A Side Trip to India

George Sr. had to take a business trip to Mumbai India and Jr. requested we learn about where he was going so we stopped our Community study for a day. Since this came up at the last minute (I really should have thought ahead and planned for this) we didn't have much to work with.  I wish we had time to go to the library for picture books since I'm trying to do more reading with the kids.  I also have "Riki Tiki Tavi" on DVD but its out in the garage.  That would've been a great movie to watch while discussing India (and short which is also good).  But, we made do with what we had.

First, we found India on our wall map and our globe (I'm trying to show the kids that they are two different models of the same thing so we do both whenever we look up something) and read the details on the page in our Scholastic Atlas of the World.  Georgie was a little upset to realize Daddy was on the other side of the world.  We looked at the two pages in Children Just Like Me that were about India and Georgie found it interesting that the one didn't have electricity.  He asked the usual question - what about tv?

We printed off crafts from the Internet - we did the Diwali Diya craft and printed some peacock templates from www.dltk-kids.com/.   We also did an elephant mask craft from http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ but instead of a mask we used googly eyes.    We read about peacocks in our Scholastic Encyclopedia of Animals and did peacocks a few different ways.  In general, the kids don't like coloring but are really big fans of gluing and painting, so we try to go with that as much as possible.  Gluing is actually less of a mess in our house than crayons or markers since those tend to be used on walls and furniture whenever possible.
We tried to make peacock tails with coffee filters by coloring them with blue, green and purple markers then spraying them with water so the colors would run.  Neither kid did more than a few scribbles of coloring so the full effect wasn't there.  I thought they still came out looking pretty but by the time they dried, we had had enough for the day so they were never used.

I cut bodies and feathers out of scrapbook papers and they put them together into peacocks.  This was simple and they were able to do it by themselves while I cleaned up our coffee filters and set up the next activity.

We used irridescent blue watercolors to paint paper plates, then added spots using dab painters, and body template, googly eyes and feathers to complete our peacocks.  The kids had a great time doing this one, Vicki was quite enthusiastic with the dab painters.

Once the feathers were out, the crafts were done.  The kids had a great time playing with the feathers - blowing them around, trying to keep them in the air.

Community & Community Helpers

This week we are going to continuing studying Communities and begin on Community Helpers.

We started by sorting pictures of different objects (cars, buildings, people) into different types of communites - Suburban, Urban and Rural (town, city and country).  This project came from Teacher Book Bags (available from http://www.currclick.com/).  We colored in maps showing the streets and buldings in a community.  We read On the Town by Judith Caseley, which is a wonderful introduction to places and people in a community.

We've started a new Math curriculum with Georgie.   We are using a free program developed in England and Hungary called the "Mathematics Enhancement Programme".  So far Georgie likes it a lot - it has a nice mix of elements - physical activities, songs, writing pages, and discussion.

I'm trying to add a lot more games into our program.  We have a bunch of file folder games plus we received some new games for Christmas that should fit in nicely.  This week we played:  Winter Dominos (printed from DLTK-cards.com), Dr. Seuss ABC Stretch (similar to twister with letters and letter sounds), Picture/Letter match (file folder game), Fishing with Rover sight word game (file folder game from Frogever Smart Games) and Vicki played a color matching game with Smily Faces.

One of the things the kids received for Christmas was a chalkboard to be mounted on the wall.  I'm trying to find ways to allow them to be creative more often without having to worry about crayon and marker all over the walls, furniture, etc.  We ended up picking up a second one since they are currently not capable of sharing a 2 foot by 3 foot space without fighting.   The two boards are mounted underneath the bulletin boards used to display their school and art work.  The bulletin boards are high enough that they can't reach to pull things off.

Finally!

Since the holidays ended, we've been working on getting things organized, cleaned-up and getting everyone healthy.  The kids had really nasty colds right after the New Year that seem to be taking forever to go away.  We have finally been able to get back into our school schedule.

We've been working on a Community theme.  First we learned about our state - New Jersey.  We marked the location of our house, Granny Franny's house and Gramma Kayes house by gluing arrows to a state map.  We read the section on New Jersey in "Smart About the 50 States".  We also colored sheets with the state bird (Eastern Goldfinch) and flower (violet).  Georgie did a writing/tracing page with our address.  We're going to work with him on learning his address and phone number but I'm sure that's going to be an ongoing project.

