September 19, 2011 - Mini-Co-Op

This week we headed to my sister's house for our mini-co-op. We're slowly getting in to a routine with our new studies.

• We watched a couple of fun videos about John Adams to give us all a background. I found a neat children's series on YouTube so we'll try to hit as many as we can. We watched "History Videos for Kids: Getting to Know John Adams" and "The American Presidents: John Adams." 
• Handed out coloring sheets of John Adams - I'm using the ones found at Apples 4 the Teacher. The ones I pick have the presidents name and which number they were (1st in office, etc.)
• Read one chapter from George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster - "John Adams: Farmer boy" about Adams' youth.
• Handed out informational sheets, notebooking sheet and clipart.
• Read from the Encyclopedia of Presidents & Their Times by David Rubel
• Listened to speech that John Adams made while in office

• Moved on to Thomas Jefferson and again, watched a couple of YouTube videos. One was called "History Videos for Kids: Getting to Know Thomas Jefferson" and the other was "President Thomas Jefferson Biography." 
• Handed out coloring pages
• Read one chapter from George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster - "Thomas Jefferson and His Mountain."
• Handed out informational sheets, notebooking sheet and clipart.
• Read from the Encyclopedia of Presidents & Their Times by David Rubel
• Listened to speech that Thomas Jefferson made while in office

We then took a break and the kids began working on their cookies for their state study. We made cookies from Pennsylvania - Sour Drop Cookies. Each boy had a hand in making them and they were delicious! We even used gluten-free flour this time so Happy was able to eat some as well. 

They had a maple flavored frosting that when on them and Lego-Man made that all by  himself. The other three boys - with my sister's help - made the cookies. I took photos. Actually, once the first batch came out and a sample taken, the boys began their state study and I finished cooking and frosting cookies.

The boys learned about Pennsylvania and New Jersey today. We are learning our states in order of their admittance to the union. 

The boys are creating notebooking pages that list the state motto, have a picture of the flag, flower, bird, and animal. They also are doing mapping skills for each state as well. (And yes, I can't find my checklist so I can't get more detailed than this.)

Day #19/175 Days (note the actual day! It will be like this all week - cool!)