Even though my home is much MUCH further north, I grew up in Florida and still have lots of family and friends there. It's been a little hard to focus over the past week as it became increasingly clear that all of those people were going to be affected by Hurricane Irma no matter where she eventually made landfall. At one point, there was a very distinct possibility that the eye of the storm would pass directly over my mom's house as a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane, and I was most definitely in a panic. However, the track shifted west, and the worst weather affected other folks instead. It's hard to be thankful for the shift-- somebody else's family is struggling now-- but I am honestly, selfishly relieved.
Needless to say, my anxiety definitely affected my ability to teach last week. We still checked the perfunctory boxes, but my mind and my heart were definitely elsewhere. That's also why I couldn't bring myself to post anything on the blog-- my mental energy was sapped. Even now that the worst is over and the impact to my family and friends was relatively minimal, I am still feeling extremely drained. I want to keep everyone updated though and at least get some photos posted. If you are interested in finding out more details about Weeks 2 &3 of our Oceans Unit Study, I encourage you to re-read my post from Week 1 and/or re-visit the Oceans Unit Study Plan that I shared through Google Drive.
(I do want to note that we have had lots of conversations about hurricanes this week and how they form over the ocean. I tried to balance using the "teachable moment" with not passing my anxiety along to the sprouts. As a result, we talked about the theory of hurricanes and how important accurate predictions can be for helping people prepare.)
Otherwise, onto the pictures!
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| During Week 2, the sprouts asked to change our art project to rock painting. We used acrylics (and pearlizer!) to paint some cleaned garden rocks. I decided to stick with the ocean theme, but the spouts took their inspiration from elesewhere. |
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| In Week 3, we did an experiment to see how salinity of the water affects buoyancy. The sprouts made observations and recorded their findings. |
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| Also in Week 3, we used modeling clay to make boats. We learned about displacement, buoyancy, and density here. This one was a little messy, but it was a lot of fun. The sprouts ended up making and testing multiple hypotheses about the sea-worthiness of their clay vessels. |
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| Here's a sample of the copywork First Sprout completed during Week 3. I took the poem from the book Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs. I really like tying our copywork into Poetry Teatime, and the poems are a great opportunity to discuss the basics of grammar-- including parts of speech. |
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| Since we painted rocks in Week 2, we had the choice of two chalk pastel projects for Week 3: either jellyfish or sea turtle. Clockwise from the top left are: Mama's sea turtle, First Sprout's jellyfish, Second Sprout's jellyfish, and Third Sprout's jellyfish. |
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| I have been trying to add some fun to our writing routine, so Mondays we have been playing writing-related games to practice grammar and flex our story-telling muscles. MadLibs Junior: Under the Sea has been perfect for our theme, and everyone is getting a great review of the parts of speech. For once, everyone is really excited to start the school week! |
That's all I have for now-- photo-wise and energy-wise. Florida still has a long way to go to get cleaned up from Irma, and I know that I will continue to worry for awhile. It certainly doesn't help that Hurricane Jose is circling the Atlantic with the potential of coming ashore somewhere in the Southeastern United States now, and there are more tropical systems forming already. Any more hurricanes could make recovery extra challenging-- and they could definitely force us to reschedule our Florida vacation in three weeks. On many many levels, I am hoping that Florida stays safe for the rest of hurricane season!
In the meantime, we'll be watching and waiting and sending help, as much as we can. (If you are also planning to donate money, please choose a local relief organization. Red Cross is already being investigated for fraud in Houston.)
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