We read the Dr. Seuss book "And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" and Georgie dictated his own story "I Saw It On O------ Road".  Here's his story:
"A snake pulling a football and a cat pulling a basket with a thing of cookies in the basket......A lion pulling a shoe and a girl singing with a bologna sandwich...and there's more.....An elephant pulling a rock, a little big and enough heavy for the elephant to pull it....a dinosaur pulling a bird and the bird flying and pulling the dinosaur and its a three horn tritops.....and a bat pulling a map.....a pigeon pulling a statue and a sticker with eyes.....a cup with a blanket with a shoe with chalk with a basket."

He also wrote a story with daddy.  Here's his cover page:

And the story goes like this:  "A fish named Webo was friends with a dog named Zappa.  They liked to go to the zoo.  Their favorite animals were the Tigers."

Vicki's been going to a "Tot Fun Time" class at the Y. She gets to sing, dance, play games and do a simple coloring project two days a week.  She's having a lot of fun with it and it gives her time with mom or Georgie thats just for her.  Some of the projects they've done lately:

Next week we're continuing our Community studies with different types of communities and community helpers.

Christmas and New Years

The kids had a great Christmas.  They received all the educational toys and games that were on their list (Thanks Mom!), lots of blocks, Leapsters and new movies.  They both had a great time this year opening their presents, with the help of Big Sis Stephanie.

We had another snow storm New Year Eve and Georgie wanted to go out and try again to build a snowman.  This time I was brave and went outside to take pictures instead of doing it through the window.

The kids had brand new snowpants, gloves and boots so they were able to stay out a little longer this time.

Zappa loves the snow.

The first attempts to make a snowman failed.  The snow didn't pack well enough to make a large snowman so they eventually decided to make a little guy.

Christmas Part II

Some crafts just seem to require glitter and Christmas crafts seem to top that list.  But glitter glue is way more expensive than plain glue ($2.99 for 3 ounces versus about a dollar for 6 ounces) especially given how the baby girl just LOVES glue.  And the idea of loose glitter with these two is way too scary.  So, after some internet research, I decided to make our own glitter glue.  I had about 15 bottles of elmers glue that I had bought on back-to-school clearance for 20c a piece.  So, I bought gold and silver glitter ($1.99 each) and added it to some of our glue. 

Then we made our bowtie pasta wreaths.  I did have to make the hole bigger on one of the glue bottles and completely remove the red twisting cap from the other.  George was, as usual, very meticulous with his wreath.  He glued green bowties evenly around the plate then added a red bowtie on top of each green one.  Vicki mainly spread glue around and only added a small number of bowties - some red and some green.  I'm waiting to see how the glue will look once dry since it will dry clear except for the glitter. 

Georgie did some simple math while doing his wreath.  I had deliberately given them more green than red bowties since the red were supposed to be like berries on an evergreen wreath.  He had added all except seven of his red bowties and started to realize he wouldn't have enough.  He counted the green bowties left without red bowties (14), then counted his remaining red bowties (7).   He then told me he didn't have enough red bowties to finish and needed 7 more.  This kind of thing seems to come pretty naturally to him.  He's very interested in numbers and adding/subtracting.

After our wreaths, while I was cleaning up the kids made snowflakes.  I gave them large foam snowflakes and a bunch of foam snowflake stickers to put on them.   Stickers are always a hit and, since the mess isn't too bad, they are perfect for keeping them busy while I clean up from a messier craft or set up something new.

We made cotton ball snowmen.  George was more interested in putting on the features and accessories than the cotton balls but Vicki  (who will use glue for as long as possible) put lots of cotton on hers.

We tried making glue and Q-tip snowflakes by putting a large puddle of glitter glue on waxed paper and adding Q-tips.  But, instead of just adding the Q-tips, Vicki used them to spread the glue out.  The idea is to peel off the glue once it dries and stick the "snowflakes" to a window but Vicki had spread her glue too thin and Georgie didn't use enough glue.

Georgie did a couple of writing/tracing pages with Christmas/Winter theme words and his full name while Vicki and I worked on shape activities.  Vicki's activities were printed off from http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/holidays/index.htm.  She was able to name most of the shapes but was a little confused with rectangle and oval.

