Language Lessons

We are skipping around a bit in our Language Lessons units.  I was skimming the pages and discovered a poem on hens....how appropriate!

Found this here:

THE CLUCKING HEN

"Will you take a walk with me, My little wife, to-day? There's barley in the barley field, And hayseed in the hay." "Thank you;" said the clucking hen; "I've something else to do; I'm busy sitting on my eggs, I cannot walk with you." "Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck," Said the clucking hen; "My little chicks will soon be hatched, I'll think about it then." [11] The clucking hen sat on her nest, She made it in the hay; And warm and snug beneath her breast, A dozen white eggs lay. Crack, crack, went all the eggs, Out dropped the chickens small! "Cluck," said the clucking hen, "Now I have you all." "Come along, my little chicks, I'll take a walk with you." "Hallo!" said the barn-door cock, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" —Aunt Effie's Rhymes.

 

Wordless Wednesday--A year ago...what were they like?

 The boys riding in the fair parade last year. 

The girls playing in the rain.

 Brayden and Care Bear Caty (she can no longer wear that costume).

Lydia loves playing in the rain.

Happy National Roasted Marshmallow Day!!!

From Holiday Insights.....

When : Always on August 30th
Origin: Unknown
During eleven out of the  twelve months of the year, we enjoy a wide range of holidays. When we get to August, there is a major shortage of big holidays to celebrate. Perhaps that is why many Europeans take the month of August off for vacation.
Perhaps it as just as well that there are no big holidays to compete with National Marshmallow Toasting Day. After all, how could any holiday compare with this day!?!
Enjoy today or tonight by a campfire or bonfire, toasting a big, soft, sticky and sweet marshmallow, or two, or three, or….. Summer would not be the same without a campfire and this great campfire treat.Summer is short. Summer is good. So enjoy it while it is still here. Toast a marshmallow and forget about everything else. 

So we grabbed the marshmallows and toothpicks and had some more fun after schoolwork was done.

We wanted to build the tallest marshmallow structure we could....



 

We attempted.......

We only got 6-8 inches tall.  Not sound for an earthquake area...lol.



So we went inside and roasted marshmallows instead.



We also tried to think of marshmallow treats like Peeps, Rice Krispie Treats and marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwiches.....MMMMMmmmm.

Happy Toasted Marshmallow Day!!!

 

Impromptu crystalization lesson

While exploring a local town, Lydia and I bought some geodes and brought them home for us to break open.  All 6 of us out in the driveway last night for the event....


I said, We're breaking open Geodes...Daddy thought it was funny to pick on Joey.  He wrapped up his head and pretended to "break his head open to see what was inside."

Then we got down to business.

Our destruction crew...

Viewing our treasures....

We looked up how geodes formed and read about a full size geode near our home at Put-in-Bay Ohio.  The boys don't want to visit it, since you have to take a ferry there.  We'll wait and see though.  Then we broke out a crystal kit and started experiments.

 Popcorn rock...just add vinegar and food coloring.



Overnight you can see crystals starting to form.  We'll keep watching.....



Caty School

Our little Caty started back to Preschool today.  We have been doing school already at home.  But she receives speech therapy twice a week at a local special needs school down the road from us.  Today was her first day back to class (and a very sad mommy).  So this is her posing on the front steps this morning.  She didn't want to ride the bus there, she wanted to ride in Mommy's van to school.  I'm pretty sure she will test out of her IEP in the next few weeks.  She never...ever shuts up!

She is styling with her new Team Umi Zoomi Backpack and new Skechers.

 Does she know who Gene Simmons is already?

In her boxes this week, we will be working on holding our pencils/crayons properly.

Of course continue with shapes and colors.  May do green this week.

A cut and paste activity.



She will sit in on our beginning map skills.  I made copies for her too.

This is a great book because it gives them the gray guidelines to follow. 

This is her new Math books.  You can check it out here.  I think it was very pricey....but it looks nice.  We bought the whole set.  And starting with patterns.  Each set (there 3 total and we spent $49.95 w/ shipping and a backpack), comes with a DVD, math activity card pack, two activity/workbooks and 2 pencils and erasers.  I'll let you know how she is liking it over the next few weeks.

We are going to keep reading about chickens and do some more chicken drawings tomorrow.  We will use feathers to help create them.  We are going to cram in our Literature Lessons tomorrow too because we are taking Thursday off to have a family day.   I don't want to skip or push back any more material. 

Million Minute Family Challenge

Have you taken the challenge????

From Steptember 1- December 31, 2011 enjoy playing board games with your family.  Build memories and spend quality time together.  You'll soon realize that board games are still fun and a great party addition.

The goal of the Million Minute Family Challenge

the United States log one million minutes of game play time.

Log your minutes and watch national total climb toward the goal.  You can also enter for prizes.

Check out all the info at www.MillionMinute.com.


TM is to have families across

Field Trip Sunday----Wood County Historical Museum

Yes....I know.  Most people do Field trip Friday.  Well I'm always behind, so I will post most field trip and fun visits on Sundays....just because, well because I can...lol!

I will be hooking up with Anna-Marie from Life's Adventures for her Field Trip Blog Hope though

For the girls last American Girl Club Meeting on Kaya, we visited a local museum that had a Native American display.  They had a small camp set up with real artifacts that had been found in our area, as well as replicas of items that were commonly used by our local tribes.  The girls at least got to see items up close that were part of this culture, even if they were not specifically from the Nimipuu. 

We really enjoyed this museum, and I am very upset at myself that such a wonderful gem has been sitting so close to us for so long and I have never taken advantage of it.  Lydia and I will be visiting again this Wednesday because we both enjoyed it and know there is alot of items we missed seeing due to our little Caty running around so excited.



All the rooms are set up to display a certain topic or time period.  Here is a General Store.  There was a WWII Uniform room, a school room (with desks and books from the 1800s on), a civil war tent, soda hop, year book room, kitchen display, etc.

Civil War tent sample with games the soldiers might play.

Caty in the General Store.

An old-fashioned electric curling machine.

Caty and our friend Amelia.

The Native American camp display.

Yep...the one is sleeping on a rock as a pillow.  Gives me new respect for the yucky pillows I have at home.





The girls really liked this display.



Foods of our area.

A Civil War Era doll stroller.

Soda Fountain.



State Fossil of Ohio

Lydia and Caty checking out the switchboard.  They were amazed at the rotary dial.

Outside buildings.

Ice house and cold storage.

 Another shot from the side.



We look forward to visiting many more times!!!!