Planets

Song/Poem

"The Family of the Sun"
Added 9/22/98 Original Author Unknown
Sung to: "Farmer in the Dell"

The family of the Sun,
The family of the Sun,
Here are nine planets in
the family of the Sun.

Mercury is hot,
And Mercury is small.
Mercury has no atmosphere;
It's just a rocky ball.

Venus has thick clouds
That hide what is below.
The air is foul; the ground is hot.
It rotates very slow.

We love the Earth our home,
Its oceans and its trees.
We eat its food; we breathe its air,
So no pollution, please.

Mars is very red.
It's also dry and cold.
Some day you might visit Mars
If you are really bold.

Great Jupiter is big.
We've studied it a lot.
We found that it has lots of moons,
And a big, red spot.

Saturn has great rings.
We wondered what they were.
Now we know they're icy rocks
Which we saw as a blur.

Uranus is far.
It's cold and greenish-blue.
We found it rotates sideways,
And it has a lot of moons.

Neptune has a spot;
A stormy patch of blue.
The planet has a lot of clouds
And rings around it, too.

Pluto's last in line
It's farthest from the Sun.
It's small and cold and icy, too;
To land there won't be fun.
http://www.preschooleducation.com/sspace.shtml

What we did

-Read a space book and put together a space mobile.

Playdough Planets



After memorizing the song we divided the planets up and the kids made playdough planets according to the descriptions from the song.

Planetarium

Mars


Man on the Moon



Saturn




We took a visit to the Planetarium. We watched a movie about kids in a cardboard rocket who traveled through space. They visited the sun and all nine planets. It was fun to have the kids already know a little about the planets before going.

We Learned

Livi- I went to see the Planetarium. I had so much fun. I saw a movie. I learned so much about space. I learned that Jupiter is a big storm. The red spot is the biggest storm on the planet. Jupiter is made out of gas. Mercury is the closest to the sun. Mercury is really small. It has no atmosphere, it's just a rocky ball. Saturn and Neptune both have rings made out of icy rocks. Neptune you can't see that well when you're in space. Saturn you can see really well. When you go inside the rings you have to careful because they're made of icy rocks. Pluto is now not a planet, it's just a big rock. Neptune also has some beautiful blue. Mars is red, they call it the red planet. Earth is the only safe planet to go on without a space suit.

Ezra- The planetarium is fun and we saw Pluto and we got to look through telescopes and saw Saturn. We saw the rings and the whole little planet. That telescope was so cool. And the planetarium had a space man, Mars that you can go in, and the moon which you can go in. In the planetarium was so cool that we wanted to see more, but there was no more. We saw lots of fun things. There were rings and space mans. We had to park our car really far away from and we had to walk and walk and walk so so so much that Livi keeped saying can we go through that door? can we go through that door? and Mom keeped saying "no" until we got to the right door. Then we saw the Planetarium. This guy had to sign our paper to go watch the movie. We learned about the imaginations that we can imagine being in space. We can imagination the planets, Pluto, the two ringy ones, Mercury, Venus, and Earth which we live on and love the Earth. We like our Earth. The planetarium was so much fun that we took pictures. We couldn't take pictures during the movie, but we could after.

Tools

We want to know
-if one tool and some wood could build a house
-if one pin can sew up a toy
-if one nail and lots of wood can build a whole cage
-how tools are made
-what tools are
-who was the first one to build tools

What we did

Poem
next part of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

Learning about tools
Website with pictures of tool, their names, and a short description, click on some the pictures for worksheet and activities

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/dictionarysubjects/tools.shtml
Using scissors as a tool- http://www.enchantedlearning.com/tracing/

how tools are made- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQ6Cw1ROi0

awl- can make holes, sharper than a needle, used with leather
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDcCRU_PgOY
ax- chops through trees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xa14Xi7zjY
saw- are used to chop stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IwO5oNY1_c
chisel- they are to scrape and chop through stuff with a hammer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBYT3Es6d6s
screw and screwdriver- the screwdriver is a powerful thing, if you use for a long time it makes a loud click, you use screws to drill stuff together