Vicki ended up catching George's cold and then giving it to me so we took it pretty easy the rest of the week.   We did make wild bird treats with peanut butter and seeds, and glittery soaps as presents.  Georgie helped stir the glitter and coloring into the soap flakes but didn't want to get soap on his hands.  Vicki loved grabbing handfuls of soap to put in cookie cutters to make shaped soaps, or to roll into balls.  We also decorated gift bags by stamp painting using cookie cutters and using foam stickers.

We got a decent snowstorm over the weekend and Georgie kept begging to go outside and play.  We tried to keep Vicki inside since she still has a little bit of a cold but of course, that didn't work.  George took them out to play for a little while with Zappa.   They didn't have much in the way of snow gear so we dressed them in layers, dug out some gloves and out they went.  It was pretty cold so we didn't think they's last too long.

Vicki started out by scooping up big handfuls of snow and throwing them in the air.

Then Daddy taught them about snowball fights.

As a Samoyed, Zappa is just made for the snow and loves running around in it.

They jumped on the snow covered trampoline for a little while.

Then Georgie decided to try and shovel the yard.

After about an hour, they came back in crying because they wanted to stay outside.  They were soaked, cold and ready for more.  I spent about two hours online trying to find snow pants, boots and decent gloves for them at a time of year when stores are already ready for Spring.

Vicki also loved playing with our Little People Nativity set.  She loves pressing the button on top (which plays "Away in a Manger") and singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  This is the first year she is really aware of what's going on and it's been lots of fun introducing her to everything.

Christmas Part I

Since George and I just returned from our vacation in Greece and there's lots of laundry, unpacking and organizing to do, I started really simple with our Christmas crafts.  I printed out a Christmas Tree from http://www.dtk-holiday.com/ for them to glue pompom "ornaments" to. 

Vicki always loves anything to do with glue so this kept her occupied for a while.   She actually did much better than I thought she would at putting the pom poms in the blank spaces.  I wish I had sorted my pom poms by size before doing this project but I just never had the chance.  Of course, now that we're done I found the time to do it.

I'm very thankful lately that I bought a bunch of glue from Walmart for just 20 cents a bottle during their clearance after Back-to-School. 

Our completed Christmas trees.  Georgie decided to draw some presents under his tree.

After the trees I gave them paper and Winter-themed foam stickers.  Foam stickers are always a big hit and keep them occupied for quite a while without too much mess.  Peeling off the paper backing is great fine motor skill work.

Georgie with his completed picture.

Vicki didn't really have a completed picture to show since after a while she decided to stick the stickers to her belly.

We read Thomas's Christmas Delivery and listened to Christmas music while we were doing our crafts.

This ended up being all we were able to do this week.  We lost power Thursday evening and ended up not getting it back until late Friday morning.

Greece

George and I just returned from Greece.  He had to go on business and I was able to accompany him.  This meant that for two days he was at work during the day and for two days we were able to explore together.

Our flight out had a lay-over in Milan Italy so we flew over the Alps.  We also had a decent view from the airport terminal.  I have never seen Mountains like that so it was very neat.

The first day George was working I went to the Archeological Museum.  I found it very interesting looking at statues, jewelry and stoneware that was over 2,000 years old.  Other than the museum visit, I mainly looked around at shops and explored.  It was a lot like being in Manhattan, if you ignored the funny-looking letters on the signs.  Although, many things were also written in English and many people spoke at least some English, making it much easier to get around.

A couple of the items seen at the Archeological Museum.

We stayed at the Hilton Athens.  It was nice but very expensive.  If we weren't there on a business trip, we probably would not have stayed there. 

We had a nice view of the Acropolis from our balcony.

We did climb to the top of the Acropolis while we were there.  You do have to walk all the way up there.  It wasn't too bad and the view was absolutely amazing. 

The Parthenon.  It was interesting to hear the history of the temple.  It's in poor shape but not mainly from the passage of time.  Over the years it was burned by the Persians in 480 BC, blown up in 1687 and looted many, many times.

the Erechtheion

The Theatre of

Dionysus

The Odeum of Herodes Atticus

We also went and visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus which was one of the largest ancient temples......

and saw ruins, including Roman baths.

The trip was a lot of fun and I'd love to go back sometime.  Because we went in Winter and the weather was a little iffy, we didn't get a chance to visit any of the Islands and more time to explore would be wonderful.