Hi!
Back from a wonderful spring break, we began our study of mammals. We talked about what makes an animal a mammal and drew some of our favorite mammals. We sorted animals by groups (land animal vs aquatic animal, diurnal animal vs nocturnal animal vs crepuscular animal, mammal vs bird vs reptile vs etc.).
We built several Marble Mountains. Then we did a bit of carpentry, nailing boards to wooden stakes to create signs for the trailheads around the school campus. We used rubber mallets to install our signs by several trails. Be sure to walk the trails and let us know how you like the new signs!
We hiked a circuitous route through the wetlands, along Little Noonday Creek, and back to Kindy Beach where we swam, played on the banana slide, and ate our lunches in the sun.
We had our last Creature Feature of the school year. Cobb County Officer Elijah Barnett brought his bomb dog, a dark German Shepard named Norbo. Both the dog and his handler were awesome and the students enjoyed petting Norbo and asking questions about their work.
We held the school's new baby chicks, eight in all. We played animal beanbag toss (not with the baby chicks!). To burn off some energy, we ran around the pond, in both directions!
We continue to practice our Maypole Dance with the other grades students and under the excellent direction of Ki Kathee. The students will be preforming this dance at 11:15am on Friday, May 3rd. This is optional for HomeSchool since we don't meet on Fridays but come if you can. It is a lovely ceremony. More info will be coming about what they should wear.
The Springtide Festival was a great success and a lot of fun! In my area, kids built over 35 fairy houses to take home with them. Thanks to all of you who came out to play and to help with the setup, cleanup, etc.
It has been difficult to plan around the weather this spring! Tuesday looks like it will be drier than Thursday so we will do Storm Drain Marking, Part II on Tuesday. Students should wear tennis shoes, not rubber boots. We'll meet at the same location as before at 9:00am Tuesday so drive straight there rather than dropping off at the school. To get there, take a right out of the church/school and head north on Canton Road. Take the first right onto Ebenezer Road. Cross the railroad tracks. Take the next right onto Bellair Drive. Turn left onto Debonair Drive. We will meet in that culdysac. We will be marking storm drains from 9:00am to 11:00am. We ask that parents stay for that time. If you have a conflict that day, you may arrange with another HomeSchool parent to transport your child both ways. We will arrive back to the school by 11:30am, in time to write and draw our thank you cards to Officer Elijah.
On Tuesday, the older Girl Scouts (Elsu, Ellie, Nola, and Alys) have a planning meeting in the Blue Sky Room at 3:20pm to work on their Silver/Bronze Award project.
For Thursday, please make sure your child brings these things for our hike and swim in the creek: rubber boots, water shoes, swimsuit, shorts, t-shirt, a change of clothes, tennis shoes, three pairs of socks, and a dry bag for wet clothes.
Looking ahead, I will send out all the details next weekend about our HomeSchool field trip on Thursday, May 2nd. We will meet at TELLUS Science Museum in Cartersville at 9:45am that morning. All parents and siblings are welcome to join us! We'll eat a picnic lunch and tour the Booth Western Art Museum in downtown Cartersville in the afternoon. There is a cost for each museum. If you can't participate, you may make carpool arrangements with another HomeSchool family.
Quote from a child: "During spring break we found shark's teeth on the beach. Some were white and some were black. I know why some were black. Because those sharks didn't brush their teeth!"
Quote from Jane Nelson: "Children will listen to you after they feel listened to."
See you in the culdysac,
Ki Sonya
