Week 23 -2/16-2/18

Letter of the Week: k
Phonograms: 1-40
Theme: Our Country - we will be reading books about Abe Lincoln and George Washington, and learn about our flag.

Here are some photos from last week: I have to tell this funny thing that happened at school, which resulted in Zack posing with his completed hundred board.

The hundred board is a coveted work activity. Not sure why one would pick this work other than that they get a great sense of accomplishment when done, because it sure takes a whole hour to complete this thing. Well, Zack decided last Wednesday was the day he was going to work on the hundred board. Both Kade and Luke had done it the previous week, and now it was his turn.

Let me explain the process of how one would do this work: lay out the empty board, lay out the control board with the ruler, lay out the numbers *try to group in tens*, and then lay the tiles in order from 1-100 on the empty board.  Check the control board for errors.

It's difficult work, and requires a tremendous amount of concentration and focus.  Zack starts getting tired in the middle of it and asks his friends to help.  They encourage him to keep going, and he does.  In the meantime, I start telling them to wrap up their work, because it was time to set up for our Valentine party. 

You would think they would jump up for joy.  They were so into their work, they grumbled and said, "But I only have a few tiles left to put on the board!"  I told them they had two more minutes, and in the meantime I went downstairs to grab the Valentine party goods.  While I was down there, they started to get loud and wanted me to come quickly, and that I "have to see this".  I thought someone had spilled colored water or something.  It sounded pretty urgent, so I ran uptairs quickly, only to find that the boys were all excited that Zack had finished the hundred board, and they were so happy that they helped him and were cheering.

I couldn't have been more proud.  Zack asked to take a photo with his hundred board, so hence, the posed look (he came up with that too).  And here is Cole and Luke working on the red rod maze:

Here are the rest of the photos from our Valentine parties on Wednesday and Thursday, thanks parents for sending the valentines.  The kids had so much fun exchanging them: