Build-A-Bear Birthdays

The past two years we have celebrated the Build-A-Bears birthday. It's a good opportunity for the kids to plan and organize an event.



writing assignments
-make invitations
-make birthday cards for the bears
-make lists of games and food
-drew pictures of their bears

games
-kids organize and choose the games, we played Crazy 8s, Old Maid, musical chairs, and duck duck goose.



other
-jumped on the tramp with their bears
-made their own pizzas
-made bear cakes to match each of the bears
-watched Toy Story 3

Dump Tour

My kids are in love with the garbage man. Last week he was here to pick up our garbage and I brought out the wrong can. I asked him if he could wait while I got the other one. He said yes and dumped it for us. The kids had been watching out the window and came running outside. They said, "Was that so cool to talk to the garbage man?" I said, "Yea!" He's basically a celebrity around here, so a trip to the dump was a great place to go.

tour vests on


grass clippings and wood


writing assignment
I had the kids draw pictures and explain to me where garbage goes. They drew our garbage can, the garbage truck, the dump, the semi, and the landfill

We learned
-each garbage truck has to come and dump the garbage four times a day.
-four semis carry the garbage out to the landfill every day
-the trucks are weighed before entering the dump, this is how they determine how much to charge residents
-we are not required to recycle, but should
-paint cans, computers, tires, metal, and car oil and encouraged to bring and recycle ourselves
-grass clippings and wood are broken down and shipped off to be made into compost

Cheese Factory

We want to know
-how much milk does it take to make cheese
-what is Grandpa's favorite kind of cheese

What we did

toured the cheese factory

the cows


the milking room


the cheese making room


ice cream


writing assignment
I put four different kinds of cheese on the kid's plates. They had to taste each one and write about it or draw pictures to describe it. They then had to order them from their favorite to their least favorite. Some words they used to describe them- lots of holes, yellow, white, good, sharp. We used mozzerrella, swiss, ramano, and cheddar.

made mozzerrella

it was hot


stretching it


We learned
-it takes 8 lbs of milk to make 1 lb of cheese

Fish Hatchery

What we did
-we visited the fish hatchery and had a fun and interesting tour.
-talked about why we have fish hatcheries

watched video on fish hatcheries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZlTJno8Of0

Writing Project
wrote stories, "If I Were a Fish in a Hatchery" was the prompt

Ezra
If I was a Fish I would live in a fish hatchery they would feed me there. They would clean the water there. They would give me food there. They also put me into the lake like a big waterslide. Like "Woo Hoo!" then splash and I'd be in the lake.

Livi
Once upon a time there was a fish named Livi. She was swimming in the water. She got put in the oldest fish hatchery. She got hurt when she got caught because they were not careful. When she got born she had a little fin so she could not swim. So she did not get any food for a day. She was very very hungry. The next day she found out that she could swim and she was very very happy. She ate and she ate and she ate and she ate. The next day she was great at swimming. When she came back into the lake she was so so happy. The end.

We learned

Noah

We saw the big hatcheries and the fish. We got to see bottles with eggs in them. When they cracked that's what they looked like. Then we saw the bigger fish. The one in the fish hatchery's fence, they showed us the biggest ones. The big ones were scared of us. After the fish get big they take them to the lakes and we won't see them unless we go fishing.

Ezra
The man showed us 6 fishes. He showed us pictures of whirley disease. It could be really bad for fishes. Once they all got whirley disease and they had to close the hatchery for 5 years. That's a lot, huh? Would you like if you had to close your job for 5 years? I wouldn't like it. Think about all these pretty rainbow disease that got it and it was sad. Humans can't get it.

Next we went to a big big big building. There were buckets full of teensy fish. In the next fish they were getting bigger. Then we went to the big one. The man caught a fish and showed us. He lives by the hatchery and his kids get to see the fish. He showed us this cool thing and the room was really loud and he showed us his tractor and pump. There was a big hose he connected so the fish could go through. All of these fish love water. When they are up on air, they can hold their breath longer than you can.

When the fish grow up they go to lakes. Next time we come almost the whole thing will be filled up. It's cool there's a waterfall that dumps it in. Sometimes the fish can jump over the cage.

Livi

At the fish hatchery we saw 6 fishes and they were not rainbow fish. They were a different kind, but I forgot what they were called. He said that some of those fish had died because they weren't in warm water. The whirley disease is when their body gets twisty.

