life learning

We are adopting a sort of new approach to learning around here...
When G. asks us questions about certain things, we don't just give her the answers, we encourage "looking it up." We are taking note of the things that interest her and giving her as much information as she wants about that specific subject. Learning alongside her...
Today for instance: She asked me what the smartest animal was. Her guesses were the elephant and the monkey.
We "looked it up" together. Outside in the sunshine on my handy new iPhone!
And you know what? Elephant and Monkey were both on there! Smart girl!
Here's a link to the info we found:  Top 10 Smartest Animals.
While reading the top 10, we came across some pretty big words:

cetaceans

herbivore

omnivore

carnivore

ungulate

invertebrate

which we "looked up."
We also did a couple math problem using our sugar snap peas! The one pictured above was the addition equation of 3+3=6 and the multiplication equation of 3X2=6. FUN!

first day

Scenes from our first day of 3rd Grade...

I got up early to prepare for the day...I set out all the books, and G.'s favorite freshly sharpened pencils. I was super excited to set out Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School
I had bought it weeks before and kept it hidden away in anticipation of the first day of school. :)

When she sat down to eat her breakfast, she saw the book and "did a gasp" (as Junie B. would say) She said "Did you buy THIS?!" She has had her eye on it for a while. hee! hee!

It was a successful first day. I have quickly discovered G.'s favorite, and least favorite subjects already.
She LOVES Math and Science and whizzes right through her Math work. Spelling and Composition on the other hand...not so great! She despises taking her time to produce correct, neat handwriting. It is absolutely beautiful when she puts the effort in though. I'll have to share some of her compositions sometime.

Here are a couple of excerpt pages from Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School
I read a few pages aloud from it one night at dinner to help G. finish her Lentil Soup (she was having a hard time eating a new food as per usual) I could not contain my laughter and was in tears at one point! Hilarious stuff! These are three pages we all cracked up at. I hope you can read them, I know they are a bit small.

love 'Cause your mother will buy the cheapest backpack in the store and there is nothing you can do about that situation' bit. :) 

The bit about the potato she found on the way home one day is hilarious. David and I could not stop laughing! :) 
Oh, and she finished her whole bowl of lentil soup that night! YAY!