bats, math and baking..oh my!

Yesterday was spent talking about bats and debating whether or not they would make good pets. Cory's theory is that if we had bats as pets, they would eat all the mosquitoes in the backyard so we could play outside more.  So we looked it up!

We also looked up different types of bats, where they live, what they eat, etc and will be making a special trip to the zoo soon to study the ones there.

Math...Let me tell you my son is obsessed with math. All day he comes to me asking "what's this plus this?" He tries to get way to complicated and I answer but remind him we need to stick to numbers he can count to and to try to keep it under 20 for now. lol He's getting better at knowing the answers off the top of his head, but also counts fingers and toes; it's so cute!  Last night in bed we were talking numbers, and I blew his mind taking about fractions.  We have really been enjoying the problems posted by Bedtime Math Problem on Facebook.

Both yesterday and today we have been baking bread. Both kids loved getting to help measure, mix and knead the dough.  Both days have also been full of definitions, spelling, stories, writing, and talking about places we would like to visit then looking them up on the map.

Today we are also talking about different types of weather and what causes it.  Cory really liked the pictures that went with this article on NatGeo.  He always loves looking at clouds and I like trying to explain the different types, and what they are made of. This led to a talk about the water cycle that took us to the kitchen. We put a bunch of ice cubes in a pot, turned the stove on and watched them melt down to water then evaporate into steam.  We also read the Magic School Bus book about it.

After Cory lost interest, Mara crawled up in my lap with another book..then decided she wanted her nails painted. So, yes, I painted her fingers and toes - fingers black (she asked for it) and toes black and yellow. She now thinks she is Bumblebee Girl and wants to be that for Halloween. LOL

Cory heard "Halloween" and came running, talking about what he wants to be....a vampire, a dinosaur, a lion..he has no clue.

Here's what he came up with..now all i need is a brown hooded sweat shirt, brown seat pants and some felt. vampire lion it is LOL

Oh, both kids have decided they like washing dishes and I am NOT complaining!!  Cory is actually in there right now washing some. They both do a really good job, they use way too much soap, but everything gets clean!
Mara washing bowls

I can't wait to see what this afternoon brings!

8/17 - 8/20

health - diabetes education, nutrition
science - anatomy, dinosaurs, sea life, beekeeping
math - counting carbs, fractions, counting by 5, money values
english - letter recognition, writing
reading - Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler & Kurt Cyrus
                 Fancy Nancy, It's Beauty Day by Jane O'Connor & Robin Preiss Glasser
                 T-Rex and the Mother's Day Hug by Lois Grambling
spanish - random words here and there
geography - North America, ring of fire, Tennessee
history - looked up events from the years we were born (2006 & 2008)
chemistry - bread baking, homemade volcanoes


Mara can recognize M, R, A, D, O and her name on a page!


I promise my next post will be more pics and less notes!  Things have just been crazy around here!!

mid week wrap up

Wed-Thurs

Sorry for the lack of fancy posts, things here have been crazy and i really just wanted to get what we did recorded so I didn't lose track of subjects covered.


Science - Ceratopsians
largest carnivore - spinosaurus
largest hebivore - argentinosaurus
pbskids.org - dinosaur train & daniel tigers neighborhood

art - primary & secondary colors (finger paints)

computer usage - navigation, keyboard recognition

phys ed - 30 min outside/water play

religion - Jesus Storybook Bible (highly recommend this!)

english - writing, letter recognition, letter sounds

math - basic addition & subtration (1-20), money values, fractions (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1)
            grocery store math  (prices, quantities)

geography - where studied dinos lived

big long post - no pics - 3 day wrap up

Over the past few days we have been quite busy (8/13-8/15)! The kids saw the dentist Monday, Cory had some work done and was sedated so we didn't do much that day.  Mara and I got in a lot of reading time.  Since then we have been working on:

English:

• letter recognition & alphabet order
• letter sounds
• writing
• synonyms for big, small, a lot
• rhyming words
• tracing letters (Mara)
• How to spell your name (Mara)

Math:

• telling time (digital clock)
• adding (1-10)
• subtracting (1-10)
• counting by 5's
• money value (1 chore = $1, how many chores do you need to do do get a $7 toy)
• value of coins penny-quarter
• shape recognition - basic for Mara, advanced for Cory (cylinder, pyramid, cone, etc)
• counting to 15 (Mara), 25 (Cory)

Science:

• buoyancy (sink or float)
• gravity (bouncing different size balls from same height)
• centrifugal force (rolling a tire with water in it)
• inertia (in the car)
• dinos, crocs, woolly mammoths
• Levers (at the playground)
• Pulleys (on a farm set toy & flagpole) 

Geography:

• where we live
• distance between Memphis TN and Huntsville AL
• where the closest beach is

Chores for both kids this week:

• taking your dishes to the sink
• picking up toys when done playing
• putting dirty clothes in basket & taking to laundry room
• sorting dirty laundry into piles by color
• vacuuming your bedroom (Cory)

Chemistry in Kindergarten, yes please!

