Self Portraits

We have been having so much fun doing self portraits.  The younger ones have been using a method taught by Mr. P on YouTube, which uses the number 2.  The results are pretty amazing.  Even 5 year olds are able to follow this method.  We took our photos and portraits and made an ebook using the Story Maker app for iPad.  This app allows you to send the book through email as a PDF file.  If your child created a book, you got an email :-) 

Older students created a Doodle Summer Self Portrait using a method taught by Kathy Barbro.  Their portraits tell the story of their summer.  You can see, the results are fantastic!  

I'll keep you posted...

Linda

Imagination!

Above is a scene from last week's Creative Learning class.  Didn't you just love love love playing dress up as a child?  I know I did.  Did anyone else have a pair of plastic Cinderella shoes or is that a '60's thing that you are all far too young to have experienced?  The best dress up stuff was from my grandma's closet.  Those were the good old days...

Turns out that playing dress up is pretty important in the life of a child.  A child learns about himself and others in this type of play.  When playing dress up with others, kids learn teamwork and negotiation.  They take turns and agree on topics and rules.

They learn empathy, putting themselves in another person's shoes. It expands vocabulary. It stimulates their cognitive skills.  To engage in dramatic play, a child must recall what mom looks like when she cooks supper, or think about how a lion roars or how a horse would gallop.  This moves them toward abstract thinking as they create their own scenarios. 

Kids have to work on decision making. Who's going to be the nurse and who is the patient?  What is the role of the dragon in our world?

Best of all, this kind of dramatic play stimulates creativity in children.  As they go from role playing the familiar to the less ordinary,  kids start to think outside of the box.  A large scarf becomes a set of wings, and ordinary becomes extraordinary. Allowing children to have the time to play in this way contributes to their ability to be think creatively, be innovative and inventive.  And that is awesome.  

Linda

Today we enjoyed having some new students join us for Lego Robotics.  All 11 kids learned to program the robots how to do both a swing turn and also a point turn.   Swing turns are similar to how you would turn when you're riding your bicycle and a point turn is a sharp 90 degree turn.  In the above photo you can see the kids busy programming their robots for one of the challenges that was performed today. 

The students started off with programming their robots to navigate through a simple maze.  This robot made a nice 90 degree turn within the track allowed inside the maze and the team celebrated a victory.  All three teams were able to program their robots to move through the maze without going outside of the lines.

The next challenge was to program the robot to move around the outside of a square.  This was most easily accomplished by using another new programming concept we learned today, the loop.  A loop is simply telling the robot to perform a task multiple times.  For instance, with the square they told the robot to make a sharp 90 degree turn and then move forward 2 wheel rotations and to loop that process 3 more times to make a perfect square.

I'm so pleased to have these enthusiastic and intelligent students perform these challenges because it's fun to watch how they problem solve glitches with their robots.  They are creative and have done an amazing job of working together in teams.  I am looking forward to next week when we'll learn how to program the robots to avoid obstacles using two different sensors!!!

Tina

Getting Creative With Leaves and Petals

                                                                                

New creatures emerged from plain paper last Thursday as some of the younger homeschool students created put their creativity into practice.  A short nature hike provided us with leaves, petals, sticks and other interesting things combined with markers and a little glue to invent new creatures.  

A little later the same group learned folk songs, played an echo singing game and learned some simple rhythms.  Everyone enjoyed playing some of the old classics like London Bridges, The Farmer in the Dell and the Hokey Pokey.  There are so many great American folk songs and games.  It's no wonder that children have enjoyed these same ditties for years and years.  What a fun group of children!

To finish off the morning, many of the children stayed for our weekly Brown Bag and Books activity.  We started the year off with the 2013-2014 Iowa Children's Choice Award winner, The Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisasker.  This charming story about tomboy, Tugs Esther Button, takes place in small town Iowa in 1929.  Seven chapters into the story, there is mischief, pie, an upcoming 3 legged race at the annual 4th of July celebration, and a shady character form Chicago who promises to bring progress to their sleepy little town.  The children don't trust him, but they love Tugs, and can't wait to come back to hear what happens next!

Looking forward to next week!

Linda

Getting Creative at Enrichment Classes

Seven eager students arrived this morning ready to learn about Lego Robotics.  Lego Robotics is a combination of legos, software and creativity.  The sky is the limit when you use these kits!  Our students are getting a basic introduction to how to use the Robotics kits to perform simple tasks. 

Today we built a very basic robot called the Simplebot.  The students worked in teams to build their robots with very little help and in very little time which was IMPRESSIVE.  They are quite a bright group and cooperated well to get the job done!    Team building is an important skill that is emphasized when using Robotics.  

In the photo above Rachel and Angela congratulate each other on their robot performing the task as programmed.

 Libby, Anna, Ethan and Carli are busy programming the robots that they built in the classroom.

After the robots were built we moved into the gym to program them.  A robot really isn't very smart, so the students had to tell the robot which functions to perform in a systematic, step-by-step approach.  Once again, these bright kiddos had the robots performing tasks in no time at all.

 Ethan and Heidi are working diligently at getting their robots programmed and ready for the drag race challenge!

