July 2013 Updates: Immersed in reading, writing, maths and water!

Hahgoot reads a wide range of books: Easy picture books (though the Dr Seuss book she is reading on the left is actually a very sophisticated one about natural science) Geronimo Stilton (on the right, reading about Karate) And chapter books (she can read the “Our Australian Girl” books in two sittings! They are for year 5 and up!)

She also really enjoys the classics: She really likes books by Astrid Lindgren and was highly interested in fairy tales by Oscar Wilde! She said they were sad but beautiful (below left) She tried “Black Beauty” (right) but it was too slow paced for her taste.

I introduced her to Shaun Tan’s fantastic book “Tales from Outer Suburbia”, following my work at the gallery, and she was very impressed, especially by his imaginative drawings. But don’t worry, she isn’t always reading heavy material, she can also do a stickers book about fashion... It’s all about balance!

Hahgoot takes ages to finish her maths workbooks. Not because they are too hard, but because she has very little inner drive. Gold stickers workbooks are a big motivator.

She likes playing with Maths, so we played a bit with her favourite paradox – the Möbius strip.Möbius strip It is always fun to discover what happens when you cut an illogical object in half and then in a 1\3 and 2\3...

I wanted her to do some maths riddles with matches, but as they are an OH&S problem, I made her large paper ones. She worked hard and solved the problem of how to make 3 squares with whole and half matches. Barak solved it too in 2 seconds... That’s his expertise!

Hahgoot’s pets were a source of inspiration this month: She wrote a story\poem about Chat-chat, RIP (left) and started a Super Misty pop up book but never finished it (right).

We had some amazing improvement with Hahgoot’s swimming skills this month: She can swim on her back! we were all amazed, including Hahgoot! Sadly, we needed to switch days and instructors, as I started working on Saturdays at the gallery and Barak needs to go to Gymbaroo with Alma that day.

Hahgoot isn’t negative about jumping into the pool any more and now she kind of free falls in, but that is better than nothing... She made Shar a nice farewell card.

Generally speaking, despite the various setbacks, it was a very positive start to the busy third term. She was even adventurous with food and tried a crab claw and sushi! Right: puppets she constructed In our next presentation: More sides of Hahgoot are explored