I can't believe we just wrapped up the third quarter of Cycle 2! Our community will be taking a two week break and will resume with week 19 on March 9th to finish out the year! Here is what we did for week 18.
Bible:
Resource: Foundations of the Bible vol.2
For Bible this week, we learned about the five main types of Psalms: praise, thanksgiving, royal, wisdom, and laments. After many weeks of deep diving into history and lots of info, I enjoyed the simplicity of just reading a Psalm each day from one of the categories. We focused on one type of psalm each day. The kids really enjoyed the video suggestions in the study guide as well for Psalm 21 and 139.
History:
Resource: Story of the World Book 4 - Chapter 29
Activity: Draw a Dove | Origami Dove
There wasn't much to read in Story of the World this week; just the last few paragraphs of chapter 29 that we actually read the previous week. I did end up grabbing this chapter book from the library and it was great! We read the entire book in less than 24 hours because my oldest (7) did not want me to stop reading. It captured our attention right out the gate, which I love!
The book tells the story of a boy who is growing up under Stalin's leadership in Russia. He is faced with a choice of falling in line and supporting the communist movement, or turning from how he was raised.
As for crafts, we didn't do too much. I have a bunch of coloring sheets and we tried the origami dove suggestion from CC. It got a little complicated for my younger kids, so we opted to just draw a dove from Art for Kids Hub on YouTube and that was great. The dove activity was meant to represent the peace that the United Nations was trying to achieve between the nations.
Science:
Resource: Learning with Friends Physics | Science Flash Cards for CC Weeks 13-24
Activity: Laws of Motion Video
Found this great read-aloud at my library to continue learning about Isaac Newton. We've been studying his laws of motion for three weeks, so I enjoy learning more about him. For the 3rd law of motion, we taped a balloon, straw, and car together to have the balloon force the car forward when the air escapes. This was a fun, easy activity for all ages. We also watched a YouTube video that helps cover the three laws of motion with activity ideas.
Geography:
Resources: CC Sandbox Geography page, LeapFrog Globe
Activity: History of Pizza
We couldn't find out favorite geography books at the library for this week, so we grabbed what we could. These are longer picture books, but I just use them to flip through and skim only what I find interesting — like the landmarks, animals, culture, and foods in that country.
Since we are learning about Italy this week, I tied our weekly pizza night with out geography lesson. We learned about the history of pizza and how it originated from Naples, Italy. I found an article to explain the history of pizza that I read over dinner. Pretty interesting to learn it was originally the food of the poor, but when the royals from France came to Italy, they wanted to try something new and gave their stamp of approval on pizza. Queen Margherita loved the mozzarella, basil, and tomato pizza, which ended up being named after her. Love learning little facts like this!
CC Connected
If you are in a CC community, then you have access to the CC Connected website. Your local director signs you up and grants you access to the levels you've registered for. I have foundations and scribblers available on my profile. Each week, I browse the files under the current week we are on, particularly the Sandbox file. I print the pages I need and save for future use. I encourage you to take some time to browse the site and become comfortable with it because you'll find lots of free resources on there.
Library Books:
Here are the books we enjoyed from the library for week 18:
Newton's Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist by Kathryn Lasky
Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Raven
A mink, a fink, a skating rink: what is a noun by Brian Cleary
Hungary by Ruth Bjorklund
Your Passport to Italy by Nancy Dickmann
Czech Republic by Seavey Rogers