I know you are thinking, no way, seriously?! You are teaching your kid chemistry? Why yes I am, and today we made a volcano. Excuse the quality of our volcano, I ran out of flour and had to half the dough recipe so you can still see the coke bottle. Oh well, it still worked.

Before adding vinegar

After the vinegar

Again, not the greatest but the kids were thrilled.  Here's the science behind how this works:

1. The lava is the result of a chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.
2. In this reaction, carbon dioxide gas is produced, which is also present in real volcanoes.
3. As the carbon dioxide gas is produced, pressure builds up inside the plastic bottle, until the gas bubbles (thanks to the detergent) out of the 'volcano'.

In reading about volcanoes, we also fit in a bit of geography, and talked of the place where there are volcanoes.

We also ready some cool books about Woolly Mammoths and watched Ice Age. Cory asked where mammoths lived, so we looked in the book and pulled up a map...and we talked about Siberia.

Then we talked about the weather in Siberia and how it differs from the weather here in Memphis, TN.  We also managed to talk about how many days are in a month and how many months till his birthday (in Dec). This convo was brought up by his asking for a toy for his b-day; guess what, its a mammoth!

See Tremor here!  And in discussing Tremor, we again had the discussion of the value of a dollar, how many dollars Tremor costs and Cory could do to earn the money for Tremor if he wanted to buy him before his birthday. 

That led to a wonderful talk on responsibilities and respect and chores and I just love how this works!!!!!

Library Day 8/7/12

Tuesday, we took a family trip to the library. Cory immediately went to the information desk and asked where the dinosaur books were. He was amazed at all the choices, but here's what he decided on:

Just in the Dinosaur Wars book, we covered:

• Metric conversion chart, height/length comparisons (how many Daddy's it takes to match dinosaurs), weight comparisons (dinosaurs weight in tons = x amount of Daddy's truck). They really enjoyed doing this and got a huge kick out of dinosaurs equaling 10 or more of Daddy's truck. relating to that really helped them understand the size

• definitions- 
• herbivore-  Noun:   An animal that feeds on plants.
• carnivore-
  

  An animal that feeds on flesh. A mammal of the order Carnivora.

• prey- 

  Noun:	An animal hunted and killed by another for food.
  Verb:	Hunt and kill for food: "small birds that prey on insects".

• predator- 

  Noun:

  An animal that naturally preys on others.

• fossil- 

  Noun:

  The remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock: "sites rich in fossils".

• serrated- 

  Adjective:

  Having or denoting a jagged edge; sawlike: "a knife with a serrated edge".

• geography- Spinosaurus lived in Africa, Giganotosaurus lived in South America

Cory isn't the only one that got books, I racked up too. Can you tell I'm a little worried about teaching him to read? LOL

Earlier in the day, we had a special lesson and guest. Our Diabetes Educator came by and got Cory all hooked up to his insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. We listened as she explained all the details and taught Cory the importance of wearing it and not getting it wet.  He's pretty proud, can you tell?

Throughout the day we discussed various topics including:

• ancestors of crocodiles
• how to fold shirts
• volume and capacity of containers (more on this another day)
• origins of the word dinosaur - Greek (Cory is really interested in the Greek language, thinks the words sound funny)
• importance of eating healthy foods and brushing our teeth
• weather
• writing worksheets
• what you can buy for $1/saving money/allowance for chores

Mara's letters worksheet

We were also lucky enough to be able to go to McDonald's play room while Daddy went to a class at church. That was a very fun filled 90 minutes of running and climbing goodness!

Old pic of Mara, but same McD's

All of these subjects have blended into today (Wednesday) also, which is fine by me, this is stuff they enjoy.  Later today they will be spending the afternoon and night with Grandma, so no updates from me till probably Friday  :)