Bible

Reading

Here are the read-alouds that the kids have done this term.  They both read books quietly, in their rooms, as well, and Trinity has a reading class with ABeka video streaming every day.

Kyler's stories are shorter so that he can be encouraged by finishing in 20 minutes.  Trinity is reading chapter books and short stories.  She has fun wondering what will happen in the story tomorrow. 

 

Kyler reading a traditional poem

Home made barometer

Explorers worksheets

 

This week's explorer is Jacques Cartier.  We just moved from the east so Trinity is enjoying study places we have visited.

Language Arts

 

Kyler - language paper

This was Kyler's first phonics test of the year.  He excels in phonics, which makes reading come easy to him.

                                                Kyler's spelling

Here are a couple of Trinity's Language arts samples.  She finds it easy and I can see an improvement in her sentence structure.  Below I have copied and pasted the outline of a story she has begun.

Above is a Language test Trinity took

 November 24, 2011.

The Last Of the King Unicorns by Trinity Brinkman

Topic-what the story is about

My story is about a boy that just moved to his new house on his birthday and they had nothing to give him and they happened to unpacked a old rocking horse . A  fairy comes one night and turned the rocking horse into a unicorn

Sequence  -   the order in which a story is written

1.            first :boy moves in to new house

2.            second : it is his birthday and they have nothing to give him and they were to busy to go out shopping

3.            next : they found a old rocking horse in the

basement that someone hade left behind what was           weird about it was that it was addressed to them

4.            then : they give the rocking horse to James

5.            after: it’s the middle of the night James is sleeping a fairy comes and she said little foal little foal come come to the land of unicorns they are in great danger!

6.            Unicorn city was attacked by ????

7.            next : the king dies in war and Rockster becomes King

8.            Next: Rockster becomes king

9.            ????

Characters – people, animals, or things with lifelike qualities.

1.                     James is a shy boy that just turned 11

2.                     Rocking Horse/Unicorn is named Rockster

3.                     fairy is a girl

4.                     king Unicorn likes cream pies

5.                     his friends names are Unicorette,

Feelings – how your characters are feeling

James – sleepy

Rockster- excited

Fairy- worried

King Unicorn- happy

Setting – where and when the story takes place

When- Time stays the same here but passes by in Unicorn city

Where-Unicorn city

Problem – something that goes wrong in the story or with the characters

They’re being attacked

Conclusion- how the problem was solved 

They win the battle and Rockster becomes king.  He comes back to invite James on an adventure to Unicorn City                                                            

Trinity's Guitar lessons

Trinity now knows nine chords and she has learned three songs.  She is working on 'Amazing Grace' to play for her aunt's birthday.

Remembrance Day

It was a huge, torrential downpour but the kids had a grandma sized umbrella to keep them dry.  They got the opportunity to see their dad, Major Wade Brinkman, as master of ceremonies. 

We discussed the reason for the parade, as we do every year and how blessed we are to have a free country.

More Science in the kitchen

Kyler is studying water and how it affects food.  Here he is adding water to spelt grain to watch how the grain soaked up the water and made it expand.  The container started off sealed tight and then, low and behold, it popped open.

Measuring rain

Trinity set out a rain gauge 14 days ago.  She checked it almost every day and it was finally full today.  You would think that we have more rain than this with our soggy Fall.

Our Community

 

Kyler's Community Map

We did some mapping and talking about our community today.  It is amazing how much we take for granted as we walk to the park.  The kids loved this activity and learned more about where they live.

 Trinity's Community Map

Phys. Ed.

Wednesday Skating

Sing Song Yoga

Downward Dog-Trinity asked if there was an upward dog :) 

Rowing

 Kyler and Trinity using the rowing machine before they are dressed.  They play a game on the little computer screen so it keeps them interested.  Trinity has, as of November18, 2011, 3km rowed toward a 50km challenge...to be met by January1st.

The kids also swim 3 hours per week but Wade or I swim at the same time so it's hard to take pictures.  Kyler is in Red Cross Swim Kids 3 lessons right now.  Both kids are now swimming in the deep end without life jackets and jumping off the diving board.  Exciting stuff!!

 Kyler's badges from this term

Air Experiments

Kyler is studying the effects of heat on air today. 

Sound

Kyler and I were reading 'Light and Sound' by Eve Hartman and Wendy Meshbesher. 

We talked about how sound and light travel on waves and what makes sound waves.

Me: "When you pluck a guitar string, what make the sound wave?"
Kyler: "VVvvvvvvibration"
Me:"Why do the strings all make different sounds, do you think?"
Kyler: "They are different sizes and make different vvvvvibrations."
Me:"VERY good.  What travels faster...light or sound?"
Kyler: "Light."

Arts and Crafts

Kyler and Trinity made Christmas cards with their Memere yesterday.  They stamped and made designs from cut and ripped, patterned paper. Fun!

Community

The three of us went to Vancouver on Monday.  The plan was to visit Science World but it was under heavy construction so we decided to experience the public transit in Vancouver.  The kids have always wanted to ride the skytrain so it was a pleasant surprise.

While on the seabus, we learned the exact place in which we were traveling over the skytrain's Canada Line to the airport.  We also learned about the house boat community and the transformation of False Creek from industry to true beauty.

The kids displayed extreme enthusiasm and sincere gratitude for all that the Lord has made available to us in BC.

 First skytrain ride

First seabus

Granville Island view

Floating village

Writing Example

Cursive Writing

Kyler is starting cursive this year.  He is a tidy wee thing so it fits him well.  He was particularly proud of this page because he got to write 'eel', which is one of his favorite sea creatures.

  

Kyler -  November 4, 2011.

Trinity is continuing to improve her cursive after a year break in public school.

Cross Stitch lessons

One of Trinity's new skills this year is cross stitch.  Our friend at the local yarn store gave Trinity a lesson today.  Kyler was a perfect gentleman while we watched and waited for her.