Winnie-the-Pooh

Ian is obsessed with the Winnie-the-Pooh chapter books.  For the past month, I have been reading two chapters per day out loud.  Ian also listens to audio recordings of the books.  We made special bookmarks with an appropriate story picture for each book.  Both of the boys make daily references to the Pooh stories.  They talk about visiting the Five Pine Trees, Pooh Corner, and Ian Corner when they play outside.  Some of their favorite phrases are "Bother", "Ow! Hot!", and "Silly Mama (old Bear)".

Books:  Winnie-the-Pooh by Milne;  The House at Pooh Corner by Milne;  Return the the Hundred Acre Wood by Benedictus

Earthworms

Experiment

First we prepared a worm jar as described in Small Wonders by Garrett & Thomas.  We collected worms for the jar from our compost pile.  Then we placed the following food on top of the soil: carrot, apple, brussel sprouts, & lettuce.  Every few days, we sprayed water into the jar and made observations.  After a few weeks, we returned the worms to the compost pile.

Hypothesis

• worms will eat cornmeal
• worms will eat all food left on the surface
• worms will mix layers

Observations

• apple peels disappeared first
• carrot peels were pulled underground
• brussel sprouts & lettuce remained on the soil surface
• worms were often seen in the sand layer
• soil layers were mixed
• castings were found on the soil surface
• less cornmeal could be seen at the end of the experiment

Books:  An Earthworm's Life by Himmelman;  Wiggling Worms at Work by Pfeffer;  There's a Hair in My Dirt! A Worm's Story by Larson

Arachnids

We collected a harvestmen from the backyard for observation.  Harvestmen look very similar to daddy longleg spiders, but harvestmen are not classified as spiders.  We also caught a fly to feed the harvestmen.  Harvestmen do not have venom or silk glands, so the harvestmen intensely fought the fly physically and took his legs off.

For Halloween, we decorated our front porch with an orb-web made out of yarn and a stuffed garden spider.

Books:  Spinning Spiders by Berger;  The Very Busy Spider by Carle

Fossils and Tracks

The Museum of the Rockies classes this month were on dinosaur fossils and Yellowstone animal tracks.

For the first class, we toured the dinosaur exhibit and made a fossil.  The fossil was made by pressing an oiled model dinosaur skull into play-dough, removing the skull, and then pouring plater into the impression.

For the second class, we discussed and looked at model animal tracks.  We also made a track to bring home.  The track was made by pressing a model animal foot into wet sand, removing the foot, and then pouring plaster into the impression.

Both methods of making plater models worked well, but Ian preferred the play-dough method because it was easier to clean than sand.  Ian meticulously cleaned his plaster raptor fossil and porcupine track with a toothbrush and toothpicks.

Books:  How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Yolen;  Who Pooped in the Park? Yellowstone National Park: Scat and Tracks for Kids by Robson

Fall Leaves

 

Fall Leaves (to the tune of "London Bridges")

All the leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down

All the leaves are falling down, Falling to the ground.

Red & Yellow, Orange & Brown, Orange & Brown, Orange & Brown
Red & Yellow, Orange & Brown, Falling to the ground.

In the wind, they fly & twirl, fly & twirl, fly & twirl
In the wind, they fly & twirl, Falling to the ground

Rake the leaves into a pile, pile them up, pile them up
Rake the leaves into a pile.  Then let's jump right in!

Books:  Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Maestro;  Okomi Plays in the Leaves by Dorman;  Leaf Man by Ehlert

Music Together

We are currently enrolled in our 4th semester of Music Together classes.  Ian, Eric, and I take the weekly classes together.  The program focuses on teaching children to sing in tune and keep a beat, which Ian and Eric have learned to do.  We've accumulated a good collection of rhythm instruments at home and participatory music is part of our daily lives.  We also enjoy watching and listening to live music.  I'm not confident that I can sing in tune, but I can play many Music Together songs on a keyboard, which has been fun.  (I haven't regularly played an instrument since high school!)