A tool is something that helps us
I asked Ezra what in this room is a tool. He said- the marker helps us write, a computer helps us spell, the internet helps us learn stuff, the lightswitch see light, the projector lets us see movies, the elliptical helps us exercise, the teeter-totter helps us have fun, the fan pulls the hot air out of the cabinet, the remote controls help us watch movies, books help us read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ENwnjHZ3I

Elves

We want to know
-how elves are made
-how can Frenchy (our elf on the shelf) live
-how is Frenchy so smart

What we did

Song
"We Are Santa's Elves" Johnny Marks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGB8BfdFWSM
Ho ho ho
Ho ho ho
We are Santa's elves.
We are Santa's elves
Filling Santa's shelves
With a toy
For each girl and boy.
Oh, we are Santa's elves
We work hard all day
But our work is play
Dolls we try out
See if they cry out.
We are Santa's elves
We've a special job each year
We don't like to brag
Christmas Eve we always
Fill Santa's bag.
Santa knows who's good
Do the things you should
And we bet you
He won't forget you.
We are Santa's elves
Ho ho ho. Ho ho ho
We are Santa's elves
Ho Ho!

Poem
next part of Twas the Night Before Christmas
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

Story
The Elves and the Shoemaker
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002706Y88/ref=dm_ty_trk
-the man was a poor shoemaker and didn't have enough money to buy materials to make more shoes, his wife said, "tomorow is a new day and things will work out"
-they went to bed, the man heard little voices, he thought he was dreaming
-when he woke up he found a new pair of shoes, he sold them for more than his usual price
-the next night the wife heard the voices, she thought she was dreaming
-in the morning there was a new pair of shoes
-the third night she tied a string on the husband to see if he went anywhere
-there were another new pair of shoes
-he sold all of his shoes and made lots of money
-they gave the elves new clothes to wear to thank them
-the elves saw the presents and put their new clothes on, they danced around the room and never came back again

Puppet Show
Ezra and Noah are elves
First Night
Ezra- "There's one shoe for me and one shoe for you, and there's one shoe tomorrow for both of us."
Noah- "Yeah! Let's make shoes!"
Second Night
Ezra- I'm glad we can make shoes for the people
Noah- me too
Third Night
Ezra- "They're really nice, but I think we're done working here."
Noah- "OK, let's go"

Elf Puppet Pattern



http://www.sisters4.com/images/stories/downloads/elffingerpuppetc.pdf

Stories
If I was a magic elf...
Noah- I would have a hat. I'll put on my hat, then I'll create magical pancakes. I would go on a magical horse to... will you come with me?.....I'll go visit my grandmas. I'll play at their houses. I'd give them magical presents like a dolphin. I would help people with my magic by writing my name.

Ezra- I would use the magic to stay alive. I would use the magic to help other people. I would help them by making stuff for them. I would make toys for the little ones and do the grown ups math for them. I'd do some jobs. If I was a real elf I'd be even smarter than right now.

Our Elf Factory





The kids made coloring books for their friends.

Christmas

We want to know
-why do people celebrate it?
-why do you get presents?
-why does
-how does Santa's sleigh fly

What we did

Poem
First part of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by: Clement Moore
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

Math
-make a Christmas countdown chain. The boys wrote numbers on each link.
-I made a calendar. Ezra wrote the numbers in. I had him circle Christmas, Christmas Eve and a few random numbers.
-patterns with Christmas pictures

Watched
LDS Nativity video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQs0H7dvwy0

Coloring
Christmas pictures

Read
Christmas books

What we learned
-learned about Christmas symbols and what they mean http://www.santaclausvillage.info/videos-4/santa-claus-sledging/
-that we celebrate Christ's birth and remember all He did for us

We Made a Christmas Gingerbread Village



Livi's Reindeer Stable


template:
http://www.ultimategingerbread.com/free%20patterns/Barn-Pattern.pdf

Mr. & Mrs. Claus's House - Ashley


template:
http://www.ultimategingerbread.com/free%20patterns/Elf-House-Pattern.pdf

North Pole Outfitters - Mike


template:
http://www.slice-heaven.com/system/0000/3585/pb1977_19.19a.pdf

Sammy's Hot Chocolate Shop


template:
http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/gingerbread_house_diagram.pdf

Toy Factory - Ezra


template:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/7512947c75dd4ce76f3a611041c1fe40/miscdocs/gingerbread.pdf

Noah's Tree Shop



template:
http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf2/gingerbreadinstructionskit.pdf

This was a TON of work, but really fun. I spent almost every evening for a week getting things ready.

Schedule
Day 1 - find, print, and cut gingerbread templates
Day 2 - make, cut, and bake gingerbread (used 8 times recipe for 6 houses)
Day 3 - make windows, assemble houses
Day 4 - make frosting, buy candy
Day 5 - kids decorate, lighting
Day 6 - edging, icicles, signs, display

Gingerbread Recipe (I used 8 times the recipe for 6 houses) from foodnetwork.com
1/2 c (4 oz)butter, margarine, or shortening at room temperature
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c (2 oz) light molasses
1 T cinnamon
1 T ground ginger
1 1/2 t ground cloves
1 t baking soda
2 c (10 oz) all-purpose flour
2 T (1 oz) water

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda together until the mixture is smooth. Blend in the flour and water to make a stiff dough. Roll out, place on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 375 10-12 minutes.

Candy Windows (I used 3 times the recipe for 6 houses)
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/3 cup light com syrup

Place cooked gingerbread on parchment paper on a flat surface. Combine sugar, hot water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan. Place on high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until all sugar crystals are dissolved. Cook until 290 F, without stirring, then remove from heat. Add food coloring if you wish. While hot, pour the candy into window cut-out's. It can be reheated if it cools too much while pouring. Let completely cool before peeling off parchment.

Royal Icing with powdered egg whites
3 tablespoons meringue powder
4 c (16 oz) powdered sugar
5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water

Place sugar and Meringue powder in a bowl and stir at low speed. Add water and mix on low to medium for 7-10 minutes, until icing loses its sheen. To prevent drying out, keep the bowl and icing tips covered with a damp towel. Will keep for two weeks stored in the fridge.

Royal Icing with real egg whites (I used 8 times the recipe for 6 houses)
2 large egg whites
2 t fresh lemon juice
3 c (12 oz) powdered sugar
Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html#ixzz177Gtik4o

Tips
-don't try to do this in one day, by the end you won't care how they look
-make more gingerbread dough and frosting than you think you'll need, it takes a lot of extra time to go back and make more for one house I would double the gingerbread recipe and 2-3 times the icing
-make a candy plan of things that look good together, so it ends up looking nice
-cereal, cookies, and crackers are really cute decorations as well
-edge all sides for a finished look
-do the icing for the kids and let them place the candy
-use battery powered led lights, we drilled a hole in the back after decorating them

Factories

We want to know
-a factory song
-how they make stuff like whips, crayons, books, whiteboards, and toys
-how much can they make in a day? hour? two minutes?

What we did
-song- "Button Factory"
Hi, my name is Jo
I have a wife and three kids
and I work in a button factory
one day my boss came to me
and said, "Jo, are you busy?"
I said, "no"
he said turn the button with your right hand (wave hand in a circle)
(repeat song with left hand, right foot, left foot, and head.)
last two lines of last verse:
and said, "Jo, are you busy?"
I said, "YES"

Letter Factory


The kids and I made a letter factory. We stamped and addressed our Christmas cards. We got it done very quickly.

We watched:
crayons- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSrzZwPGZ7s&feature=related
hot dogs- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhwXPsTaRgc&feature=related
cereal- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ6ek9UOvxA&feature=related
tires- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onrEXGlCkKI
cheese- http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+make+cheese+factory&aq=f

Thanksgiving

We want to know
-want to know why Thanksgiving is so special
-why does everyone race races?
-why does everyone visit their families

What we did
-song - "A Song of Thanks" LDS Children's Songbook http://lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=20&searchsubseqstart=a&searchseqend=20&searchsubseqend=a
-poem - "The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven" Jack Prelutsky (repeat from oven week)

Turkeys


We made turkeys. The feathers, body, and parts are below. We used a pine-cone for the back and hot glued the body on. The feathers stayed by just putting sliding them between the pine-cone sections.

Turkey Body and Parts (makes 2)



Turkey Feathers (for 2)



Math and Writing
Ezra wrote up surveys asking people to write 10 things they were thankful for. He wrote: Please write 10 things, then numbered each paper 1-10. Everyone in the family (except Sam) filled one out. We gathered our data and wrote down the top five things. Ezra made a bar graph to chart it.
Top Five: family, gospel, home, friends, and food

-made a pumpkin pie

What we learned
Story for Family Home Evening
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/short-stories/the-first-thanksgiving.html
1. people who lived in England were unhappy because their king was mean. He didn't let them to pray to God. They decided to move to Holland, but they were very poor and their kids didn't want to pray anymore, so they built two ships. One was not strong enough, so they left it and only sailed on the Mayflower.
2. They had to go all the way across the ocean and they got really sick. After two months they landed at Plymouth Rock. They started building their first house on Christmas day. It was cold and they didn't have much. The Indians came and helped them. In the spring the Indians helped them plant their crops.
3. They had a great harvest that fall with plenty of food to last through the winter. They decided to thank God for all of these things. Their party lasted three days. They ate wild turkey, pig, fish, corn, bread, cakes. They had races and played with the kids. Every year they celebrated Thanksgiving.
video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFDSobNnfQs

Ice

What we want to know
-if ice can melt in the winter
-if ice can melt in the spring, summer, and fall
-how ice is made

What we did
-Poem
Icicle
http://www.everypoet.net/poetry/blogs/just_me/icicle
drip
drip
drip
from my
tip
tip
tip
like a
tooth
tooth
tooth
from the
roof
roof
roof
in freezing weather
i grow
long
long
long
when the sun gets hot
i'll be
gone
gone
gone

-watched a video of an icicle forming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRLQ9jomgQ&NR=1"


-song "Scoops of Ice Cream" by Very Derryberry, it was $.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Very-Derryberry-Debi/dp/B0019J4AKM/ref=sr_1_1_digr?ie=UTF8&qid=1289243816&sr=8-1

Ice Cream Poster


The boys colored ice cream scoops and the cone, to use when we sing the song. Noah discovered he could color in the lines and cover up all of the white. He did a great
job!




-Math - We did story problems with the ice cream scoops. Ezra had to write the equations down during the story. Noah had to put on and take off specified amounts and count the remainder.


Ice Skating at 7 Peaks!



The pictures are blurry, but those skating aids in the first picture were awesome! Livi and Ezra loved it! Noah didn't like how the skates made his ankles turn. He tried it though. In another year he'll probably like it better. Sam and Noah loved watching the zamboni smooth the ice. 7 Peaks has public skating from 7-9 on Mondays. It was only $20 for 4 skaters and 5 skate rentals (3 and under skate free). We went to Dairy Queen for ice cream after skating.

Spider Ice Cubes


-made spider ice cubes and tricked dad
-grape and marshmallow experiment - when they were frozen the marsyhmellow was squishy because it didn't have much water, the grape was hard because it had a lot of water
-video on how ice rinks are made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hT3yfuLPIU
to make an ice skating rink - 1. get water and spray 2. they paint 3. they spray water all over to make ice 4. then you can skate

Distilled Water

-made ice spikes with distilled water

Ice Paint Brushes

-painted with ice cubes as the paint brushes, it made the paint really smooth because each time it gave it a little bit of water

Ice Chiseling


-we put toys and water in a container and froze them, then the boys chiseled them out

-looked up ice sculptures - http://www.amazingice.com/gallery.html

-video on how ice sculptures are made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvuudjb9hk&feature=related

We learned
-distilled water makes ice spikes
-ice is made from water and you shape it different shapes, and freeze it in the freezer
-outside ice forms when snow melts and drips and turns into ice
-the sun can melt the snow even in the winter

Dogs

We want to know
-how hard they chew bones
-how often they poop
-how many kinds of dogs there are
-if dogs teeth are super duper sharp and if they can scratch on houses
-how many hours a day they sleep
-how much they eat

What we did
-song
"How Much is That Doggy in the Window"
Bob Merrill



How much is that doggie in the window? (arf! arf!)
The one with the waggley tail
How much is that doggie in the window? (arf! arf!)
I do hope that doggie's` for sale

I must take a trip to California
And leave my poor sweetheart alone
If she has a dog, she won't be lonesome
And the doggie will have a good home

I read in the paper there are robbers (roof! roof!)
With flashlights that shine in the dark
My love needs a doggie to protect her
And scare them away with one bark

I don't want a bunny or a kitty
I don't want a parrot that talks
I don't want a bowl of little fishies
She can't take a goldfish for a walk

How much is that doggie in the window? (arf! arf!)
The one with the waggley tail
How much is that doggie in the window? (arf! arf!)
I do hope that doggie's for sale
I do hope that doggie's for sale

we made a cardboard window for song, Noah and Ezra painted it
Livi played the song on the piano, Ezra sang it, Noah barked

-looked up dog breeds
http://www.justdogbreeds.com/all-dog-breeds.html
http://www.akc.org/pdfs/public_education/bailey_goes_home.pdf
Compared four breeds according to ease of training, intelligence, protectiveness, good with children, etc. We read a little about each dog. We chose a great dane, toy poodle, bulldog, and a lab. Ezra decided a lab would be the best dog. Livi decided a great dane would be best.

-math- I barked and they counted using tally marks or their fingers and wrote down the number of times I barked.

Number Books

made number books 1-10, they had to count the dogs, write the numbers, cut the pages, and put them in order

-reading- gathered all the dog books we have and read them
read leveled readers about dogs with Ezra

-took a trip to the pet store. Sammy was so excited he couldn't contain himself. He stomped his feet excitedly and said, "lee, lee, lee!" There were no dogs, but lots of cats, birds, fishes, snakes, lizards, and guinea pigs.

Halloween

We Want to Know:
-why do you celebrate Halloween?
-why do you wear suits on Halloween to celebrate it?
-why are there dragons and scary bats on Halloween?
-if dragons can fight as hard as they can on Halloween or can they hide under pumpkins so no witches get them

What We Did:
-Poem
Jack-O-Lantern
Anonymous
Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern,
You are such a funny sight.
As you sit there by the window,
Looking out into the night.
You were once a sturdy pumpkin,
growing on a curly vine.
Now you are a Jack-o-lantern,
See your night lights shine.

-Song
Five Little Pumpkins
Anonymous
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late"
The second one said, "There's witches in the air"
The third one said, "I don't care"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run"
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
Along came the wind and blew out the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Writing-
-the kids drew the pictures to help them memorize the poem and song
-the kids wrote stories, I gave them the white board to draw while I typed. Drawing it helped them to organize and write more details in their stories, both of them kept going and going, I loved it, but tried to keep Ezra focused on the storyline, Noah's story was mostly bad guys killing good guys and I stopped typing after a while
-we talked about story structure
*he drew pictures of the characters: jack-o-lantern, ghost, vampire, haunted house with wheels where the bad characters live, kids are trick or treating
*conflict- the pumpkin steals a boy, the girl was walking and didn't notice he got stolen, she went home and told her mom that a pumpkin stealed them, they almost cooked him for dinner
*then he ran as fast as he can, but couldn't get out, the door was locked and he couldn't push the walls out, the pumpkin put him inside, but he broke the pumpkin, fell off the roof and ran away as fast as he could, but another pumpkin got him.
*resolution- the boy got away from the mean guys, he went to another pumpkin who happened to be his sister, he asked her what her name was, she said, you know me I'm your sister, lightning struck all of the mean guys, the wheels fell off the house, the lightning almost struck a kid, but he got away

Double Scariest Halloween
By Ezra



Once there was a jack-o-lantern, a vampire and a ghost. They lived in a haunted house. The house had scratches on the door, a tornado for the doorknocker, and wheels on the bottom. It had haunted stuff inside, like a big pumpkin. Bigger than you'd ever think. They cooked kids in the pumpkin with lightning.

There was a boy and a girl out trick-or-treating. The boy's name is Loverschef and he was a spaghetti chef for Halloween. The girl's name is Loversbaker. She was a baker for Halloween.

Then scariest wolf ever took their trick-or-treating bags away and they had to hold their candy. Then they found the wolf and he was asleep, so they got their bags back. They found out it was a Halloween wolf. Then they noticed that the wolf had the sharpest teeth ever. He was the leader of the Halloween wolves. Then ran away to their house, but they noticed that their mom and dad weren't home.

The jack-o-latern came and kidnapped Loverschef and Loversbaker and took them to the haunted house. The jack-o-lantern, the ghost and the vampire were going to cook them in the big pumpkin. There was a huge x on pumpkin. They tried to escape because they thought the x meant cook the kids, but it actually meant don't cook the kids.

Loverschef was three or four years old, but he still had a sharp sword. He chopped a big circle in the house that they could fit through. They escaped and ran home. This time their mom was home.

Lightning struck the bad guys, not the good guys. It did strike the good guy's roof off, but it didn't hurt them. That was the end of the bad guys.

Next Halloween there were no bad guys, so they didn't celebrate Halloween. People just brought candy to their house.

Good Guy Bad Guy
By Noah

There was a bad guy. He had legs, a head, and a body. The bad guy wanted to be mean, but a bear came to eat the bad guy. The good guy got the bear. Another big bad guy had a big body and he went trick-or-treating and got candy. People were scared of them.

A bear came with a little head and a big body. The bear went trick-or-treating. He opened a wrapper and ate the candy for dessert after he ate all his dinner. The bad guy said "Don't eat that we have to say a prayer." Then he said, "It's time to eat a treat." The little baby bad guy cried. The good guy said, "Don't kill a bear." The daddy bad guy killed the bear. The bear said, "Roar." The good guy said, "I'll eat you up."

Another good guy had a big sword. They found the horses and then he killed the bad
guys. The bad guys were mean. The bears were bad guys.

-made a haunted house- cut out bats and ghosts to hang from the ceiling,
ideas- potions with dry ice telling a scary story, spider room with spray bottle, eyeballs, brains, ice hand, spaghetti, scary music

Haunted House
scene lights on and off, scary music, leader has a flashlight

Monster Cemetery


1. Monster Cemetary- Ezra is turning lights on and off, Livi is at the witch table Mom: "walk past the monster cemetary" Noah jumps out of a box and says "BOO!!!!!!" then the lights stay off

Witch Table


2. Witch Table- Mom-"come over to the witch's table" Livi: "Hi, I'm the witch. I'm going to make a potion for you. Choose any cup. If you choose the orange one the spider will spray you." Livi pours, if he chose orange Ezra sprays him. He drinks the potion. Then Livi says, "You just drank the pig potion, You're going to turn into a pig in a week."

Giant Spider


3. Spider Web- Mom- "Here is the giant spider's web. Be careful, sometimes the spider spits poison." Ezra sprays dad with water.

Monster Parts


4. Monster Parts - Mom- "Come into the Monster's house. Come and feel the dead monster's eyeballs, brains, and hand." Ezra - "Feel the monster's eyeballs, feel the monster's brains, feel the monster's hand."

Monster Cupcakes


We had fun making monster cupcakes!

We Learned
-jack-o-lanterns were put in windows to keep the evil spirits away, because they thought the dead people were going to come visit them
-you say trick-or-treat because that means if you don't give me candy then I'll play a trick on you
-wore scary masks to keep the evil spirits away
-they wanted the good spirits (their ancestors) to come visit them
-it was a night to honor their ancestors

Rocks

We Want to Know
-if rocks can grow in the car?
-if rocks can balance
-if rocks can grow from a weed
-where rocks come from

What we we did
Poem
A Rock Makes an Excellent Puppy
Ken Nesbitt
A rock makes an excellent puppy.
They're practically almost the same.
Except that a puppy's rambunctious;
a rock is a little more tame.

And maybe it doesn't roll over,
and isn't excited to play,
but rocks always sit when you tell them,
and rocks really know how to stay.

It may sleep a little bit longer.
It probably eats a bit less.
But rocks never pee on the carpet.
You won't have to pick up their mess.

So go ask your folks for a puppy,
and possibly that's what you'll get.
But, still, if you can't have a puppy,
a rock is a pretty good pet.

-Watched a video about how rocks are formed: http://www.neok12.com/php/watch.php?v=zX616a577c597f7c784c720a&t=Types-of-Rocks

Rock Paint


The boys went outside and collected rocks and grass. We put them in the mortar and pestle and they crushed them. I let go at it for about five minutes and I figured I would have to do the remainder.

Paint Powder


They had crushed it all to powder by themselves. We added some corn syrup and water. It made pretty good paint!



We Learned
-Igneous rocks are formed inside the earth and get very hot, they come out through a volcano, they are very hard, we have granite on our counters, they also use it to build temples
-Sedimentary rocks are made by shells and mud, they pack together and get really hard
-Metamorphic rocks are sedimentary rocks that get really hot and turn into crystals
-August birthstone is called peridot, it's green and represents August, happiness, sleep, and safe

Grass

We Want to Know
-can it grow in a bed, maybe if your bed is made out of dirt it can grow on it, it needs dirt so it can eat
-if grass can grow on the whole world, even our house
-if grass can grow on a lee lee (a puppy) and a daddy lee lee (dog)
-if it can grow on windows, socks, shoes, cars, and books
-if grass can grow in the desert or on water

What We Did
-Poem
Grass Grew Everywhere in the World
By Ezra
The grass grew in the house
The grass grew on the mouse
The grass grew on the tree
The grass grew on me
The grass grew in the bath
The grass grew on my brother's math
The grass grew in the mower and we couldn't mow the lawn
The grew in the dawn
We couldn't stop the grass
Because it was growing in a mass

Word Families Brainstorming
house - mouse, couse, douse, louse, fouse
tree- bee, me, ree, fee, dee
bath- math, cath, dath, fath
lawn- fawn, pawn, dawn, cawn
grass- mass, lass, cass, dass, fass

Grass Experiment


-Did an experiment with grass seeds
we planted seeds in dirt, in peanut butter, and on a wet paper towel. They haven't sprouted yet, but I'll post the results when they do

Results


-Results: Grass can grow on dirt and wet paper towels, peanut butter can't grow seeds. It needed water to sprout. That is different from us because we can eat peanut butter but not dirt or paper towels.
-played a pbskids.org game on going green and planting a garden
http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/groovygarden/groovygarden.html
-Songs for the week "Give Said the Little Stream" and "The Green Grass Grew all Around"

Ovens

We Want to Know
-why do ovens cook, why do ovens get fire
-do always have fire?
-can you break an oven really easily?

What we did
-Poem The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven
The turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed into the air,
it knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.

It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
there was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there'd never been turkey before.

I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
that I'd never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

Jack Prelutsky
http://www.homemakerscorner.com/turkeyshot.htm

-Made a solar oven, it's supposed to be cloudy and rainy this week, but maybe we'll have a few hours of sunlight where we can try it out.

Insulation

Crumple up scrap paper or newspaper and line the bottom of the box.

Oven

Place a smaller box on top of the insulation. Line the bottom on the box with black construction paper. Place a piece of glass on top of the box. I took the glass out of a picture frame. Hopefully we don't break it.

Panels

Cut 4 cardboard panels of equal height and place them at a 135 degree angle around the glass.

Solar Panels

Cover each panel with foil. Wrap the foil around the cardboard to secure.

Using the Oven

The weather has cooled down a lot. We used the oven on a sunny day but if we had used it when it was still 90 degrees outside, it would've worked a lot better. We got it to 150 degrees which won't bake much, but it did melt chocolate chips and marshmallows for smores!

Building Houses

We want to know
-how do they get up on the top of the roof and make the roof, they don't bring ladders, they can't even stand on the roof because it's not even made yet, so how do they do that?
-if houses can lift up a house
-is a bigger house stronger than a littler house or are they same size

What we did
-sang "The Wise Man" and talked about the symbolism of Christ being the solid foundation to build upon, and Satan being the sandy foundation.
-drove around to construction sites at different stages and took pictures
-treehouse building game
http://www.agame.com/game/tree-house-building.html#jump_manual
-built a house with a styrofoam foundation, skewers for 2x4's, poster board for wood boards, foam board for dry wall and a poster board and skewers for the roof. We carpeted the floor, made stairs, and put shingles on the roof. Ezra and Noah painted it.
-talked about the contractor and subcontractors

Foundation


Wood Panels and Drywall


Roof and Painting


Finishing


Final Product