Iowa trip

The family went to Iowa early June to visit Kevin's family. While we were there we were sure to experience a little bit of history, and hands on fun. We visited the Capital building in Des Moines and had a great tour of the state offices and learned a little about politics. We also visited the law library where the kids enjoyed "reading" the old law books on the shelves. Outside the capital building are monuments and the kids enjoyed the head of Christopher Columbus. During our stay we visited a Military Museum, the Des Moines Zoo, and the Children's Museum...each place had a lot of hands on activities and lots to see, do, and learn!

Earth Day

There was an Earth Day Fair to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and the family attended it on Thursday. We had a great time walking around and talking to vendors about ways we can protect and reserve our planet. In the weeks leading up to Earth Day on April 22nd, we made buttons for our shirts, read stories, made t-shirts, learned about Recycling, reducing, and reusing, discussed how planting trees are important and planted a tree from a seed (and it is now sprouting!), we planted our garden seeds in small containers and have them in our green house waiting to be transplanted in our garden in the weeks to come, and Kevin planned a clean up day with the kids on Earth Day by picking up the garbage in the revene behind our property.

Home Made Pasta

Today we made home made pasta...it was really fun and easy...and suprisingly not as messy as I had anticipated! The pasta tasted yummy too! We are working on putting our pictures into a movie for you...stay tuned.

Anatomy

We are learning about the parts of our body...so the kids drew each other and then pasted parts of their body together to make a person...YES! they are a little scary looking... but oh so fun to have life size bodies hanging on my walls!!! LOL

I realize I have not updated this blog since before Christmas...So here is all the stuff we have done: Reading: Camden has completed the Bob Books series 2 and is now reading first step readers independently. Riley is still reading the Bob Books, however she IS reading them! Writing: Both kids have been writing one letter a day, both upper and lower case; also they have been keeping a journal in which they have to write 6 words describing the given topic. Language Arts: We have finished discussing short vowels sounds and have moved on to long vowel sounds, as well as defining noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and pronoun (mostly done with Mad Libs). Math: Riley has started reading and solving addition sentences. Camden is still practicing addition and subtraction, as well as telling time and reading time. We will be moving into measurements next. Riley will be learning time next. Social Studies: Both kids have been learning about Ancient Egypt...we even wrote our names in Heiroglyphics with Charcoal! Science: We are combining science with art and environment...so we are growing a tree from a seed, we have discovered that primary colors combined can make secondary colors, and we have learned that salt water is more dense than fresh water. Art: We have discovered color and lines, as well as compared different works of art and discussed how the colors portray certain feelings. These have been the academics in a nutshell.