Home Base For Learning: Animals Ruled Learning This Week

Math: More percentages and an easy calculator trick to find the cost of something. Need to figure out a 15% tip? Times the total cost by 1.15. Done. Need to know the cost of something if it is 30% off? Times the original price by .7 (.7 is the 70% of the cost you pay) Done.

When I was growing up, teachers used to say, "You'll never have a calculator in your pocket." Funniest irony in education history. Let's teach kids how to use this tool that they literally carry with them everywhere.

Science: Biology Videos summaries by A1...

Slime Mold: Slime Mold has no brain but is so smart that people use its intelligence to fix real world problems. No one gets how it is so smart so I can't tell you that.

Narwhals: Not all Narwals have tusk which is also a tooth in case you didn't know! Nobody knows why they have tusk but they have some guesses.

Elephant Seal: Elephant Seals probably don't sound any thing like you are about to hear but... They can be very aggressive, get into fights with pedestrians (Its true! There is one or more somewhere that does that. ) And even bonk on people's garages. Maybe that's why they got into the fights with the street people in the first place!

Cicadas: Cicadas can't harm you in any way besides being very loud so don't worry about that. Millions come out all at once. The next time they come is going to be around 2036. Hope your not in an area where they are going to come out like zombies!

Ants: Leafcutter ants as you probably know go and grab leaves and bring them into their nest. But did you know that they don't eat the leaves? They grow them into fungi! No... They don't eat the fungi either! They really take the nutrients from the fungi. That kind of fungi can only be found in leafcutter ant nests!

Lions: You may think lion manes are used for defense in fights, but the truth is the manes are to avoid a fight in the first place. A bigger' darker mane means that the lion is healthy and stronger. You wouldn't want to fight that! As you may know, it's the females that go out and hunt. They really have a smart way of doing it. Yes, lions are smart. Two go on both sides of the prey driving it back right into the mouths and claws of stronger females. Almost works every time and lions who are alone have a very low chance of catching anything. Not to worry about them attacking you. No one likes that. Especially the lions, 0%. And why not hunt prey that you can catch. But that doesn't mean that you should get to comfortable around lions. They are still untamed wild animals. They are big cats but not cougars. Big cats are classified by their ability to roar. Snow leopards are the only exception because they are so closely related to them. Lucky snow leopards.🦁

Language Arts: Opinion essay on the King Cobra and writing about animal facts in each state. Here's what A1 has written...

King Cobras

Did you know that the King Cobra is not really a cobra at all? It is more closely related to the feared Black Mamba. Snakes are misunderstood creatures and need not to be. I love venomous animals so much! My favorite snake is the King Cobra.

King Cobras are so cool. Just imagine being able to smell and even track things with your tongue. Don’t forget how amazing their eye sight is. King Cobras don’t slither for nothing; slithering helps them get around the jungles they call home.

You may wonder why King Cobras hiss. If you think it’s to communicate, you’re mostly right. They do communicate things like this is my territory or get away. They also hiss to find a mate. When cobras do find a mate, they build a nest to lay their eggs in. They are the only snake in the world to do this. The mother guards the nest for two to three months without eating. I guess you can call her a Queen Cobra. Oh, and don’t think that the babies are safe to be around. They have their powerful venom right at birth.

King Cobras are very unique animals. From their tongue smelling, to their ways of communicating, they are very fascinating creatures. To learn more about these amazing creatures go to a zoo or your local library.

States

Delaware: Delaware has one of the largest sea turtle spawning's in the world and yes they have sharks. It is known as the first state because it was the first of the 13 colonies to accept the constitution.

Pennsylvania: Has a lot of deer and bears. They have an official state amphibian, the Eastern Hellbender, a giant salamander.

New Jersey: Like Delaware, New Jersey has sharks. A shark attack along a river inspired the movie Jaws.

Georgia: The American Alligator lives there and has been know to ring peoples doorbells. Their ocean shore has one of the largest sea turtle nest sights in the world. They also have bat bridges, and when the bats wake up in the evening they come out looking like a tornado.

Connecticut has frogs that fully freeze themselves in the winter and come out in spring like nothing happened. Their state reptile is the Timber Rattlesnake.

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Extras: A1 has piano again this week and started, or continued, three OpenEd clubs. He is in Chess Club tournaments, Animal Science Club, and Escape Rooms.

He also did more cooking this week for his life skills class. Grilled Cheese was his choice this week.

I have to give a major shout out to him. While my husband and I were gone for a day, he helped all the other kids clean the house-without being asked-and made them all grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

A1 is learning how to cleanly crack eggs when we bake, too.

These are big, beautiful, eggs from Grandma's chickens.

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A2 had Joy School, Library Story Hour, reading Little House on the Prairie, and reading lessons. Once again, her and K got out the craft supplies and made some fun crafts from their imaginations.