Sep 30, 2011

Weekly Wrap Up # 3

This week in first grade...

In Poetry..
Our poem of the week, The Wise Cow Enjoys a Cloud, by Nancy Willard.  I've always liked this poem, and found it soothing.  My children thought it was incredibly silly.  Our Poem of the month wrapped up this week.  We celebrated by drawing pictures of a house in a summer storm.
Our 'Silly Poem' was Stop That Noise, by Carolyn Graham.  We decided to come up with the noisiest places we've ever been.  Ava chose Sea World,
and Cyrus chose a baseball game.

In Social Studies....
 This week Dinosaurs ruled.  We read Ask A Dinosaur, a great book of questions by DK.

 Drawing variations of common dinosaurs turned quickly into making up our own dinosaurs.  I present to you, Fairy Dinosaur...

In the Kitchen..
Popsicle redo.  Everyone loved last weeks popsicle, everyone except for Ava who claimed that they were much too banana-ey.  No problem.
 Peachy Popsicles
~1 cup honey Greek yogurt
~1 Cup orange juice
~ A few chopped up peaches
~Honey to taste
Blend until smooth, and freeze
Delicious.
In Music...
This week I taught my children Me and My Dinosaur, a song I learned in summer camp ages and ages ago.  Good silly fun.

In Art..
We made volcanoes! 
Cyrus made a desert volcano, notice all the spiny cacti?

Ava made a purple mountain majesty, because purple mountains are her favorite.
I made a party mountain, because I felt like it.
I was out of red food coloring, which was unfortunate.  My children LOVED this, and did not in anyway seem to have a problem with their volcanoes erupting with yellow foam.  (I can hardly stand to look at the photos with out thinking of... well, honestly if you haven't gone there, I'm not going to mention it.)

In Art Study..  
We explored The Lackawanna Valley, by George Inness.  Ava said "I like it.  I like the view.  This whole painting is a nice view.  I think I'd really like the view from the top of the mountain.  I looks so pretty there."  I thought it was interesting that this painting was commissioned as an advertisement for the railroad.  I think  I'd like to see advertisement become something beautiful again.

In Science We..
Talked about Life Cycles, and started the life long process of Identifying Living Things.  We worked with the understanding that the life cycle of living things is the basis of most larger studies.  We reviewed (because they already knew these words) Generations, Male, Female, Fertilization, Reproduction, Larva, Pupa, Pupae, Metamorphosis, and Dormant.


In Math We...  
Finished Level A!
~Learn the names of unit fractions
~Compare unit fractions
~Solved a variety of different word problems
~Introduced geometric solids
~started a review to prep for Level B




Another fun and successful week.  We were able to have fun, and get a lot of work done.  We skipped out on park day this week, instead we had a playdate with some friends.  I'm looking forward to next week!

Sep 29, 2011

Dinosaur Museum...


This week (and lately, in general) we've been talking a lot about dinosaurs.  They are a relatively new topic in our home, and a new obsession for Cyrus.  It was a delightful surprise when I received my invitation to our very own Dinosaur Museum!

I was greeted at the entrance by a life like model Tyrannosaurus Rex.   Very Scary indeed.
(immediately after photographing the frightening beast, the T-Rex followed me through out my visit, and turned into a "Dino-T-Rex-Robot")
I was instructed that Dinosaurs once ruled the earth, and their remains are said to be found all over.
Dinosaurs were very tall, as demonstrated by the impressive height of this little guy.
A replica  dinosaur bone was available to touch and feel.  This was a "club bone" that would have been found in the tail of the Ankylosaurus.
It was explained with diagrams that some fossils are found at "nest sights", places that you might find dinosaur eggs.
Dinosaurs lived a very looong time ago.  A handy chart helped to illustrate the length of the different eras.
 Dinosaurs had very tough skin.  A model snake was provided for a chance to see what a dinosaur might feel like.
As a very special treat the museum had on display the extremely rare Dinosaur Tower!
(yes that is a tiger in the middle.  Why do you ask?)


My trip through the Dinosaur Museum reminded me of a few things...
~Homeshcool rocks.  
~My children are awesome.
~I really really need to get them to the Natural History Museum, they would LOVE it.

Sep 28, 2011

One moment...

One of my babies reading to the other.
Moments like these can not be described in words.

Sep 27, 2011

September Preschool Wrap Up...

