(I am not a lover of paperwork, despite my legal background. It was a massive relief to finish this up and deliver it today (or try to, as the District Office was closed, so I had to fork over the money to send it Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, for peace of mind's sake...)
June 30, 2012
FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT AND ANNUAL NARRATIVE ASSESSMENT
SCHOOL YEAR: 2011-2012
HOMESCHOOLING STUDENT: Mikro
GRADE LEVEL: Second
THIS QUARTER COVERS: 4/1/12 to 6/30/12
DATE SUBMITTED: June 30, 2012
Generally:
Mikro is making excellent progress in all subject matter.
We have had instruction in all the following areas, as per Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the New York State Commissioner of Education and Mikro’s Individual Home Instruction Plan (IHIP): Reading, Writing, Spelling, Language Arts, Math, History, Geography, Science, Health, Physical Education, Music, Visual Arts, Patriotism and Citizenship, Fire Safety and Prevention, and Traffic, Bicycle and General Safety.
Mikro had no absences from instruction this quarter, and has exceeded the required hours of instruction (225).
Highlights for the Quarter include:
Reading/Language Arts:
Mikro reads fluently and well above grade level. He is reading increasingly more complex material, including middle grade and YA books up to 350 pages long. He reads for fun and enjoyment without prompting, and eagerly peruses his collection of animal encyclopedias and high school and college level zoology and biology texts. His reading comprehension is wonderful, and he can narrate back a good summary of what he reads. He enjoys making up rich and detailed stories, poems, riddles and jokes. Mikro is learning to type his own stories using a text editor. We are working on grammar and spelling using a variety of workbooks and online lessons from Lesson Pathways, BrainPOP, AAASpelling.com and other online resources.
We have discussed the elements of a story and how to outline plot and develop characters. We continue to practice narration and have discussed the elements of a book report. Mikro is signed up to participate in the summer reading game at the Croton Free Library, and has already reported to the children’s librarian on a book for Week 1. He continues to work on improving his handwriting and fine motor skills and has become quite accomplished at drawing dragons (a particular favorite) and other creatures. For April is Poetry Month, we looked at some different poetic forms and wrote cinquains.
Some of the books read independently by Mikro (in addition to those listed by subject matter in other categories below) include:
Arthur and the Minimoys and Arthur and the Forbidden City, both by Luc Besson; Wildlife Photographer by William Thomas; Runny Babbit and Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros by Shel Silverstein; The Dragon Chronicles by Malcolm Sanders and Gobby Walton; The Book of Dragons by Hosi and Leonard Baskin; The New Kid on the Block: Poems by Jack Prelutsky; TheThree Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing; These Small Stones, poems selected by Norma Farber and Myra Cohn Livingston; The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger; The Cat’s Elbow and Other Secret Languages by Alvin Schwartz; Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura; The Man in the Moon by Willai Joyce; Cricket in a Thicket (poems) by Aileen Fisher; Monday on the Mississppi by Marilyn Singer; A Book of Dragons: Tales and Legends From Many Lands by O. Muriel Fuller; The Flight of Dragons by Peter Dickinson; A Full Moon Is Rising, poems by Marilyn Singer ; A Pair of Wings by Marilyn Singer; The Company of Crows: A Book of Poems by Marilyn Singer; Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer; Dinotopia by James Gurney.
Math:
We are working on fractions, decimals, money skills, including adding and subtracting monetary amounts and making change, and continue to practice two and three digit addition and subtraction with regrouping, and single digit multiplication using real life math, books, workbooks, games, drawings, original word problems and manipulatives. Mikro uses online math resources such as BrainPOP, Adapted Mind, Dreambox, IXL Math, Kahn Academy and Time4Learning. We have introduced the concept of division and its relation to multiplication and Mikro can do simple division problems. Mikro is practicing his math facts with the Timez Attack computer game.
Books include: Beast Academy 3A; How to Count Like a Martian by Glory St. John; Greater Estimations by Bruce Goldstone, Life of Fred Apples and Life of Fred Butterflies; Hidden Picture Math and Quilt Math.
Music: Multiplication Mountain by Hap Palmer; Multiplication by Teacher and the Rockbots.
Games: The Number Devil computer game; Timez Attack computer game
Science:
We have discussed simple machines, light and optics, sound, magnetism, electricity, motion, flight, and robotics, states of matter, gravity, space and time, marine biology wit an emphasis on bioluminescent, fluorescent and chemiluminescent creatures, and have also continued our study of the climate, habitat, food chains and animals of Africa. Mikro has gained hands on experience with binoculars, telescopes, periscopes, and other optical systems.
Classes: Mikro took a 9 week series of science classes at the Science Museum of Long Island in Plandome, NY. Topics included: botany including plant identification and seed and plant preservation; invasive species (identifying local examples such as Italian Wall Lizards, European Starlings, Asian Shore Crabs, Norway Maples, Kudzu and English Ivy and their effect on the ecosystem and native organisms); data collection and sampling including wildlife population sampling (catching and examining horseshoe crabs and asian shore crabs and noting information such as size, juvenile or adult, whether covered in barnacles or other sea life, and gender) and data presentation on graphs and charts; seining and learning about creatures inhabiting the Long Island Sound; marine biology (including performing a squid dissection) ; transect and quadrant surveys of wildlife and plants; and lifecycles and metamorphosis (including raising a painted lady butterfly). He has participated in live web seminars through the Supercharge Science web site and via The JASON Project.
Field trips: American Museum of Natural History: Creatures of Light exhibit on bioluminescence and Luna’s Sea performance; Bio Bus at Earth Fair NYC at Grand Central Terminal (nematodes, daphnia; examining compost under the microscope; genetically engineered glowing nematodes with jellyfish bioiluminescence added); Fish Stories with Christopher Letts at the Croton Earth Day Celebration at Sennasqua Park; watched the Space Shuttle Enterprise fly a loop up and down the Hudson River on her way to becoming an exhibit at the Intrepid Museum; learned about exotic animals at a library program at the Croton Free Library by Animal Embassy; Urban Stages: Up, Up and Away: The Life of Dr. Mae Jemison (a play about the inspiring life of the first female African American astronaut , a medical doctor mission specialist); World Science Festival, including Icarus at the Edge of Time (gravity, space and time), the Flame Challenge and Cool Jobs panel (physics, chemistry, biomechanical engineering, zoology, neurology), Innovation Square (robotics, physics, quantum levitation, lasers, genetic engineering), and the Science Street Fair (fossils, robotics, zoology); observing the Transit of Venus via pinhole technique; trip with homeschool group to New York City Center for Space Science Education (a Challenger Center) for a workshop on working in space and a simulated space mission. We also enjoyed educational exhibits at the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, including microscopic observation of aquatic life such as diving beetle larvae, microscopic observation of aquatic macroinvertebrates such as caddis fly , crane fly mayfly and dobson’s fly larvae and crayfish, and observing live specimens such as american eels, a painted turtle, a giant water bug, diving beetles, and waterboatsmen, a tadpole with only three limbs developed, an adult and larval stage red spotted newts, hogchokers, white perch, striped bass, blue crabs, and the preserved skeleton of an atlantic sturgeon and dried skin and scutes, etc. Mikro also learned about the physics of sailing, and manned the tiller on the Clearwater and watched his dad help raise her sail.
Projects: Mikro made a handbound book of drawings of his favorite bioluminescent organisms. He participated in the Project Feeder Watch citizen science project, collecting and reporting data through Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Mikro helps us to maintain a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat. He is caring for a growing menagerie of reptiles and invertebrates including garden snails, a goliath hornworm caterpillar, a hermit crab, a Chinese Water Dragon and a Bearded Dragon; he collects, observes and releases insects, birdwatches at our feeders, and takes many nature walks where he has observed such things as birds building nests, courtship behaviors and mating, and parent birds feeding their young; American Kestrels hunting; bald eagles, ospreys, egrets, cormorants and great blue herons going fishing in the Croton River, Hudson River, New York Harbor and the Long Island Sound, redtailed hawks hunting rodents and consuming them, insect and wind pollination of plants and damselflies, dragonflies and snapping turtles in the local wetlands.
Books: Animal Life (DK); Prehistoric Life (DK) ; A Day With Homo Erectus, A Day With Neanderthal Man, and A Day With Homo Sapiens Sapiens, all by Fiorenzo Facchini;. Cobras by Sylvia A. Johnson; Field Guide to Prehistoric Life by David Lambert; Dinosaur Scientist by Thom Holmes; Monster Fliers From the Time of the Dinosaurs by Elizabeth MacLeod; Animals Come to My House: A Story Guide to the Care of Small Wild Animals by Esther Kellner; Deathtrap: The Story of the La Brea Tar Pits by Sharon Elaine Thompson; Icarus at the Edge of Time by Brian Greene (and World Science Festival Educator’s Guide); Fireflies by Sally M. Walker; Glow in the Dark Animals by Kris Hirschmann; Bodies from the Bog by James M. Deem; Mystery Fish: Secrets of the Coelocanth by Sally M. Walker; Put Inclined Planes to the Test by Sally M Walker and Roseann Feldmann; Put Pulleys to the Test by Sally M Walker and Roseann Feldmann; Rhinos by Sally M. Walker; Hippos by Sally M. Walker; Geothermal Energy by Graham Rickard; I Want to Be an Engineer by Catherine O’Neill Grace; Fireflies in Nature and the Laboratory by Lynn Poole; The Winking, Blinking Sea: All About Bioluminescence by Mary Batten; Ocean (American Museum of Natural History) by Robert Dinwiddie, Philip Eales, Sue Scott and Mikro Scott; Water Insects by Sylvia A. Johnson.
Magazines: Dig; Ranger Rick, National Geographic Kids, Kids Discover and Zoobooks.
