SECOND QUARTERLY REPORT
SCHOOL YEAR: 2014-2015
HOMESCHOOLING STUDENT: Mikro
GRADE LEVEL: Fifth
THIS QUARTER COVERS: 10/17/14 to 1/16/15
DATE SUBMITTED: January 20, 2015
Generally:
Mikro is progressing at a satisfactory level or above 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 at a high school or college level. He is currently focusing on science fiction and fantasy and mythology and folktales. He participated in the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) Young Writer’s Program again this year and met his word count goal, working on a sequel to a story he wrote in a prior round of Nanowrimo. He has more to write before it is finished.
Mikro is participating in the Book Club for 3rd to 5th Graders at the Croton Free Library. So far he has discussed Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick.
In his debate and mock trial class, and at debate team practices, Mikro researched various topics for debate, including evolution vs. creationism, whether volcanoes caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, whether homeschoolers should be able to play on public school sports teams, etc., and delivered opening statements, rebuttals and closings. He researched logical fallacies and prepared examples to present in class. He also researched courtroom criminal procedure and common evidentiary objections. He prepared opening and closing statements for a simulated murder trial in which he acted as the prosecuting attorney. He continues to practice delivering the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V, and other passages from Shakespeare.
We continue to work on grammar and spelling using a variety of workbooks and online lessons, and through journaling.
Some of the books read independently by Mikro (in addition to those listed by subject matter in other categories below) include:
Eager and the Mermaid by Helen Fox; The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson; Mister Max: Book 1: The Book of Lost Things and Book 2: The Book of Secrets, both by Cynthia Voigt; Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus, by Tom Angleberger; What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World, by Henry Clark; The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work, poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko; A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing and Shout, by Paul B. Janeczko; A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, by Paul B. Janeczko and Chris Raschka; City of Wind, Ring of Fire, Star of Stone, and Dragon of Seas, all by P.D. Baccalario; Tales of the Black Widows, by Isaac Asimov; Ulysses Moore: The Door of Time, The Lost Map, The House of Mirrors, and Isle of Masks, all by P.D. Baccalario; The Book of Dragons by E. Nesbit; The Story of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting; Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets compiled by Paul B. Janeczko; The Blood of Olympus and The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide by Rick Riordan; School’s Out Forever, Saving the World, The Final Warning and The Angel Experiment, all by James Patterson; The Search for Wondla, A Hero for Wondla, and The Battle for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi; Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer; Dante’s Divine Comedy, adapted by Seymour Chwast; Seigfried, by Alex Alice; Melonhead and the Big Stink and Melonhead and the Vegelicious Disaster, both by Katy Kelly; The Slime That Would Not Die, by Laura Dower; Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick; Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and Space Cadet, both by Robert Heinlein; An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense by Ali Almossani; A is for Armageddon, by Richard Horne.
Math:
Mikro learned about sine, cosine and tangent and the geometry of triangles and used this in labs for Earth Science, where he calculated the height of various landscape features after measuring the horizontal distance and the hypotenuse with a 100 foot tape measure. He is learning to use a scientific calculator. He also worked on calculating the epicenter of an earthquake using triangulation, and time intervals between p and s waves, as well as reading charts, graphs and statistical tables related to earth science. Mikro also learned about exponents, and in particular, powers of ten. He continues to practice multi-digit multiplication and division, beginning algebra, percents, fractions, decimals, and money skills, using real life math, books, workbooks, games, drawings, original word problems and manipulatives. He is beginning to construct his own algorithms for solving problems when his recall of math facts is imperfect. Mikro uses online math resources such as BrainPOP, Khan Academy, Lesson Pathways, and Dreambox.
Books: Common Core Connections Math, Grade 5.
Videos: Vi Hart videos on YouTube; Khan Academy videos.
Music: Multiplication Mountain by Hap Palmer; Division Unplugged.
Field Trips: National Museum of Mathematics: Family Fridays: Creature Cuts program with computer science and math instructor Kevin Lee: the math of symmetry and tessellations, negative space, and creating an Escher-like tessellation of lizards; American Museum of Natural History: Scale of the Universe (powers of ten).
Science:
Mikro’s focus this year is Earth Science, at a high school level. He is taking an Earth Science Regents Lab Course and using Barron’s Let’s Review: Earth Science: The Physical Setting, as well as a Great Courses video lecture series, entitled How the Earth Works. He has explored the American Museum of Natural History’s extensive earth and space science related collections.
Mikro and his dad are learning to design and build 3D objects using software packages such as Tinkerbot and Blender.
