Sarasota Area Homeschoolers

Presentation Co-Op: Animals Spring 2008

admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:28:34 +0000

Animals are still being chosen of you would like to participate. The date for the presentations is Wednesday, April 9th at 1:30 pm at Shamrock Park, Venice.

Presentation Co-op: United States Fall 2007

admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:27:42 +0000

The theme is “These United States”. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these co-ops, they are a great opportunity for the kids to practice public speaking. Once a week, usually on Mondays, I’ll send out an assignment relating to the theme for your child to complete on his/her own at home. It’s a very open-ended assignment with plenty of room for your child to use his/her imagination. Once all of the assignments have been given, we’ll all get together so the children can present their assignment to us. Parents have enjoyed these presentations, and the kids have fun showing what they’ve learned. The youngest participant was four years old, I think. It’s open to all ages. And there’s always food involved at the presentations. I hope you’ll join us! The presentations will be on Friday, October 26th at 6:30pm at an area library. The exact location hasn’t been determined yet, but it’ll likely be Venice or Jacaranda.

The Assignments

The following is an outline of the assignments for this co-op. Detailed assignments will be sent out on the dates below.

August 27
Choose Your State

September 3
History, Famous People

September 10
State Bird, State Flower, State Animal

September 17
Climate

September 24
Flag, Seal

October 1
Motto, Nickname, State Song

October 8
State Parks

October 15
Economy

October 22
Food

October 26
Presentations

Presentation Co-op: Endangered Animals Fall 2006

admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:26:57 +0000

Our latest co-op is a study of endangered species. All ages are welcome to join us for this fun, informative, and enlightening series of assignments. On Monday, October 16, 2006 at 6:30, we’ll be meeting at the Gulf Gate library to share our presentations. It will work like the people and places co-op in that an assignment will be sent out approximately every week.

Please select an animal to study that is threatened or endangered. A comprehensive list is available at Kids’ Planet. Please make your selection and e-mail me at guessaname@verizon.net to let me know so I can add you to the list.

You can join in at any time before the meeting in October. Simply come back here to check the assignments and either jump in where we are, or go back and do the assignments you’ve missed.

Assignment #1

What does your animal look like? Using whatever medium you would like, make a representation of your animal. Paint, draw, collage, ink, pointillism, or photocopy… whatever you would like. Tell the animal’s weight and size, and other pertinent info.

Assignment #2

Where does your animal live? Make a map or stick pictures of or symbols for your animal on an existing map.

Assignment #3

What is your animal’s habitat? Made a model or create some other way to show us what it looks like where your animal lives.

Assignment #4

What does your animal eat? Make some food for your animal. You can either draw a picture, or create the food out of clay or some other medium. Or you can just write about it. Use your imagination.

Assignment #5

How does your animal behave? How do they spend their day? How are you going to demonstrate this? You could do a skit, write a story, or come up with something entirely different.

Assignment #6

What is the population of your animal? Show us or tell us. This might be a good opportunity to practice making graphs. How has the animal’s population grown or declined over the years? How long does your animal live?

Assignment #7

How often does your animal have babies? How many does it have at one time? Anything interesting about the way the babies are raised you would like to share? What are the babies called? Make a representation of them.

Assignment #8

What threatens your animal? Why is it endangered? Show us what has caused the decline in this animal’s numbers. Draw or paint a picture, make a model, or show us in some other way.

Assignment #9

What have you learned about endangered animals? What do you think we can do to help?

Assignment #10

Food! Please bring something to the presentations. This can either be something from the region where your animal lives, something that your animal eats, something that looks like what your animal eats, or whatever else you can come up with. Please be sure to put a card in front of your food telling us how your food relates to the animal you chose.

Presentation Co-op: People and Places Spring 2006

admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:26:12 +0000

The purpose of this cooperative learning experience is to expand our knowledge of different cultures around the world. We’ll accomplish this in a creative, loosely structured manner. The idea is to give the children as much room as possible to use their imaginations and come up with interesting ideas of their own. I’ll send out an assignment once a week, usually on Monday.

If you’d like to join us, there’s still time! You can catch up on the assignments, or just skip to the current one. Please let me know if you would like to participate, and tell me which country you will be working on.

We’ll be meeting at the Gulf Gate Library on Wednesday, June 7th from 6:30pm-9:00pm to share our projects. Food is allowed. For more information, email me at robin@sarasotaareahomeschoolers.com or call 416-0001.

March 12, 2006
Assignment #1
Hi all… now that you’ve chosen your country (if you haven’t let me know what it is, please do so), here’s your first assignment. It’s a geography task. Find your country on a map of the world (http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/world.htm is a good place to start) and make your own copy of the map. Use whatever medium you wish. i.e.: clay, paint, crayons, fabric collage, etc… use your imagination. Be sure to find out which countries border your country too. What’s the capital? What are the major cities and bodies of water? Be sure your map isn’t too small, at least 8.5?x11?. This is all about being creative and using your imagination and I don’t want to be too specific, that way the kids will be encouraged to come up with something on their own. If you need suggestions, ask the group. Have fun!

March 21, 2005
Assignment #2
The assignment for this week is to find out about your country’s economy. Learn what currency they use. Make a replica of the currency, paper or coins or both. What industry exists within your country/region? Make something to showcase that industry. For example, if they make all of their money by making and selling garden gnomes… make a garden gnome. If this is too broad, ask the group for suggestions.

April 4, 2006
Assignment #3
This week’s assignment is to find out about your country’s climate and topography. How you want to represent your findings is up to you. A report, add topography features to the map you’ve already created, a poster, a series of pictures of land features there… whatever you can think of. Most importantly, have fun with it!

April 12, 2006
Assignment #4
This week’s assignment is to find out about the traditions of your country of choice. What festivals do they hold, holidays do they observe? Depending on your country, this could be one of the best chances to be creative. I’m seeing costumes for some countries. Is there a type of dance that is traditional to your country? How do families in your country observe some of the holidays we often observe here, like Christmas or birthdays. I googled “traditions around the world” and got LOTS of information. That’s a good starting point. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

April 18, 2006
Assignment #5
This week’s assignment is very easy, but if you want to make it elaborate, feel free! Find out what your country’s flag looks like and make some sort of replica of it.

May 10, 2006
Assignment #6
This week’s assignment is to learn a new language. Okay, so not a whole entire new language, but a few phrases. What language do they speak in your country? Learn how to say a few common phrases like hello, good-bye, please and thank you. Do they write the same way we do? Show us what their writing looks like if it’s different.