Bridge the Gap

We did Bridges today, from the Building Big Series. S was the only one who chose to do her report on the computer, and what a great job she did too! Masyaallah. Observing how she's watching the documentary and picking up terms, I would say she's improving a whole lot in understanding science.
H on the other hand, doesn't pay much attention but seems to get the concept pretty well. The problem comes up AFTER the program when I told him todo a report on the computer. He ended up bawling. Then I told him to do it on paper. He ended up bawling too. I asked him if he wanted to manually build the bridge and he nodded. My befuddlement increasing and patience decreasing, I gave him the materials with which to build his bridge. He ended up crying again because the clay kept breaking. Either he's having a bad day or I badly need to find out what to do with his learning style.
I used to have a tough problem with S, with regards to teaching method. She seemed to frown at everything I tried. Now alhamdulillah she displays some enthusiasm when we try different activities.

In the most recent conference, their teacher suggested a ball tossing game. I told her that S doesn't like to discuss a story. So she told me to make a game out of it. Toss a ball, and whoever catches it, gets to answer the question. I tried it today, and well, let's just say, they all broke out giggling and laughing, and the questions got answered.

N seems to have developed an affinity to truss bridges, and she claims it's because she oves triangles. Because we have been to the east coast the end of last year, I manage to make the lesson more related to them. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge are all on my laptop. I'm glad I took those photos.