Then we saw some rainbow fish. There were 1500 in the baby fish tank. When they got bigger they were rougher and wiggly. They were three months old. The rainbow fish were his favorite. Then we saw bigger fish. He caught one. He sometimes caught them with a net. The first one he caught by hand.

He showed us the pump that goes into the truck, then they take it to the lake. In the loud building the UV rays killed the germs.

Year End

The school year was great! I LOVED having this time with my kids. We made a lot of progress and we all learned a lot. They looked forward to it everyday and it was fun for me. We all need a little break though. The rest of May we'll be Spring cleaning and enjoying the Spring weather. We have fun Summer school plans. I'm excited for Livi to join us! We'll start writing again in June.

Tawkwando

What we did

watched a few video clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja8Y3NmkA1U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLJVnk31_3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0r6LqHWbiY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwando

Taekwando Meaning
tae- kick

kwan- break with fist

do- method, the way

Terms to know

Yae Ie- courtesy

Yom Chi- integrity
In Nae- Perserverance

video cameras

We want to know

-how video cameras are made? how can they get video in the scope?
how is the battery made? how do you open them? how can you take videos?
what's inside video cameras? how do you hold them? are there different
ways to hold them? are there different kinds of video cameras?

What we did
Poem
"I Took My Dog to a Movie"
by Graham Denton

I took my dog to a movie
My dog was gripped throughout

He didn't shuffle in his seat

He didn't kick about

He fixed upon that picture
And he followed every scene

Not once was he distracted
From the action on the screen.

He sat there captivated
As he watched the plot unfold
From the moment that it opened
Til the closing credits rolled

Yes, I took my dog to a movie
And a chord it must have struck
It's really most peculiar
He didn't like the book!

http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-414.html recorded the boys Ezra wanted to record all of the "Jake and the Neverland Pirate" songs he knew. Jake is his favorite. He gets to watch it once or twice a week at: http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates-videos-episodes. We learned that video cameras work with light

Easter

What we did

Song
Bunny Hop
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=bunny+hop&sprefix=bunny+hop

Tinseltown Players- Children's Songs

Learned dance for the Bunny Hop:

-tapped their right foot twice

-tapped their left foot twice

-put their hands up like bunnies and bounced twice

-hopped three times

Song

"Did Jesus Really Live Again"
LDS Children's Songbook

http://lds.org/cm/catalogalphamp3/1,18331,4768-1,00.html

Talked about Easter Symbols

Bunny- multiplies- spreads gospel, new life

Chick- new life

Petting Zoo

Saw and fed baby animals at the petting zoo. Rode on the ponies, went on a wagon ride. Played with friends.

Made "egg" cupcakes

Easter egg learning

I wrote on slips of paper different school things we've been working on and put them in plastic eggs. They took turns choosing eggs and both did the activity.

-Here are a few. Do 14 jumping jacks, spell your first name, recite the turkey poem, do the bunny hop, count to 20, spell sat, etc. They enjoyed the break from the normal school routine.

Paint

What we did

Song
"Let's Paint a Picture"
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=paint+kids&x=0&y=0

It is a fun song about colors. The kids found the colors talked about in the song and held them up as we sang-
red- touch your head, blue- touch your shoe, yellow- touch your elbow, brown- point to the ground, black- reach for your back, green- look really mean, white- show your teeth so bright, pink- let me see you wink

watched
elephant painting a picture- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk, I wonder if this is real
tall painting from Alyssa's blog- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6egUsZvWu4&feature=player_embedded#at=12
Spiderman- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNvKjQHv8I&playnext=1&list=PL513FEC4F07BB8C5D

First Day
dyed Easter eggs

2nd day

Jello and Whipped Cream Finger-Paint

we wrote each letter in the paint

3rd day- wood paint


4th day- painting rocks with flour paint



Flour paint
1/2 c flour
1/2 c water
blend and add food coloring
*be sure to rinse the paint brushes out as soon as your done or the flour will gum them up.

5th day- watercolor on glass jars and paper

Dart Guns

What we did

Ezra chose dart gun week last week. I told him if he earned the money we would get him one. He was motivated! He worked hard washing walls, cleaning the garage, organizing drawers, and raking the carpet steps. He was very proud to hand the cashier the money he earned to buy the gun. He was also excited when she gave him money back (his change).

