ASNC: Insects!

We're so excited to be back at the ASNC for their monthly homeschool classes! Their first session was on Insects and we observed insects and their arthropod kin up close in their classroom. We also discovered characteristics of insects that help them to adapt to their environments, had fun using field nets to collect insects from different habitats, and learned to identify and classify them.










It's exciting to see all the homeschoolers/alternative-schoolers in our area.















Some of us finished off our field trip with lunch at Phil's Icehouse and topped off with Amy's Ice cream. A fantastic Friday indeed!

Create an Insect: Roaches and Wasps, oh my!

On our shelf the first few weeks of school...



The children's take home project was on an insect of their choice. They researched, answered questions about their insect, and either made a model, or brought one in.





















A snippet of what our mornings look like. Small groupwork in reading while others are exploring at stations throughout the schoolhouse.



Number bonds continue...



We have a little architect in the house.


And Ms. Karen storytelling...

Number Bonds and Nomads

We're learning the number bonds for numbers 1-10. A number bond is related to a family of four basic addition and subtraction facts. A child can use number bonds to add and subtract. Later, number bonds can be used to show different ways a number can be split up to facilitate mental math or other operations or concepts. Cool stuff, right?




In the Science Center




In the Atelier. Cave Paintings!




We're learning all about Ancient History and we started with the Nomads. Learned all about how they lived, what they ate, and what the word 'Nomad' means and the children did some cave paintings. Next up, Ancient Egypt!

Getting into the swing of things

We finished up our 2nd week at the co-op and are getting back into the groove. We're learning all about insects in preparation for our field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center and I really enjoyed gathering materials and setting up the science room for this focus.




 I did some reading screenings and we've started our reading groups and math fun. I introduced one of the Math Pentathlon games, Calla, to the children and will introduce a new game next week. These are so much fun!



Math with the Kinder kiddos.

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Sidenote: I brought in the magna tiles I had at home from our small light table  and added them to the set we already had at school. I noticed the children did more building on a bigger scale (obviously, right?). I'd like to get 1-2 more sets in the schoolhouse if possible!

Part of our homework this year will be bringing in monthly family projects so families can work collaboratively with the children and this will help with the supplementation needed at home since we are part-time. We started off with a History of our Life Timeline which the children did such a terrific job of presenting. It was really wonderful to see all the photos and different experiences each child has had.





I enjoyed popping my head into the atelier and seeing the different provocations Ms. Clair offered for the children, from self portraits, to big mural painting, to mixing paint colors for a variety of tertiary and other colors. I want to encourage parents to not be initimidated by working with paints. One doesn't have to be an artist by profession. Bust out the paints and simply enjoy the process with the children!









We brought some fresh compost from our compost pile at home and Ms. Clair shoveled most of it in so hopefully we can get some things planted this week for our fall and winter garden.

Welcome 2012-2013!

Hello Friends!

We're back! It's a new year and we're in full swing.

Our friends were so happy to be reunited after summer break, and we welcomed 2 new friends this year. Everybody has grown and changed over the summer! Our schoolhouse also had some changes. We now have a lovely dedicated Science and Math room, and our back room got nice face lift. Ms. Andrea was giddy with excitement over the new items that were added over the summer and a bundle of fantastic books she was able to collect to add to our library.

Can you guess what we'll be studying first in science? This will go in hand with our first field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center at the end of September.

Monarch metamorphosis

One of the beautiful things about emergent curriculum is having flexibility in planning based on the children interests as well as the parents and teachers. One of our parents has a passion for moths and butterflies. Driving in to the schoolhouse during her week of assisting, we found her and some of the children out in the field investigating. We discovered that the fields surrounding the school were filled with milkweed, and on the milkweed the kids found beautiful monarch caterpillars. This unplanned discovery led to discussions, exploration and observation about the life cycle of caterpillars.

One of the monarch caterpillars.

Here are some different stages of the chrysalis.


Time lapse video of the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, happening in the early hours of the morning before we arrived. Look at the top right corner to see!

Metamorphosis complete!



Exploration with clay and the life cycle of a butterfly

A few videos about butterflies.