Videos: NOVA: Monster of the Milky Way (black holes); Physical Science for Children: All About Properties of Matter (Schlessinger Science library); Physical Science for Children: All About Heat (Schlessinger Science library); The Way Things Work: Levers (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Levers (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Screws (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Wheels and Axles (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Pulleys (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Inclined Planes (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Belts and Gears (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Ballooning (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Levers (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Flight (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Magnets (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Electricity (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Engines (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Telecommunications (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Friction (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Heat (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Light (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Musical Instruments (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Photography (Schlessinger Science Library.); The Way Things Work: Sound (Schlessinger Science Library.); Bill Nye: Chemical Reactions; Rock & Learn: Physical Sciences; Bill Nye the Science Guy: Safety Smart Chemical Reactions; Bill Nye the Science Guy: Safety Smart Electricity; Videos from the World Science Festival web site, including previous years’ Cool Jobs panelists, and many others; Various TED Talks including: Glowing in an Underwater World, The Weird and Wonderful World of Bioluminescence, Underwater Astonishments, Hooked by an Octopus; James Cameron’s Aliens of the Deep; Videos from the American Museum of Natural History including Jellies Down Deep, and Jelly Farmers; Cornell lab of Ornithology’s Heron Nest Cam and Red Tailed Hawk Nest Cam.
CDs: Science by Teacher and the Rockbots; Here Comes Science by They might Be Giants; Science Songs by Miss Jenny.
History, Geography, Social Studies & Patriotism and Citizenship:
During this quarter we have backtracked in time a little to do a more thorough study of early man and prehistory, based on Mikro’s interest in the topic and have explored the history of Easter Island, also at Mikro’s initiative. We have also continued our study the Ancient History of Africa, the Middle East and the “Holy Land”. We have used Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World as a spine, have gone through sections on Africa and the Ancient Israelites, as well as maps, videos, nonfiction and fiction concerning the cultures studied. We have had discussions about colonialism, slavery, governments, world religions including Greek and Roman Polytheism, Animism, Voodoo, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, African myths, folktales and legends, Bible stories from the Old Testament, and the historical and religious underpinnings of the ongoing conflict in the middle east.
In American History/New York History/Patriotism and Citizenship, we have discussed the Constitution, the function of governments, the Bill of Rights, rights and responsibilities of citizens, including paying taxes and learning about how to prepare a personal income tax return, the faltering economy, income disparity and the Occupy movement, slavery, racism and the Civil Rights movement, the Holocaust, prohibition, the Civil War, the California Gold Rush. We have studied United States geography and are looking at each of the 50 states, focusing this quarter on Texas and Florida.
Books:
Africa: The Slave Trade: 1440-1870 by Hugh Thomas; Come With Me to Africa: A Photographic Journey by Gregory Scott Kreikemeer; African Aesthetics by Susan Mullin Vogel; Bildad Kaggia: Voice of the People by Evan Mwangi; Shaka Zulu: Great Warrior King by Stanley Gazemba.
America: California by Linda Jacobs Altman; L is for Lonestar by Carol Crane; S is for Sunshine by Carol Crane.
Other: The Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O’Connor; Easter Island by Caroline Arnold; The Day the Stones Walked by T.A. Barron; Striker Jones: Elementary Economics for Elementary Detectives by Maggie M. Larche.
Prehistory: The Stone Age News by Fiona Macdonald; Stone Age Farmers Beside the Sea: Scotland’s Prehistoric Village of Skara Brae by Catherine Arnold; A Day With Homo Erectus, A Day With Neanderthal Man, and A Day With Homo Sapiens Sapiens, all by Fiorenzo Facchini;.Everyday Life in Prehistory by Neil Morris.
Videos:
Families of the World: Israel; Families of the World: Afghanistan; The Music of Africa (Educational Video Network); Digging for the Truth: Season One (Archaeology) (Episodes: Who Built Egypt’s Pyramids; Nefertiti: The Mummy Returns; Pompeii Secrets Revealed; ¬¬¬¬¬Hunt for the Lost Ark; The Holy Grail; The Iceman Cometh; Quest for King Solomon’s Gold; The Lost Tribe of Israel; Secrets of the Nazca Lines; The Search for El Dorado; Giants of Easter Island; Mystery of the Anasazi); Who Do You Think You Are: Season One (PBS).
Field trips: Terracotta Warriors at Discovery Time Square Exposition Center; Jewish Farm School in Cold Spring; Urban Stages: Up and Up: The Life of Dr. Mae Jemison; Urban Stages: South of the Border: Latin American Folktales ; Fleet Week: Parade of Ships and visiting the USS Wasp on Memorial Day; History Walk : Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge with South Street Seaport Museum.
Music:
Mikro is taking recorder lessons and is learning to read musical notation. He has also continued to learn be exposed to a wide variety of music and attended performances by All Lit Up, Nenad Bach and Hope Machine at the Croton Free Library. He also attended the Clearwater Festival for the third time this year, and enthusiastically participated at Circle of Song.
Books: The Musical Instruments series: Flutes by Bonnie Carson Turner.
CDs: Putumayo’s African Dreamland and African Playground; Leadbelly Sings for Children; Clearwater Classics by Pete Seeger; and our family iTunes library.
Art:
Mikro attended plays by Urban Stages including South of the Border: Latin American Folktales and Up and Up: The Life of Dr. Mae Jemison.
Mikro has continued his drawing and experiments with various media, including charcoal found on the beach, clay, watercolors, markers, colored pencils, acrylic paints and collage/assemblage. We have looked at art books and videos on African art including masks, body art, sculpture, pottery and metalwork. We have explored the fundamentals of art making including line, shape, form, value, and color theory. Mikro keeps a sketchbook. He is fascinated with scientific illustration at the moment, and is making detailed sketches of skulls and skeletons and some internal organs, as well as many drawings of snakes, lizards, aquatic macroinvertebrates and other creatures. He has made many articulated paper puppets of dragons and reptiles. He sculpted a cobra, which was bisqued in a kiln, and then glazed it and refired. He is immensely proud of his finished sculpture. He also made several fossil impression style ceramic ornaments of creatures such as ammonites, trilobites and dragonflies, as well as a ceramic platter featuring an archaeopteryx, which were kiln fired (and glazed by mom due to time constraints). Mikro also made a nature assemblage of a great blue heron on the beach at Croton Point Park, in an homage to one of his favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy. He also created a treasure box out of recycled materials to hold his beach treasures, and painted it with dragon motifs.
Books: How to Draw Dragons by Ralph Masiello; African Aesthetics by Susan Mullin Vogel; M is for Masterpiece by David Domeniconi.
Phys Ed:
Hiking, park days with homeschooled friends and/or family; tree climbing, warm up exercises and running; basketball informally with friends and family; trampoline.
Health:
We have discussed avoiding illness through proper hygiene, how germs are spread, proper hospital visiting etiquette, maintaining a healthy weight through proper eating habits and exercise, safety issues related to food allergies, use of an epi-pen, vision and eye safety, maintaining adequate hydration, personal hygiene including dental hygiene, why drugs, alcohol and smoking are unhealthy, HIV and AIDS, and the perils of drunk driving. Books: The GF Kid: A Celiac Disease Survival Guide by Melissa London. Videos: Health for Chiildren: Personal Hygiene (Schlessinger Media); Health for Chiildren: Dealing With Feelings (Schlessinger Media); Health for Chiildren: Decisions and Conflicts (Schlessinger Media); Health for Chiildren: Drugs and Diseases (Schlessinger Media); Health for Chiildren: Nutrition (Schlessinger Media); Health for Chiildren: Environmental Health (Schlessinger Media.
Traffic, bicycle and general safety:
We have discussed the importance looking both ways before crossing the street, obeying traffic signals, watching cars for signals, safe and appropriate behavior on public transportation, seatbelts, carseats, not distracting the driver, using a cell phone to call for emergency assistance, hiking and wilderness survival including avoiding hypothermia, not hiking alone, and not consuming unknown plants; what to do if lost or separated from family, how to avoid getting lost in the first place, how to ask for help.
Fire Safety and Prevention:
We continue to review what to do in a fire emergency, including formulating a family escape plan, stop drop & roll, get low and go, exiting the house immediately and not returning, trying to wake family members, but leaving if unsuccessful, telling firefighters if family and pets are still inside, using a cell phone or going to a neighbor to call 911, and waiting at a designated location for family members. We talked about fire prevention strategies.
ANNUAL ASSESSMENT:
As set forth above, and in our three prior quarterly reports, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, Mikro has made outstanding progress this year and is reading well above grade level.
He has independently finished books that are over 350 pages long. He will be participating in the Croton Library’s Summer Reading Program. He is making good progress with spelling and penmanship, tells wonderful stories, and has a rich and advanced vocabulary.
He has a firm grasp on the concept of multiplication, and is working on improving his command of math facts. He has the times tables (from 1 to 12) mostly committed to memory. He understands the concept of division and can do simple short division problems.
He is fascinated by science, and performs in that subject at several years above grade level. He refers to himself as “a biologist.”
He enjoys history, joins in political discussions, is proficient at reading a map, and can identify the continents and countries we have studied on a map or globe.
He loves to sing and is excited to learn to play songs on the recorder.
He is active, healthy and physically fit, and is developing into an enthusiastic and strong swimmer.
He has made outstanding academic progress in all subject areas, in which he performs at or above grade level. He is a voracious reader and a curious and self-motivated learner who loves science, nature, history and mythology.
We are extremely proud of his achievements, and look forward to another wonderful year of learning together.
Dated: June 30, 2012
Signed: Us
Showing posts with label annual assessment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label annual assessment. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Quarterly Report and Annual Assessment: NY Homeschool Paperwork
Generally: Mikro is progressing in an outstanding manner in all subject matter.
