John the Baptist ate locusts and honey. The honey I understand. The locusts… not so much. That’s definitely living off the land.
Monthly Archives: January 2011
Ani’s Favorites at Nearly 11
What’s your favorite color? green
Favorite TV show? Psych
Favorite movie? Passage to Zarahemla
Favorite person? Adrian
Favorite place? American Girl store
Favorite veggie? beans
Favorite thing to eat for dinner? summer tomato pasta
Favorite breakfast food? toaster strudels
Favorite fruit? lemon
Favorite dessert/treat? cream puffs
Favorite snack? popcorn
Favorite place to eat out/restaurant? Mexico Restaurant
Favorite animal? panda
Favorite toy? Mim (Bitty Baby)
Favorite book? Warriors Omen of the Stars: Night Whispers
Favorite letter? A
Favorite number? 11
Cameron’s Favorites at 9 years old
What’s your favorite color? blue
Favorite TV show? Psych
Favorite movie? Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Favorite person? Jesus
Favorite place? Six Flags
Favorite veggie? carrots
Favorite thing to eat for dinner? Mexican Rice Bowl
Favorite breakfast food? cereal
Favorite fruit? grapes
Favorite dessert/treat? hard cookies
Favorite snack? granola bars
Favorite place to eat out/restaurant? Pizza Hut
Favorite animal? ferret
Favorite toy? Legos
Favorite book? don’t really have one
Favorite letter? C
Favorite number? 8
Pop-ups
A week or so ago Cameron watched a YouTube video on how to make pop-ups. He made a whole bunch and had a great time with them. So, when he got to lesson 96 in Calvert 2 we both cracked up to see that it had instructions on how to make pop-ups and the assignment to make one. I told him he did not have to do that assignment since he’s so recently made several, but he didn’t want to pass up the chance to make another.
First, he folds the paper and then cuts and folds a bit of it to make the base for where the pop-up will stand from.
Then, he draws a picture and colors it in and cuts it out.
Finally, he attaches the cut out picture to the base stand part and he’s got a cute pop-up card.
Egg Examination
In science the other day Ani learned about birds and examined an egg. First she looked at the outside of the shell with a hand lens. She could easily see the pores that way.
After she cracked open the egg she looked at the membrane inside the shell and filled half the shell with water. This showed her how the pores let oxygen pass in and out of the egg, but keep water inside.
Then she examined the egg itself. She saw the three different layers, the yolk, the thick white, and the runny white and identified what each layer is for. She found the white bit that an embryo would attach to as well.
Finally, she drew a picture of what she had observed and labeled the parts.
Fritz’s Favorites at 4 1/2
I asked Fritz these same questions about a year ago. I thought it would be fun to see what his answers are now.
What’s your favorite color? blue
Favorite TV show? Mario
Favorite movie? Mario
Favorite person? Ani
Favorite place? playground
Favorite veggie? cookie
Favorite thing to eat for dinner? pickles
Favorite breakfast food? cereal and milk
Favorite fruit? banana
Favorite dessert/treat? popcorn
Favorite snack? bananas
Favorite place to eat out/restaurant? McDonald’s
Favorite animal? guinea pig
Favorite toy? Legos
Favorite book? Mario
Favorite letter? B
Favorite number? 10
The Fish Bottle
After my grandmother died I was asked if there was anything I wanted. The only thing I could thing of was the fish bottle. My parents gave the fish bottle to my grandfather many years ago. It’s still sealed, though quite a bit of the wine (I think it was white originally!) has evaporated.
The reason I wanted it is because my siblings and I used to play bar whenever we went to my grandparents’ house. They had a bar in the basement of their house (even though they were not drinkers – it was more to display their neat bottles – like the fish bottle – than anything else). They always kept water, lemon and lime squeezies, dixie cups, and pads of paper and pens down there. We spent a lot of time taking orders from each other and “mixing drinks.” We’d pretend to get stuff out of the bottles and then add water and lemon and lime to the cups.
When my grandparents moved away from that house, they took some of the more interesting bottles with them. The fish bottle was one of them. And so, because of the lovely memories associated with it, it is the only thing I really wanted. It sits in my corner cabinet (which originally belonged to my other grandmother). I smile every time I see it.
First Day of Kindergarten
Yesterday was Fritz’s first day of Calvert Kindergarten. The first lesson lasted about an hour which was the perfect length for him. He had a lot of fun and was very excited to finally be a kindergartener for real.
Before we got started I had him show me just how excited he was to be in kindergarten.
I gave him various objects (Legos, Duplos, utensils, and connecting cubes) and had him sort them based on different characteristics (uses, sizes, types, etc.).
I introduced him to his first real “textbook” (workbook, really), Calvert Math. He was very happy to now have things like his big siblings.
We talked about the first three pages and did some oral classifying and organizing exercises using them.
He took his first ever Math Checkpoint (basically a daily quiz).
We talked about what school is and different types of schools. He told me his news (that he got two new pencils). He went through his new school supplies.
I read Goldilocks and the Three Bears to him and we talked about. He has a lot more comprehension questions to answer in kindergarten than he had in preschool. He wrote his name (he knew the first letter was F and just needed me to give him the rest of the letters one by one, but he knew how to write them). He drew a picture of himself at the Three Bears’ house.
We sang the ABC song and we went over the letter Aa. He did two pages in his Practice book, one on A and one on a.
We learned The Three Little Kittens complete with motions. Here he is doing the motion for the line “And they began to cry.”
He practiced cutting corners properly by turning the paper at each corner.
We talked about different ways to make things go. He demonstrated several ways of making himself go including dancing, running, spinning, and hopping.
He made other things go by using air and blowing on them.
He made things go by pushing them, too.
The last thing he did was his Reading Checkpoint. He was definitely completely tickled to have little on-line quizzes like Ani and Cameron do. Definitely an excellent start to Fritz’s kindergarten year!
Smaller on the Outside 