Here's my boy, in all his preschool glory!
Climbing trees.
 Sewing Baseball Pillows for his babies.
 Making "Crazy" Art.
 Scooping Barley and Rice.
 Wearing very broken star glasses.
because 
"I don't need them to have black parts (lenses) or
sides.  They can just sit on my nose"
 Painting with Dot Paint
(wearing glow in the dark space pajamas)
 Sifting through sand
 Discovering dinosaur bones at the park
 coloring.
A really good month.

Sep 26, 2011

Gratitude Mondays....

Here's what I am loving today...

~Fall decorations...

~Mother in law over for dinner...
(and watching her read my babies their bedtime stories)

~A pretty amazing weekend...

~Changes in the air
(and recognizing that all the planning in the world just doesn't matter sometimes)

~A day with my girl..
(while the boys had their special day)

~A little girl who said
"its more important to be clever than pretty
because
a clever person can make good choices for a happy and healthy life"
(But she's also fairly confident that I worry about those things more than she does.
As she says "I prefer to spend time thinking about fairies")

~A boy who wakes up and gives me a warm morning hug and whispers
"I just found a white crayon"
(your guess is as good as mine)

~A baby who likes to climb
(scary, but you might as well love it because there is no stopping it)

~A partner who thinks and plans ahead for our family's future
(but who's also willing to change things mid stride to accommodate our current interests)


Eeek!  Here's to a new week.  I'm ready.!(?)  (okay, maybe a little undecided.)

Sep 22, 2011

Weekly Wrap up #2


This week in first grade...

In Poetry..
We read Autumn from Journey Through Time, and started working to memorize our poem of the month.   The Silly Poem this week was Arabella Miller.  Ava drew a funny scene from the poem, and Cyrus drew what he thought the caterpillar looked like.
In Social Studies....
We talked about the evolution of our world.  I used these two great books, Life Story and Life on Earth.  Both books really brought to life the story of evolution.  Ava loves them, she even recognized that one of the facts in Life Story (written in 1962) was now outdated.  Pretty cool.

In the Kitchen..
We made orange pineapple banana popsicles.   YUM.  Perfect treat for this unbearable heat!
~1 Cup Orange Juice
~3 Bananas
~1/2 Cup Pineapple Juice
~Blend, add to popcicle molds, and freeze.

In Music...
We played a tweaked version of Rhythm Baseball.  It involved a lot of running and laughing that was desperately needed at the time.  Did we learn heaps about Rhythm?  I could care less.

In Art..
Painted a representation of our poem of the week.  And... We decorated the house for fall!
In Art Study..
We explored Hunters in the Snow, by Pieter Breugel.  Ava said "I think this is pretty great!  It's very pretty.  I like big beautiful views of pretty places more than cities."  I think I'd agree to that.
 In Science We..
~Drew Maps
~Finished this map workbook that we started over the summer
~Identify North and South Poles on a globe
~Solidified the correlation that maps are flattened (and in most cases up close) images from the globe

In Math We...
~reviewed half
~learned that quarter is half of half
~found a quarter of twelve objects, a dollar, and an hour
~learned the term octagon and tessellate
~made paper octagons from two squares
~discovered whether square, rectangles or octagons can tessellate
Another full week.  Another great week.  Ava read a book aloud to Matt this week.  A very exciting breakthrough for her, as she would only read aloud to me previously.  We also started our weekly park days with other homeschool families again this year!


Autumn

Yellow the bracken,
Golden the sheaves,
Rosy the apples,
Crimson the leaves:
Mist on the hillside,
Clouds grey and white.
Autumn, good morning!
Summer, good night!


This is the poem we are reading this week (painting by Ava).
I love it so much I think I'm going to make it a fall table blessing...
I love Autumn.

Sep 21, 2011

rainbow ice

A (mock) Tutorial

1. Start with  searing hot September days.  
2. Add a few flushed, frustrated kids.  
3. Take a bowl  of ice.  
4. Mix in heaping amounts of salt, and as much food coloring as your heart calls for.

~ start with colorful patches here and there.

~Look for room to add more color
~ end with a bowl of tie dyed fantastic mess.

~Watch the salt create intricate patterns.
 Finish with a biiiig thank you to all those blogging mamas who come up with, and share great ideas. You've saved my a** on a hot (still) summer day.


About Me

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East Bay, California, United States
I am a thirty something mother of three. Hoping to raise my little ones to love the the slower things in life.