Another Day In The Life: Fifth Grade

Science: Model making of a cell from play doh.   Learning about sharks and whales

Poem: Copywork first four lines of “From a Railway Carriage”

Recitation: “Still I Rise”

Art: drawing practice, Van Gogh’s Room At Arles

Music: The Nutcracker

Math: Multiplication practice

Now that Seneca has completed her book My Side of The Mountain for her literature block, she is now working on her science block.  For formal study, she is reading from the book The Way We Work by David Macaulay.  She made a model of a cell from play-doh and discussed the functions of the parts of the cell.   She had to check the book repeatedly, and I’m still not sure that sure remembers what part of a cell does what.  However, the repetition is good for her, and we will revisit the model cell again tomorrow.   

This isn’t a Charlotte Mason approach to science, but straying a little and using a variety of sources can be beneficial.  The book itself is a good and informative book. I also think that doing even a small hands-on project, such as making a replica of a cell, is helpful in learning about a cell.  I consider each time she was asked to explain the model to have been an exercise in oral narration, so that is a CM component to the lesson.

   On her own, Seneca has found science websites from which she enjoys learning.  She has always loved learning about sharks.  She told me about a shark with skin that is toxic to humans and she showed me the video. 

She also loves whales.  She showed me a site where she had been learning about whales. She told me that whales travel in pods (which I did know), but that there are aggressive and non-aggressive pods (which I did not know.)

      For writing practice today, I asked Seneca to copy four lines from the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, “From A Railway Carriage” in cursive.   Since she didn’t love this poem, I had let her choose out another one for reading aloud this past week.  So, her main poem this week was actually “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.  However, for writing practice, she is using “From A Railway Carriage,” and that is because it is a shorter poem. 

    Seneca has been watching a lot of drawing videos lately and has been working on developing drawing skills.  I am quite impressed with the dedication and hard work that she has shown.  I think I may order an online drawing course for her in the near future. I certainly cannot help her at all in this endeavor.  This isn’t something that I assigned or even suggested to her.