Shepherd's Pie, Panda Biscuits, Charles Dickens and The Book of Kells

Continuing their own thematic unit ideas this week, The Boy learnt how to make a shepherd's pie from scratch.  He followed his great grandmother's recipe, which I think may have been altered to allow for Second World War rations.

It was delicious!  Good job!

Panda Girl is doing the sweetest panda project, using her vast collection of panda books for information and ideas.

After some written work she took a break and made some panda biscuits.

Papa enjoyed his one with a moustache!

Monkey Girl made a brilliant Life of Charles Dickens poster.

For our art and picture study work this afternoon we looked at The Book of Kells.

The Boy worked SO HARD on his Celtic picture, taken from the Book of Kells.  It's smashing!

Monkey Girl's picture was the Virgin Mary, The Christ Child and four angels.

Panda Girl loves patterns and today's art suited her very well.

Ballet Girl remains unwell with her foot infection.  She spent the morning listening to a story cd of the BBC adaptation of Robin Hood and some time on Minecraft, with a bit of Spanish work thrown in.  I feel grateful for antibiotics and our NHS.   

The Boy had football this afternoon and Monkey Girl went to Intermediate Foundation Ballet.

A Thematic Unit About ?

We have been doing thematic units every week for nine years!!  

We have covered Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Advent, Easter, The Saints, The Good Shepherd, Space, Dinosaurs, The Romans, The Anglo-Saxons, The Vikings, The Normans, The Middle Ages, The Tudors, The Stuarts, The Georgians, The Regency Period, The Victorians, The Edwardians, The Great War, World War II, Africa, Australia, South America, USA, France, Italy, Scotland, Mexico, China, Japan, Human Anatomy, Mad Science, Maths Fun, The Gruffalo, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Habitats, The Rainforest, The Sea, The British Coast, The Arctic, The Antarctic, Bats, Spiders, The Desert, Weather, The Olympics, The Winter Olympics, St. Valentines, Leonardo da Vinci, Castles, Life-cycles, Farms, Pumpkins, The Incas, London, Camping and a whole load more that I cannot remember!

We all work together on them in the morning, leaving the afternoons for the rest of our school work.  They can be incredibly cross curricular, hands-on and a great deal of fun!

With this in mind I wanted to allow the children to choose their own individual unit to study this week!

Ballet Girl has chosen to do myths and legends. 

Monkey Girl chose a project on Charles Dickens.

Panda Girl predictably chose pandas!

Watch this space!

And for my Boy I chose to spend a week cooking with him as it is his favourite thing in the whole wide world (aside from may be hammering nails into wood, climbing trees, cycling with a determined look and snuggling with his Blankey).

We started with bread; learning how yeast make it rise and salt gives it taste.

Good job!

That was lunch sorted!

A second variation of dough.  The Boy liked its texture after allowing it to prove for an hour.

This time he plaited the dough and used an egg to glaze it.

Yumma!

Ballet Girl has a bad foot infection and has been feverish and on medication for a while. While she's taking it all in good spirit, she's had a rough old time with it and not much sleep.  She rested all day today and Monkey Girl sweetly sat with her for ages reading her stories and telling her jokes.  I love my children :) 

The Boy also read some pages of his new book Ben Bug, spent some time at his workbench in the garage doing important things with a hammer and a piece of wood, and the rest of the day was for trampolining lessons and Sea Cadets. 

Our Final Leonardo da Vinci Day

We've finished!

The children used the pictures from our display and their new knowledge to create huge posters about Leonardo da Vinci.

The Boy requested more time to transform his cuddlies: see yesterday's post!

Panda Girl finished her panda in perspective oil painting.

Ballet Girl made a tank, da Vinci style, but out of cardboard and with food inside - for her hamster!

And Monkey Girl transformed her penguin into a parrot!

And that's that!  A new unit next week.  We finished the day with Tap Dancing, Modern Dancing, a picnic in the park and Sea Cadets for the two eldest.

G'night!

Making Teddies Into Other Sorts of Teddies

Today we had a bit of fun with Leonardo da Vinci's tricks,  The children especially enjoyed the story of Leonardo sticking wings and horns on a lizard and pretending to his friends that he had found a dragon.  The kiddies used some of their cuddlies and gave them a makeover!

Monkey Girl transformed her mouse...

...into a human.

Panda Girl's tiger became a...

...CUTE dragon!

Ballet Girl's seal went for the...

...turtle look.

And The Boy's beloved duck...

...became the cutest elephant I have ever seen :)

Last week the children experimented with parachutes for teddies.  This week I wanted them to try da Vinci's parachute using his actual measurements and design.

Can you spot it?!  They worked beautifully!

Although The Boy's first attempt landed in a tree.

The past two days have also included a morning with friends...

...football for this dude...

...shortbread hearts made by Monkey Girl...

...smashing handwriting/poetry by Ballet Girl

And Tap Dancing, Modern Dancing, Gymnastics, Sea Cadets, Nature Study, Maths, English, Faith Work, Science and Spanish.