Thursday, October 28, 2010

Zoo Field Trip







The twins have been learning about the animal world so before the weather got bad we took them to the zoo. I gave each child a list of animals they had to search for and then we took pictures as we found them. It was a nice break of the regular school work and it turned into a very nice time. I'm posting a few of the pictures the kids took at the zoo.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Halloween Fun

I always hear of all the fun traditions people have leading up to a holiday yet I never seem to get motivate to start many of those fun traditions in my house. This year is different. We made a big deal out of pumpkin selection, sorry no pictures though, and we made a few decorations for the yard. However one that I've always wanted to do but have never done is the Boo Poem. So I debated for several hours today over homemade goodies or store bought and then decided to go with store bought. We bought two bags of Three Musketeers bags and printed off the cute Boo Poem from here. We waited until dark, which given the ages of my kids was hard cause they caught the excitement, and carefully plotted out which neighbors we could Boo. My criteria was easy place to hide and someone we knew. I know it would have been more fun if we had hit someone we didn't know but for some reason I really wanted to people we knew. I figure the odds are we will be Boo'd ourselves so then we could do a family we don't know. Well it was really cold and rainy when we headed out and I was sure the noise my boys would make would get us caught. The good news is we weren't caught and the boys had a blast. Noah is already watching the door for someone to boo us. I hope we are selected to be Boo'd cause it will break his heart if we aren't. They are already plotting ways to do this for other holidays too. I think we may have found a tradition that works for our family.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Native American Study

So as we finished our study on Native Americans I thought I'd share what we did and what resources we used.
Books we read:
A Picture Book of Sacagawea (note: found at Davis County Library)
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush (Davis County Library)
Grandma Maxine Remembers (Davis County Library)
Seasons of the Circle (Davis County Library)
Native Americans: A Portrait : The Art and Travels of Charles Bird King, George Catlin, and Karl Bodmer (Davis County Library)
Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking (Davis County Library)
More Than Moccasins (Davis County Library)
A Kids Guide to Native American History (Davis County Library)
Between Earth and Sky (Davis County Library)
Tools of Native Americans (I bought this book for myself as the library did not have it)
If You Lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast (Davis County Library)
If You Lived with the Iroquois (I bought this one myself as the library did not have it)

I also used this blog for books and ideas.

We made longhouses, wigwams, Pueblo village, and tepees. We also made a vest, war bonnet, and a few other clothing pieces that are mentioned in the More than Moccasins book. We also painted a few pictures from the art book mentioned above. Also after reading The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush we painted a picture from that book. Nathan also made a diorama of an Iroquois Indian village. We also made several meals from the cookbook.

Overall the unit was fun and even I learned things I did not know. Sorry I don't have pictures as one of the kids deleted most of the pictures on the memory card.