Friday, July 19, 2013

The Plan: We didn't have one! After spending Thursday out at an amusement park and having a late dinner out with friends, we counted on a lazy day at home.

How it went:  It was mostly a lazy day, but the kids asked me to read this book, so I did.  It's a pretty cute book too!

Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Butterflies and Moths by Jim Arnosky

Concepts Covered:

• Butterflies and moths are among the most numerous of insects
• In the Order of insects called lepidoptera
• Lepidoptera means scaled wings
• Scales rub off like powder
• Microscopic scales give wings color
• Anatomy
• Antennae
• Moths have feathery antennae
• Forewing
• Hindwing
• Head 
• Thorax
• Abdomen
• Butterflies rest with wings upright
• Moths rest with wings folded down
• Monarchs are most recognized with orange and black pattern
• Viceroy butterfly resembles monarch (it's a bit smaller)
• Other butterflies
• White Admiral
• Red Admiral
• Zebra Longwing
• Diana
• Mourning Cloak
• California Sister
• Have to approach butterflies slowly to get close
• Swallowtails have little tails on their wings
• Zebra Swallowtail
• Tiger Swallowtail
• Black Swallowtail
• If you wait until a butterfly lands and starts to feed,  you can get close
• When sipping nectar, butterflies don't pay attention to much else
• Sip nectar through proboscis, long hollow tube
• Proboscis can be unfurled to reach deep in a flower
• Common wildflowers that butterflies like
• Queen Anne's Lace
• Clover
• Milkweed
• Thistle
• Caterpillars like plant leaves
• Butterfly begins life as a caterpillar
• Change from a caterpillar to butterfly is called metamorphosis
• Life Cycle of Butterfly
• Egg
• Hatches into a caterpillar (larva)
• Caterpillar eats green leaves
• Grows fast
• When grown it curls up and forms a hard shelled case around it - chrysalis
• Inside Chrysalis the caterpillar changes into a butterfly
• When the time is right the butterfly breaks out, unfurls wings and flies away
• Caterpillar types shown
• Monarch
• California Sister
• Black Swallowtail
• Zebra Longwing
• Not all Butterflies are big and boldly patterned, but rather small and soft, pastel shades
• Yellow, Blue, Copper, White
• Orange Bordered Blue
• Cloudless Sulphur
• Purplish Copper
• Cabbage White
• Alfalfa Butterfly
• Dogface Butterfly
• Acadian Hairstreak
• Common Blue
• Butterflies with Mottled or Checkered Patterns
• Checkerspot
• Painted Lady
• Checkered Skipper
• Crescentspot
• Most butterflies like sunny open places
• Some butterflies like the woods
• Brown Elfins
• Wood Satyrs
• Woodland butterflies are mostly brown and gray
• Have to look harder for them
• Butterflies are day fliers
• Moths fly at night
• Moths are attracted to light (we don't know why)
• Types
• Cutworm Moth
• Dried Leaf Moth
• Maple Spanworm Moth
• Gypsy Moth
• During the day, Moths sleep on trees or brush camoflaged against bark
• Moths have the same life cycle as butterflies, starting as eggs and hatching as caterpillars
• Isabella Moths are better known as Woolly Bear Caterpillars
• Geometer Moths are better known as Inchworm Caterpillars
• Moth Caterpillars (depending on species) eat plant leaves, stems, fruit, grain, flour, and clothes
• Moths feed on nectar as adults
• Some moths are known for their size
• Big Poplar Sphinx Moth
• Polyphemus Moth
• Luna Moth
• Regal Moth
• Cecropia Moth
• Underwing Moths are hard to find when at rest because their closed forewings are completely camoflaged
• But when they spread their wings, you see a colorful underwing
• Sweatheart underwing
• Some moths aren't night fliers
• Forester Moth
• Ctenucha Moth
• Hummingbird Moth

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Plan:
Outdoor Activity: Ride to another Park

Literacy/Science: Read "Can You Tell a Butterfly From a Moth?" by Buffy Silverman

Art: Butterfly and Moth Handprint Painting

Clean up Art Area, Steam Floor

Science/Art: Document Crystal Growth

Swim Lessons

Math (RJ): How many letters does Harry have?  Math worksheet

Math (L): Counting Dots (while I'm cutting out the numbers to put on duplos for another activity)

How it went:

Outdoor Activity: Another successful outing to the park, this time to meet friends and play.