We have had instruction in all the following areas, as per Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the New York State Commissioner of Education and Mikro’s Individual Home Instruction Plan (IHIP): Reading, Writing, Spelling, Language Arts, Math, History, Geography, Science, Health, Physical Education, Music, Visual Arts, Patriotism and Citizenship, Fire Safety and Prevention, and Traffic, Bicycle and General Safety. Mikro had no absences from instruction this quarter, and has exceeded the required hours of instruction (225). Highlights for the Quarter include:
Mikro reads fluently and well above grade level. He is reading increasingly more complex material, including books up to 350 pages long. He reads for fun and enjoyment without prompting, and also enjoys audio books and Tumblebooks through the various library websites. His reading comprehension is wonderful, and he can narrate back a good summary of what he reads. He enjoys making up rich and detailed stories, poems, riddles and jokes. Mikro is learning to type his own stories using a text editor. We are working on grammar and spelling using a variety of workbooks and online lessons from Time4Learning, Lesson Pathways, BrainPOP, AAASpelling.com and other online resources. We have discussed the elements of a story including protagonist, antagonist, plot, exposition, theme, conflict, climax, resolution, setting, etc. We continue to practice narration and have discussed the elements of a book report. Mikro read How to Write a Book Report by Cecilia Minden. He has signed up to participate in the Croton Free Library’s Summer Reading Game, and has already reported to the children’s librarian on a book for Week 1. He continues to work on improving his handwriting and fine motor skills. Mikro attended a poetry workshop at Poets House entitled Sea Tales with Richard Lewis , wherein he saw a performance, acted out various scenes, wrote a song and constructed an assemblage. He also attended the festivities for the New York Pubic Library’s 100th anniversary in the Schwarzman Building, which included a tour of the normally closed stacks. Some of the books read independently by Mikro (in addition to those listed by subject matter in other categories below) include: Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French (368 pgs.); Einstein’s Underpants and How They Saved the World by Anthony McGowan (320 pgs); George's Secret Key to the Universe by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking (336 pgs); George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking (320 pgs); The Wooden Mile by Chris Mould (176 pgs); The Icy Hand by Chris Mould (176 pgs); George’s Marvellous Medicine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, The Magic Finger and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, all by Roald Dahl; A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle; Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman; LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary by Simon Beecroft; Around the World on Eighty Legs by Amy Gibson; The Ghost of Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson; Hannah Is My Name by Belle Chang; Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves; Helping Out is Cool by Ellen Feinman Moss; How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long; Ma, I’m a Farmer by Michael Martchenko; The Night I Followed the Dog, by Nina Laden; Something Good by Robert Munsch; The Summer the Town Bit Back by Ellen Feinman; The Three Silly Billies by Andrea Wayne von Koenigslow; When Pigasso Met Mootise by Nina Laden; Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, Mahalia Mouse Goes to College by John Lithgow, Pecorino’s First Concert by Alan Nadison, Pop’s Bridge by Eve Bunting; Sally Dog Little by Bill Richardson; Sammy Spider’s First Shabbat by Sylvia Ross; Champion: The Story of Muhammed Ali by Jim Haskins; Dinosaur Cove books including: Catching the Velociraptor, March of the Ankylosaurus, Charge of the Triceratops, and Attack of the Tyrannosaurus, all by Rex Stone. Read Alouds: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein. Math: We are working on single digit multiplication, two and three digit addition with regrouping, and two digit subtraction with and without regrouping, rounding off and measurement, using real life math, books, workbooks, games, drawings, original word problems and manipulatives. Mikro is also learning his math facts and strategies online using Dreambox Math (which makes math a game using interactive tools and manipulatives like the number line, tens blocks, hundreds charts, multiplication tables, etc.), IXL Math (more traditional worksheet like problems) Mathplayground.com (games, worksheets, interactive manipulatives), Gudi.com (math games), AAAmath.com, Brain Pop and Time4Learning ; various workbooks, including 5 Minute Addition, Logic Safari I, Singapore Primary Math 1B, and Second Grade Scholar. We have introduced the concept of division. Mikro is also enjoying the Mathtacular! series of DVDs. Mikro has been measuring and weighing his baby bearded dragon and we have been keeping a notebook with this data. He is also using measurements in real life applications such as cooking and building projects, and enjoyed learning about area and perimeter while “assisting” his father in installing a paving stone patio. Books include: Math for Martians: Galaxy Getaway by Jane Tassie; Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese; Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert; Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen; Place Value: The Next Stage by Claire Piddock; Regrouping by Claire Piddock; Multiplication by Ann Becker; Wild Fibonacci: Nature’s Secret Code Revealed by Joy N. Hulme; Pythagoras and the Ratios: A Math Adventure by Julie Ellis; The Easy Book of Multiplication by David C. Whitney. Games include: Dreambox Math and math dice. Science: We have discussed the scientific method; electricity; computers; light and optics; Newton’s Laws of Motion; velocity, acceleration, speed, and terminal velocity; rocketry; the history of the space program; geology and the rock cycle (including via materials from The JASON Project online); biomes (seashore; wetlands; ponds and lakes); ecosystems, habitat and food chains; classification of animals; arthropods; arachnids; insects; annelids; cnidarians; reptiles; crustaceans; echinoderms; cephalopods; mollusks; fish; cells, cell structures, mitosis, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, heredity, DNA and RNA, bioethics; the human body; migration; hibernation; evolution; symbiosis and parasitism; climate change, ecology and conservation. Mikro remains fascinated by evolution, and he has been doing the middle school and high school level modules of Explorations in Time, a web based science curriculum for paleontology and geologic time from U.C. Berkeley. Mikro uses the BrainPOP online science program extensively, as well as SuperchargedScience.com. Classes: Mikro took a 5 week series of science classes at the Science Museum of Long Island in Plandome, NY. Topics included: ecology and terrarium building; marine biology (including performing a squid dissection) ; botany and betta fish behavior. Mikro took a 4 week series of classes with NYC’s Urban Park Rangers at Belvedere Caste in Central Park. Topics included ornithology and geology. Books: A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long;. Rice by Sylvia A. Johnson; Robotics by Helena Domaine; A Wizard From the Start: The Incredible Boyhood and Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison by Don Brown; Switch On, Switch Off by Melvin Berger; Scorpions by Jason Cooper; Ants and Other Social Insects by Cecilia Venn; DK Eyewitness: Robot by Roger Bridgman; Enjoy Your Cells by Fran Balkwill and Mic Rolph; Carolina’s Story by Donna Rathmell; Redwoods by Jason Chin; Deadly Ants by Seymour Simon; Life Cycle of a Frog by Angela Royston; Megatooth by Patrick O’Brien; Evolution Revolution by Robert M.L. Winston; Life in a Pond in a Meadow by Sally Morgan; Science Factory: Light and Sight by Jon Richards; Bouncing and Bending Light (partial) by Steve Tomecek; Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up by John R. Horner and James Gorman; The Mayfly by Ross E. Hutchins; The First Book of Electricity by Sam and Beryl Epstein; Salamander Rain by Krisitn Joy Pratt-Serafini; Understanding Solar Power by Fiona Reynoldson; Understanding Wind Power by Polly Goodman. Magazines: Mikro enjoys reading Ranger Rick, National Geographic Kids, Kids Discover and Zoobooks. Videos/Internet: Mikro watches educational programming on PBS, the History Channel, National Geographic Channel, Science Channel, NASA TV, Planet Green and Animal Planet. He also watches Bill Nye the Science Guy and other scientific programming online. He regularly watches educational programming such as NOVA, Nature, NASA TV, Wild Kingdom, Mythbusters, and How It’s Made, as well as selected science videos on YouTube. He continues to enjoy his extensive collection of science and nature DVDs. Of particular interest this quarter were The Human Spark, Monster Bug Wars, Mythbusters, How the Universe Works, and Nature: Birds of Paradise. He also enjoyed Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Inside Birding series of videos on identifying birds using color, pattern, size, shape, behavior and habitat. He is becoming a big fan of science fiction, and particularly enjoys Primeval, Star Trek and Dr. Who, all of which have prompted discussions of scientific topics such as paleontology, cloning, lasers and particle beams, communications technology, the theoretical feasibility of time travel, SETI and the search for extraterrestrial life. Field trips: American Museum of Natural History: World’s Largest Dinosaurs special exhibit; Dinosaurs at the ROC (featuring the AMNH’s Dino Lab on Wheels); EPA Ocean Survey Vessel Bold ship’s tour; collecting, observing and releasing insects; many nature walks where Mikro has observed such things as birds building nests, courtship behaviors; parent birds feeding their young; American Kestrels hunting; redtailed hawks hunting rodents and consuming them, insect and wind pollination of plants; snapping turtles in the local wetlands. Mikro attended the Cool Jobs presentation at the World Science Festival, featuring panelists from the fields of mechanical engineering, entomology, robotics and evolutionary biology. He also attended the World Science Festival Street Fair, including programs and performances such as Central Park Zoo’s Wildlife Theater; The Franklin Institute; live animal encounters with Philadelphia Zoo, robotics displays and hands-on exhibits from New York City/ New Jersey FIRST Robotics; and Rutgers Dynamic Physics Demos. We also enjoyed the animal related programming at Van Cortlandt Manor’s Animals and Acrobats event, including educational programs by Flight of the Raptor, the Wolf Conservation Society and 2 By 2 Zoo; and educational exhibits at the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, including microscopic observation of aquatic life such as mosquito larvae, microscopic observation of aquatic macroinvertebrates such as caddis fly and dobson’s fly larvae and crayfish, and observing live specimens such as american eels, water scorpions, crayfish, flounder, white perch, striped bass, salamanders, red efts, wood frogs, etc. Projects: Mikro and his dad are exploring electricity with an Arduino microcontroller kit, servo motors, LEDs, capacitors, resistors, and other electrical components, which are controlled via open source programming language. They have built several projects wherein Mikro constructed simple electrical circuits, and assisted with writing the sketches (programs). He built a motor driven propeller racer from a kit, and several other science kit projects such as an electronic snapping alligator, a periscope, and a wind gauge. He has been learning to measure distance using a laser rangefinder. He and his dad are discussing robotics design and are involved in the preliminary stages of designing and building a simple robot arm. He is also raising a baby bearded dragon and keeping a notebook of data and observations. We participated in the Project Feeder Watch citizen science project, collecting and reporting data through Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Mikro helps us to maintain a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat. He has participated in live web seminars through the Supercharge Science web site and via The JASON Project. History, Geography & Patriotism and Citizenship: During this quarter we have continued our study of Ancient History, focusing primarily on Ancient Japan, but also including India and China. We have used Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World as a spine, and have gone through sections on the Indus River, China and Japan, as well as maps, videos, nonfiction and fiction concerning the cultures studied. We have had discussions about dynasties, feudalism, samurai and shoguns, isolationism, world religions including Shinto, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, and Christianity, the Silk Road and trade, architecture, inventions and scientific discoveries in Ancient Japan and India and the festivals, myths, folktales and legends of Ancient China, Japan and India. We have also discussed British colonialism in India, M. Gandhi and the Indian independence struggle. In American History/New York History/Patriotism and Citizenship, we have discussed the Constitution, the function of governments, the Bill of Rights, rights and responsibilities of citizens, current events implicating constitutional issues such as the 4th amendment concerns with body scanners at airports and 4th and 5th amendment concerns relating to the proposed New