Terms 2 and 3 in school

Once we were settled into our new home we were finally able to do school in our new schoolroom. It felt like the first day all over again. 

I enjoyed having my white board again as I tend to enjoy going a little crazy on it during lessons. 

We finished up our history unit on William Wallace and my girls' ancestor Robert the Bruce.

I felt like the best way to teach about Dante's Inferno without reading the entire poem to them would be to draw the story on the white board. It was fun, but looks a bit crazy. 

We did a game when we learning about the Black Plague. Each bag had colored tiles in it and represented different towns. We played pilgrims going through each town. The color of tile we pulled out of the bag determined if we caught the plague or not and how many people we infected. 

Maddie's next project was Princess/ Prince and the Pauper. We read the Mickey and Barbie versions and then watched the Barbie movie. 

In science we switched to an energy unit. We read a book about Edison and kept track of things we learned about him. We also read a book about Tesla later in the unit to compare their stories. 

Maddie's next project was Hansel and Gretel. We read three different versions and then she made her own story as well as a candy house. 

We learned about a few different artists over the last few terms: Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael. 

When we were learning about the Sistine Chapel I copied an idea I saw on the show Road to Avonlea and had the girls draw pictures under their desks. 

I loved reading this book about Joan of Arc during both terms. She was amazing. 

When we talked about the War of the Roses, they each took a side and used our castle blocks and this trebuchet they built with Doug (Da Vinci's design) to battle. 

We got out our bells again. 

Another few fun read alouds...

I made a mess of the board again when we were wrapping up our history unit. 

Then we had our end of term test. 

Maddie and I finished reading this book together that was part of her language arts. 

Last Friday they turned in their last work: Abi's unit 6 language arts and Maddie's Thanksgiving themed story and I graded their math... and then term 3 was done!

Now we will be on winter break until January! That's the fun of only taking half the summer off!

 

Europe Adventure: Day Eighteen, part three- Louvre Museum

We rode the Batobus to the Louvre stop and then just had a short walk to the museum. 

I have wanted to go to the Louvre for a very long time but I have to admit that Dan Brown's book The Davinci Code really sparked the interest!

It was very cool to see that glass pyramid in person for the first time. 

There is an entrance from the metro that is less crowded but we decided to just go for the main entrance. 

However, we did buy our tickets in advance so we were able to bypass most of the line and get right into the shorter line. In the picture below you can see a ton of people on the right and hardly anyone on the left. The left was the advanced ticket line.

From inside the glass pyramid: 

From inside the museum: 

This place is gigantic, very crowded, and kind of confusing. 

The night before we went online and decided on the pieces we wanted to see. 

You could spend days here if you wanted to see everything and we just had a few hours. 

We knew it would be impossible to see it all so we wanted to have that list of the things that were the most important to both of us and then we would see other things along the way as well. 

I wrote down which wings they were in.. but it was still hard to find a few of them. 

"Winged Victory of Samothrace":

Beautiful ceiling!

The Louvre itself is just beautiful. Little details everywhere. 

"Venus and the Three Graces"

Boticelli :

"Adoration of the Magi"

Bernardino Luini:

The floor in this wing was exactly as Dan Brown described. 

It really does give the illusion of not being flat. 

"The Virgin and Child with St. Anne"

Leonardo da Vinci:

"Diane de Versailles", also known as "Goddess Artemis With a Doe":

We, of course, wanted to see the Mona Lisa. 

I had heard over and over how people were so underwhelmed by her because she was small and it is so crowded around her. 

So my expectations were low. 

And then we saw her. She was bigger than I expected and she was so much more beautiful in person than in pictures and prints. I was so surprised, as was my mom. 

It is such a lovely piece of art. 

I always wondered why it was so famous but after seeing her I totally get it. 

"Mona Lisa" 

Leonardo da Vinci:

When you turn around from seeing Mona Lisa the wall behind you is this one huge painting. 

"The Wedding Feast at Cana"

by Veronese:

"Venus de Milo"

On our way out we walked past the inverted glass pyramid. 

Time for some treats and a little wandering.