Mikro is also doing The Great Courses: How the Earth Works, a 36 lecture course featuring Professor Michael E. Wysession of Washington University (St. Louis, MO). We are up to lecture 18. Topics covered included:
Geology's Impact on History; Geologic History—Dating the Earth; Earth's Structure—Journey to Earth's Center; Earth's Heat—Conduction and Convection; The Basics of Plate Tectonics; Making Matter—The Big Bang and Big Bangs; Creating Earth—Recipe for a Planet; The Rock Cycle—Matter in Motion; Minerals—The Building Blocks of Rocks; Magma—The Building Mush of Rocks; Crystallization—The Rock Cycle Starts; Volcanoes—Lava and Ash; Folding—Bending Blocks, Flowing Rocks; Earthquakes—Examining Earth's Faults; Plate Tectonics—Why Continents Move; The Ocean Seafloor—Unseen Lands; Rifts and Ridges—The Creation of Plates; Transform Faults—Tears of a Crust.
Mikro is also very interested in engineering, and we have been doing Understanding Greek and Roman Technology: From the Catapult to the Pantheon, (a 24 lecture engineering course featuring Professor Stephen Ressler of the United States Military Academy. (This course is also listed hereinafter under History, as the content is relevant to both subject matter disciplines.)
Technology in the Classical World; The Substance of Technology—Materials; From Quarry to Temple—Building in Stone; Stone Masonry Perfected—The Greek Temple; From Temple to Basilica—Timber Roof Systems; Construction Revolution—Arches and Concrete; Construction in Transition—The Colosseum; The Genesis of a New Imperial Architecture; The Most Celebrated Edifice—The Pantheon; Cities by Design—The Rise of Urban Planning; Connecting the Empire—Roads and Bridges; From Source to City—Water Supply Systems; Engineering a Roman Aqueduct; Go with the Flow—Urban Water Distribution; Paradigm and Paragon—Imperial Roman Baths; Harnessing Animal Power—Land Transportation; Leveraging Human Power—Construction Cranes; Lifting Water with Human Power; Milling Grain with Water Power; Machines at War—Siege Towers and Rams; Machines at War—Evolution of the Catapult; Machines at Sea—Ancient Ships; Reconstructing the Greek Trireme; The Modern Legacy of Ancient Technology
Mikro finished the Dinosaur 101: Introduction to Dinosaur Paleobiology class on Coursera that he was taking with his mother. (He is too young to have his own account, according to Coursera’s terms of service.) The course was offered by Professor Philip John Curie of the University of Alberta. Topics covered included:
Lesson 7: "What is a Species": the different ways of defining what a species is; Lesson 8: "Evolution": the basic theories of speciation, and how these different methods of speciation may have occurred, including both hypothetical and empirical examples; Lesson 9: "Stratigraphy and Geologic Time": basic stratigraphic concepts and the scale of earth history, understanding the evolution of dinosaurs through time, including which groups evolved when and where; Lesson 10: "Palaeogeography and Plate Tectonics": basic concepts in plate tectonics and the evolution of the earth’s surface; Lesson 11: "Dinosaur Origins": the evolution of dinosaurs from non-dinosaurian archosaurs; Lesson 12: "Dinosaur Extinction": the end-Cretaceous extinction event, and examples of vertebrate groups that both persisted and died out during the event.
Mikro also took Evolution: A Course for Educators, a Coursera offering from the American Museum of Natural History, taught by Ornithology curator Dr. Cracraft. Topics included:
Week One: Darwin’s First Great Idea: The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin’s revolutionary concept of a “tree of life” depicting the evolution of all life from a common ancestor; how evolutionary trees depict relationships among organisms; and how new species are formed; Week Two: Darwin’s Second Great Idea: Adaptation via Natural Selection:
Darwin’s second breakthrough: that adaptation via natural selection is the basic mechanism of evolution; how evolutionary biologists use the Museum’s collections; Week Three: The History of Life: the role of extinction in evolution, and what the relatedness of major groups of living things reveals about the history of life; Week Four: Human Evolution: the rich variety of hominids on the tree of life, along with how and when different human species - including Homo sapiens - migrated around the world.
Books: The Pterosaurs from Deep Time, by David M. Unwin; Fossils and “Deep Time” in New York, by Ed Landing; WTF Evolution?! A Theory of Unintelligible Design; by Mara Grunbaum.
Textbooks: Earth Science: The Physical Setting, by Edward J. Denecke, Jr.:
Chapter 4: Earth’s Coordinate System and Mapping; Chapter 10 Origins of Earth and Its Moon; Chapter 17: Volcanoes and Earth’s Internal Heat; Chapter 16: Earthquakes and Earth’s Interior; Chapter 9: Theories of the Origin of the Universe; Chapter 6: Tools of the Modern Astronomer; Chapter 7: Stars, Their Origin and Evolution; Chapter 8: The Solar System.