Poem

href="http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/Haiku.html">http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/Haiku.html
Frog sunning on lily pad
as dragonfly darts by.
Thrapp!
(by Bruce Lansky. Copyright 1999 by Bruce Lansky, reprinted with his permission)

The poem was a Haiku. We talked about what that is and how they chose the words carefully to convey meaning with few words.

The poem has nothing to do with dart guns, but it says dart in it. I had the kids dart past me, then walk slowly, then jump, etc, to show them what it means to dart.

http://www.printactivities.com/ColoringPages/Frogs/Frog-on-lilypad3.html

Math

I drew a target on the window with whiteboard markers. They shot the dart gun at the target and recorded their points. It only counted if it stuck. They each got ten shots that stuck. They added their points up on the abacus.

Reading and Writing

art and un word families. I had Noah sound out and write un, then we changed it into gun, sun, zun, fun, etc

Bicycles

We want to know

-how do you make them
-how they go faster
-the fastest bicycle rider
-how the wheels and handlebars are made
-why does it go faster than a scooter

What we did

Poem
"The World's Fastest Bicycle" Ken Nesbitt http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-381.html

My bicycle's the fastest
that the world has ever seen;
it has supersonic engines
and a flame-retardant sheen.

My bicycle will travel
a gazillion miles an hour --
it has rockets on the handlebars
for supplemental power.

The pedals both are jet-propelled
to help you pedal faster,
and the shifter is equipped
with an electric turbo-blaster.

The fender has a parachute
in case you need to brake.
Yes, my bike is undeniably
the fastest one they make.

My bicycle's incredible!
I love the way it feels,
and I'll like it even more
when Dad removes the training wheels.

videos and websites
girl on a unicycle- amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbveVoGVl5c
history of bicycles and pictures of old and new bicycles- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle
world's best unicyclist Peter Rosendahl- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jEZ51RRfXY

Math
learned-
uni, bi, tri, quad, pent, hex, hept, oct, non, deci, centi, milli

cut out the wheels and glue the right number in each box

wrote word family

ike: bike, like, dike, sike, etc.

riding a bike

Ezra learned to ride a two wheeler! I need to get him a bike now as promised. Mike taught him on Saturday. It was a rough start, but after a while he could do it! Good job Ez!

Golf

We want to know

-how do they make a cool golf hole?

-how expensive are the golf clubs

-how hard is it for the best player ever?

-who is the best player ever?

-who has the golf course

-how expensive are golf courses when you buy them?

-how do they make golf courses

What we did

Poem

"Golf Tee Lament"

Larry Buddin

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/golf-tees-lament/

Golf tees on my dresser

Golf tees in my bed
Golf tee on my pillow

Where they poke me in my head

Golf tees in my closet

Falling from my shirts and pants

Golf tees along the baseboards
Just like army ants

Golf tees in the carpet

And underneath my feet
Golf tees lined up on the mantle
Oh, they look so neat

Golf tees in my couch

And in my back and thighs

When I sit and watch TV

I feel those little guys

Golf tees in my car

And underneath the mats

Golf tees in the backseat
Like little baseball bats

But when I am at the golf course
I ask my partner, like a louse....

May I borrow some of your tees?

I left mine at the house.

Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkZdlYg9UuY- Tiger Woods swing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6pPJrn1_V8- bunker shot

Math
We hit a golf ball into a bucket. I had them count each hit out loud, then record it. They did it ten times, then added up their scores.

Went Miniature Golfing
Ezra, Noah and I went. I forgot my camera. It was fun. I had Ezra add up his total at the end. He got 82. Noah was somewhere in the 100's. It was just good for him to count his strokes out loud and report them to me after each hole.

We Learned
-if you get it in the water you have to get an extra point, and points are bad in golf
-if you hit it in sand it's a little hard because all the dirt sprays off and it might stop your golf ball
-golf balls used to have lots of rubber bands and a hard shell, now they use lots of plastic and a hard shell
-miniature golf is easier because you're really close to it
-you get a point every time you hit the golf ball

Hatchet

What we did

Ezra chose Hatchet week because we recently finished a book called, "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. There were some things I didn't think should be in a kid's book. I skipped those parts when I was reading it to them. Overall it was a fun book. Ezra's book report is below. The book was about a 10 year old boy who survived a plane crash in the mountains. The only thing he had was a hatchet. Part of the theme for the week is survival since I didn't really know what to do with just a hatchet for a theme.

Poem

"Eat It All Elaine"

Kay Starbird

I went away last August, to Summer Camp in Maine.
And there I met a camper, called Eat-It-All Elaine.
Although Elaine was quiet, she liked to cause a stir
By acting out the nickname, her camp-mates gave to her.
The day of our arrival, in Cabin #3,
When girls kept coming over, to greet Elaine and me,
She took a piece of Kleenex, and calmly chewed it up,
Then strolled outside the cabin, and ate a buttercup.
Elaine from that day forward, was always in command.
On hikes, she’d eat some birch-bark, on swims, she’d eat some sand.
At meals she’d swallow prune-pits, and never had a pain,
While everyone around her would giggle, “Oh Elaine!”
One morning, berry-picking, a bug was in her pail.
And though we thought for certain her appetite would fail,
Elaine said, “Hmmm, a stinkbug”, and while we murmured “Ewww!”,
She ate her pail of berries and she ate the stinkbug too

http://www.brownielocks.com/kidpoems.html

Bought a Hatchet

Ezra has been allowed to use it in very controlled and supervised situations. We took it on our trip. He had fun crushing sandstone rocks.

"Hatchet"

by Gary Paulsen

Ezra's book report

Brian and the pilot were flying in an airplane and the pilot got a heart attack. The plane was still flying. Brian got in his seat. He didn't really know what to do. He flew the plane for two hours before it crashed. Then he didn't know where he was and he was supposed to be with his father but he was actually in the woods. All he had was a hatchet and some money.

Brian threw the hatchet and money on the ground. First he water at the lake. He found pit cherries, but the birds were eating them and he was amazed that the birds eat pits. Then he found berries, turtle eggs, and then he noticed where he was. He saw a moose, turtle and a porcupine. He caught a fish and a bird so he could eat them for meat. He saw a bear eating the good berries. There was a tornado. It is a thing that spins around really fast and it can take over a house and make it float.

He found a bag in the plane. He dropped his hatchet, but got it and got into the plane. He found a hard thing, then another hard thing and it was the bag. It had a radio. When he turned it on, a man in a bush plane heard it right away and saved him.

My favorite part of the book was when he got saved. It was sad that he got lost.

Setting- in the mountains by a lake
Begining- Brian was in a plane
Conflict- Brian got lost
Resolution- Brian was saved
Characters- Brian, pilot, guy in the bush plane, turtle, porcupine, bear

Survival Quiz (it seemed like a silly one, but the kids were stumped on a lot of them)

http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/1206_sopafp_survivalskillstest.pdf

questions the boys came up with, I answered them

If you saw a dinosaur what would you do?

run away, or try to kill it

What would you do if you got caught in a spider web and you had a magnifying glass and a knife?

I would cut my way out

What if you saw a big giraffe and it was bending it's neck for you to get on, what would you do?

If I needed to get somewhere or see something I might get on, but I wouldn't do it just for fun

What if you saw a tiger and it was friendly and you just ran away?

I would still run away just in case.

What if it got mad and tried to eat you, tigers are fast?

I would try to hide

What if you saw a crab and you only had a knife, because crabs have bones on the outside and knife wouldn't cut them?

I would run away

What if you saw a car going faster, what would you do?

I would try to get it's attention so they could help me

Government

After World Government week I interviewed the kids. Above is the video.

World Goverments

What we did

Poem

The Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Livi taught the boys this and drew pictures to help them remember.

Monarchy Monday

For one hour I was the queen. I wanted to show them that having was often unjust. Listed are few things we did:

-We played Crazy Eights. I dealt the cards. I only gave myself two, Ezra two, Noah five, and Livi 12. We started playing and my card didn't match up, so I said, "I'm going to pretend it's green. I win!" The second round I told Ezra he couldn't play. When I didn't have the card I wanted I searched through the pile to find it, then played and told the kids that I won. They realized pretty quickly that it wasn't fun to not have rules when playing a game.

-I told them to clean up the playroom. I had Noah clean up one pillow. I had Livi and Ezra clean up the rest. I told them they would get paid in some form. Sam got to sit on the couch and read books with me. When they finished I gave Livi and Ezra four M&Ms. They then had to pay two back in taxes. I gave Noah 5 M&Ms tax-free. Sam got 6 M&Ms.