York State Assembly and Senate bills permitting CPS to enter homes without a warrant and criminalizing resistance to the same, which were altered after legislators received negative feedback from constituents; immigration, slavery, racism, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, civil disobedience, peaceful protest and the Civil Rights movement, natural resources, scarcity, supply and demand, peace treaties, nationalism, socialism, communism, fascism, the First and Second Word Wars, the history and traditions of various holidays such as Easter, Passover, Earth Day, Children’s Day/Boy’s Day (Japan); Mothers Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day and Fathers Day. Mikro attended the annual Children’s Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian and enjoyed the crafts and activities, and especially the amazing performance by the Git-Hoan Singers and Dancers. He finished up his class in Native American Architecture at the Center for Architecture in New York City, and participated in constructing a model village and giving a presentation about it to staff from the Center. He also went on a field trip with our homeschool group to the Jewish Museum (which was focused on the Archaeology Zone) and independently explored the rest of the museum, learning a great deal about the ancient Israelites. Books: America: The Algonquian by Rita and Mary D’Apice; The Huron by Craig A. Doherty and Katherine M. Doherty; If You Lived With the Iroquois by Ellen Levine; The Rough Faced Girl by Rafe Martin; How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac ; Raven: A Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott. China/Japan/India: A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll; Cooking the Japanese Way by Reiko Weston; Hachiko Waits by Leslea Newman; Japanese Traditions: Rice Cakes, Cherry Blossoms and Matsuri by Setsu Broderick; Magic Animals of Japan by Davis Pratt and Elsa Kula; Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat by Susan Lendroth; Welcome to My Country: Japan by Harinah Whyte; We Live in Japan by Kazuhide Kawamata; The Bee and the Dream : A Japanese Tale, adapted by Jan Freeman Long; The Boy Who Drew Cats by David Johnson; Kamishibai Man by Allen Say; Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak; Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka; Samurai by Paul Collins; Grandfather Mountain: Stories of Gods and Heroes from Many Cultures retold by Burleigh Muten; The Long Silk Strand by Laura E. Williams; K is for Kabuki by Gloria Whelan; Hokusai: The Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai by Fracois Place; Skysweeper by Phillis Gershator; Lily’s Garden of India by Jeremy Smith; Nadia’s Hands by Karen English; Mama’s Saris by Pooja Makhijani. Videos: Internet: National Geographic Kids (Japan.); YouTube: Mikrohas really enjoyed a series of history music videos put together by two high school history teachers and shared on YouTube, on subjects including: Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, King Tut, Greek Philosophers, Nefertiti, Mummification, Pompeii, Ancient Rome, the Dynasties of Ancient China, Martin Luther, the Battle of Agincourt, etc. as well as videos concerning holidays, festivals and foods of India and Japan. Music: Mikro learned about melody, rhythm, pitch, harmony, and musical scales using Brain Pop’s online music lessons; he is learning to appreciate and identify classical pieces using the Beethoven’s Wig series of CDs. Mikro attended Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival at Croton Point Park, where he enjoyed performances by Pete Seeger and the Rivertown Kids, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Chapin, Joanne Shenandoah, Sarah Lee & Johnny, all the Clearwater Generations performers, and the reunion of Sloop Singers at Circle of Song (where he got a big high five from Sarah Underhill for his enthusiastic participation), as well as story telling by Eshu Bumpus, Kay Olan and Margo Thunderbird. Books: When Bob Met Woody by Gary Golio. Art: Mikro is participating in a weekly internet art challenge called Illustration Friday. He continues to practice drawing prehistoric and imaginary creatures, and has come to love sculpting clay and playdough. He has studied architecture, cameras and photography using Brainpop online, and has been given a digital camera to experiment with. He attended a five week course on Native American Architecture at the Center for Architecture in New York City, and has constructed models of a wigwam and a longhouse. We have attended dramatic and musical performances including: Greek Mythology with the Traveling Lantern Theater Company at Croton Free Library. He has enjoyed making monoprints, designing a skyscraper (exterior only), making fish prints, making a carp windsock for Japan’s Boy’s Day festival, ceramic sculpture, sand painting, drawing, watercolors, and oil pastels. Books include: Buildings In Disguise: Architecture that Looks Like Animals, Food and Other Things by Joan Marie Arbogast; The Empire State Building by Lisa Bullard; Gargoyles, Girders and Glass Houses: Magnificent Master Builders by Bo Zaunders; I Can Be An Architect by Susan Clinton; Van Gogh: Art for Children by Ernest Raboff; Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier by Jennifer Armstrong; When Pigasso Met Mootise by Nina Laden; Skyscraper by Lynn Curlee; Frank O. Gehry: Outside in by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan; How They Were Built by David J. Brown (partial). Physical Education: Hiking, walking, calisthenics, swimming, learning to ride a scooter, foam sword fights, and basketball informally with neighborhood friends. Health: We have discussed nutrition, safety issues related to food allergies, maintaining adequate hydration, signs of heat stroke, sun safety, why drugs, alcohol and smoking are unhealthy, and the perils of drunk driving. We have continued discussing the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street, obeying traffic signals, watching cars for signals, safe and appropriate behavior on public transportation, seatbelts, carseats, bike safety, strangers, bullies, staying where mom and dad can see you, what to do if lost or separated from family, how to avoid getting lost in the first place, and how to ask for help. Fire Safety and Prevention: We continue to discuss what to do in a fire emergency, including formulating a family escape plan, stop drop & roll, get low and go, exiting the house immediately and not returning, trying to wake family members, but leaving if unsuccessful, telling firefighters if family and pets are still inside, using a cell phone or going to a neighbor to call 911, and waiting at a designated location for family members.
Reading/Language Arts:
Understanding Japan; 1776.
Traffic, bicycle and general safety:
ANNUAL ASSESSMENT:
As set forth above, and in our three prior quarterly reports, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, Mikro has made outstanding progress this year and is reading well above grade level. He has independently finished books that are over 350 pages long. He will be participating in the Croton Library’s Summer Reading Program. He has a firm grasp on the concept of multiplication, and is working on learning his math facts. He can use a multiplication table to derive answers to problems. He is fascinated by science, and performs in that subject at several years above grade level. He enjoys history, joins in political discussions, is proficient at reading a map, and can identify the continents and countries we have studied on a map or globe. He has made outstanding academic progress in all subject areas, in which he performs at or above grade level, and his handwriting is slowly improving. He is a voracious reader and a curious and self-motivated learner who loves science, nature, history and mythology.
Dated: June 30, 2011
Signed: Me & Kev
Saturday, July 17, 2010
NY Homeschool Paperwork: FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT AND ANNUAL NARRATIVE ASSESSMENT
Last bit of mandatory paperwork for our homeschool year. (I got a jump on next year by filing my letter of intent along with it...)
Most people do a much more generalized (and shorter) report, but I elected to go belt and suspenders and give them the whole enchilada...
HOMESCHOOLING STUDENT: Mikro
GRADE LEVEL: Kindergarten
THIS QUARTER COVERS: 4/01/10 to 6/30/10
DATE SUBMITTED: June 30, 2010
We have had instruction in all the following areas, as per Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the New York State Commissioner of Education and Mikro’s Individual Home Instruction Plan (IHIP): Reading, Writing, Spelling, Language Arts, Math, History, Science, Health, Physical Education, Music, and Visual Arts.
Mikro had no absences from instruction this quarter, and has exceeded the required hours of instruction (225).
Highlights for the Quarter include:
We have made National Poetry Month a big part of our studies this spring. We have read a wide variety of poetry and have worked on rhyming and creating simple poems. Mikro has visited Poet’s House several times, and has participated in the following: Writing poems with staff members at the Children’s Room; attended a reading of nature poetry and helped write a collaborative poem; participated in festivities concerning the grand opening of the Children’s Room; read poems from the extensive children’s poetry collection.
Mikro's handwriting has improved, but still has a way to go. He is far more interested in mastering penmanship, and likes working on a dry erase board. He still struggles with proper pencil grip. We are doing some fine motor skills building activities to try to improve his finger strength and grip. We practice writing words relevant to our other studies and writing notes and cards to friends and family members.
Mikro’s interest in spelling has blossomed, and he is very competent with words that are spelled phonetically. We are working on words with silent letters. We play Scrabble and Boggle as a family, with Mikro partnered with a parent for help.
Some of the books read independently by Mikro (in addition to many of those listed by subject matter in other categories below):
Dragon World by Milivoj Ceran et al; Don’t Be Picky, Clover by Rita Balducci; 10 Inventors Who Changed the World by Clive Gifford; Bees, Snails & Peacock Tails, by Betsy Franco; Insectopedia, On the Wing, Bow Wow Meow Meow, Mammalibilia, Zoo’s Who, Poetrees, Omnibeasts and In the Swim, all by Douglas Florian; A Lime, a Mime and a Pool of Slime: More About Nouns; Slide and Slurp, Scratch and Burp: More About Verbs; Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally: More About Adverbs, all by Brian P. Cleary; The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West by Barbara Brenner; Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd; The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull; Fables and Their Morals Vol. I and III by Bruce and Becky Durost Fish; This Big Sky by Pat Mora; Nature’s Paintbox by Patricia Thomas; An Old Shell: Poems of the Galapagos by Tony Johnston; Silent Music, The Island Below the Star, Dog of the Sea Waves, The Cloudmakers, Chee-Lin, The Calabash Cat and Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354, all by James Rumford; The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science and Imagination by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston; Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, Ride a Purple Pelican, Zoo Doings, Monday’s Troll, My Dog May Be a Genius, Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face and Me I Am, all by Jack Prelutsky; Red Sings From Treetops by Joyce Sidman; ABC Nature Riddles by Susan Joyce; The Sun, the Moon and the Stars: Poems collected & written by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace; 201 Thematic Riddle Poems to Build Literacy (K-2) by Betsy Franco; Mermaid Parade by Melanie Hope Greenberg; Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi; Cuckoo and Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert; Moon Bear by Brenda Z. Guiberson; Fledgling by Robert J. Blake; Wild Country: Outdoor Poems for Young People by David Harrison; I’m Bad by Kate and Jim Mcmullan, The Museum Book by Jan Mark; The Reason for the Pelican by John Ciardi; Fur, Fangs and Footprints: A Collection of Poems About Animals complied by Patricia M. Stockland; Can I Have A Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I Please? by Lois G. Grambling; Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hankes; Swimming and Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse by Leo Lionni; Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison and Kevin Hankes; I Like Caterpillars by Gladys Conklin; How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham; Oddhopper Opera by Kurt Cyrus; The Smallest Stegosaurus by Lynn Sweat and Louis Phillips; The Spider and the Fly by Tony Di Terlizzi, based on the cautionary tale by Mary Howitt; Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnurr; Leaving the Nest by Modecai Gerstein; The Restless Robin by Marjorie Flack; Koko’s Story and Koko’s Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson; Old Bear’s Painting Surprise by Jane Hissey; The Cats of Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse; Grandfather Buffalo by Jim Arnosky; Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen; Around the Oak and The Garden in the City by Gerda Muller; Dinosaur Cove: Attack of the Tyranosaurus and March of the Ankylosaurus by Rex Stone; How to Train Your Dragon, Book 1, How to Train Your Dragon, Book 2: How to Be a Pirate, How to Train Your Dragon, Book 3: How to Speak Dragonese, and How to Train Your Dragon, Book 4: How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse, all by Cressida Cowell.
