Third Grade in Our Home :: Morning Basket, Term 2

First, a note: Just as in the past, I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, with the littles. But even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: that which is done over breakfast, and that which is done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we did it last year, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, feel free to click over to read more.  ~~ You can read about our Morning Basket for Term 1 here.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for this Term 2 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem daily from our poet for the term, Sara Teasdale (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:

:: Thomas Tapper's Music Talks for Children (one chapter per week)

:: the Kirbys' The World at Home (two chapers per week)

:: Benson's A Child's Rule of Life (one page per week)

:: Benson's An Alphabet of Saints (one page per week)

:: "Fra Angelico" from Steedman's Knights of Art (a bit per week)
:: "An Angel-Like Brother" from Hillyer's A Child's History of Art (after finishing the Steedman)

:: Opal Wheeler's Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Early Years and Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Later Years (a chapter per week)

I chose these for our Morning Basket work rather scheduling them during Naptime School for several reasons: they're all short readings, have general appeal, and are not narrated.

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: The Water Babies or At the Back of the North Wind.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:

:: Hymns - "Holy Holy Holy" and "Panis Angelicus"

:: Folk Song - "Barbara Allen," "Home Sweet Home," and "Highland Mary"

:: Bible - The Parable of the Good Samaritan

:: Prayers - Cardinal Newman's Prayer for a Happy Death and St. Alphonsus' Night Prayer

:: Poetry - William Blake's "Tyger," Sara Teasdale's "The Ballad of Two Knights," "The Faery Forest," "Rhyme of November Stars," "Thoughts"

:: Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew 2.1.168-180

:: Bird Calls - House Finch, Red-Winged Blackbird, Killdeer

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  We may end up doing more than just these.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

And this year, we're combining Memory Work and Movement, so while we're reviewing our previous selections, the kids are doing jumping jacks, situps, pushups, burpees, and dancing.  It's been a happy marriage of activities for us so far--and it keeps the littles busy.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation at a different time of the day, but we do our Italian memory work with the littles:

:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" and "Giro giro tondo" from Filastrocche Italiane

:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian

:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Fra Angelico (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch

:: The Last Judgement, 1432-1435

:: Transfiguration of Christ, 1437-1446

:: The Madonna with Saints, 1438-1443

:: The Deposition from the Cross, 1443

:: The Annunciation, 1450

:: Adoration of the Magi, 1445

Music Study on Frederick Chopin (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, including attentive listening and discussion

:: Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1 - Minute Waltz

:: Piano Concerto No. 2 Movement 3 - Funeral March

:: Piano Concerto No. 1

:: Waltz in E-flat major - Grande valse brillante

:: Prelude No. 4 in E Minor

:: Op 10 no 12 Revolutionary Etude in C minor