-While we were doing school if I made silly laws that the kids were breaking, like you can't sit on the teetor -totter, or you can't look at that book. Then I would put them in the dungeon (under the couch).

-They had to address me as, "Your Majesty." If they failed to do this they had to spend more time in the dungeon.

They thought the activity was pretty funny. It worked well to illustrate some negative parts of having a monarchy.

Communist Tuesday

-I wrote down three tasks on slips of paper and had the kids draw one. For forty minutes: Noah had to play soccer, Livi had to color on one piece of paper and Ezra had to sit on the couch and read two books. They got pretty bored.

-Every ten minutes or so I had them stand and say our communist pledge which was, "Our leaders are the best. They know everything."

-After the first forty minutes I had them all come to the rug and do a new task. For twenty minutes: Livi had to tie and untie a shoe, Ezra had to fold and unfold a towel and Noah had to dump the sock basket and clean it up.

-They didn't like communist day. They thought it would be better than king day because I told them that in communism things were laid out and "fair." They didn't like not being able to make choices and have to do things just because I said so.

Anarchy Wednesday

-I was nervous for this one, but it turned out great!

-I made pancake batter and turned the griddle on. At 7:00 it started. I told the kids there were no rules. They could eat what they wanted and do what they wanted. They had great plans to play the computer and eat ice cream. I told them that Mike and I also weren't bound to any rules and didn't have to help them.

-I told Livi if she wanted lunch for school, she would have to make it. She did and it took her 30 minutes. I stole her nuts at one point and she had to pack new ones. She had to keep track of the time and remind me if she wanted to get to school on time.

-It took Ezra and Noah almost an hour to make and top their pancakes. They had about 5 minutes to play on the computer. There were no clean forks, so Ezra ate with a butter knife. We all stole bites of each other's pancakes whenever we wanted to.

-The kids had fun with this, but realized it was nice to have help with things and rules.

Democracy Thursday

-After dinner we had democracy hour. I had them vote on honey or jam on the bread. Jam won.

-Livi created a "bill" for us to vote on. She proposed that they get to see the pictures during the bedtime story. I usually make them lay down while I read. Her bill passed and became a law.

-Ezra proposed that we read the story twice. He got the popular vote as well.

-Mike chose a few books for them to vote on for the bedtime story.

-The kids had fun voting and creating laws. At first they didn't like want to follow the new law if they didn't vote for it, but we told them that that is how our government works. Our vote may not always win, but have to follow the laws anyway.

Interviews on Friday

To review what we had learned I interviewed and recorded the kids. Livi and Ezra thought democracy was the best government. Noah loved anarchy.

U.S. Government

We want to know

-why do we have a government?
-why do they put stamps on papers?
-why do you have to give money to them
-why do they do that kind of work

What we did
Song
"Preamble of the Constitution"
we learned it with School House Rock

We the people of the United States,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our Posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_words_of_the_preamble#ixzz1E2whAuUP

Set up a government at our house

Three branches of our government

legislative- Livi, Ezra, and Noah

executive- Dad

judicial- Mom

The kids made laws
1. drink milk with breakfast or you will have to stay upstairs for an hour doing nothing
2. everyone has to wear socks for three days or they will have to eat for an hour
3. if they teetor totter every morning they will have to smell a stinky sock
4. everybody has to wake up early, whenever the first person wakes up, everybody else does too, or they will have to count to 130
5. every Saturday you have to exercise, or you have to hold your breath
6. wear socks all day and night for one week you will have to get covered with a blanket for one minute
7. be nice or you'll have to wear a hat for an hour or go in jail for 20 minutes
8. you have to go outside everyday or you'll get spanked by the president

-Mike vetoed numbers 1 and 6.

-He signed numbers 3, 7 and 8

-He changed number 2 to say- Everyone has to wear socks at least once in three days or they will have to eat for an hour.

-He changed number 4 to say everybody has to wake up early, whenever the first person wakes up, everybody else does too, or they will have to count to 130 sometime during the day.

-He changed number 5 to say, every Saturday you have to exercise, or you have to hold your breath for 20 seconds. The kids went back and changed it 15 seconds.

After the changes he signed them all. Next step enforcing them and going to court for disobeying.

Court Cases

-Sammy, Ezra, and Noah teetor tottered

-all of the kids woke up later than me on Wed

Math, Cutting, Creating

we made U.S. flags. I printed the stars. The kids cut them out and counted them as they glued them on to the blue paper. We cut stripes with white, red, and orange paper. We ran low on red. They counted the stripes as well and placed them correctly.

U.S. Flag to print and color

http://www.internetfamilyfun.com/images/ameriflagcolorprint.gif

Good Websites for teaching about the U.S. and government

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/index.html

We Learned

Ezra- congress makes the laws, then the laws go to the president, he saw if he wanted those laws, he gets rid of some, changes some, and keeps some, he gives them back to congress to change, you have to talk to the judge if you break the law

we elect a president by voting, the constitution is the document of the rules and laws, the preamble says we should stay together, we should obey the laws

Owls

We Want to Know
-if the little owls really know how to fly

-why they are here on earth

-maybe I have saw an owl and I might see one if I did not see one, they might look cool, I might recognize it, or I might not
-how do they talk

-how do they say their sound

What We Did

Poem

"There Was An Owl"
http://www.101kidz.com/poems/birds1.html
There was an owl
Who lived in an oak.
The more he heard,
The less he spoke;
The less he spoke,
The more he heard-
We all should be
Like that wise old bird

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhandprintowl.htm

http://www.dltk-kids.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/image/bshapesowl.gif

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/snowy-owl/

Writing

question words: who (owl sound), what, when, where, why

Ezra read and wrote them

Math, Cutting, and Coloring

Identify the shapes of the owl cut out. Color, cut and assemble the owl.

Owl (needs hand cut outs)
Print This


Print This
Print the bottom two images and get a blank piece of paper to trace the kids hands and add them as wings.


Story

"The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" Amazon mp3 download, we chose this because of owl in the stories. It's really cute. It has a lot of classic Pooh Bear stories and songs.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00138D17M/ref=s9_simh_gw_p340_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=124RCD3D37BNNX6Y0H70&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

We Learned

Snow Owls- male hunts, they catch their food with their claws, they are the bird of prey that can live in the Arctic year round, they can fly well at 6 weeks old

Chess

What we want to know
-why people play
-why kings go diagonally
-when it started
-why do they have little people

What we did
Poem
"The Famous Chess Poem"
by Ashley & Ezra
Sing to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell"

You must protect the king
You must protect the king
The object in the game of chess
Is to protect the king

The queen is powerful
The board she moves across
She chooses her direction
To lose her would be a loss

Bishops move diagonally
Sometimes from far away
The like to help protect the king
So don't get in their way

Knights attack in L's
Be sure to count your moves
1 then 2 or 2 then 1
Will get them in their groove

Rooks move in straight lines
The start of at the ends
Do your best to keep them safe
They are the king's friends

Pawns move step by step
Their first move can be two
If they make it to the other side
They become a queen too

Game
Played chess every day. Ezra beat me on Friday. I helped him, but only by saying, "are you sure? you can get me, look at all your pieces, etc."

Writing
Ezra sounded out and wrote the names of each piece. He drew arrows to indicate the direction they go. He also drew a picture of the piece

Math
We rolled the dice and added or multiplied the numbers. Ezra loves to multiply. He draws groups with tick marks and adds them up.

Reading
Noah is sounding out the letters pretty well and blending the sounds really well.

Checkers

We want to know
-how checkers are made
-how do they find the cardboard
-how they can fly, but they can't fly
-who made up the game?

What we did
Poem
"Playing the Game"
Life is a game with a glorious prize,
If we can only play it right.
It is give and take, build and break,
And often it ends in a fight;
But he surely wins who honestly tries
(Regardless of wealth or fame),
He can never despair who plays it fair -
How are you playing the game?
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/graduation/poems-rhymes/playing-the-game.html



Drawing
Ezra drew a checkerboard. He learned how to make the board using long lines. We played on it. He counted the boxes and colored it correctly.