Mikro also reads books online via the Westchester Library System's Tumblebooks program.
Read Alouds: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (partial); Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliffe.
We continue to practice one digit addition and subtraction, and have introduced two digit addition, using workbooks, games, and both purchased manipulatives and found ones (Mikro likes to do math with playing cards, inch cubes, magnet rocks, and sugar packets). We have used online lessons from Lesson Pathways, Kahn Academy and other sources.
We have explored concepts like odd and even numbers, ways to make ten and other numbers, roman numerals, tallying, rounding to tens, skip counting by twos and tens, money, sets, patterns, place value, estimation, graphs and charts, maps and mapmaking, measurement, symmetry, angles, triangle geometry, polygons, fractions, topology, area and perimeter, telling time to the half hour, reading a schedule, and/or statements and truth tables, and very large numbers and exponential notation.
Books include: G is for Googol by David Schwartz, How Much is a Million by David Schwartz, On Beyond A Million by David Schwartz; Mathemagic by World Book Encyclopedia (partially); Kenny Kangaroo Problem Solving Grade 1 (partial); Mathematickles by Betsy Franco; Roman Numerals from I to MM by Arthur Geisert; Fun With Roman Numerals by David Adler; Sir Circumference and the Isle of Immeter (perimeter and area) by Cindy Neuschwander; Tiger Math (graphing) by Ann Whitehead and Cindy Bickel; What Time Is It, Jeanne Marie? by Francoice; What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras by Julie Ellis; The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky; Mapping Penny’s World by Loreen Leedy; One Grain of Rice by Demi.
Math Start Books: Polly’s Pen Pal (measurement), Betcha (estimation), It’s About Time (time to the hour), Henry the Fourth (ordinal & cardinal numbers) , Missing Mittens (odd and even), Monster Musical Chairs (subtracting by 1), Let’s Fly A Kite (symmetry), More or Less (comparing values), Leaping Lizards (skip counting by 5s and 10s), Less Than Zero (negative numbers), Dinosaur Deals (equivalent values) ,Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do (multiplication), A House for Birdie (capacity), Double the Ducks (doubling), Mighty Maddie (comparing weights), Mall Mania (addition strategies), 100 Days of Cool (numbers to 100), Tally O’Malley (tallying), A Fair Bear Share (regrouping and place value of ones and tens), Treasure Map (mapping), Bug Dance (directions), Jack the Builder (counting on), Elevator Magic (subtraction), Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes (2d and 3D shapes), 3 Little Firefighters (sorting and classifying by attributes), The Best Vacation Ever (collecting data), The Sundae Scoop (combinations), The Grizzly Gazette (percentages). Safari Park (finding unknowns), Rodeo Time (reading a schedule), and Earth Day Hooray!, (place value to the thousands), all by Stuart J. Murphy.
Games include: Addition Bingo, the Bug Collection Game (includes addition and subtraction), Math Dice, Math Spin, Measuring Monkeys, Sum Swamp, Bionicles, Auntie Pasta’s Fraction Game.
We have discussed the history of the space program; rockets; orbital mechanics, flight: lift, drag and thrust; potential and kinetic energy; meteors; comets; the atmosphere; living in space; constellations; magnets; electromagnets; how we get power; types of power (solar, nuclear, wind, water, etc.); power plants, transformers, and electric lines; electricity and amperage, wattage and voltage; the physics of bridges; satellites and GPS; sound and light; the elements and the periodic table; molecules and compounds; acids and bases; biomes; habitats; climate; classification of animals; migration; hibernation; winter survival; camouflage; animal communication; predators and prey; food webs; animal reproduction and life cycles; evolution; extinction; geology; cladograms; oceans; climate change, ecology and conservation. Mikro regularly watches wildlife cams of nesting bald eagles and barn owls.
Books: Egg to Owl by Jessica Quilty; The Wounded Wolf and The Moon of the Alligators by Jean Craighead George; Fledgling by Robert J. Blake; Outside and Inside Snakes by Sandra Markle; Animals Up Close by Igor Siwanowicz; Science Works: Cracking Up: A Story About Erosion by Jacqui Bailey; Where’s the Big Dipper, Can You Hitch a Ride on a Comet and Can You Catch a Falling Star, all by Sidney Rosen; Galaxies by Howard K. Trammel; Ask Dr. K. Fisher About Planet Earth by Claire Llewellyn; How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer; Can You Fly High, Wright Brothers? by Melvin and Gilda Berger; Hurricanes by Gail Gibbons; Ant Cities by Arthur Dorros; Wetlands Journey by Jeanne Weaver; Iguanas by Kathryn Stevens; The Brook Book: Exploring the Smallest Streams by Jim Arnosky; The Moonflower by Peter and Jean Loewer; A Wetland Habitat by Bobbie Kalman; The Moon Book, Coral Reefs, Up Goes the Skyscraper and Owls all by Gail Gibbons; Earth: Our Planet in Space, Destination Space and The Smallest Dinosaurs, all by Seymour Simon; Spinning Spiders by Melvin Berger; Science Verse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith; Frog Heaven: Ecology of a Vernal Pool and Garter Snakes, both by Doug Wechsler; Life in the Boreal Forest and The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Z. Guiberson; I Wonder Why Stars Twinkle and Other Questions About Space by Readers Digest; Miles and Miles of Reptiles by Tish Rabe; Looking at Pterodactylus by Graham Coleman; Looking at Tyrannosaurus Rex and Looking at Brachiosaurus by Heather Amery;. Looking at Spinosaurus by Tamara Green; Weedy Sea Dragons, Spitting Cobras and Other Wild and Amazing Animals by Robyn O’Sullivan; Molds and Fungi by Elaine Pascoe; Millipedeology by Michael Elsohn Ross; Think of an Eel by Karen Wallace; Beavers by Deborah Hodge; Beaver by Glen Rounds; Squirrels and Their Nests by Martha E.H. Rustad; and My Place in Space by Robin and Sally Hirst.
Field trips: American Museum of Natural History: Lizards & Snakes Alive; and Butterfly Conservatory; Bio Bus; many nature walks where Mikro has observed such things as birds building nests, redtailed hawks hunting rodents and consuming them, swallow courtship behaviors, house wren nest with hatchlings, snapping turtles in the local wetlands.
Mikro attended the Astronaut Diary: Living in Space presentation at the World Science Festival, and also attended the World Science Festival Street Fair, including programs and performances such as Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Billy B Natural Science Song and Dance , and Rutgers Dynamic Physics Demos. He played the NASA Myths quiz game, and visited the festival’s James Webb Space Telescope and Astronomy’s New Messengers: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) exhibits in lower Manhattan.
We also enjoyed the animal related programming at Van Cortlandt Manor’s Animals and Acrobats event, including educational programming by Flight of the Raptor, the Wolf Conservation Society and 2 By 2 Zoo; educational exhibits at the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, including microscopic observation of aquatic life such as algae, diatoms, daphnia and zooplankton; microscopic observation of aquatic macroinvertebrates such as caddis fly and dobson’s fly larvae and crayfish, observing live specimens such as American Eels, sea stars, striped bass, flounders, sticklebacks, silversides, barnacles, blue crabs and hermit crabs; and observing and handling live specimens at the South Street Seaport Museum’s display at Earth Fair at Grand Central Terminal, including clams, hermit crabs and oyster borer snails.
Classes: Mikro takes a nature class and attends family programs at the Croton Nature Center. Recent topics were: bird habitats and animal CSI. Mikro took a series of classes on “NASA Science” offered by Mad Science at the Sunnyside Library in Sunnyside, Queens. Topics included: physics of flight, our solar system, life cycle of stars, galaxies, radar and lasers, atmosphere; rocket building; temperature; air pressure; gravity; comets, meteorites and asteroids; telescopes; space suits; living in space. Mikro attended the following programs at Beczak Environmental Education Center in Yonkers: Hunt for Hatchlings, Jam Making, Catch of the World Seining. Our homeschool group conducted a workshop on composting at La Plaza Community Garden with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. Mikro attended Earth Fair at Grand Central Terminal and Croton on Hudson’s Earth Day program at Sennasqua Park.
Videos: Life on the Discovery Channel; Bill Nye the Science Guy: Flight, Outer Space; The Moon; Earth’s Crust; Skin; The Eyeball; Digestion; Amphibians; Animal Locomotion; Archaeology; Architecture; Atmosphere; Circulatory System; Atoms; Bones and Muscles; Forests; Fossils; Forensics; Dinosaurs; Buoyancy; Gravity; Sound; Simple Machines; Structures; Biodiversity; and Garbage.
CDs: David Suzuki’s Amazing Journey; Jennifer Fixman’s Science Songs with Miss Jenny and Here Comes Science! by They Might Be Giants.
Projects: Project Feeder Watch and Project Nest Watch, through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; maintaining a compost heap and an indoor worm bin; catching, studying and releasing insects; maintaining a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat; planting and maintaining a vegetable garden.
In this fourth quarter, we have focused largely on Ancient Civilizations, covering Rome and Mesopotamia, and continuing our study of Egypt, and Greece. We have also introduced Ancient China and Ancient India. Our history spine is Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World: The Ancients.
Books that Mikro has read include:
EGYPT: Egyptian Myths by Jacqueline Morley; The Technology of Ancient Egypt by M. Solodky; The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb by Michael Burgan; Graphic Mythology: Egyptian Myths by Gary Jeffrey; Look What Came From Egypt by Miles Harvey; Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford; The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Leonard Everett Fisher; Science in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Woods; Diary of an Egyptian Quest by Nicholas Harris.
