Bigger Hearts for His Glory - Unit 3

Proverbs 16:2-3

This week we learned about a new character trait - Boldness.  We learned that being bold can be used for good or bad.  

Our verse was Proverbs 16:2-3.  I love her sweet picture of a time when she was bold when she learned to ride her bike.  :)

Poetry

In poetry, we read Sea Fever by John Masefield.  The kids wrote a portion of the poem as we talked about the similes that were written. The kids circled the rhyming lines in the stanzas. 

In history, we learned about John Smith. He was a bold man and sometimes his boldness caused trouble. Early in his years he had unfortunate mishaps and became a slave of the Turkish people. He was violent in his escape and fled to England. 

I was thankful there was a note in the guide warning about violence. I was able to read ahead and make sure it was appropriate.  We touched on this lightly and found it to be fine after explanation. 

John Smith learned of ships traveling toward America and he was bold again as he desired to start a new life in the new found land. 

As the voyagers approached the land near Jamestown, the Indians attacked. A cannon was fired in the air with a large crossbow shot. It fell through the trees knocking down branches and the Indians were frightened. 

Outline Art of Tree

In art, we studied a tree.  Then,  they drew the tree using only an outline - without looking at their paper. They were hesitant with this project but, I really thought it turned out fine. 

Outline Tree Art

Outline Tree Art with Shading Details

I let them add details after they were finished and overall they thought this to be a fun art project after they got over the shock of not looking at their paper. 

We read that John Smith was captured by Indians while exploring a river. The Indians treated him with respect and thought him to be a smart man that could help them greatly.  Chief Powhatan eventually released him and they traded many items over time.  John Smith ended up in charge of the settlement in Jamestown.

We learned about the area near Jamestown, VA and colored maps of the rivers and bay area. These were the waters that many ships sailed in seeking fortune up and traveled up and down looking for the Pacific Ocean.   This was a great project because we live so close nearby.  We were able to talk about the rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.  We hope to visit Jamestown in the coming weeks.

We read about another explorer who was friends with John Smith named Henry Hudson. He was called the "Bold Englishman".  He wanted to reach India from Europe by traveling North.  He was successful discovering many whales in the Artic Ocean along his journey but, never the riches of the Far East or the Pacific Ocean as he had hoped.  He did discover the Hudson Bay. 

Parts of a River

We reviewed parts of a river and the kids remembered our clay river model we made last year in Beyond.  I decided to quiz them on the chalkboard before experimenting and they remembered quite a bit. 

I printed a few color pages to go along with our readings of Christopher Columbus, John Smith, & Henry Hudson.  You can use these also.

Columbus Coloring Pages Click HERE!

We talked about how explorers used compasses. We talked about directions and drew a compass rose. 

We learned a compass is very useful when traveling and always points towards the direction north.  We drew a compass rose with chalk in front of the house. I gave the children directions and ended up playing a game of 'Mother may I?' ... Using the directions and the compass rose. 

 The kids had fun with this simple compass rose project.

Unit 3 Vocabulary 

Our vocabulary this week was the words:  apprenticed, trinket, and explorer.  I love adding vocabulary to our weekly units and hearing the kids use the new words they've learned in the correct way. 

We are working on cursive letters with Cheerful Cursive.  This seems to be going good so far.  

We have been talking about sentences and phrases in English.  We took our first English test with R&S.  We are learning how to write complete sentences.

English Test

They didn't seem to have any trouble identifying phrases and sentences.  They understand punctuation and the differences between asking and telling sentences.  

In science, we talked about the animals that live in the mist of the shore.  We leaned that God made all the animals and knew what they would need to survive. 

Evaporation Science Experiment

We learned that as the tide goes out, animals some times get trapped and need water and air.  They often prepare when they know they may be in danger by storing up when the tide is high. We also learned that as the sun shines on a tide pool, it causes the water to evaporate... Leaving the salt behind.   The kids were excited to see the water disappear and the salt remaining after a day of evaporation. 

Giving a thumbs up for a good week!

Smiles and Flips! 

A little swimming this week to enjoy the last bit of the summer.  As you can see, it was hard work keeping one of them above the water even long enough for a quick picture.  These 2 are fish! 

We finished up the week with soccer tryouts. We sure are ready for fall over here on the east coast! 

See you next week!

Be blessed!


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