As we have a few big projects on the go, i'm thinking of have a week of just geography then a week of just history so that we can really get to grips with the topics. I might just do this in the afternoons and keep maths and English for our morning studies. Still not sure yet???

We've finished book 2 of Despereaux and have started reading about Miggery Sow. Chloe and I have had lots of disscussions about this book. We're going to see the movie in a couple of weeks and she was wondering how they will set it out.
"Will it be different from the book mum? Will they tell us Desereauxs story then Roscuro's and then Migs story? Or will they tell it all in one?" she asked. As each book goes back a little further to explain the story. I have no idea! She's really enjoyed reading them so far. I just hope the film isn't a let down.

Monday 18th May.

Chloe wasn't very well this morning so we didn't go swimming.
She had picked up alittle by the afternoon so we just had a lazy day and read. We've started recording all her reading and adding book reviews/character studies to it aswell.

I've managed to get hold of some fictional books based on our history studies. We've got wolf brother for part of our pre-history studies. I've also requested the Percy Jackson books they are based on Greek Gods but set in the modern world. So should add to our Ancient Greek studies.

Friday 15th May.

Chloe continued her RE work this morning. She's looking at the life of Jesus. In particular the miracles he performed.

Then in the afternoon we continued our work on the oceans. I had printed a unit off but it's very American so focuses on oceans and gulfs near America, which is good but not really what i'm after for Chloe's learning. So i've started to make my own unit up. We should start this on Friday.

Thursday 14th May.

Another cold and grey day.
We spent the morning reading Despereaux. Chloe wants to read it whenever possible - she's hooked! We've now read the second book. All about Roscuro the rat. She keeps asking me " Mum, what do you think happens to the Queen?" To which i reply well we'll find out soon enough.

This afternoon Chloe has learnt about the Bronze age. We should have worked on our Stonehenge but we had a bonfire on Sunday to get rid of a load of rubbish and my son must have gathered every bit of spare paper he could find to throw on it! LOL
Looks like i'll have to pop to my Mum's and collect some of her old newspapers.

I'm trying to put together a list of fictional books that are set in certain historical times.
I've already requested Stig of the Dumps (for our Stoneage work) and someone suggested wolf brother. So i've requested that too.
I've also seen the Percy Jackson books. They are about a boy who is half Greek God and half human. There are 5 books in total and i think they focus on the Greek Gods. I can't wait for the library to call to say they are all in stock.

Wednesday 13th May.

Well the sun has disappeared and the good old English rain has returned. I even had to pop the heating on to take the chill out of the house.
We looked at line graphs today. How to read them, and how to make one. Chloe had no problems with this. She easily worked through the KS3 book. So i got an old holiday brochure out and we looked at the temperature and how much sun each country gets. Then she made a line graph to show this data. We're going to continue along this line on our next session. I like to be everyday stuff into lessons, so that she can see how her learning fits into the real world.

In the afternoon, we continued our work on our animal studies. I had a look through some of our old books and found a great page an animals. It lists all the different classes (mammals,fish,birds,amphibiams and reptiles.) plus it lists all the orders for each class. Which is exactly what i was looking for. Chloe wrote out her first mini book (in rough) explaining how animals are classified, and then she started on her mammal mini book. I'm not sure if we are going to make a lapbook for each class or one HUGE lapbook with all 5 classes in it.
I think i'll just see how it grows.

Tuesday 12th May.

Today was so hot and sunny. I wish we had a patio table and parasol as i would have held lessons outside today. But our table 'died' last year, so i must go out and buy one soon, especially as the nice weather seems to be approaching. (Fingers crossed)

Chloe started reading book 2 of Despereaux today. She has nearly completed the unit of work i wrote for her. So i will have to make some more up over the next couple of days.
In the afternoon, we continued our work on Ancient Greece. We've completed the first book. Which looks at Stone age Greece. We're making a pocket labeled before the Greeks, which looks at the stone and bronze age. Then we move on to the Minoan people. This lapbook should takes us all the way upto July.

Monday 11th May.

