Summer School Week 1: Pokemon School

Dear Kiddos, 

This last week was the official start of summer break. Since we are basically stuck at home with nowhere to go, I figured that we should stick to a schedule which includes some learning. I asked you guys for input on the theme of the week and unanimously, you all shouted, Pokemon. So, with some research, I think I came up with a pretty good week full of a variety of fun, but educational activities. 

On Monday we brought our nets to the lake to "catch" fish. You all were able to catch the small minnows that hung out by the shore, but your eyes were on the big fish, who were smart enough to stay away from you guys. 

In Pokemon Go, we usually have to feed Pokemon treats to keep them happy. Hailey, you and I worked on the term "let's split it" in Chinese along with the terms for "long" and "short." 

Duckie and Hippo both want the pizza. What should we do? 

And then a few days later, Hailey, you would turn around and teach Hannah those same phrases. 

I had each of you pick 3 of your favorite Pokemon to study this week. Monday-Wednesday, you all did a directed draw for 1 of those Pokemon and you practiced your handwriting by writing the Pokemon name 5-8 times under the picture. 

Hailey got a coloring sheet instead. 

We also worked on some phonics and focused on partner vowel blends. I had you think of words with the long A sound, I wrote them down and then had the 5 year olds circle the partner vowels that made that sound. 

We also did the same for each of the other long vowel sounds. The main goal was for you to realize how so many words don't typically follow the phonics patterns that we've been working on for the past few months. English is a crazy language! 

Nathan, I gave you a list of partner vowel blends and had you sort them based on their sounds. I think this was the perfect level of challenge for you. 

For math, we practiced counting money. I assigned prices to Pokemon cards and I gave each of you a handful of coins. You had to figure out what cards you could buy with the money that you had. 

On Tuesday, Hannah, you woke up coughing you head off. Immediately my mind went to thinking, "Oh no, she has COVID-19." You coughed continuously for about an hour and then as soon as I let you have some screen time, it stopped. We basically quarantined you in your bedroom that morning, through early afternoon and since you didn't have a fever and was back to acting completely normal, we let you out of your room for the remainder of the day, but you still had to wear a mask. 

One activity that I am having you guys do is timed math facts to increase your fluency. Nathan, you actually love doing these and Hannah, you don't mind them too much. You both do try to beat your time from the day before though, and you usually do. I'm just not letting you know that these worksheets are slightly more difficult each day. 

The mornings have been pretty nice, so we still tried to get out and play before it got too hot. Swinging and chalk art on the driveway is always a favorite. 

And then there are the bike rides at the school parking lot. 

And we also spend quite some time reading. Nathan, you are currently re-reading books 1 of Harry Potter to Hannah and re-reading book 2 to yourself. We are almost finished with book 3 and I'm going to have us take a pause for now until you are a bit older before we read book 4. 

One day we went on a bike ride and decided to stop by our neighborhood playground (not to play) but to read under the shade. Here, Hannah, you are reading to us! 

Hailey, you still love to draw. One day I traced some magnets that we have and had you draw in some of the features yourself. This activity then morphed into a puzzle as you matched the puzzle piece with the traced shape. I thought it was pretty cool that you made up your own game with what you had. 

On Thursday, I let you big kids turn on an incense in your Pokemon Go game to attract Pokemon to our house. Nathan, you made a tally-ish chart and recorded all of the Pokemon that showed up.  Hannah, you quit after 4 Pokemon so you just used Nathan's data. 

 I then had you guys graph the data on a bar graph. 

I had found a YouTube video that showed the real animals that some of the Pokemon are designed after. I had you pick your favorite, do a little research and report over the real animal and draw it. Then the next day, I had you use your favorite animal (Nathan doesn't have one, but Hannah, you love flamingos) to create your own Pokemon. For Nathan, I had you write a short Pokedex description of your Pokemon invention. 

In the afternoons you guys practiced martial arts. This week you both have belt testing (virtually) so I had you guys attend class as much as we could. Hailey, you are even inspired to practice martial arts! 

Sometimes you big kids will just play upstairs. Sometimes you play superheros, sometimes it's battling Pokemon, and then there have been times when you guys are playing Beauty and the Beast. All I know is that most of the time all the toys are pulled out to make some sort of barrier or fortress and I need to do a better job of getting you guys to clean up afterwards. 

Hailey has been saying, "Mom, I want to play board games." So I've been picking out some of the more complicated ones and simplifying it a lot so that you can understand the game a the most basic level. Yesss, one more gamer in the family. 

On Friday, I let you guys complete a special paint pouring project, something that I've been exploring with and enjoy doing. I let each of you pick 3 colors, mixed the paint in a cup,

and then you guys would dump the cup over to let the paint drip and swirl around on the canvas. 

It's a pretty fun (but messy) project. 

Even Hailey could do it! 

The 3 of you are super proud of your work and they are all hanging proudly in your rooms right now.

On Friday, Hannah and Nathan helped me make Chinese bread. You helped roll out the dough and wrapped the dough around the creamy custard filling. 

On Saturday morning, we tuned into Sesame street and CNN's special to have you guys learn about racism, which is an issue that is being brought up recently. I was a bit disappointed in the quality in that it was like a CNN show with one expert after another answering questions. You three quickly became bored and I stayed on to watch the remainder of the show to see what I could do to help you guys understand this issue better. After watching it, I have decided that I will teach you guys about the history of the American people starting from the Native Americans, to the white/Europeans, to the blacks, to the Asians and then the Hispanics. The main message I want to teach you guys is that mistreatment of others often comes along when someone feels like they are more important than another person and treats them unfairly. And then I'm going to encourage you guys to stand up for those treated unfairly. We'll see how it goes. 

Auntie Momo arrived shortly after the show and the first thing we did was to make some focaccia bread for lunch. 

You guys made the dough

Decorated the tops of the dough with fruit and candy (totally Hannah's idea and I just reluctantly went along with it as to not crush that creative spirit)

This was after I told Hannah that a lollipop sticking up would not be a good idea....

Nathan, always taking the healthier route decided to make a fruit rocketship. 

The bread turned out delicious and we were able to finish it all in 2 meals. Yum and fun! 

Hailey, you are getting really good at drawing people! I find so much joy in seeing your little creations. Here you drew yourself, with crazy hair, legs, ears and facial features. Sometimes you will just go off on your own and draw for 30 minutes. You have proven to be trustworthy with a dry-erase marker and so I let you draw and erase to your heart's content. 

On Monday morning, we went swimming and in the afternoon we started our Americans unit. I'll share about those lessons next Monday. 

Auntie Momo went back home today, so it's back to just us again. We will miss her fun and silly self (fake country accent and all) and hope that she will come and visit really soon. Nathan, you've been enjoying the endless conversation about Pokemon and Hannah, you will miss the snuggles and games that you have played together. 

Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy