Week 25 - O-H-I-O

A few months ago we were invited to a group on Facebook that had a special plan to help kids learn about the United States.  Kids from all over the country paired up and planned on creating a box of information about their states and then swapping.  This week Big K has been working hard to prepare his box about Ohio!  We have been putting together a PowerPoint presentation about things he thinks are important about our state (he chose to include things such as the state symbols, sports teams, famous people born in Ohio, and fun places to visit).  We also visited the a local visitors center and picked up a ton of magazines, brochures, and maps to include in our packages.  We hope to finish them up and get them out in the mail early this coming week!

This week we've also been working more on learning perimeter and area.  One day we used toothpicks to work out some math problems.  And while Big K was busy figuring out what dimensions of toothpick "fences" gave the biggest area, Little E used some toothpicks to practice making some shapes of her own!

We also have been learning about compound words this week.  We spent one day playing a game matching up words to make compound words and even completed a rare worksheet sorting words.  Next up, contractions! 

After discovering the playaway books on tape from the library last week, it has been all the rage in our house.  Big K listened to THREE books from The Magic Tree House series this week!  However, he decided next week we need to check out the actual book as well as the playaway from the library so he can sit and follow along.  I told him I thought that was a great idea!

This week Baby W has been sick (yet again), so we have been stuck in the house more than usual.  While Big K was busy listening to his books, Little E spent a lot of time with her favorite activity - playdough!  She gets playdough out at least three times a day.  I think we need to invest in some new playdough accessories - they get a lot of use in our house.  We've also been playing a lot of card games.  It has been great practice for Little E learning to recognize numbers as well as identify which number is "more" and which is "less".  I love being able to work in school stuff even during game time!

 

Happy Learning, 

Momma C

Week 24 - On the Go

Wow!  What a busy week.  We had something on our calendar for every single day.  So lots of learning on the go this week!

We started our week with a trip to the local nature center for a storytime.  Once a month they host a storytime that is themed around a different animal or science topic.  This month was spiders.  We read several books about spiders, looked at photographs of spiders native to our area, and played a game using a big parachute that looked like a spider web!  And of course the kids had the chance to explore the nature center.  Their favorite part is the little fish tank tunnel.  We love to sit inside and watch the fish and turtles swim overhead.

 

This week was also our month 4H meeting with our homeschool group.  Big K is in Cloverbuds this year and is thrilled to be doing a project about cooking to display at our local county fair this coming summer.  He picked up his project book this week and is anxious to get started.  In his Cloverbud meeting they also worked more on learning and understanding the 4H Oath.  They did a project about love and created a collage of things they love cut out of magazines.  They also created their own puppets and put on a puppet show for their friends.  Once the meeting concluded the kids had the chance to just get outside and play on the farm.  (Our meetings are held at a members home farm and it is amazing!).  The kids played on the swing set and ran and played tag.  They also got the chance to see and hold the chickens as well as pet the horses and alpacas.  

 

 Another day this week the kids were rewarded with a trip to the aquarium.  They have been working so hard and our local aquarium is running an awesome deal on tickets so we needed to take advantage of it.  We had a great time, and even made it there to see the little sharks being fed!  We also got to touch a sea cucumber, sea annenome, sea stars, and even sharks!  Little E loves to take pictures (just like her mom!) so she took control of my phone to document the trip for us. Of course, I took a few myself as well with my "real" camera. 

We ended the week with a trip to Home Depot for their montly kids clinic.  This month the kids made Valentine's Day boxes.  They had to use hammers and wood glue to put them together and then got to paint them.  And then they got a pin to add to their aprons and a certificate!  Fun!

 

In other exciting news, this week we heard back from our town mayor.  Back in the fall we had written to him and Big K mentioned he thought we needed more ice cream shops in town.  In his response, our mayor agreed and then sent Big K a coupon for a local ice cream shop as well as some town goodies.  He also invited us to visit his office!  We plan on calling and setting up a visit sometime soon! 

In "normal" school news, Big K has still been busy learning about measuring.  This week we started learning about perimeter and area.  This will be our segway into starting to learn about multiplication!   Math comes so easily to Big K!  

 We also spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen this week.  Big K has been trying out lots of new recipes.  He made elf cookies all by himself with only a little help using the oven.  He also made some very delicious tomato basil soup for lunch one day!  

And of course, what week would be complete without a trip to the local library.  We recently discovered that our library rents out these wonderful things called "playaway".  It is basically a portable book on tape.  It looks like a little mp3 player, and Big K loves them.  He listened to the entire Magic Tree House series book #1 in a day this week.  We have books 2-4 on hold now.  He sat for an enitre hour listening to the book while playing with Legos!   And of course Little E and Baby W picked out their share of books too!

Happy Learning,
Momma C

Week 23 - Volume and Art Appreciation

This week we continued our project learning about measuring.  We changed our focus from length and weight to volume this week and learned all about cups, pints, quarts, and gallons.  One day we took an empty two liter bottle and poured 1 cup of water into it, marking where it filled the container.  Then we did the same with one pint, one quart, and 1/2 a gallon (we realized a full gallon wouldn't fit, so we decided to stick with just 1/2 gallon!).  It was a great visual demonstration comparing the different types of volume measurement!  The resulting bottle, along with a funnel, and a variety of measuring spoons became instant additions to our tub of bath toys and provided a full week of water play in the tub!

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After we learned about how the different measurments compared, we thought it would be interesting to see how many cups were in a gallon, or how many tablespoons were in a quart.  Big K and I created a chart on the computer and the practiced using our calculator skills to fill it all in.  We used a book we've been studying called How Much Does it Hold to help us with our calculations, and then tested to see how accurate our chart was.   Here's what we came up with: 

 On Wednesday, we met a friend at the local art museum for a special storytime adventure.  The kids had to go visit several different stations throughout the museum.  At each station a docket talked about a specific color that was represented in a work of art.  Some of the stations included a story to listen to, others included some hands-on experiences, and some even integrated Ipads and other things to help make the art come alive.  The kids then collected a paper circle from each station to create their own color wheel at the end!  Their favorite station was based on the color green.  We looked a painting that was inspired by our own city and the kids got to use a laser pointer to find different shades of green in the painting.  They had a great time and have been asking to add this storytime onto our monthly calendar! 

Big K was so inspired by the art, that he decided he wanted to have his own art gallery show at home.  So we put together several art samples and invited our friends over for a playdate art show!  The kids shared artwork and even made some handprint salt dough ornaments to hang on the wall. 

Big K is also involved in a very cool project in collaboration with kids from all over the country.  We are in charge of packing up seven boxes that tell all about Ohio that we will mail to kids in other states.  In return, he will receive a box from seven other kids about THEIR state.  We've been busy brainstorming things that we want to include in our information about Ohio!  It has been a big undertaking, but I think it will be worth it in the end! 

Happy Learning,
Momma C