Horn Spoons and Masks

There were lots of regular and ordinary things about today. But there were two new and fun things.

First, we started on a new literature book for history. As you remember, we read Island of the Blue Dolphins before. Now we're reading By the Great Horn Spoon! This is a rollicking tale of a young boy and his English butler in the California gold fields. It's a good picture of the era with lots of quite accurate details. But it's also a really fun story. I love reading the first couple chapter aloud because the captain bellows incessantly. And, since I'm trying to model reading with expression for the students, I get to be really loud! And a little obnoxious, too. I think they liked it as much as I did.

Thursdays being Art Day, we started on a new project. This one will take a couple days of work. Again, we are focusing on the idea of form. So this week we're exploring form in masks. We looked a couple fine examples of masks and discussed the concepts of "proportion" and "distortion." We started with the papier-mâché base today. We did the fast and easy technique here mixing glue with water instead of the more traditional flour and water. In the interests of a clean classroom, the students worked out of doors. Thankfully, it was a wonderful warm and sunny day.

Next week we will paint the masks and add lots of details.

Homework: It seems heavier than it really is. Many of these assignments are pretty short. (1) Do Maps and Atlas worksheet. (2) Do the Adjectives worksheet. (3) Do the “Good, Better, Best” worksheet and the Theme Connections on the back. (4) Do the summary and strategies paper for Great Horn Spoon, chapter one. (5) Do the “Good Times, Bad Times” study guide for today’s history chapter. (6) Do “Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers,” Math, pages 344-346, 2-34, even only. (7) Review the spelling words for the spelling test tomorrow.