Kindergarten at Home - Day 31 - Presidential Town Hall Debate

Social Studies: Presidential Debate.  Today was the 2012 Town Hall format Presidential Debate.  Although this was not an assignment from the Connections Academy, I feel it is important to start learning about how our country works at a young age.  She knows that the President is Democrat, Barack Obama, and she has heard us talk about Republican Nominee, Mitt Romney.  I also made sure to point out that there are other people we can vote for who were not represented at the Town Hall Debate, such as: Libertarian, Gary Johnson, and Green Party nominee, Jill Stein, and Virgil Goode from the Constitution Party... among others.  I told my daughter about how we get to vote every four years for the President, and that the President may serve two consecutive terms (4 + 4 = 8 years!).  So, Obama can be voted to be President again for 4 more years, or, we can vote a new person to be President if we think Obama (or the current president) didn't do a good job.
She tuned out after about 6 minutes.
Afterwards, we decided to have a debate of our own!  Daddy and the kiddo sat at their mini podeums, while I asked them questions about the important issues, like: "Why do we need to learn how to read?" and, "Should we have candy for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner?"

Then, we read the Bearnstien Bears book "The In Crowd" and I told her that she needs to make her own choices, and not just follow what everyone else is doing, or what you think someone else would do.  In 2008, it was "cool" vote for Barack Obama.  I want her to stand above what is "cool" and make the choice for herself because the candidate represents the issues she believes in. 


Math: Subtraction through eating.  For a snack, I made them fruit and vegetable caterpillars.  We practiced subtration by counting up each of the caterpillar's segments, then I had them eat a certain number and tell me what is left.  We also practiced repeating more complex patterns than in previous days, but I didn't get a picture.

Language Arts: Live Lesson, Dibels Testing & Making Predictions.
We had a Live Lesson today with her teacher online (it works sort of like video conferencing, where all of the students are connected to the teacher and can interact within the virtual classroom).  Her teacher read, "Benny's Pennies" to the whole class, and we did a mini math lesson with the pennies.
After the Live Lesson, my daughter was first on the list to preform her Dibels testing with her teacher over the phone.  Her teacher connected with her over the internet and the telephone to show her letters on the computer and ask her over the phone what sound it makes.  Then, the teacher showed her pictures and asked her which letter-sound the word began with.  This is a required state benchmark test.
Later in the day, we did workbook exercises and practiced making predictions with the book, "I Went Walking."  We went for a walk outside (I forgot my camera) and she made observations about what she saw outside that day.  THE LEAVES ARE FALLING!  Yes, it is officially Fall, and it has been cold and rainy here for most of the last week - booooooo.  So, most of the pictures are taken from our bedroom, where it was warm and cozy!