Literacy/Science: We read the book (concepts covered will be below), the kids liked it.  RJ paid more attention than L.

Art: Both kiddos enjoyed making their butterflies and moths.  I painted their hands following their directions and then they used their hands to form the wings of the butterflies and moths.  Not unexpectedly, L quit after printing his butterflies, when RJ went on to make moths too.  We also discovered that apparently fairly new black tempera paint can explode and smell like sour milk.  I shook the (less than a year old) bottle and when I opened it, it basically shot out and sprayed my neck (thankfully missing my face) and continued to bubble out when I ran to get a rag to clean it up.  I've never had that happen before!

Crystal Growth: Unfortunately we did not get around to this today.  RJ looked at it, but didn't document.

Swim lessons/Math: The boys have back to back lessons (unfortunately they couldn't fit them into classes at the same time), which gives me a little time with each of them when the other is in class.  When RJ was in his class, L matched capital and lowercase letters.  I had planned on him drawing and counting dots, but he was more interested in the letters and I was able to keep cutting out the words and numbers while working with him that way. When L was in class, RJ worked on the Harry Potter Math Sheet.  I was hoping he would finish it, but he stopped after 4+4, so we will have to continue with that later.  He ended up drawing a little and playing with other kids waiting.

Butterfly Concepts Covered:

• Butterflies and moths look alike
• Adults have 4 wings
• Wings are covered in tiny scales
• Scales give wings their colors
• Butterflies and Moths are insects
• Adult insects have six legs
• Tell butterflies and moths apart by their colors
• Butterfly wings are bright
• Moth wings are dull
• Usually gray or brown
• More kinds of moths than butterflies
• Butterflies fly during the day
• Moths fly at night (usually)
• Most are noctural (active at night)
• They tend to fly near porch lights
• Butterfly folds wings up at rest
• Moths spread wings at rest
• Butterfly body is skinny
• Moth body is fat and fuzzy
• Insects have antennae
• Use them to feel, taste, and smell
• Butterfly antennae have knobs on the ends
• Moth antennae do not have knobs and can be feathery
• Wave their antennae to smell flowers 
• Moths and butterflies use antennae to smell for a mate
• Butterfly unrolls a long tube and pushes it into a flower to eat
• Tube is the butterfly's mouth
• Sips nectar (a sweet liquid) from the flower
• [I asked RJ what the tube was called and he recalled "proboscis"]
• Moths eat the same way
• All insects start life as eggs
• Caterpillars hatch from butterfly and moth eggs
• Caterpillars eat leaves and grow
• Caterpillars molt (shed old skin and have new skin underneath)
• Molt many times as they grow
• [Asked RJ how many times. He recalled 4 from the other books]
• [Based on pictures we noted that moth caterpillars were fuzzier than butterfly caterpillars]
• Moth caterpillars hide under leaves or soil when done growing
• There, they spin a cocoon
• Cocoon is made of silk
• Covers the caterpillar tightly
• Inside the cocoon the caterpillar sheds its skin again
• Grows 4 wings and six long legs
• Changes into a moth
• Butterfly caterpillars attach themselves to a leaf or branch with a strong silk button
• Hangs upside down from the leaf
• Molts one more time
• Hard shell called a chrysalis forms around it
• Inside it changes into a butterfly
• Butterflies and moths fly in gardens, meadows, and woods
• Some spots on butterfly or moth wings fool creatures that eat them (like the pictured moth whose spots look like owl eyes
• Caterpillars also rick some hunting birds and insects
• Tiger swallowtail caterpillar looks like bird poop, so other animals leave it alone
• Older tiger swallowtail caterpillar has spots on its back looking like eyes, making it look like a snake
• Monarchs taste bad, so they are avoided

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Plan:

Outdoor Activity: Bike Ride to Park

Literacy: Write First Blog Entry, Document yesterday's crystal experiment

Logan's Gymnastics Class:  RJ write a thank you note

Science: Crystal Ball

Art: Draw Crystal, Easel Painting

Swimming

How it went:

Bike Ride: We got a later start than I had hoped, but we eventually got the bike trailer hooked up for L and rode over to the park, which is about a mile away.  We played for a while and headed back.  I was pleasantly surprised with RJ's endurance and we even managed to stop at a yard sale we passed on the way home.

Literacy: RJ wrote his welcome message for his first blog post.  However, his blog posts are likely to be short because he is only content to be writing and spelling for so long.  We did not work on the Crystal post.

Thank you note:  I was able to convince RJ to write one of his Thank You notes while L was in his gymnastics class, which means that in a few weeks, maybe he will have finally finished them all.

Science: We didn't get around to the crystal ball experiment.  I was trying to get some of the house clean, and they were engaged with playing other things on their own.

Art: RJ did draw his growing crystal for day 2.  Logan was completely uninterested in drawing or painting and insisted on doing his own thing.

Swimming: We didn't get in the pool as we just ran out of time until it was time to make dinner.

Monday, July 15, 2013

The Plan:

Outdoor Activity: Ride bikes to our local playground

Math Activity: Harry Potter Color by Math Problem

Literacy (and Science): Read "The Butterfly" by Sabrina Crewe, Start RJ's Blog, Write one birthday thank you note and take pictures.
Science Activity: Crystal Growing (Start, Document on RJ's Blog)

Art Activity: Draw Crystal as it is now

Swimming in the Pool

How it Went:

Playground:  This was supposed to be a standard ride around the block to the playground, play, and come back before it got too hot.  First, L wanted the balance bike instead of the pedal bike (which has the push bar).  I really want him to work on his pedaling, but as long as he was doing something other than walking there, I let him choose.  It was just a lot slower, since I couldn't speed him up with the push bar.  Then RJ found the inches deep puddle from the sprinklers and spent the rest of the time riding back and forth through it on his bike.  L insisted on following him, but unlike RJ, was wearing his sneakers rather than crocs or sandals (which I purposely put on him because he hates getting bark in his sandals!), and immediately got angry that they got wet, even though I did warn him that they would and that I didn't have his sandals with me.  So he got mad, took them off and just ran through the puddle.  I try to pick my battles wisely, and running through the large puddle was fine by me as long as he knew that I didn't have dry clothes immediately available and that he did, in fact, need to wear clothing on the way home (for sun protection mostly, I could care less about public 3 year old nudity).  He did need some convincing to let me get his shoes back on to head home though.  Anyway, this playground trip and the short trip to and from it took a lot longer than usual!

Harry Potter Color-by-Number:  I'm officially in love with the person who created all these Harry Potter worksheets.  I am normally anti-worksheet, but these seemed fun and related to what RJ & L are most into these days, so I decided to try them.  I figured that coloring by number was too simple for RJ, so I blacked out the numbers in the key and put in 7 easy addition problems where the sum matched the number paired with the color.  I gave L one, in its original configuration, since he does know his numbers and I colored the words, so he didn't have to read to know which color he should use.  He was happy to do the first color, but then quit and refused to do any more coloring, even when I told him that he could color it however he wanted.  He really doesn't like drawing/coloring for more than 5 seconds, which I'm trying to work on, looking for things that will interest him.  At 3.5, I'm not super concerned though, and we just find other ways to work on fine motor control.  Given that he LOVES destroying and creativity reassembling all of RJ's lego minifigures on a regular basis, I'm confident that he has pretty good dexterity.  RJ loved this though and stayed engaged the whole time, taking his time and coloring neatly, even!

The Butterfly - The book mostly reinforced what we've already learned about the butterfly life cycle, but there are a few new concepts too.  I'll list the theme concepts covered below.

RJ's Blog - RJ and I talked over the weekend about him having his own blog to document science projects and write stories to share.  So today, we actually set one up on his google account (which I created a LONG time ago when I needed more space on Picasa for our family photos), picked the name, and selected the background, template, and layout.  Now we just have to add entries.

Birthday Note: We didn't get to this.  We really have to - it's been a few weeks since his birthday party!

Crystal Growing:  This was part of a science kit, so it was basically reading a blurb about crystals provided by them (of course RJ just focused on the fact that they mentioned that some people believe that crystals have magical or medicinal properties), boiling some water, mixing the crystal growing powder in and pouring it over a rock.  He seemed to like the process, but I was a bit disappointed because the powder didn't dissolve in the boiling water fully as it was supposed to.  I'm hoping the crystal will still grow, but we'll have to wait and see.

Once we finished preparing our rock for growing a crystal, RJ drew a picture of it as is, and labeled it "Crystal  Day 1"

Swimming: The boys mostly played Quidditch in our small pool, using noodles as brooms and a shovel as the "snitch".  Harry Potter has even taken the swimming pool by storm.

