Heroes & Heroines
Announcements: Welcome to Class!
Please have your own supplies ready on the first day of class (8/20). You will need: pencils, paper, crayons/colored pencils, glue sticks, and scissors. Please label these items with your child's name and have a separate pouch or bag in which to keep them! I will provide other supplies needed.
4/29-We learned about Ada Lovelace and how she was the first computer programmer! We practiced our own computer coding skills with a directional coding activity and we played Eliminators! Next week, we'll learn about our final person of the year--Fredrick Douglass! We're going to have a great last class!
4/22-Today we learned about Sojourner Truth, who was an abolitionist and women's rights advocate after escaping slavery. We also learned that she was the first African American woman to win a court case against a white man. We did a word search about Sojourner (and everyone was at expert level!) and then we played a new game called Eliminators!
4/15/2021-We review Paul Revere by completing the literacy activity in our workbooks. We also learned about Sacagewea and wrote sentences about her. To finish up our class, we played a round (or two) of SWAT. Next week, we'll learn about Sojourner Truth.
4/8/2021-Today, we learned about Paul Revere. We learned that he gave a warning that "The British Were Coming!" to all the colonists before the Revolutionary War. We made paper lanterns because Paul Revere used one paper lantern to warn the colonists that the British were coming by land and two paper lanterns if they were coming by sea. If you want to learn more about Paul Revere, you can watch this episode of Liberty's Kids.
4/1/2021-We learned about Phyllis Wheatley today, who was the first published African American woman. She was a former slave and also a poet. We wrote an acrostic poem with our names. Then we played a very fun game called SWAT.
Past Announcements
3/25/2021-Today, we learned more about Carl Linneaus by reading, Karl, Get Out of the Garden! and we also learned about Benjamin Banneker by reading Dear Benjamin Banneker. Both of these heroes contributed to science in different ways. Linneaus contributed by created the naming system we use today for species and Banneker was a surveyor and inventor who contributed to our nation's early geographic mapping.
3/11/2021-Today, we made a movable butterfly and reviewed the things we learned about Maria Merian & Benjamin Franklin. We started to learn about our next hero, Carl Linneaus. He also loved plants, so it will be fun to compare him to Maria Merian. Enjoy your spring break!
3/4/2021-We did not learn about anyone new today. Instead, we spent our time reviewing some of the people we had already learned about and finishing up some projects we were in the middle of! Hopefully, those all made it home to you! We'll finish up one final project next week and also learn about Benjamin Banneker!
2/18/20121-We learned about Benjamin Franklin and his many inventions. We also learned about facts and opinions. Next week, we'll play catch-up and get a few of our projects completed.
2/18/2021-VIRTUAL CLASS-Listen to the story Now and Ben about Benjamin Franklin! Did you know that Benjamin Franklin liked puzzles? He made a puzzle called a Magic Square. See if you can complete the Magic Square! When we meet again next week, we'll complete our biography page about Benjamin Franklin. I can't wait to see what all you can remember about him!
2/11/2021-We had fun listening to some selections by Johann Sebastian Bach today! We made a listening glyph as we were listening. A glyph is a way to share information, similar to a graph. Our listening glyph asked questions about the tempo, instruments we heard, and how the music made us feel while listening!
2/4/2021-Today, we continued learning about Maria Merian by working in our workbooks and doing a sentence scramble. We also worked on coloring some beautiful butterfly drawings which we started last week. Next week, we'll be learning about someone new--Johann Sebastian Bach!
1/21/2021-We reviewed a tiny bit about Queen Elizabeth I (Wow! They remembered so much) and then we learned about an awesome female scientist named Maria Merian! In the Middle Ages, lots of people thought butterflies came from MUD (spontaneous generation). Maria thought differently. She observed all the stages of the life cycle of a butterfly. Maria painted beautiful, large botanical prints of plants and insects, so we began making a large, beautiful butterfly portrait. We're going to keep learning about Maria next week, too! You can learn more about Maria in this video!
1/21/2021-Today, we reviewed about Queen Elizabeth I! Students were able to remember a lot about her! One of the things they remembered was that she loved to have her portrait painted. So during class, each student was given only one half of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. Ms. Jenn and I challenged everyone to take their time and draw the other half of the portrait. We were able to use mathematical terms such as symmetry and congruent. This was a challenging task for most students, but once we slowed down and had students look at what is on one side and then draw that on the other, it became easier. Try this at home! Next week, we'll learn about one of my most favorite scientists, Maria Merian!
1/14/2021-Welcome back! Today was our first day back and we are thrilled to have new friends joining us! We will be learning about all new people this semester, so each student got a new Heroes & Heroines Workbook and the old one was sent home. We were not able to finish this one last semester, so it might be something fun to work on this week or later on a homeschool day.
We started our semester with talking about expectations about neatness and trying our best on all our work! Then we learned about Elizabeth I, Queen of England! We learned that her sister threw her in jail, she liked fancy dresses, and she loved to have her picture painted! We also learned that she wore a lot of white makeup to cover up scars from smallpox!
We'll learn a little bit more about Queen Elizabeth I next week and then move on to Maria Merian!
12/10-We continued our discussion of Martin Luther today by completing our hero workbook page. We also made a shape bloom of Martin Luther using a pentagon and five petals to represent the 5 sola. Next week, we'll play some games with all the people we have learned about this semester. When we return from break, we'll learn about all new people!