We always go swimming on a Monday at the local pool. Chloe is turning into a proper water baby. One of the old ladies that goes there even commented on how well she swims underwater. I can swim but i don't have much confidence so it's great to see the kids splashing, swimming and diving in the water. She's even trying new strokes now.

Then we popped to the library to collect our books that we had ordered. I'd love to see how many books Chloe actually reads in a month. I might make her up a reading journal where she can record her reading and write about the books/characters/plot etc.

As the weather was so nice, we spent what was left of the afternoon at the park. Chloe had a little run around and then we sat in the sun reading. We looked at some of the Christian festivals - Easter in particular. We will work some more on this, on Friday as part of RE.

Friday 8th May.

We only had learning this morning today as we had other commitments.
We soent the morning learning French. We're looking at around the Town. How to ask directions to places, the names of shops etc. My French isn't brilliant but Chloe seems to enjoy our French lessons.

Our papier mache Stonehenge went really well. They are currently drying on the window sill.

I bought some beautiful books today from WH Smiths. One about animals (DK Animal Encylopedia) which we will use in our science lessons. The other one is a BEAUTIFUL book about the oceans(3D pop up explorer - oceans from the surface to the seabed). It's a 3D popup book and shows all the different layers of the oceans and the animals that live there. We're going to use it to make our own pop up ocean pictures.

Thursday 7th May.

The sun is shinning today, i love it when the sun shines. It just makes you want to do more.

We were back home for 9 and ready to start learning. Chloe has read another book - Scout, puppy place. It's the fifth one she's read. She has 2 more books left to read before she's pestering me to go to the library again.

We worked on Despereaux again. Chloe finished the comprehension unit i wrote for the first book. Then i suggested that she draw some sketches from the story. Maybe one of the castle and one of Despereaux in the dungeon. This then went to pictures of the main events. Then Chloe suggested that we do a picture book type thing like we did in RE, with one or two sentences in a box describing key events. In the end she decided to do the picture/comic book drawings with a quote from the book for the major events - genius! We're upto the mouse council and even though she proclaims she can't draw, it looks FANTASTIC.

This afternoon we will start making Stonehenge!!!
I haven't been able to get hold of any polystyrene so it will have to be saltdough or paper maiche - i still can't decide which will be easier. I'm thinking that we could make the blocks out of lego and then cover them with paper maiche to get the blocks started and then slip the lego out of the bottom and start to build up the layers??? Decisons, decisons!

Wednesday 6th May.

Well Chloe woke up feeling poorly again today. There's so much going round at the moment. Courtney and Andrew have felt poorly too. So we had a late start today. We spent the morning doing maths - Chloe's favourite lesson. We're still looking at co ordinates. I found a co ordinates game. It's just a grid (with co ordinates on it) and numbers on the co ordinates. Then i wrote up some sums - 3 x 7 = ? And Chloe would have to find the answer and then write the correct co ordinate. Then she wrote her own sums for the answers on the sheet. It worked well and meant that she was doing more than just co ordinates. I also found a great worksheet with a tresure island on it. You had to find teh co ordinates for various places on the island - smugglers cave, blackbeards secret look out post etc. Chloe finished this worksheet and then made her own treasure map up.

In the afternoon, we worked on science topic classifying animals. We looked at how animals are split into orders, species, kingdoms etc, depending on what similarities they have and what differences they have. We discussed what makes birds - flying. So do all birds fly? What about penguins, are they birds.so what do they have in common? Wings, not flying. I love our little chats.

Tuesday 5th May.

Well we had a lovely bank holiday, even though the weather was rubbish.
Chloe is still working on the Tale of Despereaux. We have read the first book. Chloe's favourite part was the mouse council.
Then in the afternoon we continued our work on Ancient Greece. Chloe has made her first mini book to go in her lapbook - it tells how stone-age people came to Greece, how they settled there and what life was like.
This also links in with our British history topic - as were looking at the stone-age. I found a lovely classroom display on the net about the stone-age. Someone had made a stone-age house. I might do this with Chloe. Use some salt dough for the base, small twigs as the frame and then add some layers of fabric or papaer maiche as the animal skins. Add on a few rocks for stools and a little 'fire' and maybe even some pipecleaner or cardboard cave-men. I also want to order the book 'Stig of the dump' from the library. I think this will make another good book to read to link in with what we are studying.
Busy, busy, busy....