Butterfly Theme Concepts Covered:

• Butterflies lay their eggs on leaves
• Eggs are tiny
• After 4 days caterpillars emerge
• Caterpillars are very small
• First food is their eggshell
• Caterpillars eat leaves
• Caterpillars grow fast
• Caterpillars' skin spilts when it gets too tight
• a new looser skin is underneath
• New skin is colorful with stripes
• Caterpillar has many legs
•  6 front legs
• Help caterpillar feed
• 10 back legs
• Legs have hooks to help caterpillar hold onto plants
• Caterpillars have predators
• Colors tell predators that it tastes bad
• Fully grown at 18 days
• Caterpillar sheds skin 4 times
• When it's full grown, it attaches its tail end to a plant
• Pupa stage is when the caterpillar forms the chrysalis
• Caterpillar's skin splits again as it's forming a chrysalis
• Skin of chrysalis is soft, but hardens soon
• Chrysalis has tiny holes to let air in and out
• Inside the creature is completely changing shape 
• [I added what we read from another book: Remember that the caterpillar actually turns to liquid and the cells reorganize to form a butterfly.]
• At two weeks the chrysalis has turned more transparent and you can see the butterfly inside
• Chrysalis splits and the butterfly crawls out
• Butterfly has wings and antennae
• Butterfly has only 3 pairs of legs
• Butterfly's wings are initially crumpled and wet
• Blood pumps into their veins, the wings stretch
• Dries the wings in the sun
• Wings are covered in scales
• Two wings on each side of body
• Scales give butterfly its colors
• Colors warn predators that the butterfly tastes bad
• Butterfly eats nectar from flowers through a proboscis  
• [I added that the proboscis is a tubelike tongue that they drink through]
• Butterflies like warmth
• In the fall, they migrate to warmer places
• They spend winter asleep on leaves and branches of trees
• Migrate back in the spring
• Butterflies have mating smells in their wings 
• Males and females find each other by the smell
• [I added that mating is what they do to make a baby, in this case eggs with caterpillars in them]
• Female butterfly lays eggs on a leave
• She leaves the eggs to hatch on their own
• Butterflies need wild places with wildflowers containing nectar and the right plants to lay their eggs on
• Parts of a Butterfly:
• Wings
• Covered in tiny hairy scales
• Thorax
• Middle part of the body [I added that it had the legs]
• Abdomen 
• Rear part of the body
• Antennae
• Used to smell and sense things around them
• Head
• Front part of the body
• Proboscis
• Used for sucking nectar
• Rolled up when not feeding
• Compound eyes
• Made of hundreds of tiny eyes that each see part of the whole picture
• Feet
• Used to walk
• Used to taste plants before eating or laying eggs on them
• Butterflies are insects
• All insects have three parts to their body 
• Head
• Thorax
• Abdomen
• 6 legs
• Wings
• Butterflies in this book were monarchs
• Other butterflies
• Adonis Blue (Europe)
• Apollo (Europe)
• Marbled White (Europe)
• Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Southeast Asia)
• World's largest
• Long Tailed Skipper (North America) [Where we live]
• Red Admiral (Northern Hemisphere) [Whole top of the globe]
• Australian Beak (Australia)
• Easter Tiger Swallowtail (North America)
• Monarch Butterflies live in North America and migrate North and South across America in certain routes (pictured)

  

Summer Vacation 2013 and the Invasion of Harry Potter

I have long abandoned the idea that this blog would be the perfect, continually updated source for parents who want to use thematic curriculum at home.  In some ways, it's a failed experiment that I just refuse to drop completely, because I haven't been really doing the research I set out to in the beginning, or at least I haven't analyzed my data from the first couple of themes.  In other ways, it's a realistic picture of what a parent can do when they are a stay at home parent of two children with a spouse who, due to a long commute, is gone for long hours every day.  The reality is that I don't get very much planning time (none if we are busy on the weekends) and our focus shifts depending on what's going on.  With my oldest in Kindergarten, and my little one spending some time in his co-op and in his 2 hours, twice a week preschool gymnastics class, I was able to find some time this spring to implement a theme here and there around our other activities (swim lessons, gymnastics, playdates, planning for our ridiculously over-done thematic birthday parties, school work, making dinner, making lunch, cleaning the house, taking care of the cats, etc.).