GREECE: The Illiad and The Odyssey, retold by Marcia Williams; Science in Ancient Greece by Kathlyn Gay; The Trojan Horse by Albert Lorenz; Demeter & Persephone: Spring Held Hostage by Justine and Ron Fontes; Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess and Zeus: King of the Gods by George O’Conner.
ROME: The Best Book of Ancient Rome by Deborah Murrell; Pompeii: Unearthing Ancient Worlds by Liz Sonneborn; Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome by Marissa Moss; Roman Myths, retold by Anthony Masters; Roman Stories retold by Robert Hull; Roman Diary by Richard Platt; If I Were A Kid in Ancient Rome (Cricket Books); Exploring Ancient Rome with Elaine Landau; Games of Ancient Rome by Don Nardo; Roman Places by Sarah Howarth; Ancient Rome and Pompeii: A Nonfiction Companion to Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Bryce; Pompei: Buried Alive by Edith Kurnhardt; Secrets of Pompeii: Everyday Life in Ancient Rome by Emidio de Albehtiis; Hands on History: Projects About Ancient Rome by Karen Frankel; Living in Ancient Rome , ed. by Norman Bancroft Hunt (partial); Ancient Rome by Philip Steele; Tales of the Dead: Ancient Rome by Stewart Ross; Gladiator by Richard Watkins.
ANCIENT NEAR EAST: The Sumerians, The Babylonians and The Assyrians, all by Elaine Landau; There’s a Monster in the Alphabet by James Rumford; Science in Ancient Mesopotamia by Carol Moss.
Mikro has watched David Macauley’s Roman City and Pyramid, Clearvue’s History Alive: Living in Ancient Egypt, and Schlessinger Media’s Ancient Civilizations for Children series, including Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China and Ancient Mesopotamia. He has also viewed the Teaching Company’s The Great Courses: Experiencing Rome: A Visual Exploration of Antiquity’s Greatest Empire with Professor Steven L. Tuck, Volume 1 (episodes 1-12).
We have had discussions about mythology, polytheism and monotheism, the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and their concepts of the afterlife, mummification, tomb building, agriculture, trade routes, the development of pictographs, hieroglyphs, alphabets and writing, imperialism and colonies, monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, citizenship, slavery, gender roles in ancient cultures, ancient trades and occupations, architecture, wars and the treatment of conquered peoples, royal families and inbreeding, how ancient cultures continue to impact modern life, word roots from ancient Greek and Latin. We have briefly discussed the Vikings, Norse mythology, the Celts, Celtic mythology and Irish history, especially the Dark Ages and the Book of Kells and similar illuminated manuscripts.
We visited the King Tut: Return of the King exhibit at the Discovery Times Square Exposition Center as a family and participated in a program on the Art of Ancient Egypt at the Brooklyn Museum with our homeschool group.
We have continued studying Native Americans. Some of the books Mikro has read include: Sound of Flutes and Other Indian Legends by Richard Erdoes; Storm Maker’s Tipi, Adopted by Eagles, Buffalo Woman, Dream Wolf and The Gift of the Sacred Dog all by Paul Goble ; How the Stars Fell from the Sky by Jerry Oughton; Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp; Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave the People Writing by James Rumford; Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London; Less Than Half, More Than Whole by Kathleen and Michael Lacapa; Who Will Be the Sun? by Joanna Troughton; Buffalo Dreams by Kim Doner; How Raven Stole the Sun by Maria Williams and Sunflower’s Promise: A Zuni Legend Retold by Gloria Dominic.
We visited the National Museum of the American Indian, where we saw screenings of several short films related to the current exhibit Song for the Horse Nation and Mikro participated in two Children’s Programs. The first concerned how Native Americans used all parts of the buffalo they hunted, at which Mikro was able to handle deerskin, a buffalo tail whisk, buffalo horns and toes, soap made from buffalo tallow, and other objects. The second involved a demonstration of making Hawaiian kapa cloth from mulberry, and Mikro made a bookmark stamped with traditional geometric designs such as those used on kapa. Mikro also watched the Schlessinger Media DVDs Iroquois and Native Americans. We attended Horsin’ Around at NMAI: Annual Children’s Festival, where Mikro made horse related crafts, watched and participated in Native American social dances, explored the objects on the touch tables and played the hoop and pole game. We also attended NMAI’s recent Story and Craft Workshop on the Summer Solstice. We took a family workshop on flint knapping at Croton Nature Center and made arrowheads.
We have discussed immigration, Ellis Island, tenement living, poverty and hunger, how government officials are elected, racism and other forms of discrimination, the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, how America became a country, daily life in the thirteen colonies (including what life was like for children), European settlers and Native Americans, the US government’s removal policy and forced residential schooling of Native Americans; blood quantum laws regarding Native Americans; westward expansion; the Civil War; the Industrial Revolution; famous inventors; September 11, 2001; religious extremists; terrorism; imperialism and colonialism; the United States military; and world geography. We have discussed the origins of holidays such as Easter, Spring Equinox, Earth Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Summer Solstice, Flag Day and Independence Day. We have discussed our family history and interviewed grandparents about what life was like when they were children. We have watched American history and government related videos including the History Channel series America: The Story of Us, Schlessinger Media’s Iroquois and Native Americans DVDs, as well as Schoolhouse Rock videos on American History and Government topics. We visited Ben’s Guide to US Government for Kids at http://bensguide.gpo.gov and completed all the elementary grade sections. We visited New York Unearthed, an archaeology museum connected with South Street Seaport Museum and learned about stratigraphy and various artifacts found under lower Manhattan. We also took part in a tour of the Tenement Museum and the Victoria Confino program with our homeschool group. Mikro watched several films on immigration at the Museum and read the following books: I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project Selected by Veronica Lawlor; My America by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. We attended a Ceremony at the Polish Consulate at which Mikro’s grandmother was awarded the Siberian Cross for events during the Second World War. We toured the HMS Bounty at Yonkers and the USS Iwo Jima during Fleet Week and took a walking tour of lower Manhattan, including Federal Hall, Fraunces Tavern, the churchyard at Trinity Church and the Stock Exchange.
Mikro participated in the Shuttle 2NYC rally in support of the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum’s bid to obtain one of NASA’s retiring Space Shuttles, and was interviewed by the New York Daily News.
Mikro has attended musical and dramatic performances at venues including the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the New Victory Theater, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater, the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival at Croton Point Park, and local libraries, including: Three; Jigsaw Jones and the Butterfly Garden; Henry Hudson and the River That Discovered Him by Arm of the Sea Theater. Mikro has been introduced to a wide variety of music, including Native American music, celtic music, folk songs, sea chanteys, Hudson River songs, blues and gospel music. Mikro was an enthusiastic participant at the Clearwater Festival’s Circle of Song.
Mikro has participated in art projects in connection with programs at museums, parks and local libraries, including painting, pottery, drawing, mask making, origami and assemblage. At home, he has experimented with egg painting and dyeing, collage, watercolors, clay, crayon, oil pastels, markers, leaf rubbings, sun prints and colored pencils.
Foam sword fighting, soccer and basketball informally, hoppity-hop, hiking, trampoline and frequent visits to the parks and playgrounds.
We have discussed good nutrition, the basic food groups, the food pyramid, safety issues related to food allergies, maintaining adequate hydration, dressing properly for expected weather conditions, sun safety, water safety, personal hygiene, first aid, and head lice prevention.
Dated: June 30, 2010
SIGNED: Me & Kev
Most people do a much more generalized (and shorter) report, but I elected to go belt and suspenders and give them the whole enchilada...
FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT AND ANNUAL NARRATIVE ASSESSMENT
SCHOOL YEAR: 2009-2010 HOMESCHOOLING STUDENT: Mikro
GRADE LEVEL: Kindergarten
THIS QUARTER COVERS: 4/01/10 to 6/30/10
DATE SUBMITTED: June 30, 2010
Generally:
Mikro is progressing at a satisfactory level or better in all subject matter. He has made more than adequate academic progress for the school year. His handwriting has improved, but needs further improvement. We are continuing to work on improving his grip strength and fine motor skills. We have had instruction in all the following areas, as per Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the New York State Commissioner of Education and Mikro’s Individual Home Instruction Plan (IHIP): Reading, Writing, Spelling, Language Arts, Math, History, Science, Health, Physical Education, Music, and Visual Arts.
Mikro had no absences from instruction this quarter, and has exceeded the required hours of instruction (225).
Highlights for the Quarter include:
Reading/Language Arts:
Mikro is a proficient and voracious reader, who reads for pleasure on his own initiative. He is reading short chapter books, picture books and juvenile fiction and nonfiction independently. He prefers nonfiction on science and nature related topics and historical fiction. He also enjoys poetry, myths and legends and graphic novels. His reading comprehension is wonderful, and he can narrate back a good summary of what he reads. He enjoys making up rich and detailed stories about dinosaurs, dragons, time travel to ancient Greece and Egypt, characters from myths and fairy tales and other imaginary creatures. He has invented his own pantheon of gods and goddesses, combining his love of reptiles and mythology. We have made National Poetry Month a big part of our studies this spring. We have read a wide variety of poetry and have worked on rhyming and creating simple poems. Mikro has visited Poet’s House several times, and has participated in the following: Writing poems with staff members at the Children’s Room; attended a reading of nature poetry and helped write a collaborative poem; participated in festivities concerning the grand opening of the Children’s Room; read poems from the extensive children’s poetry collection.
Mikro's handwriting has improved, but still has a way to go. He is far more interested in mastering penmanship, and likes working on a dry erase board. He still struggles with proper pencil grip. We are doing some fine motor skills building activities to try to improve his finger strength and grip. We practice writing words relevant to our other studies and writing notes and cards to friends and family members.
Mikro’s interest in spelling has blossomed, and he is very competent with words that are spelled phonetically. We are working on words with silent letters. We play Scrabble and Boggle as a family, with Mikro partnered with a parent for help.