Books:  Bebop Express by H.L. Panahi

Potato Gleaning

A local family farm invited homeschoolers to visit during potato harvesting time.  First we watched the potato sorting process.  Dump trucks slowly unloaded potatoes into a series of conveyors where loose dirt falls out, and dirt clods & misshapen potatoes are pulled out by hand.  Fallen dirt was cleared out with a bobcat.  It looked like the entire extended family was working that day.

Next we went to the field where the potatoes were being machine harvested and loaded into dump trucks.  We gleaned small potatoes that were left by the machine.


The potatoes are stored in a huge pile in an enclosed building.  During the winter, the potatoes are washed & packaged on-site, and then sold as seed potatoes (certified disease free).


Books:  We Gather Together by Pfeffer

Logging Grapple

A favorite documentary at our house is Loggers: From Chainsaw to Sawmill in British Columbia by Dylan Winter.  So the boys were excited to see a grapple truck working behind the library.  The workers were removing a large tree that had fallen across a stream.  The chainsaw operator cut the log into pieces, and then the grapple operator picked up the chucks of wood and placed them into the truck.

Ian commented that the work would go faster if there was a third person standing behind the truck directing the grapple so the chainsaw operator wouldn't have to walk back and forth.  We also discussed the difference between the equipment used at this small operation and what would be used for logging.  After visiting the library, we watched the workers put the smaller branches into a tree chipper.

Books:  The Truck Book by McNaught;  All About Tools by Hood

Crab Apple Creations

We found some crab apple trees with branches low enough for Ian & Eric to easily pick apples.  The boys made triangular and square towers with crab apples and toothpicks.  Ian connected all of the towers into one big structure.

Another day, I made crab apple prints while the kids painted natural disasters (tornadoes, forest fires) with their apples and brushes. 

We also made apple crisp with granny smith apples.  Ian loves using the apple peeler, corer, slicer!

Books:  The Apple Pie Tree by Hall

Trout in Yellowstone Lake

The program at Museum of the Rockies this week was about trout in Yellowstone Lake.  We learned how to identify native Yellowstone cutthroat trout and non-native lake trout.  Then we made magnet fishing poles and fish with paper clips.  At home, the boys play fished in a spot where there's enough cutthroat fish for the grizzly bears and people, so the boys could eat all the caught fish at their fish fry!

Books:  River Song by Van Zandt;  Trout Are Made of Trees by Sayre;  Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant by Sayre

Grasshoppers

Grasshopper Activities:

• collected & observed live grasshoppers
• created nymph & adult grasshopper puppets
• "Nymph Grows Up" puppet show (Small Wonders by Garrett & Thomas)

Insect information and rearing sheets:
Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms

Books:  Insects: A Close-up Look by Seymour;  "Bugs" in Fun with Nature by Boring

Construction Sites

There's been many opportunities for observing construction work this summer: parking lot and road repair/paving, street painting & cleaning, building repair with tower crane,  roofing.

Ian enjoys blocking off our neighbors' sidewalks with cones for various pretend construction work and vehicle accidents.  Ian and I have been making road signs and oversize load signs for his vehicles.

At Digger Days, Ian and Eric sat in several different kinds of big machines and actually operated a mini excavator.

Books:  Machines at Work by Byron Barton;  Big Digs & Construction Sites by Fortunato-Chisena

Combine Harvesting

Yesterday we visited one of Mac's field sites.  We watched (up-close!) a small combine harvest wheat.  Ian was especially interested in how the combine was loaded onto a tipping trailer.  The boys decided that when they are old enough, Eric will drive the combine and Ian will collect wheat samples in bags.  We also collected grasshoppers.

Books:  Winter Wheat by Guiberson

Road Trip - Banff National Park, Cananda

Bicycling: Ian rode his bike about 16 km, his longest ride yet.
Wildlife: highway overpass crossings, bear tracking, elk & deer sightings
Farming, Glaciers, Road Construction, Gondolas, Hot Springs, Geology

Salt Painting

Salt paint creates an interesting texture and sparkles when dry.  Ian enjoyed making his own paint and mixing his own colors.

Liquid Salt Paint

mix 1 part salt, 1 part warm water, & food coloring

Thick Salt Paint

mix 3 parts flour & 1 part salt
add water to create desired consistancy
add food coloring