Monk Bretton Priory

skeletons, buzzards and trees

On Friday we went for a Spring walk with friends toWentworth castle. The children identified trees using an identification book, looking at the size of the tree,shape and colour of the buds. We saw a magnificant display by two buzzards. The children found a skeleton of a sheep, we looked at the various parts and discussed how it might have died.
And loads of running and playing and chatting and laughing.
A brilliant afternoon.

horrible science

Our neighbour gave us some wood pigeons he had shot, Imogen and Geoff prepared them ready for eating. Me and Mima were a bit squeamish, but we eat meat so good to see how it is prepared. Low air miles too!

Brownie pampering evening

Imogen and Mima came back from brownies with new hair styles and lovely make-up.
They had a great time and it's all part of their brownie 100 badge.

Trip to Clifton Park.

Girls had a fantastic time at clifton park with home ed friends. So nice to get out in fresh warm air!

literacy stuff 14/3/10-21/3/10

Mima really enjoyed doing word level work on the computer, so hope do some more this week.
Both girls have started writing a book together, writing a chapter at a time. The book is based on the characters they created last week.

...and not forgetting everyday stuff.

Irish limericks

Geoff read to us the theory behind limericks and then read some limericks by Edward Lear. We all had a good time making up limericks, all managing the rhyme, but good job Geoff was there to keep us on track with the 8,8,5,5,8 pattern of the 5 lines.

St Patrick's Day stuff

Mima reading out the clues to the St. Paddy's crossword. This was a great way to see how much they had learnt about the celebration. We then listened to irish music and watched film clips of Ireland. Really want to go there now!!!!

St Patrick's Day meal

A traditional Irish meal, beef and loads of potatoes!!
Imogen drew shamrocks on the potatoes using green icing pens!

St Patrick's Day

The girls were set the challenge to find St. Patrick's day facts in the library, using the internet and library books.
While they were doing this, Me and Reuben read books and did the 'nursery rhyme puzzles'.
We continued with activities when we got home, puzzles and quizzes.

Mothering Sunday

We made Mothering Sunday cards and had a special family lunch, followed by games of family fortunes.

We researched the history of mothering sunday, finding out about the church, girls in service and simmnel cake.
The girls then did activities, a comprehension, a word challenge, crossword and word search.

maths 14/3/10-21/3/10

Imogen and Geoff  looked at mathematical mapping and the relationship of inversing this process. Later in the week they looked at a computer program involving mapping.
We continued with 10 mins?? of multiplications, trying to do everyday. Imogen did an on-line multiplication challenge and was pleased by her score, she noticed that it was the 8x table she needed to practice, so she looked at the pattern created by the 8x table. Mima continued with 2,3,4,5,10 times tables.
Both did co-ordinates to create a St. Patrick's day picture.
And data analysis of a mothers day  poll.

And most importantly everyday maths of life.

character devolpment

The girls have been busy designing characters, sketching colouring and giving them personalities.

Lambing time

Friday 12th March We visited the lambs at Wigfield farm for the first time, lambing had been going on for about a week, during lambing time we like to visit the farm every couple of days to see the lambing progress.
We've also been watching lambing live on TV.

home-made butter

Imogen and mima tried to make butter, by shaking milk in a jar and then removing the buttermilk.

cloud in a jar

After reading a science book the girls decieded to make a cloud in a jar!!
They made the ice cubes and then (i think!) thay added warm water to the ice cube in a sealed jar, to create the cloud.

cooking and maths

The girls wanted to bake with Reuben, so they got a basic cupcake recipe off the internet and tripled the quantities, so the timetables must be going in !!!!
They decorated the cupcakes and cake with different flavoured icings.

Flapjacks

Jemima made flapjacks, she was fascinated by the brown sugar mixing with the melted butter, and the different layers created in the pan.

Library

While Reuben listened to stories told by the librarian, Imogen went on the computer and found out about advertising and Jemima read a factual book about butterflies and then together we did a map of Europe jigsaw.

Love Spoons

Jemima deciding which symbols to use to make a love spoon.

St David's Day

We started finding out information and facts about Wales, it's culture and St. David's day. We then went on to do various activities, wordsearches and learning a few welsh words for weather.
In the evening the girls made a three course welsh dinner, Welsh rarebit, followed by oven fried potatoes with scallons and bacon and finally Monmouthshire pudding.
The next day, I set the girls the task of finding and writing down facts about St David. They also made love spoons.

Shirebrook

Jemima went with friends to Shirebrook nature group for the Home ed group. She really enjoyed making a bench for the elderly people that visit the reserve.

Times tables and other stuff...

We have been making a big effort to learn the times tables this week. We have found some excellent web based games which the girls love (and me and geoff have enjoyed too!!!) and this has certainly helped them to remember!!
and other stuff...
Imogen: ratios, multiplication word problems and learning to set out problems step by step and then solve.
Jemima: time- months+calendars, using step-by-step methods to add 2 digit numbers to 2 digit numbers.