Some of the books read independently by Mikro (in addition to many of those listed by subject matter in other categories below):
Dragon World by Milivoj Ceran et al; Don’t Be Picky, Clover by Rita Balducci; 10 Inventors Who Changed the World by Clive Gifford; Bees, Snails & Peacock Tails, by Betsy Franco; Insectopedia, On the Wing, Bow Wow Meow Meow, Mammalibilia, Zoo’s Who, Poetrees, Omnibeasts and In the Swim, all by Douglas Florian; A Lime, a Mime and a Pool of Slime: More About Nouns; Slide and Slurp, Scratch and Burp: More About Verbs; Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally: More About Adverbs, all by Brian P. Cleary; The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West by Barbara Brenner; Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd; The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull; Fables and Their Morals Vol. I and III by Bruce and Becky Durost Fish; This Big Sky by Pat Mora; Nature’s Paintbox by Patricia Thomas; An Old Shell: Poems of the Galapagos by Tony Johnston; Silent Music, The Island Below the Star, Dog of the Sea Waves, The Cloudmakers, Chee-Lin, The Calabash Cat and Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354, all by James Rumford; The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science and Imagination by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston; Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, Ride a Purple Pelican, Zoo Doings, Monday’s Troll, My Dog May Be a Genius, Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face and Me I Am, all by Jack Prelutsky; Red Sings From Treetops by Joyce Sidman; ABC Nature Riddles by Susan Joyce; The Sun, the Moon and the Stars: Poems collected & written by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace; 201 Thematic Riddle Poems to Build Literacy (K-2) by Betsy Franco; Mermaid Parade by Melanie Hope Greenberg; Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi; Cuckoo and Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert; Moon Bear by Brenda Z. Guiberson; Fledgling by Robert J. Blake; Wild Country: Outdoor Poems for Young People by David Harrison; I’m Bad by Kate and Jim Mcmullan, The Museum Book by Jan Mark; The Reason for the Pelican by John Ciardi; Fur, Fangs and Footprints: A Collection of Poems About Animals complied by Patricia M. Stockland; Can I Have A Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I Please? by Lois G. Grambling; Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hankes; Swimming and Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse by Leo Lionni; Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison and Kevin Hankes; I Like Caterpillars by Gladys Conklin; How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham; Oddhopper Opera by Kurt Cyrus; The Smallest Stegosaurus by Lynn Sweat and Louis Phillips; The Spider and the Fly by Tony Di Terlizzi, based on the cautionary tale by Mary Howitt; Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnurr; Leaving the Nest by Modecai Gerstein; The Restless Robin by Marjorie Flack; Koko’s Story and Koko’s Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson; Old Bear’s Painting Surprise by Jane Hissey; The Cats of Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse; Grandfather Buffalo by Jim Arnosky; Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen; Around the Oak and The Garden in the City by Gerda Muller; Dinosaur Cove: Attack of the Tyranosaurus and March of the Ankylosaurus by Rex Stone; How to Train Your Dragon, Book 1, How to Train Your Dragon, Book 2: How to Be a Pirate, How to Train Your Dragon, Book 3: How to Speak Dragonese, and How to Train Your Dragon, Book 4: How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse, all by Cressida Cowell.
Mikro also reads books online via the Westchester Library System's Tumblebooks program.
Read Alouds: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (partial); Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliffe.
Math:
We continue to practice one digit addition and subtraction, and have introduced two digit addition, using workbooks, games, and both purchased manipulatives and found ones (Mikro likes to do math with playing cards, inch cubes, magnet rocks, and sugar packets). We have used online lessons from Lesson Pathways, Kahn Academy and other sources.
We have explored concepts like odd and even numbers, ways to make ten and other numbers, roman numerals, tallying, rounding to tens, skip counting by twos and tens, money, sets, patterns, place value, estimation, graphs and charts, maps and mapmaking, measurement, symmetry, angles, triangle geometry, polygons, fractions, topology, area and perimeter, telling time to the half hour, reading a schedule, and/or statements and truth tables, and very large numbers and exponential notation.
Books include: G is for Googol by David Schwartz, How Much is a Million by David Schwartz, On Beyond A Million by David Schwartz; Mathemagic by World Book Encyclopedia (partially); Kenny Kangaroo Problem Solving Grade 1 (partial); Mathematickles by Betsy Franco; Roman Numerals from I to MM by Arthur Geisert; Fun With Roman Numerals by David Adler; Sir Circumference and the Isle of Immeter (perimeter and area) by Cindy Neuschwander; Tiger Math (graphing) by Ann Whitehead and Cindy Bickel; What Time Is It, Jeanne Marie? by Francoice; What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras by Julie Ellis; The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky; Mapping Penny’s World by Loreen Leedy; One Grain of Rice by Demi.
Math Start Books: Polly’s Pen Pal (measurement), Betcha (estimation), It’s About Time (time to the hour), Henry the Fourth (ordinal & cardinal numbers) , Missing Mittens (odd and even), Monster Musical Chairs (subtracting by 1), Let’s Fly A Kite (symmetry), More or Less (comparing values), Leaping Lizards (skip counting by 5s and 10s), Less Than Zero (negative numbers), Dinosaur Deals (equivalent values) ,Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do (multiplication), A House for Birdie (capacity), Double the Ducks (doubling), Mighty Maddie (comparing weights), Mall Mania (addition strategies), 100 Days of Cool (numbers to 100), Tally O’Malley (tallying), A Fair Bear Share (regrouping and place value of ones and tens), Treasure Map (mapping), Bug Dance (directions), Jack the Builder (counting on), Elevator Magic (subtraction), Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes (2d and 3D shapes), 3 Little Firefighters (sorting and classifying by attributes), The Best Vacation Ever (collecting data), The Sundae Scoop (combinations), The Grizzly Gazette (percentages). Safari Park (finding unknowns), Rodeo Time (reading a schedule), and Earth Day Hooray!, (place value to the thousands), all by Stuart J. Murphy.
Games include: Addition Bingo, the Bug Collection Game (includes addition and subtraction), Math Dice, Math Spin, Measuring Monkeys, Sum Swamp, Bionicles, Auntie Pasta’s Fraction Game.
Science:
We have discussed the history of the space program; rockets; orbital mechanics, flight: lift, drag and thrust; potential and kinetic energy; meteors; comets; the atmosphere; living in space; constellations; magnets; electromagnets; how we get power; types of power (solar, nuclear, wind, water, etc.); power plants, transformers, and electric lines; electricity and amperage, wattage and voltage; the physics of bridges; satellites and GPS; sound and light; the elements and the periodic table; molecules and compounds; acids and bases; biomes; habitats; climate; classification of animals; migration; hibernation; winter survival; camouflage; animal communication; predators and prey; food webs; animal reproduction and life cycles; evolution; extinction; geology; cladograms; oceans; climate change, ecology and conservation. Mikro regularly watches wildlife cams of nesting bald eagles and barn owls.
Books: Egg to Owl by Jessica Quilty; The Wounded Wolf and The Moon of the Alligators by Jean Craighead George; Fledgling by Robert J. Blake; Outside and Inside Snakes by Sandra Markle; Animals Up Close by Igor Siwanowicz; Science Works: Cracking Up: A Story About Erosion by Jacqui Bailey; Where’s the Big Dipper, Can You Hitch a Ride on a Comet and Can You Catch a Falling Star, all by Sidney Rosen; Galaxies by Howard K. Trammel; Ask Dr. K. Fisher About Planet Earth by Claire Llewellyn; How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer; Can You Fly High, Wright Brothers? by Melvin and Gilda Berger; Hurricanes by Gail Gibbons; Ant Cities by Arthur Dorros; Wetlands Journey by Jeanne Weaver; Iguanas by Kathryn Stevens; The Brook Book: Exploring the Smallest Streams by Jim Arnosky; The Moonflower by Peter and Jean Loewer; A Wetland Habitat by Bobbie Kalman; The Moon Book, Coral Reefs, Up Goes the Skyscraper and Owls all by Gail Gibbons; Earth: Our Planet in Space, Destination Space and The Smallest Dinosaurs, all by Seymour Simon; Spinning Spiders by Melvin Berger; Science Verse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith; Frog Heaven: Ecology of a Vernal Pool and Garter Snakes, both by Doug Wechsler; Life in the Boreal Forest and The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Z. Guiberson; I Wonder Why Stars Twinkle and Other Questions About Space by Readers Digest; Miles and Miles of Reptiles by Tish Rabe; Looking at Pterodactylus by Graham Coleman; Looking at Tyrannosaurus Rex and Looking at Brachiosaurus by Heather Amery;. Looking at Spinosaurus by Tamara Green; Weedy Sea Dragons, Spitting Cobras and Other Wild and Amazing Animals by Robyn O’Sullivan; Molds and Fungi by Elaine Pascoe; Millipedeology by Michael Elsohn Ross; Think of an Eel by Karen Wallace; Beavers by Deborah Hodge; Beaver by Glen Rounds; Squirrels and Their Nests by Martha E.H. Rustad; and My Place in Space by Robin and Sally Hirst.
Field trips: American Museum of Natural History: Lizards & Snakes Alive; and Butterfly Conservatory; Bio Bus; many nature walks where Mikro has observed such things as birds building nests, redtailed hawks hunting rodents and consuming them, swallow courtship behaviors, house wren nest with hatchlings, snapping turtles in the local wetlands.
Mikro attended the Astronaut Diary: Living in Space presentation at the World Science Festival, and also attended the World Science Festival Street Fair, including programs and performances such as Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Billy B Natural Science Song and Dance , and Rutgers Dynamic Physics Demos. He played the NASA Myths quiz game, and visited the festival’s James Webb Space Telescope and Astronomy’s New Messengers: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) exhibits in lower Manhattan.
We also enjoyed the animal related programming at Van Cortlandt Manor’s Animals and Acrobats event, including educational programming by Flight of the Raptor, the Wolf Conservation Society and 2 By 2 Zoo; educational exhibits at the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, including microscopic observation of aquatic life such as algae, diatoms, daphnia and zooplankton; microscopic observation of aquatic macroinvertebrates such as caddis fly and dobson’s fly larvae and crayfish, observing live specimens such as American Eels, sea stars, striped bass, flounders, sticklebacks, silversides, barnacles, blue crabs and hermit crabs; and observing and handling live specimens at the South Street Seaport Museum’s display at Earth Fair at Grand Central Terminal, including clams, hermit crabs and oyster borer snails.
