Our Week: China, Ping, and the Sun

Astronomy
We finished the chapter on the sun this week. We read about solar flares, sunspots, how we get color, and solar eclipses.

Eclipse demonstration

Looking at the sun through pinhole viewing box

We read Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven and used the recipe in the book to make our own sun bread. The kids thought playing with the dough and making it into shapes was lots of fun.

before baking

Finished sun

Oranges and sandwich triangles made ino sun shape for lunch.

History and Five in a Row Unit Study
China was our topic for history. The SOTW chapter was about the Sui and Tang dynasties, the building of the Grand Canal, and the invention of gunpowder.
Since we were learning about China anyway, we chose The Story About Ping for this week's FIAR book. We had lots of fun with this book. We studied China, pandas, ducks, and buoyancy. I posted more details about our activities in this post.

The Three Rs
In math, Caleigh is reviewing adding 4 digit numbers, Colin has started learning about averages, and Molly is working with money.
Both Colin and Caleigh still aren't too happy with their grammar programs, but the lessons are usually quick so they get through them pretty easily after just a little whining.
Colin is moving quickly through spelling lists he's already done and getting close to the new ones. Caleigh has made it to section H. She had her first diagnostic test, which showed a mastery level for all the sections she's done so far and a grade level of 2.9 so I'm really happy with how well she's doing since this is her first year with SWR and she hasn't learned all the multi-letter phonograms yet.
Molly has made so much progress with her reading in the last few weeks. She's so excited about reading and sounds out words that she sees all over the place.

Everything Else
Colin had First Lego League and roller hockey practice this week. I can't believe how close we're getting to the mock tournament for FLL and then regionals will be right after it. Chad took Colin to a Carolina Hurricanes game and they're planning to go to another one tomorrow. Colin spends all his free time reading books about hockey, watching games on TV, and practicing hockey.

Colin ready to go to the Hurricanes game

My sister and dad came for a visit yesterday and the kids are having lots of fun with them. They're also looking forward to Halloween fun and trick or treating this weekend.