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