My husband told me today that he was looking at this blog the other day and was overwhelmed! He said, "Now I know what you do all day!" I told him I understood, because many times when I sit down to do my Weekly Wrap-up I feel like we haven't accomplished anything. Then I'll type it and think, "Dang! No wonder Dawson was complaining all week about how hard I have worked him."
Brynne enjoyed her Green Week learning about and celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
1. She read many books about St. Patrick, Ireland, shamrocks, and four-leaf clovers.
2. We cut the stems of some daisies and added green food coloring to the water to make Green Daisies.
3. There was a lot of art going on, including a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end (coins using our Do-a-Dot markers), and four-leaf clovers using potato print stamps in the shapes of hearts. She copied the Irish Blessing for copywork one day, and we attached it to the potato print page to send to her great grandma for her birthday which is on March 17th. While making crafts, we listened to traditional Irish music on Pandora.
4. We had a fun day of baking Irish Soda Bread. We found it to be very delicious!
5. Speaking of grandma's birthday, Brynne made her a special card. On the inside it says, "Happy Birthday! I am LUCKY you are my grandma."
6. And we had so much fun making Green Flubber. It has entertained us all week!
We were planning to make a lapbook. But, then when it was time to do it I remembered how much we hate the tediousness of making lapbooks, so we ditched that idea. Instead, I printed off a grid project for her to use for math to make a pot of gold. That was much more fun for her.
Dawson's week was all about DNA again. This time, though, he moved from DNA to RNA to Proteins. We used our Favorite Resource this week: Teach.Genetics (Genetic Science Learning Center) from the University of Utah. This is an excellent resource if you are teaching DNA and don't know what you are talking about. It is SO informative, interesting, and interactive. It has had perfect activities for Dawson to nail down the concepts he has been reading in The Way Life Works.
This week he did the following activities from the Teach.Genetics site:
Build a DNA Molecule
Tour of the Basics: What is a Protein? video
What Makes a Firefly Glow video.
From Gene to Protein Webquest - Using the Basics and Beyond module, students complete a webquest to learn how proteins are made using the instructions contained in genes.
Have your DNA and Eat it Too - Students build an edible model of DNA while learning basic DNA structure and the rules of base pairing (this was a review from last week).
Reading DNA - Students use edible models of the DNA molecule to transcribe an mRNA sequence, then translate it into a protein.
3-5.jpg)
1. Here is Dawson (and Brynne) making their edible DNA strands.
2. And, no boy, no matter how old, can resist playing with Green Flubber. Bodily function noises are the best!
Dawson also worked very hard on his diary project, pretending that he was a passenger on the first transcontinental railroad, travelling from Omaha, Nebraska, to Fresno, California. I haven't read it yet, but will look it all over this weekend while grading his grammar and critical thinking assignments, and inputting grades for his algebra assignments.
He also did notebooking pages to finish up our Heartland unit: Homestead Act, Transcontinental Railroad, lasso, barbed wire, Colt 45, Plains Indians culture, General George Custer, and the Battle of Wounded Knee.
We ended our week with Co-op physical education and choir activities.
It was a busy week, which is great considering I was STILL feeling cruddy from my wisdom teeth extraction two weeks ago. We are moving on to some new units next week.
We are linking up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Learning All the Time, and Homegrown Learners.
Brynne enjoyed her Green Week learning about and celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
1. She read many books about St. Patrick, Ireland, shamrocks, and four-leaf clovers.
2. We cut the stems of some daisies and added green food coloring to the water to make Green Daisies.
3. There was a lot of art going on, including a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end (coins using our Do-a-Dot markers), and four-leaf clovers using potato print stamps in the shapes of hearts. She copied the Irish Blessing for copywork one day, and we attached it to the potato print page to send to her great grandma for her birthday which is on March 17th. While making crafts, we listened to traditional Irish music on Pandora.
4. We had a fun day of baking Irish Soda Bread. We found it to be very delicious!
5. Speaking of grandma's birthday, Brynne made her a special card. On the inside it says, "Happy Birthday! I am LUCKY you are my grandma."
