French With Nana

Nana has been snowbirding here in NOLA since the beginning of December and in that time she has been teaching French to Chance.  He was reluctant at first and some days doesn't want to sit in his chair but the amazing thing is that he truly is picking it up.  I will here him say a word in French here and there but where it is really noticeable is in class.  You will think he isn't paying attention and then Nana holds up flash cards and he just rattles through them like he's been doing it for years.



Another great way Nana is helping Chance learn French is through fun games.  Here Nana and Chance are playing Mancala each time you move your stones you have to count them out in French.

Chance Learns to Ride his Bike

On Monday Chance learned to ride his bike!  We have been working on it pretty solid every day that the weather permitted for the past week and a half. Then on Monday he just took off. When he realized he was doing it by himself he yelled "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" It was adorable.

Winnie-The-Pooh book project

Over the last week and a half we have been reading the original Winnie-The-Pooh book by A. A. Milne for school. Chance and I have both been really into it, sometimes reading more than the assigned one chapter per day.

After finishing the book Chance picked his favorite chapter to be the subject of his book project. Since he doesn't like to write he chose to draw pictures to tell the important parts of the story. Using one of the book report templates the school had given us he drew Piglet stranded in his house as the flood waters rose, Pooh floating on a honey pot, Christopher Robin and Pooh floating on an umbrella boat and of course the flood waters themselves as well as the message in a bottle Piglet threw into the waters hoping to be rescued.

The end result is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

Learning to Ride

A few days ago the weather was good and Chance really wanted to work on riding his bike.  Since he hadn't shown much interest in learning up to this point we jumped in the car right away and went to City Park.

He didn't get a lot of pedaling in, but he worked hard on his balancing.  He made a lot of progress this time. I hope the weather is warm on another day soon so we can take his bike back out to the park to practice again soon.

Climbing Higher

Yesterday Chance and I went to City Park. It was a little chilly but it was such a nice sunny day we couldn't stay inside. While there Chance worked hard to climb this huge tree near the playground.





It is tall and the trunk is very slippery, I was super impressed when he made it this far.  He said he wanted to go farther but he was scared.  I reminded him that he should go as far as he feels comfortable and as long as he is careful everything would be ok.






He sat in the first spot for a while but then decided to go for it and head out on the branch. He was very brave.






When he got way up here he said "This is really scary but I'm facing my fears" I know all little kids say things every once in a while that make their parents super proud and this was one of those moments for me. He physically worked hard to get up there and he mentally worked hard to get up there too. He said the very was beautiful.

The Battle of New Orleans

Last weekend we went to the Chalmette Battlefield to see a reenactment of the 1814 Battle of New Orleans. This was the 199th anniversary of the battle.




First we listened to the Marine Corps band play and then the reenactment began. It wasn't a very large production but still it was fun and informative.



We all agreed that after seeing this we all want to see a larger more organized reenactment in the future. As a matter-of-fact they are planning a much bigger reenactment next year for the 200th anniversary.
 

 Chance drew this after we came home. This is his interpretation of the battle.

Lego Club

This doesn't look like a very exciting lego creation and to tell the truth it isn't his best work. This was our first time at Lego club but making the most amazing creation doesn't seem to be what Lego club is all about, it is more about sharing ideas and being together with other people who share your love of Lego. Chance had a great time building with all the other kids. We will definitely go again and seek out other Lego clubs.

Aikido Yellow Belt with Black stripe.

It's been a little while but I still want to share this with everyone. I am so proud of Chance and the hard work he puts into Aikido and at the end of November he passed his latest belt test. He is now a 14 Kyu which means his yellow belt now has a black stripe.


Here Chance is showing off his skills during his belt test. He did an excellent job performing each technique perfectly.


Chance did not want to pose for a picture after we got back to the house but I got this one anyway. In the top left you can see him taking part in the ceremony to accept his certificate from Sensai Brian and of course a shot of the certificate itself.

Spontaneous Painting

A few days ago Chance and I were looking for something to do. We had been stuck in the house for the last couple days because Chance wasn't feeling well but it was so cold. Just then a local company Chez Clay posted a but one get one free sale on their Facebook page.

We have been there a couple times and it was fun both times so it seemed like the perfect thing to do on this chilly day.

Chance picked out this little car and I painted the little vase. We had a good time painting, it was so nice to do something spontaneous for a change. We will be picking up our fired pieces on the 21st. Chance's birthday!

Birthday sleepover

When I asked Chance what he wanted to do for his birthday this year he said he didn't want a big party with lots of people. He just wanted one friend, Emory to have a sleepover. So that's what we did.

This picture was taken during the only 15 minutes they were sitting still all evening. We stated a movie but I think they really only sat on the couch to drink their juice boxes because soon after they were playing with Legos and hexbugs once again.