Classes: Mikro takes a nature class and attends family programs at the Croton Nature Center. Recent topics were: bird habitats and animal CSI. Mikro took a series of classes on “NASA Science” offered by Mad Science at the Sunnyside Library in Sunnyside, Queens. Topics included: physics of flight, our solar system, life cycle of stars, galaxies, radar and lasers, atmosphere; rocket building; temperature; air pressure; gravity; comets, meteorites and asteroids; telescopes; space suits; living in space. Mikro attended the following programs at Beczak Environmental Education Center in Yonkers: Hunt for Hatchlings, Jam Making, Catch of the World Seining. Our homeschool group conducted a workshop on composting at La Plaza Community Garden with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. Mikro attended Earth Fair at Grand Central Terminal and Croton on Hudson’s Earth Day program at Sennasqua Park.
Videos: Life on the Discovery Channel; Bill Nye the Science Guy: Flight, Outer Space; The Moon; Earth’s Crust; Skin; The Eyeball; Digestion; Amphibians; Animal Locomotion; Archaeology; Architecture; Atmosphere; Circulatory System; Atoms; Bones and Muscles; Forests; Fossils; Forensics; Dinosaurs; Buoyancy; Gravity; Sound; Simple Machines; Structures; Biodiversity; and Garbage.
CDs: David Suzuki’s Amazing Journey; Jennifer Fixman’s Science Songs with Miss Jenny and Here Comes Science! by They Might Be Giants.
Projects: Project Feeder Watch and Project Nest Watch, through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; maintaining a compost heap and an indoor worm bin; catching, studying and releasing insects; maintaining a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat; planting and maintaining a vegetable garden.
History & Patriotism and Citizenship:
In this fourth quarter, we have focused largely on Ancient Civilizations, covering Rome and Mesopotamia, and continuing our study of Egypt, and Greece. We have also introduced Ancient China and Ancient India. Our history spine is Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World: The Ancients.
Books that Mikro has read include:
EGYPT: Egyptian Myths by Jacqueline Morley; The Technology of Ancient Egypt by M. Solodky; The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb by Michael Burgan; Graphic Mythology: Egyptian Myths by Gary Jeffrey; Look What Came From Egypt by Miles Harvey; Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford; The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Leonard Everett Fisher; Science in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Woods; Diary of an Egyptian Quest by Nicholas Harris.
GREECE: The Illiad and The Odyssey, retold by Marcia Williams; Science in Ancient Greece by Kathlyn Gay; The Trojan Horse by Albert Lorenz; Demeter & Persephone: Spring Held Hostage by Justine and Ron Fontes; Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess and Zeus: King of the Gods by George O’Conner.
ROME: The Best Book of Ancient Rome by Deborah Murrell; Pompeii: Unearthing Ancient Worlds by Liz Sonneborn; Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome by Marissa Moss; Roman Myths, retold by Anthony Masters; Roman Stories retold by Robert Hull; Roman Diary by Richard Platt; If I Were A Kid in Ancient Rome (Cricket Books); Exploring Ancient Rome with Elaine Landau; Games of Ancient Rome by Don Nardo; Roman Places by Sarah Howarth; Ancient Rome and Pompeii: A Nonfiction Companion to Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Bryce; Pompei: Buried Alive by Edith Kurnhardt; Secrets of Pompeii: Everyday Life in Ancient Rome by Emidio de Albehtiis; Hands on History: Projects About Ancient Rome by Karen Frankel; Living in Ancient Rome , ed. by Norman Bancroft Hunt (partial); Ancient Rome by Philip Steele; Tales of the Dead: Ancient Rome by Stewart Ross; Gladiator by Richard Watkins.
ANCIENT NEAR EAST: The Sumerians, The Babylonians and The Assyrians, all by Elaine Landau; There’s a Monster in the Alphabet by James Rumford; Science in Ancient Mesopotamia by Carol Moss.
Mikro has watched David Macauley’s Roman City and Pyramid, Clearvue’s History Alive: Living in Ancient Egypt, and Schlessinger Media’s Ancient Civilizations for Children series, including Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China and Ancient Mesopotamia. He has also viewed the Teaching Company’s The Great Courses: Experiencing Rome: A Visual Exploration of Antiquity’s Greatest Empire with Professor Steven L. Tuck, Volume 1 (episodes 1-12).
We have had discussions about mythology, polytheism and monotheism, the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and their concepts of the afterlife, mummification, tomb building, agriculture, trade routes, the development of pictographs, hieroglyphs, alphabets and writing, imperialism and colonies, monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, citizenship, slavery, gender roles in ancient cultures, ancient trades and occupations, architecture, wars and the treatment of conquered peoples, royal families and inbreeding, how ancient cultures continue to impact modern life, word roots from ancient Greek and Latin. We have briefly discussed the Vikings, Norse mythology, the Celts, Celtic mythology and Irish history, especially the Dark Ages and the Book of Kells and similar illuminated manuscripts.
We visited the King Tut: Return of the King exhibit at the Discovery Times Square Exposition Center as a family and participated in a program on the Art of Ancient Egypt at the Brooklyn Museum with our homeschool group.
We have continued studying Native Americans. Some of the books Mikro has read include: Sound of Flutes and Other Indian Legends by Richard Erdoes; Storm Maker’s Tipi, Adopted by Eagles, Buffalo Woman, Dream Wolf and The Gift of the Sacred Dog all by Paul Goble ; How the Stars Fell from the Sky by Jerry Oughton; Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp; Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave the People Writing by James Rumford; Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London; Less Than Half, More Than Whole by Kathleen and Michael Lacapa; Who Will Be the Sun? by Joanna Troughton; Buffalo Dreams by Kim Doner; How Raven Stole the Sun by Maria Williams and Sunflower’s Promise: A Zuni Legend Retold by Gloria Dominic.
We visited the National Museum of the American Indian, where we saw screenings of several short films related to the current exhibit Song for the Horse Nation and Mikro participated in two Children’s Programs. The first concerned how Native Americans used all parts of the buffalo they hunted, at which Mikro was able to handle deerskin, a buffalo tail whisk, buffalo horns and toes, soap made from buffalo tallow, and other objects. The second involved a demonstration of making Hawaiian kapa cloth from mulberry, and Mikro made a bookmark stamped with traditional geometric designs such as those used on kapa. Mikro also watched the Schlessinger Media DVDs Iroquois and Native Americans. We attended Horsin’ Around at NMAI: Annual Children’s Festival, where Mikro made horse related crafts, watched and participated in Native American social dances, explored the objects on the touch tables and played the hoop and pole game. We also attended NMAI’s recent Story and Craft Workshop on the Summer Solstice. We took a family workshop on flint knapping at Croton Nature Center and made arrowheads.
We have discussed immigration, Ellis Island, tenement living, poverty and hunger, how government officials are elected, racism and other forms of discrimination, the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, how America became a country, daily life in the thirteen colonies (including what life was like for children), European settlers and Native Americans, the US government’s removal policy and forced residential schooling of Native Americans; blood quantum laws regarding Native Americans; westward expansion; the Civil War; the Industrial Revolution; famous inventors; September 11, 2001; religious extremists; terrorism; imperialism and colonialism; the United States military; and world geography. We have discussed the origins of holidays such as Easter, Spring Equinox, Earth Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Summer Solstice, Flag Day and Independence Day. We have discussed our family history and interviewed grandparents about what life was like when they were children. We have watched American history and government related videos including the History Channel series America: The Story of Us, Schlessinger Media’s Iroquois and Native Americans DVDs, as well as Schoolhouse Rock videos on American History and Government topics. We visited Ben’s Guide to US Government for Kids at http://bensguide.gpo.gov and completed all the elementary grade sections. We visited New York Unearthed, an archaeology museum connected with South Street Seaport Museum and learned about stratigraphy and various artifacts found under lower Manhattan. We also took part in a tour of the Tenement Museum and the Victoria Confino program with our homeschool group. Mikro watched several films on immigration at the Museum and read the following books: I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project Selected by Veronica Lawlor; My America by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. We attended a Ceremony at the Polish Consulate at which Mikro’s grandmother was awarded the Siberian Cross for events during the Second World War. We toured the HMS Bounty at Yonkers and the USS Iwo Jima during Fleet Week and took a walking tour of lower Manhattan, including Federal Hall, Fraunces Tavern, the churchyard at Trinity Church and the Stock Exchange.
Mikro participated in the Shuttle 2NYC rally in support of the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum’s bid to obtain one of NASA’s retiring Space Shuttles, and was interviewed by the New York Daily News.
Music/Drama:
Mikro has attended musical and dramatic performances at venues including the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the New Victory Theater, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater, the Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival at Croton Point Park, and local libraries, including: Three; Jigsaw Jones and the Butterfly Garden; Henry Hudson and the River That Discovered Him by Arm of the Sea Theater. Mikro has been introduced to a wide variety of music, including Native American music, celtic music, folk songs, sea chanteys, Hudson River songs, blues and gospel music. Mikro was an enthusiastic participant at the Clearwater Festival’s Circle of Song.
Art:
Mikro has participated in art projects in connection with programs at museums, parks and local libraries, including painting, pottery, drawing, mask making, origami and assemblage. At home, he has experimented with egg painting and dyeing, collage, watercolors, clay, crayon, oil pastels, markers, leaf rubbings, sun prints and colored pencils.
Foreign Language:
We have begun familiarizing Mikro with German using the BBC’s Muzzy language program and online videos from The Alphabet Garden. Phys Ed:
Foam sword fighting, soccer and basketball informally, hoppity-hop, hiking, trampoline and frequent visits to the parks and playgrounds.
Health:
We have discussed good nutrition, the basic food groups, the food pyramid, safety issues related to food allergies, maintaining adequate hydration, dressing properly for expected weather conditions, sun safety, water safety, personal hygiene, first aid, and head lice prevention.
Traffic, bicycle and general safety:
We continue to discuss appropriate safety precautions for crossing the street, and riding in cars and on public transportation. We have also discussed gun safety. Fire Safety and Prevention:
We continue to discuss what to do in a fire emergency, and role play calling 911. ANNUAL ASSESSMENT:
As set forth above, and in our three prior quarterly reports, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, Mikro has made outstanding progress this year and is reading well above grade level. He has independently finished books that are over 200 pages long. He will be participating in the Croton Library’s Summer Reading Program. He has made outstanding academic progress in all subject areas, in which he performs at or above grade level, and his handwriting is slowly improving. He is a voracious reader and a curious and self-motivated learner who loves science, nature, history and mythology. Dated: June 30, 2010
SIGNED: Me & Kev
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