6. And we had so much fun making Green Flubber. It has entertained us all week!
We were planning to make a lapbook. But, then when it was time to do it I remembered how much we hate the tediousness of making lapbooks, so we ditched that idea. Instead, I printed off a grid project for her to use for math to make a pot of gold. That was much more fun for her.
********************
Dawson's week was all about DNA again. This time, though, he moved from DNA to RNA to Proteins. We used our Favorite Resource this week: Teach.Genetics (Genetic Science Learning Center) from the University of Utah. This is an excellent resource if you are teaching DNA and don't know what you are talking about. It is SO informative, interesting, and interactive. It has had perfect activities for Dawson to nail down the concepts he has been reading in The Way Life Works.
This week he did the following activities from the Teach.Genetics site:
Build a DNA Molecule
Tour of the Basics: What is a Protein? video
What Makes a Firefly Glow video.
From Gene to Protein Webquest - Using the Basics and Beyond module, students complete a webquest to learn how proteins are made using the instructions contained in genes.
Have your DNA and Eat it Too - Students build an edible model of DNA while learning basic DNA structure and the rules of base pairing (this was a review from last week).
Reading DNA - Students use edible models of the DNA molecule to transcribe an mRNA sequence, then translate it into a protein.
3-5.jpg)
1. Here is Dawson (and Brynne) making their edible DNA strands.
2. And, no boy, no matter how old, can resist playing with Green Flubber. Bodily function noises are the best!
Dawson also worked very hard on his diary project, pretending that he was a passenger on the first transcontinental railroad, travelling from Omaha, Nebraska, to Fresno, California. I haven't read it yet, but will look it all over this weekend while grading his grammar and critical thinking assignments, and inputting grades for his algebra assignments.
He also did notebooking pages to finish up our Heartland unit: Homestead Act, Transcontinental Railroad, lasso, barbed wire, Colt 45, Plains Indians culture, General George Custer, and the Battle of Wounded Knee.
We ended our week with Co-op physical education and choir activities.
It was a busy week, which is great considering I was STILL feeling cruddy from my wisdom teeth extraction two weeks ago. We are moving on to some new units next week.
We are linking up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Learning All the Time, and Homegrown Learners.
What a great week! Your favorite resources are always iinteresting. Brynnes' activities look like so much fun. DJ would love these activities. I am going to look for the book The Way Life Works at the library tomorrow. I always leave with something new when I stop by. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI want to do the DNA study! And some of my favorite homeschool memories involve St. Patrick's day fun! Great job, Mom!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up!
Green daisies sound like fun :)
ReplyDeleteWe use Pandora a lot, too.
I love Irish Soda Bread!
As much as I hate to say it (because I think finished lapbooks are neat), I am with you on the lapbooks being tedious. We just can't get into them either.
Great DNA projects from a super resource...thanks for linking up with Favorite Resources!
What a super cool week. I bet everyone had a wonderful time learning.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
dawn
We.HAVE.To.Make.That.Flubber! LOL
ReplyDeleteHooray for edible DNA! We'll be doing that soon.
ReplyDeleteI was LOL at your lapbook comment. That is sooo us too.
Popping in from the WWU
We made the edible DNA molecule in our co-op science lab this week. I love the Teach.Genetics website. I have used several sources from there. Looks like you had a great week!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry your mouth is still bothering you- that stinks. You had another incredible homeschool week though! I think we all tend to think we don't do enough, but putting it in writing gives a more accurate perception!
ReplyDeleteEdible DNA - yum! We'll have to try that one out sometime.
ReplyDeleteHow great that your husband took a look! I remember finding my husband going over my blog once and saying "Really? You got all that done?!" Nice to be appreciated, isn;t it?!
Looks like a great week! Have to try that bread...it looks wonderful:) Love the edible DNA too!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly did do a lot! Your resources are wonderful. We will have to bookmark these for later. Thanks for taking the time to share.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. I often think we have done nothing this week and then I write the post and just get worn out. Irish Soda bread looks good. May have to borrow that one -- and the flubber.
ReplyDeleteThat is a full week of learning! I am making note of your DNA resources for next year. Good call on the lapbooks! It looks like it was a wonderful "Green Week". :)
ReplyDelete