DECEMBER 3rd VIRTUAL CLASS-We will not meet in real time today. Instead, you are free to work on these activities until we meet again (which will hopefully be on 12/10). In class today, we were going to learn about Martin Luther (not to be confused with Martin Luther King, Jr.). Martin Luther was important for many reasons! Watch this video about Martin Luther to learn more about him.
Martin Luther believed in what he called 5 Solae (Solae means alone in Latin). There were five things alone that he believed would permit someone to enter Heaven:
Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)
Faith Alone (Sola Fide)
Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)
Christ Alone (Solus Christus)
To the Glory of God Alone (Soli Deo Gloria)
After you watch the video about Martin Luther, color one of the Sola pages.
Sola Page One
Sola Page Two (Martin Luther's Rose with colors)
Sola Page Three
11/19-Today, we reviewed all the heroes and heroines we have learned about so far this year by playing a game Dr. Rowe made called Thief in the Castle. It is a fun cooperative game where everyone has to work together to make matches and determine what the thief is trying to steal BEFORE he escapes the castle.
11/12-We continued our discussion of Leonardo da Vinci this week by visiting three different stations about da Vinci. The first station was a reading station. Students looked at books and pictures about da Vinci and discussed with Ms. Jenn or practiced reading with Dr. Rowe. The second station was a lot of fun! Students were able to make their own version of the Mona Lisa. I saw a Mermaid Lisa, a Monster Lisa, and a Unicorn Lisa. Finally, we did a leaf rubbing art project. On the project was a quote by da Vinci, which states, "Nature is the source of all true knowledge." Next week, we'll be playing a brand-new game and finishing up any project we have from the past few weeks!
11/5 We began our discussion of Leonardo da Vinci. He's a pretty important guy, so we'll study him for a few weeks. We started by trying to make da Vinci bridges (this is very hard and requires A LOT of patience!). Next week, we'll learn about the Mona Lisa and the Vitruvian Man
10/29-We learned about the first queen of Spain, Isabella I. She is important because she and her husband, Ferdinand paid for Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World. We also played a very fun review game about everyone we have learned about so far!
10/22-Today we learned about Joan of Arc. We learned how she was a brave warrior who heard from God. We also learned that she famously said, "I am not afraid. I was born to do this!" Since she was a warrior in battles, she carried banners to identify herself during fighting. We made banners to represent ourselves as well. Some chose to put their family last initial while others chose to just draw symbols. They looked great!
10/8-Today we learned about Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press. We had a model printing press and students were able to understand the workings of the machine and how the printing process works. After that, we learned about radial design and completed a Styrofoam art print. When we return from Fall Break, we'll learn about Joan of Arc!
10/1-Today, we learned about Leonardo di Pisa, who most of us know as Fibonacci! We learned all about the amazing mathematician who developed a pattern to explain how rabbits multiply. We can use this pattern to determine the Golden Ratio and to observe and explain spirals in nature. The students picked up on the pattern so quickly. It begins with 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21....and continues by adding the previous two numbers together. We then used that mathematical knowledge and applied it to an art project. We had circles with a diameter of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 inches. Student were able to overlap the circles to see how the diameter was formed from the previous two circles. Then, they created some fun art! Pop over to Instagram (@drrowereads) to see some great art pieces!
9/24-Recap: Yesterday we learned about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was queen of both France and England (though not at the same time)! We also learned that she was the mother of King Richard the Lionhearted and King John the Lackland. After learning how to read a family tree, we made crowns to represent Queen Eleanor!
9/17-Recap: Today we learned a Leif Erikson, the great viking who discovered North America. We learned about longboats and how vikings used to attach their shields to the side of the boat. For our language work, we labeled our pictures in the books we are writing. Students practiced listening to the sounds in each word as they wrote the labels. Of course, no viking would be complete without a shield, so that is exactly what we made! We used some viking designs to make a large shield and listened to viking music while we were working. Some students continued to work on mosaics! It was a great day!
9/10-Recap: Yesterday, we learned about Theordora, who was the wife of Justinian the Great. We learned that she was an actress and she helped create laws for women of the Byzantine Empire. Everyone's book is coming along nicely and they are all really excelling and the language activities that go along with that. We continued to work on our mosaics--some finished and some did not, so those will be trickling home as they finish. Please make sure to have all supplies for each class (colors of some type, glue, and scissors!).
9/3-Recap: We moved forward in our timeline of heroes and learned about Justinian the Great, who was a ruler many years after Constantine, but in the same area. We learned that he was the ruler of the Byzantine Empire. We also learned about Mosaics, which are beautiful art works created out of small glass, jewels, pebbles, or ceramics to great images. We started working on creating our own mosaics. Next week, we'll finish our mosaics and learn about Justinian's wife Theodora.
8/27: Recap: Yesterday, we learned about Constantine the Great. Students organized information after we read a passage and then we wrote at least one sentence with the information. These were fantastic! After that, we all made a coat of arms to describes ourselves. This was a great activity to get everyone to know one another a little bit better. Make sure to follow on Instagram (@drrowereads) to see our class in action!
8/20 Recap: We had a great first day! We discussed what it means to be a hero. We made a list of things heroes do and abilities heroes have. We also thought about some real-life heroes and heroines we knew (grandparents, soldiers, explorers, firefighters, police, moms, etc.). Everyone made a cover page to their heroes/heroines book. These books will stay in with Dr. Rowe until they are finished (so we don't risk losing them).