Videos:
Mikro uses Discovery Streaming Education Online’s extensive collection of science videos. Particular areas of study at the moment include geology and earth science topics, as well as evolution and marine biology. Mikro also watches TED Talks on scientific topics of interest and other scientific programming online, such as Bob Ballard’s Nautilus Live website, with live video from remotely operated submersible vehicles, videos and webinars from the American Chemical Society, Discovery Streaming Education Unlimited, and various websites including PBS, Project JASON, and Amazon Prime Instant Videos. He also has a subscription to science videos and experiments online by Robert Krampf, The Happy Scientist and Supercharged Science.
Classes: Earth Science Regents Lab with Jen Seron. Labs included rock identification, triangulation, finding the epicenter of an earthquake, identifying constellations and building peg board models thereof; and others.
Field trips: American Museum of Natural History: Hall of Planet Earth, Hall of Meteors, Hall of Minerals, Hall of Gems, Hayden Big Bang Theater, Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway, Scales of the Universe, Hall of the Universe, Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, and the following special exhibits: Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs and Nature’s Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters.
Projects: monitoring bird feeders, maintaining a compost heap, caring for and observing a growing collection of pets including two bearded dragons, a Chinese water dragon, and a Red Eared Slider turtle; building simple Arduino circuits, building electronics kits, designing objects for 3D printing; maintaining a Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat.
History, Geography, Social Studies & Patriotism and Citizenship:
During this quarter we have continued our study of Ancient History and the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, focusing on “the Other Side of History”, i.e., the poor and otherwise marginalized people from prehistory through the middle ages, using The Great Courses , and other books and videos.
Mikro also took a One Day Seminar entitled Ancient Empires: Focus on Assyria, which was taught by Professor Wendy Raver of Hunter College, using the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the From Assyria to Iberia visiting exhibit,. Topics included the Assyrian Empire and its beginnings, its competition with other Mesopotamian nations, and its mysterious fall from power; understanding the Assyrian world, its Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician, Israelite and Urartu neighbors, and its fascination with violence and beauty.
In The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World (a 48 lecture series, featuring Professor Robert Garland of Colgate University), topics covered included :
Taking on the Other Side of History; Being Paleolithic; Living in Mesopotamia; Being Egyptian; Belonging to an Egyptian Family; Practicing Egyptian Religion; Being a Dead Egyptian; Being an Egyptian Worker; Being Minoan and Mycenaean; Being Greek; Growing Up Greek; Being a Greek Slave; Being a Greek Soldier or Sailor; Being a Greek Woman; Relaxing Greek Style; Being a Greek Refugee; Being a Sick or Disabled Greek; Practicing Greek Religion; Being an Old Greek; Being a Dead Greek; Being Persian; Living in Hellenistic Egypt’ Being Roman; Being a Roman Slave; Being a Roman Soldier; Being a Roman Woman; Being a Poor Roman; Being a Rich Roman; Being a Roman Celebrity; Being a Roman Criminal; Relaxing Roman Style; Practicing Roman Religion; Being Jewish under Roman Rule; Being Christian under Roman Rule; Being a Celt in Ancient Britain; Being a Roman Briton; Being Anglo-Saxon; Being a Viking Raider; Living under Norman Rule; Being Medieval; Being Poor in the Middle Ages; Being a Medieval Woman; Being a Medieval Christian or Heretic; Being a Medieval Knight; Being a Crusader; Being a Pilgrim; Relaxing Medieval Style; Daily Life Matters.
In Experiencing Rome, A Visual Exploration of Antiquity’s Greatest Empire (we are over two thirds of the way through a 36 lecture course featuring Professor Steven L. Tuck of Miami University), topics included:
Rome—A Spectacular Civilization; A Brief Survey of the Roman Empire; Power, Conquest, and Romanization; Triumphal Processions—Victory Parades; Imperial Palaces; The Roman House—Space and Decoration; Roman Houses as Greek Palaces; Pompeian Houses and Greek Myth; Ritual, Sacrifice, Vows, and Prayers; Sanctuaries, Temples, and Religious Ritual; Roman Elite Funerals; Forum Romanum—The Core of the City; Death on Display I—Amphitheaters; Death on Display II—Gladiators; Death on Display III—Gladiatorial Combat; Death on Display IV—Animal Hunts; Death on Display V—Prisoner Executions; Death on Display VI—Christian Martyrdom; Small Town Spectacle—Games at Pompeii; Aquatic Displays; Roman Circuses—Arenas for Chariot Racing; A Day at the Races; Theaters and Plays; Emperors as Performers; Imperial Forums—Power and Policy in Rome; Imperial Arches, Columns, and Monuments; Imperial Baths in Rome—Spas for the Masses; Roman Engineering—Linking the World; Roman Military Forts and Fortifications; Images of Warfare—Roman Military Monuments.
