The turkeys will get their feathers as they read books this month.

I found a lot of the crafts here:www.dtlk-kids.com

Here are all the books that the girls read for October. They wrote the name of the book on one side and drew the face on the other. The left side are DD10s pumpkins. Each pumpkin is one chapter book, or 3 little books she read.  The right side is DD8's. Her pumpkins are one small book or 3 separate pumpkins for a chapter book. DD10's goal was 5 chapter books, and DD8's was 9 small books or 3 chapter books. As you can see, they were waaaay over their goals. :)

Books read by Firefly:

1. Hightlights Magazine November Issue
2. Spy X the Code by Peter Lenangels
3. Choose Your Own Adventure #24 By Kim Wallace
4. Happy Birthday, Kit by Valerie Tripp (American Girl)
5. Really, Truly Ruthie by Valerie Tripp (American Girl)
6. Changes for Kit by Valerie Tripp (American Girl)
7. Kaily by Amy Gold Koss (American Girl)
8. Jess by May Casanova (American Girl)
9. Amber Brown Goes Forth by Paula Danziger
10. Forever Amber Brown by Paula Danziger
11. Magic School Bus explores the Senses by Joanna Cole
12. Magic School Bus Into the Time of Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole
13. Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole
14. Magic School Bus gets baked into a Cake by Linda Beech
15. Junie B. Jones, First grader at last by Barbara Park
16. Junie B. Jones, Captain Field Day by Barbara Park
17. Junie B. Jones is a Beauty Shop Guy by Barbara Park
18. The Berenstain Bears Escape of the Bogg Brothers by Stan and Jan Berenstain
19. Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor by Herman Parish

Books read by Butterfly:

1. Punxytawny Phyllis by Susanna Leonard Hill
2. Goldylocks has Chicken Pox by Erin Dealey
3. Junie B. Jones is a Beauty Shop Guy by Barbara Park
4. Glasses for DW by Marc Brown
5. The Berenstan Bears Get the Gimmies by Stan and Jan Berenstain
6. Bravo Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish
7. Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement
8. Barbie, Practice Makes Perfect by Mona Miller
9. The Dumb Bunnies Easter by Sue Denim
10. The Dumb Bunnies by Sue Denim
11. Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday by Barbara Park
12. Barbie, Soccer Coach by Barbara Slate
13. Pizza Monster by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

The trees are to keep track of practice on Study Island. They get a leaf each day they do their practice. The red dots are apples for typing practice.

We don't do a lot of "extras" because our curriculum is so rich and full already, but there are a few things that aren't included on the Online School. I am incorporating those things into a fun theme so we don't forget to do them.

This month's theme is fall. Yesterday I made a fence out of brown construction paper and then cut out orange pumpkins from card stock. One of the "extras" is the Book! It program, and we can keep track of the books we read all month by putting them on pumpkins. They write the name of the book and the author on one side of the pumpkin and then turn it over and draw a face on the pumpkin to make a jack o' lantern. Then we put the pumpkin on the fence. Firefly's goal for each month is 5 books, and butterfly's goal is 9 regular books or 3 chapter books. The more books they read, the more jack o' lanterns we will see sitting on the fence.

Next to the fence, we made a scarecrow from this site:

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/mpaperscarecrow.htm

Another activity we do daily is practice multiplication facts. On each side of the fence, there is a stack of pumpkins for each child. For each family that they have mastered, they add a pumpkin. Butterfly is just starting to learn these, so we went over 0's yesterday and she made her first pumpkin. Firefly has been learning hers for a couple of years and really just needs to gain speed with the higher facts, so her stack is higher. At the end of the year, if they can answer facts for their goal quickly, they will earn a prize. The prize is either a new DS game, or 2 webkinz. Or, it could change before then :)

I still need to add a way to track Study Island time in the theme. I think I may add this tree:

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/mfalltree.html

and they can add a leaf each day after they complete their time. Firefly spends at least 1/2 an hour working on Study Island concepts. Butterfly spends at least 20 minutes. They usually end up working longer than that because they like to play in the game format, and have to finish the game when the timer goes off.

The other thing that gets done that we can't "check off" on the online school is typing practice. For Firefly it is a required part of her day, but it is optional for butterfly. Next year, she have to do it daily. Maybe we will add apples to the trees for typing practice. The more work they do, the more the room will be decorated for fall!

Other themes planned for the year:

November - Thanksgiving. Book! It will be a turkey that gets its feathers as books are read.

December - Christmas. We will add ornaments to a paper Christmas tree.

January - Winter theme.

February - Valentine's Day

March - Spring theme

April - Easter

May - Patriotic theme

All themes are subject to change of course!