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| Riley - Age 4 |
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| Viktor - Age 4 |
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| Evie - Age 6 |
Thursday, February 21, 2013
History - Africa
Bug Candy
Santa had a sense of humor and brought the kids suckers with real bugs in them. Never did I ever imagine they would actually eat them!
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| It's hard to tell but there's a cricket in that sucker! |
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| Viktor had a delicious scorpion in that one. |
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| He ate the whole thing. |
Nature Study - Bird Feet
We recently had a lesson on why different birds have different types of feet so we decided that a trip to feed the ducks would be the perfect opportunity to check them out up close.
It was VERY windy!
Klee Cat
Many thanks to Patty over at Deep Space Sparkle for this lesson inspired from Paul Klee's Cat and Bird. My kids loved doing this as well as the 2/3rd graders I teach on Fridays.
Cat and Bird by Paul Klee
In Progress:
Final Product:
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| Viktor - Age 4 |
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| Evie - Age 6 |
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| Riley - Age 4 |
Archimboldo Collage
Vertumnus by Giuseppe Archimboldo
We had some fun with the kooky Archimboldo earlier this month. I used his work to introduce the idea of a theme. The kids each chose a topic and cut out images from old magazines in order to create a collage self-portrait.
Viktor chose a food theme.
Evie's theme was fashion.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
The Gift of Books
Books play a huge role at our house. The teacher in me likes to pull out free reading selections that tie into what we are learning in our school lessons but there are some titles that the kids love to read again, and again, and again. Right now Viktor can't get enough of Robert Kraus' Leo the Late Bloomer, The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss and any of the Tintin comics. We read these daily.
Evie's not your typical 6-year-old reader and blows through books faster than I can keep up with her. The latest one that she's been talking about is Little Women. She read it under her covers when she was supposed to be sleeping (the best way to read) and was really inspired by the character of Jo. She has decided to be an author now and keeps bringing me "manuscripts" to send off to get published.
It's such a treat for me to see which books appeal to my kids. Every time my children take a special interest in a title I get a deeper understanding of who they are and sometimes, what they may be struggling with that I might have missed in everyday happenings. Viktor's attachment to the character of Leo was so very eye-opening for me. Viktor is a very bright kid but unfortunately lives in the shadow of his sister's reading talent and general spotlight grabbing personality. He is quieter, can be quite shy and slower to warm up in groups. I have never worried about his learning pace but I think he internalizes a lot more comparison to his sister than I recognize. Leo has helped Viktor to show me he will "bloom" when it is his time.
Just having a small library of quality books in our house has been the best gift we could give our children. For instance, I would have never chosen Little Women for my 6-year-old's reading list. She found it on our shelves on her own time and read the whole thing before I even knew she had it. Because I had it available she was able to see some part of herself in the character of Jo and now has a new passion for writing.
What have you learned about your kids through the books they read? What are some favorite titles in your home?
Evie's not your typical 6-year-old reader and blows through books faster than I can keep up with her. The latest one that she's been talking about is Little Women. She read it under her covers when she was supposed to be sleeping (the best way to read) and was really inspired by the character of Jo. She has decided to be an author now and keeps bringing me "manuscripts" to send off to get published.
It's such a treat for me to see which books appeal to my kids. Every time my children take a special interest in a title I get a deeper understanding of who they are and sometimes, what they may be struggling with that I might have missed in everyday happenings. Viktor's attachment to the character of Leo was so very eye-opening for me. Viktor is a very bright kid but unfortunately lives in the shadow of his sister's reading talent and general spotlight grabbing personality. He is quieter, can be quite shy and slower to warm up in groups. I have never worried about his learning pace but I think he internalizes a lot more comparison to his sister than I recognize. Leo has helped Viktor to show me he will "bloom" when it is his time.
Just having a small library of quality books in our house has been the best gift we could give our children. For instance, I would have never chosen Little Women for my 6-year-old's reading list. She found it on our shelves on her own time and read the whole thing before I even knew she had it. Because I had it available she was able to see some part of herself in the character of Jo and now has a new passion for writing.
What have you learned about your kids through the books they read? What are some favorite titles in your home?
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Snow Day
Normally when public schools get a day off because of snow we carry on as usual but this one fell on a day that we had planned to be at our co-op anyways so Legofest it is!
He says that the black base is the coal and explained to me how when it gets heated steam rises through the metal tubes building pressure enough to shoot things out of the barrels. I never formally taught him any of these ideas. We had one quick conversation about steam at the Cincinnati History Museum several weeks ago but I honestly thought I was talking to a wall. This goes to show they are listening even when you think they aren't.
Check out this coal powered artillery Viktor created:
He says that the black base is the coal and explained to me how when it gets heated steam rises through the metal tubes building pressure enough to shoot things out of the barrels. I never formally taught him any of these ideas. We had one quick conversation about steam at the Cincinnati History Museum several weeks ago but I honestly thought I was talking to a wall. This goes to show they are listening even when you think they aren't.
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