amandaspace1330

Now I'm playing catch-up! Two weeks ago we read the story Daniel's Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla. This story about a little boy confidently trying new things. The story spans the seasons, Winter- Spring and we spent our week focused on Spring. We also began to discuss our solar system and why we have the four seasons, why Winter days are shorter and Summer days are longer. This is a subject I hope to build on in weeks to come. We discussed measurement, how to measure cloth by the yard and also the concept of 3 dimensional measurement. We learned about the state of Tennessee. There are three United States Presidents from Tennessee!  That interested me! We also learned a little bit about log cabin living, (building from the pictures in the book) and about the County fair. We attended the Colorado State Fair last Summer, so the concept of County fair was easier understood. We also discussed the timeline for this story and when the automobile was invented by...

This Friday, we happened upon a program about red foxes at Upper Schuylkill Valley Park just down the road from our house. The preschool program taught the children about red foxes living in this area, their habitat requirements, diet, and how to treat them if we see one in the wild. Then we met the resident red fox, Copper. The kids colored red fox coloring sheets as well as making a paper towel tube red fox craft. This park is home to many other rescued north American animals including Montgomery, the bald eagle and Scrappy, the chatty crow. Tristan, Ana and Gwen really enjoyed seeing all of the animals and being outside on such a beautiful morning. There will be programs for preschoolers at the park all summer long, maybe we'll try another.

For Mother's Day this year, we enjoyed a pretty chill weekend. The beautiful weather kept us outside most of the weekend, getting lots of work done around the house and also running a few errands. Sunday we worked together as a family to make cheese Soufflé. It was awesome and simple, fresh flat leaf parsley and cheddar jack cheese. (Freezing the soufflé dish ahead of time makes a difference in outcome. I ran out of ramekins and just pulled two from the cupboard to finish off our batter, and those two did not hold up once out of the oven.) I also made  chocolate spiced iced coffee (Recipe found in Williams and Sonoma Breakfast) Two cups of strong coffee, 6 whole cloves, one cinnamon stick, 2 tablespoons  of cocoa powder, 1 tsp. orange rind, and 4 tbsp. sugar. Add cream if desired and pour over a glass of ice. I made mine in the French press, coffee and spices all brewed in together. It was lovely. We also enjoyed the movie Cats by DisneyNature. Such ...

Since visiting the Baltimore National Aquarium, the kids primary fascination is Sharks! So we spent last week learning about Sharks. We read lots of books from the library and did some internet research. Some of our activities included paper plate shark hats, shark puzzle, keep away from the shark sidewalk chalk game and a feed the shark bean bag toss. I also carved a shark out of a watermelon; the kids really enjoyed that. Here are the links to the websites I used for inspiration clothes pin craft   cute shark   Shark hat   sidewalk chalk game   shark facts . Enjoy the pictures.

Landscaping has been our primary occupation for the last two weeks and our plants are flowering. The crabapple tree is beautifully shaped (though tiny) and has pretty pink and white flowers. I plan to remove any budding fruit in order to allow the tree to use it's energy for good growth this year. The bumblebees have noticed the flowers and visit every day. I am excited to see if we attract butterflies to the little "butterfly" garden we planted. I'll keep you posted. Crabapple Holly Scotchbroom

For the last two weeks we have been reading The Bee Tree by Patricia Polocco and learning about honeybees. The Bee Tree is a fun story reminiscent of Stan and Jan Berenstain's The Big Honey Hunt except it is written for an older audience and the story ends in a moral lesson . Grampa and Mary Ellen race through the Michigan country side in late spring/early summer chasing honeybees to their tree. The story introduces many interesting characters  along the way and portrays the Michigan culture and geography through it's colorful illustrations. It also introduces the gold rush in the Yukon territory with one of said characters and this helps set the historical timeline for the book. I'll let you read the book to learn the moral lesson for yourself. We primarily focused on honeybees reading many non-fiction books about them from the library. Gail Gibbons' The Honeymakers was our favorite of these. We also read some silly stories about bees. Harry's Be...