Understanding Greek and Roman Technology: From the Catapult to the Pantheon (a 24 lecture engineering course featuring Professor Stephen Ressler of the United States Military Academy) covered the following topics:
Technology in the Classical World; The Substance of Technology—Materials; From Quarry to Temple—Building in Stone; Stone Masonry Perfected—The Greek Temple; From Temple to Basilica—Timber Roof Systems; Construction Revolution—Arches and Concrete; Construction in Transition—The Colosseum; The Genesis of a New Imperial Architecture; The Most Celebrated Edifice—The Pantheon; Cities by Design—The Rise of Urban Planning; Connecting the Empire—Roads and Bridges; From Source to City—Water Supply Systems; Engineering a Roman Aqueduct; Go with the Flow—Urban Water Distribution; Paradigm and Paragon—Imperial Roman Baths; Harnessing Animal Power—Land Transportation; Leveraging Human Power—Construction Cranes; Lifting Water with Human Power; Milling Grain with Water Power; Machines at War—Siege Towers and Rams; Machines at War—Evolution of the Catapult; Machines at Sea—Ancient Ships; Reconstructing the Greek Trireme; The Modern Legacy of Ancient Technology.
Mikro also took the Great Courses 15 lecture course entitled Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction to Genealogy, featuring Professor John Phillip Colletta of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. Topics included:
Interviewing Kin and Mining Home Sources; Genealogy Online—Gems and Junk; The Library—Shelves Full of Family History; Military Service and Homestead Records; How to Build Historical Context; Your Ancestors in Ship Passenger Lists; Your Ancestors in Naturalization Records; The Genealogical Proof Standard; Your Ancestors in the County Courthouse; Your Ancestors in State Records; How to Write Biography; Dos and Don’ts of Writing History; Searching in Your Ancestors’ Backyards; Assembling an Account of Your Discoveries; Extending Your Family Tree Overseas.
In American History/New York History/Patriotism and Citizenship, we have discussed Colonial America; the colonial economy; the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the Constitution, the function of governments, the Bill of Rights, rights and responsibilities of citizens, immigration, slavery, racism and the Civil Rights movement, and current events involving constitutional questions.
In his Applied Social Sciences class, Mikro researched the federal judiciary system, and helped write a position paper advising the “President” on how to handle a hypothetical future scenario resembling the Cuban Missile Crisis. He wrote a speech for his character, the “Secretary of Energy”. He also acted as the “President” in responding to the ISIS crisis.
In Civics class, he debated the issue of women’s suffrage, and researched the Constitution, the structure of the federal government, and the system of checks and balances engineered by the Founders.
Field Trips:
Mikro accompanied his parents to the polls on Election Day . Mikro also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Greek and Roman and Egyptian collections, as well as the Arms and Armor exhibit.
Books:
Rome: Roman Places by Sarah Howarth; The Buildings of Ancient Rome by Helen and Richard Leacroft; The Romans by Wil Mara.
America: For Home and Country: A Civil War Scrapbook by Norman Bolotin and Angela Herb; The Dark Game: True Spy Stories from Invisible Ink to CIA Moles, by Paul B. Janeczko.
Other: Usborne World History: Medieval World, by Jane Bingham.
Music:
Mikro continues to experiment with an electronic keyboard. He attended several musical performances, including Liberty! at the Theater 80 St. Marks and A Celebration of Charles Strouse by Broadway Playhouse, featuring information about Strouse’s career and music from his shows, including Annie and Bye Bye Birdie. He enjoyed an evening of Italian opera and a lecture about medieval Italian music manuscripts and the history of the development of musical notation at the NYCHEA Music Meeting.
Art:
Mikro’s artistic efforts are centered on his fascination with maps and outer space. He creates detailed maps of imaginary worlds, and draws their inhabitants. He also enjoys designing spaceships. He is working with his dad to design a spaceship in the Blender program, which they will print using a 3D printer. Mikro is also making a visual art journal and a journal of collages and drawings in keeping with the spirit of Keri Smith’s “The Imaginary World of ______.” He saw the Matisse: Cutouts show at the Museum of Modern Art.
Videos: Civilization: The Complete Series: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark.
Phys Ed:
Hiking, park days, jogging, mock combat as part of an ongoing role playing game created by Mikro and his friends from our homeschool group.
Health:
We have discussed puberty, good nutrition, safety issues related to food allergies, basic human needs, 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.
Traffic, bicycle and general safety:
We continue to discuss the importance of always wearing a bicycle helmet, of looking both ways before crossing the street, obeying traffic signals, watching cars for signals, safe and appropriate behavior on public transportation, seatbelts, car seats, not distracting the driver, what exit signs and emergency instructions (e.g. on the trains) mean; gun safety; strangers, 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, how to ask for help. Mikro knows his name and address including zip code, and his parents' full names. Mikro has a cell phone and knows how to use it to call for help, or contact his parents, in the event that he becomes lost.
Videos: Eddie Eagle Gun Safety program.
Fire Safety and Prevention:
We have discussed 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.
Showing posts with label homeschool paperwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool paperwork. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
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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