The most difficult challenge that was carried out today was a drag race!  We sent the robots straight down the gym floor about 12 feet and then it had to return and stop with its wheels ON the starting line.      
We ran two heats and the older students won the first one and the younger students won the second round.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the kids can do with the challenges I have prepared for them next week as we incorporate a few more programming tools!

Remember, tomorrow morning we have our first Friday Field Trip!  We are meeting Brayton at the Old Glory Park (the only part in town, you can't miss it) with our bikes and a picnic lunch.  We will ride on the T-Bone Trail and end with a picnic.  Hope to see you there!


Tina

From Discounts to Pinterest

Good Morning Everyone!

It's going to be a hot week outside.  Are you the type that will just hibernate with a fan and the air conditioning cranked up, or will you take the opportunity to play in the sprinkler and blow some end of the summer bubbles?  No matter which you prefer, I am pretty sure some ice cold lemonade or raspberry tea is in order!

This is also a great time of year to look for the back to school bargains that we all enjoy.   I found a couple of websites that list many discounts available to homeschool families and teachers.  One great place is The Frugal Girls.  Their website is great.  Who doesn't get hooked in with a motto like, "Living Well with Less $$$"?  Another list is found at The Home School Mom.    I also found The Complete List of  77 Teacher Discounts at Gift Card Granny.

Many of these businesses ask for some type of identification to prove you home school your kiddos.  So, I have created a business card size membership card for the Atlantic Home School Assistance Program.  Stop by the room sometime and pick yours up!  You can keep it in your wallet and then, presto!  You have your proof when you need it.

Another great way to find discounts is to sign up for the weekly newsletter from CurrClick (Curriculum and Classes in a Click!)  If you follow the link, there is a place to sign up for their weekly newsletter.  It comes to your email and is always full of freebies and discounted home school resources.  You can scan it quickly to see if anything catches your eye and might be useful and delete it just as quickly if you don't see anything you can use.

A goal of mine this year is to use Pinterest as a place to collect ideas for you.  I currently have 13 boards on Pinterest that deal with education.  And here's the thing.  If there is something you would like to know more about and I don't have it there, just let me know.  I can create a board just for you.  For instance, you may notice that I have a board called All About Turtles.  A homeschool mom told me her daughter wants to learn all she can about turtles, so I made a board to help her out.  Now she has several online resources all in one place that are easy to find.

If you can think of other ways that I can help you be a better teacher, please let me know.  That's what I love to do :-)

Try not to melt this week,

Linda

Fun Changes in the Atlantic Home School Assistance Program

This fall brings cooler weather and some exciting changes for the Atlantic Home School Assistance Program. We are expanding! Tina Olson has joined the staff and will work with Linda Nichols. Together we will continue to offer services as supervising teachers and as a resource to you.

In addition, we will also be offering monthly Friday field trips and Thursday morning enrichment classes. At 9:00 and at 10:00 on Thursday mornings there will be classes offered for K-3rd and 4th-8th grade students. They will be in 4-5 week sessions, and we will offer three sessions each semester. You will have the opportunity each month to sign your children up for the next session.
Brown Bag & Books will follow from 11:00-12:00 on Thursday mornings. 

We have also added a new Mom’s Corner in the room. Come and check out resources and ideas that we will have posted there.

Enrichment Class Calendar

September 5, 12, 19, 26

9:00 K-3 Creative Learning-Linda

9:00 4-8 Lego Robotics - Tina

10:00 K-3 Folk Music - Linda

10:00 4-8 Lego Robotics, build time - Tina

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

October 3, 10, 17, 24

9:00 K-3 Creative Learning - Tina

9:00 4-8 Creative Learning - Linda

10:00 K-3 Lego Fun - Tina

10:00 4-8 Folk Music - Linda

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

November 7,14,21  December 5,12

9:00 K-8 Writer’s Workshop Linda& Tina

10:00 K-8 Operation Outreach Linda & Tina

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

January 9,16,23,30

10:00 K-8 YMCA Fun Linda & Tina

in YMCA back gym

11:15 Brown Bag & Books

February

Break for testing & parent workshops

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

March 6,13,27 April 3

9:00 K-3 Music of the Masters-Linda

9:00 4-8 Art of the Masters -Tina

10:00 K-3 Creative Learning-Linda

10:00 4-8 Creative Learning-Tina

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

April 10, 17, 24 May 1

9:00 K-3 Art of the Masters-Tina

9:00 4-8 Music of the Masters-Linda

10:00 K-3 Creative Learning-Tina

10:00 4-8 Creative Learning-Linda

11:00 Brown Bag & Books

Field Trip Fridays

We have a fun slate of Friday Field Trips planned for this year!
September 6 - T-Bone Trail Ride
MEET at 10:00 in BRAYTON with BIKES
and SACK LUNCH
October 4 - 3 Bee Farms
November 1 - Atlantic Food Pantry
January 17 - Swim at the YMCA
February 21- Brinks Flowers
March 7 - Hy Vee
April 4 - Environmental Day at Camblin Addition
May 2 - Des Moines Science Center