Played Checkers
we played Checkers or Chinese Checkers at least once day

We Learned
There is a huge checker board that you have to walk across. The pieces are so big that they look like they're already kinged
The longest checker game took 7 hours and 30 minutes

Frogs

We want to know
how long are their tongues? how they jump, how far can they jump in inches or feet? how can they go to the store and buy cake? how they go up into the mountains, how they open the cake and eat it, if frogs can push a car with just one frog, if they can live a cold, cold, cold, place or a hot, hot, hot place, or just in the middle, how frogs can see inside the water without goggles, how they fight in the water

What we did
Song
"Five Little Speckled Frogs"

bullfrog- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXqK5QulbJ8&NR=1&feature=fvwp
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/american-bullfrog/

Lifecycle Coloring
http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/frogs/images/froglifecycle.gif

Wordsearch
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/m-wordsearch-frogs.htm



Sammy's frog birthday
We went swimming at the Legacy Center for Sam's birthday. I made him a frog cake and we had a movie party at home.

What we learned
-bullfrogs can eat a bird, snake, crab, and other frogs
-strawberry frog, it carries it's tadpoles on it's back and puts it in a little bit of water and puts every egg in water in one tree, then she goes to check on them and gives each one an egg
-leaf frogs blend into the leaves so you can't see them, you can only see the leaf, it's likes it's invisible
-an adult frog's tongue is 12 inches long
how do they catch their food? they blend in, sneak up then jump up catch it with their tongues and use their hands.
-wood frog- can live in the cold, he hibernates, his whole body can turn to ice, when it gets warmer he thaws out and comes back to life
-they like to be awake at night because it is more humid, they need their skin to be wet so they can stay alive. They breathe through their skin, so they need it to be moist.

Wood

What we want to know
-how many bird houses can a man make in day
-could man build a big house if a transformer got all the wood
-how did wood get so strong
-if you took some water and built up rocks and fold them in the wood and gather them and piece that little piece of ice cream then they throwed the rocks in the lake, then
would the snow go on the wood?

What we did

Poem
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck
If a wood chuck could chuck wood

how paper is made- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGH7kQ30SKo
how toilet paper is made- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrg_6dny6Po

Made Paper


We collected scraps of paper, toilet paper, and cardboard and tore them up into little pieces. We blended them with water, drained them on a screen and baked it in the oven. Noah and Ezra drew pictures on it.

Ezra's picture


Noah's picture


Math
We played baseball. The boys took turns and tracked their hits and misses. We counted and added them up at the end.

Writing
Ezra collected all of the wood items he could find in the toy room and wrote a list by sounding them out. He did a pretty good job.

Story of a Tree
Ezra drew a stump of a tree with eight rings making it eight years old. Here is the story he wrote about it.
This tree was planted in the forest. It is a peach tree. There are peanut, apple, pear, and orange trees around it. It's as tall as a big transformer. We get 100 peaches from it every year. It has 100 branches so it can carry all the peaches. They sell the peaches for money in Africa. They grow them in Italy and sell them, then they sell them, then they sell them until they get to Africa. Then they have money which they use to buy more fruit and dogs at the pet store. An eight year old boy takes care of the tree. The boy named the tree Soft Peach. The wood can make 109 wood.

Read "The Walnut Tree" The story of the pulpit of the conference center
story
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Conference%20Center/The_Walnut_Tree.shtml
picture http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_e1hQ3qa9H2U/SBaJ50zWlI/AAAAAAAAAK4/J3h2xZnpkD8/s320/pulpit.jpg
Summary
Ezra- There was a tree in President Hinckley's yard that was so tall. He went to the bank and told them we need to cut it down. People wanted to make money off it and put it in the news. They found someone else to do it. Then they made a pulpit, boxes for the kids and pens for the prophets

We learned
wood comes from trees, 4 billion trees are cut down every year for paper

how paper is made
Ezra- get wood and burn it and put it in a big fire, make it with water like oatmeal, then they get the water out, then roll it into big pieces of paper, then they cut it and wrap it

Uses for wood
Ezra- with wood we can make: pulpits, pens, birdhouses, robots, houses, little toy houses, puzzles, tables, banisters, boxes, doors, speakers, paper, handles of saws and hammers

Magazines

We want to know
-where the first artist made a magazine
-if magazine are useful to help you learn

What we did

Poem
repeat of the planet poem from last week

Made a magazine













It was fun making this with the kids. They thought up the words and helped with what they could. It was good writing and problem solving practice for them.

Made a collage of things we liked from magazines


Ezra made a page for everyone of things he thought they would like.

Looked up information on the history of magazines
the first magazine was "The Gentleman's Magazine" published in 1731 in London
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazines

How magazines are printed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gEEaFT5z84