Friday 1st May.

Chloe woke up and wasn't feeling very well this morning. So we spent the first part of day reading - and snuggling!
She found another spiderwick book at the library ans has nearly finished it already.

She felt better by the afternoon, so we continued with our geography topic - The Oceans. Initially we were working from a unit i downloaded from the net. And although it is good. i feel it is abit too old for Chloe (it focuses on underwater trenches and making an underwater contour map etc) She is only 10, and so i've gone back to basics.
What do i want Chloe to know when we have finished this topic??

* The names of the 5 major oceans.
* To be able to locate these oceans on a world map.
* To know the difference between an ocean and a sea.
* To know about currents, tides and waves. What causes them? What effect do they haveon our world?
* How do we have use the ocean? - transport, medicine, food, resources/energy etc. Maybe even link in with the somalia pirates situation???
* To know that the oceans are different to each other - climate/temperature/weather, animal habitats.
* To know what a tsunami is and how they are caused, plus underwater volcanoes.
* To look at marine animals - This can also link in with our science topic of living things.
* To what a coral reef is and where they are.
* To know about life/food cycles and how it is important to keep the balance - fishing stocks Vs making a living - dolphins caught in tuna nets etc. Enviroment issues.

So plenty of ideas, plus a fun trip to the sea life centre.

Thursday 30th April.

Chloe had English this morning. We started off by finishing our 'said' tags. We've been looking at different words to use instead of said. Then we read chapters 9 and 10 of Despereaux and worked on the literature unit i made to accompany the book.

Then in the afternoon Chloe looked at stone age monuments - Stonehenge. We're going to make a 3d model of it. Either using polystyrene - if i can get some if not it will be good old salt dough. It should be an interesting project. I'll post some pictures once we've finished.

Wednesday 29th April.

We had a lovely day yesterday. Chloe worked on her maths co-ordinates in the morning. I made a worksheet up using a map of England. She had to find the co-ordinates for certain cities or counties. Then find the places for the co-ordinates i gave her. So geography as well as maths. Then she finished up her KS 3 maths book.
I also found a great co'ordinates game. Very simple design, just numbers (answers) on a grid. You ask a question/sum like 3 x 5 = and then they have to look at the answers on the grip and give you the co-ordinates instead of the answer. Thought it would be a good game to play next session.

In the afternnon we went to the library, then looked through our books. It was a great start to our science topic looking at amazing mammals, and quirky little facts about reptiles etc. It has wet her appetite, so next session she will be rearing to go. We're hoping to look at how animals are classified and then make several lapbooks. Chloé also had a great idea on a game we could make. Abit like guess who only for animals. Probably make about 5 cards for each animal group (mammals, reptiles,amphibians, birds and fish) pop them into the existing guess who game/frame and then ask questions until we know the animal.

Chloe is busy reading Beyond spiderwick at the moment. We've already read them once but she saw the film on sky recently at is now busy reading her way thought the whole set again! They are good books though.

Later were working on Despereaux and then British history.

AWOL

Well I've been AWOL for a few months now!! We had computer problems and it took a while to sort out and then everything was just up in the air, but hopefully i'm back for good now.

Our time table this term is as follows:
Monday - Swimming, then maths (Co-ordinates, tables and graphs.)
Tuesday - English (The tale of Despereaux) and History (Ancient Greece lapbook)
Wednesday - Maths, then Science (Animals)
Thursday - English, then History (British history)
Friday - R.E (Religious festivals)/ French (around the town) and Geography (Oceans)

I'm writing my own unit for Despereaux - with hints and tips from other study guides on the net.
We're working on an Ancient Greece lapbook. There's so much to learn and look at, maps, the Minoans, the Myceneaens, olympics, sparta, alphabet, myths, gods etc. I just know this is going to be a great topic. I'm wanting to do a dress up day and maybe a mini olympics in the garden too.
I had a great unit on oceans saved from ages ago. So we are using this for geography and hopefully we'll fit a trip to the Seal life centre in too.
Should be a fun packed term. Fingers crossed.