Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Day 2 of the new year

Wow!  Can it be true, I'm actually posting our school day happenings two days in a row. :)

Today w/ our FIAR story, Ping, we figured out how long ago the book was written and discussed what a "Classic" story is.  Then discussed how Ping has stood the test of time and is certainly a classic.  We also talked about the use of repetition in the story and wrote our own story using repetition.  I had the kids take turn telling two sentences each, going around in a circle until we came to an end.  Which will explain the silliness and lack of any real story line not to mention lack of grammatically correct sentences.  LOL Here's the kids story:

Once upon a time there was a pretty orange and red fish.  The orange and red fish lived on a reef with lots of red coral.  It loved to play with all the other fish.  One day, all of the red fish got eaten by a shark.  The orange and red fish escaped!

He was very lonely because all of his friends were eaten.  So he swam off into the deep blue ocean.  As he swam deeper and deeper, it began to get colder and darker.  He was afraid.

He didn't know which was was up.  He looked up and saw lighter water.  He swam towards the lighter water and found himself back in a sunny reef.

In the new reef, the orange and red fish meets a new school of red fish.  He asks them if they would like to go on some new adventures.

Off they swam into the deep blue ocean.

Did you catch the repetition?  Yeah, I didn't either.  *sigh* note to teacher, work on that particular literary device. ;-)

For E's school today we are still waiting on the majority of her books for this year.  I did have three more books though that we needed, so we read from those.  Here's a brief narration from Miss E herself. :-)

Halliburton's Book of Marvels - The Occident In the first chapter we read about The TransBay Bridge, aka The Bay Bridge, in San Francisco, CA.   It's a suspension bridge.  The cables which hold it up are two feet wide and are made up of 17,000 individual strands of steel, each as big as a pencil.  The span of the bridge is 8 miles long and connects San Francisco to Oakland, with a tunnel going through an island between the two cities.  It was a double decker bridge carrying cars on the top deck and buses and trucks on the lower deck.  The bridge is 220' high at the highest point.  From San Francisco to the island, it's a suspension bridge.  From the island to Oakland, it's a regular, railroad type bridge.





The next chapter is about The Golden Gate Bridge also in San Francisco, CA.  It's named The Golden Gate Bridge because it goes over San Francisco's Golden Gate entrance.  The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge that goes over San Francisco Harbor.  The spans between the towers holding up the cables are longer than the TransBay Bridge.  The cables are three feet wide, which is a little wider than my 2 year old brother is tall. :-) 

Plutarch The Life of Publicola - Publicola lived in about 550 BC in Rome.  He was known to be an honorable man and a man of the public, which is where he got his name from.  Publicola had helped drive the King out of Rome so when it was time to vote the two people in to run the city, he was hoping to be one of them.  But instead the council voted in a man whose wife had killed herself due to insolence from the Kings family.  They chose him over Publicola because they knew if any kings tried to get back in, he wouldn't back down.  Publicola was insulted because they didn't think he was loyal to Rome, so he quit his jobs and went away for awhile.  He returned on voting day, where everyone was to vote allegiance to Rome, he was the first to cast his vote of loyalty to Rome and the two people now in charge.

Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost act 1 scene 1 about 1/4 of the way through- There was a King (King of Navarre)  and three men (Dumaine, L something and B something) who were his attendants.  The King said that they had to be loyal to him and learn from his court and they weren't allowed to see any women or leave the court for three years.  If a woman came into the court, she'd have her tongue chopped off.  They all signed the documents.  However, B something was the one who protested at first.

4 comments:

diamondsintherough said...

Check your library for the Discovery Channel's DVD on bridges. At ours it is in the kid's section. Excellent!! It would be a great supplement for you.

Diamondsintherough said...

Oh sorry, the title. The title is simply "Bridges". lol

Diamondsintherough said...

Sorry, Linda, it's not Discovery Channel. It's by Larry Klein, and it's a WGBH Science Unit, starring David Macauley. There's a neat activity at the end where you try to build a bridge with straws, tape, and straight pins, one strong enough to span three feet(?) and hold the weight of a baseball. Here's the description:


Originally aired on Public Television.

Summary: What enables a simple arch bridge to support such great weight? What holds up a suspension bridge? Bridge the world with award-winning author-illustrator, and captivating storyteller, David Macaulay, and meet the brilliant designers who dared to extend roads and railways with ingenious but sometimes flawed designs. From the Golden Gate Bridge to some of the world's groundbreaking spans, you'll explore dozens of monumental engineering feats through historic film footage, fascinating photographs, illustrations and dramatic recreations.


My kids found it really fascinating, and they aren't even that kind of kids! :o)

Sally

Jen said...

Love E's narrations. Tell her that I have been to both of those bridges and they are beautiful!