They were up EARLY the next morning so after more playing and breakfast we went bowling.  It didn't take the boys long to decide to team up against me and in a kids vs me matchup they won everytime.

 I'm good but I'm not that good. That's rounds 1,2 & 3 in order. Chance broke 100 in round 2, there were bumpers but still.

This last picture is of the boys playing Weeping Angel tag, yes they watched a bit of Doctor Who.

Lafayette the fish

We seem to be able to keep a betta fish alive for 2 months. We are learning though, this time we got a heater to go with our new betta. 

Since we had a blue and a red bettas before we went with purple this time. He is very pretty and with the heater he seems very happy swimming around with his tail and fins on display even on the coldest days.

I took these pictures right when we brought him home before he went in his heated bowl.

Have you met Asher?

I know I have been slacking and I know I keep saying I am going to do better but life is still crazy hectic and so I don't but I do want to take a moment to introduce everyone to a new member of the family. He is 2 months old now, time flies. and he is the second most gorgeous baby boy I have ever met. His name is Asher Warren Wunnenberg. This first picture was taken of him and Chance when we were in Florida in September for his birth. He was only a few days old.

Here is a more recent picture of him sent to me by my Mom.      He just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Chance loves him to pieces and I do too

Definitions

Chance is really good at his vocabulary words and his sight words. He blew right through the list of first, second, and third grade sight words. We are now using fourth grade sight words and even those barely slow him down.

This vocabulary unit focuses on travel words. I asked chance to write the word 'turn' and define it in the context of travel. Here you see the result.

Book report - The Trumpet of the Swan

In this unit chance was given a list of books to choose from, The one he picked was an excellent choice, one of the characters is a little boy loves animals just like Chance.

So, for the past week and a half we have been reading The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White. 

When we finally finished the book it was time to do a book report.

It is hard to see but on each of those little pieces of paper is written a fact about the book.

We brainstormed what to write on the papers together. Then Chance decided which fact should go on which paper and wrote the facts out himself.

This was our hardest literature unit so far the reading was easy but going over everything we had read every day became tedious for both of us. In the end we all decided it was a pretty good book.

LAVCA Pizza in the Park

Last Tuesday we went to our first official LAVCA school social event. All grades from all over the state were invited to Bayou Sauvage State Park for pizza and socializing.

The parents talked while the kids played. Chance had a good time. It was interesting talking to all the other parents and learning why they chose virtual school. 

Before it was over we got all the kids together to take this picture. You can see Chance down front right behind the banner on the left-hand side. The little boy in the front farther left wearing the yellow construction hat is Isaiah, he is in Chance's class.

P.S. publicschooloptions.org Is a group that advocates for alternative public school options. 

Egyptian History

In History class we're now studying the Egyptians. We learned that as the nomads began to settle they settled along rivers, one of the rivers they settled along was The Nile. The people who settled along the Nile became known as Egyptians.

We are learning about their gods and goddesses, This is Osiris and Isis:

We learned that upper and lower Egypt were united by king Narmer. Here he is wearing the double crown red for lower Egypt, white for upper Egypt.

Chance colored the pieces and glued them together to make the double crown.

And last but not least we learned about hieroglyphs. Chance did an excellent job writing his name with hieroglyphs.

The CH is represented by the left facing horseshoe, A by a bird, N by squiggly lines representing water, C by what looks kind of like a cane and E by what is called a reed but looks more like that symbol on the end there.

Molecule Science

In science class we are learning about molecules. So we did an experiment to show how molecules move faster in hot water and slower in cold water.

We put red food coloring in the hot water on the left and blue food coloring in the cold water on the right. Chance is pointing out in this picture that the red food coloring is spreading out through the glass faster than the blue food coloring. Which of course happens because molecules move faster in hot water.

Chance drew a picture of his observation right after we put the food coloring in each glass and again in 10 minutes see what changes had occurred. The color will spread out evenly in both glasses it just takes longer in the warm water.

Chance loves thescience experiments    we do in school. I know I didn't learn about molecules in first grade, It'sgreat that Chance is getting this base knowledge of science so young.

Introducing Hammond the Beta Fish

We got a beta fish! His name is Hammond. He loves swimming and eating. He also likes warm weather but not direct sunlight. Chance likes to check on him and give a report on how Hammond is doing.

Like Father like Son

The other day I just stumbled on them chilling on the couch.

Chance then showed me that New Orleans is featured in his National Geographic Kids magazine this month.

Incorporating shapes into Art

This Art class took what we learned about shapes in Art a step farther.  This time I cut a few shapes out of construction paper to start. Then Chance picked one shape that he wanted to use. He picked a rectangle. Next he decided where he wanted to place it on his page and glued it down. That was when I stepped away and let him come up with the rest all on his own. His assignment was to turn the shape into something within his artwork.

He chose to make his rectangle a building with windows, people, cars and sky to create the world and really show he understood the goal of the lesson.