Filling the Garden Beds

Mixing up compost, vermiculite and peat moss for our square foot garden.

Freestyle Assessment

Math:

He is doing very well learning his multiplication tables. He is able to do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division word problems in his head. He likes to play fraction games on the computer. We made a square foot garden bed out of pine and used math to figure out how much soil to put in and the different quantities to make our soil mix. He likes to play store using our learning cash register and is very good at counting money.

Reading:

Diego is progressing in reading. He prefers to read books that he has already read. He is still timid when it comes to new territory. He likes playing learning games on the computer like Teach My Monster To Read which reward you for making progress and acquiring new skills.  He is learning new vocabulary.  He asks what words mean that he never asked about before. This year Diego has become more interested in language and meaning variations imparted by tone.  He has started to notice double entendre, puns and other nuances that previously he was seemed uninterested in. He used to create his own knock-knock jokes but they didn’t make any sense to us. But now his knock-knock jokes do make sense and that has been an interesting transformation to witness as his understanding of language grows deeper.

Language Arts:

Diego’s doesn’t ask me to spell out as many words for him, instead he will write phonetically. When I show him the spelling of the word, he doesn’t become upset that he made a mistake the way he used to.  Diego likes to construct his own books by stapling blank pages together. He likes to write and illustrate his own stories. He is doing a lot better not reversing his b’s and d’s. He is getting better with punctuation and spacing. He still keeps his journal.

Social Studies:

He is learning more about laws, government structure, citizenship, and US Geography. He loves to teach younger children and takes special time with them. He leads them to inspect bugs and plants and asks them questions he already knows the answers to like a teacher would. He wrote a letter to Governor Kasich about clean energy.

Science: 

Diego is very interested in geology. He collects fossils and rocks. We have been going to the Children’s Museum Trading Post where they have a program allowing kids to earn points to trade in for treasures like gems and minerals. We have dug up a portion of our lawn to make a bird, bee and butterfly habitat. We put in a bird bath and feeders. He has decided he wants to hand feed some of the braver birds and he is working on that. We are learning all the different types of wildlife that visit our yard. We built a square foot garden bed together. He started seeds under a light this winter.  He has been raising carrots, radish, lettuce, tomato, peas and lima beans and tending his own 8 square foot garden. He is learning the different types of clouds and he monitors the weather and moon phases. He is interested in weather prediction. He also can identify most of the edible plants in our yard and around the neighborhood. We are raising chickens and he has taken it upon himself to look after them. He lets them out of their run in the morning, collects the eggs and makes sure they are locked up at night. 

Anything else you would like to share:

He is very thoughtful and most of our lessons end up somewhere unexpected. His questions lead us on an adventure as we delve into researching to find the answer. He doesn’t need encouragement to postulate his own theories. He always has an idea of his own. It is inspiring to see his confidence and curiosity develop.

Book List

Ace Lacewing: Bug Detective by David Biedrzycki

Best Friend Trouble by Frances Itani

Chicken Big by Keith Graves

Chicken Chuck by Bill Martin and Bernard Martin

Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale

Eye Witness Books Rocks and Minerals

Felicity Floo Visits the Zoo by E.S. Redmond

I Have to Go! by Robert Munsch

Moira’s Birthday by Robert Munsch

Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch

Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman

Pigs by Robert Munsch

Purple, Green and Yellow by Robert Munsch

Scaredy Squirrel Series by Melanie Watts

Something Good by Robert Munsch

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch

The Backyard Birdfeeder's Bible by Sally Roth

The Boy in the Drawer by Robert Munsch

The Dot by Peter Reynolds

The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

The Uglified Ducky by Willy Claflin

The Vowel Family by Sally M. Walker

Wait and See by Robert Munsch