May was the last month of school and I think both RJ and I were burnt out from it.  I was burnt out from the constant drain of finding new ways to get him to do his (boring) homework and I think he was just done with the whole thing.  We were also spending inordinate amounts of time focusing on preparing for RJ's birthday party, which transformed our home into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Yes, my now 6 year old has been obsessed with Harry Potter for a good year since we picked up the first book to read to him.  Some of the themes, especially in the later books (we're two chapters from the end of Half Blood Prince) that we're getting to now, are quite advanced for a young elementary school kid, but he was so interested in the books when my husband and I were reading them last year, that we decided to try it anyway.  I don't think that either of us expected him to be the Potterhead that he has become; rather expecting that he would be bored by listening to the stories without any pictures and quit the series before finishing the first book, thus avoiding having to discuss the more difficult story lines concerning death and being a double agent.  But that was not the case.  Instead he looked forward to us reading more and more, and seemingly absorbed every last deal, thus making it so that we have had to deal with all those difficult themes, and he's just kept on going.  Even around his Kindergarten work and my themes, Harry Potter was always present in his pretend play.  It wasn't until we were planning his birthday that I temporarily dropped the music theme and let him just focus on Harry Potter, of course bringing L along with him (he might only be 3.5, and has never had the books read to him, but he still knows and loves all the characters and the basic story just from playing with RJ and watching RJ play the Lego Harry Potter game on our Wii).

So for the month of May and much of June, we handcrafted wands, I sewed Harry Potter wizard robes, we cut fabric scraps to make owls out of toilet paper roles, we research "spells" for pretend play usage, we even put together a few potions at his birthday party (which of course required planning), we cooked food and treats that were depicted by J.K. Rowling, the boys played with the Harry Potter legos, and RJ had limited time to master his problem solving and hand-eye coordination by playing the Lego Harry Potter game on the Wii.  His birthday party came and went, and now, a couple of weeks after, we are midway through Summer Vacation and finally ready for a refocus of our activities.  The last couple of weeks have been fairly unplanned and random (around our regular activities of course), which is nice to do from time to time, but with vacation time withering away, we want to make sure that we cover all the things that we want to, before the grind of the school year starts up again!

Our activities are going to include a mix of themes for a little while.  We are going to be getting some caterpillars in the mail in a couple of weeks, courtesy of a birthday gift, and so we will be spending a good deal of energy on taking care of the caterpillars/butterflies, and documenting their development and learning about them.  I also have some random activities that don't fit themes that I've wanted to fit in for a while, and we have a lot of summer fun to engage in, like swimming and play dates, and field trips to various places that we're doing before school takes over our lives again.

So, stay tuned...I generally don't go MIA from this blog for TOO long before coming back.

Music Activities - Thursday May 2, 2013

The Plan:

Little Kid Co-op Hosting - 

Water Music Play 

Sprinkler

Singing - Bear Hunt, etc.

Rhythm Parade to Get RJ from school

PM - 

Go through Orchestra Book, talk about the instruments they want to.

Usborne Book - Review Classical & Orchestra, Cover Romantic

Cleaning out Car (not at all musical, but very necessary since it's a mess, inside and out) - we can play music while doing it though!

How it went:

The little kids (aged 2-3) loved playing in the water, exploring the different sounds, before they moved over to cooling off in the sprinkler.

We never did get around to any singing inside, as we spent more time making green cookies (they are cookies made with arugula & almond milk puree) than anything else. A good portion of our time indoors was spent getting into swimsuits, getting sunscreen on, changing diapers for the younger two kids (L has been potty trained since he was barely 2), and then getting dried off and dressed again when we came back in from outside.  I always underestimate how much time wardrobe changes take with 3 little ones!

After getting their lunch prepared and packed up, they all chose instruments to play during the walk to pick up RJ from Kindergarten.  We must be quite a sight with a full double stroller, RJ's razor scooter resting on the stroller handle, and one kid on my back in the ergo!  The kids did enjoy their walk, happily making music along the way.

The afternoon did not pan out at all.  My allergies (or maybe a cold, still not sure which) kicked in, and I was just exhausted and stuffy.  So, I let my two kids have free play while I rested.  It wasn't ideal, but sometimes you need an afternoon to just relax, so we did.

 

Music Activities - Tuesday April 30, 2013

The Plan:

Tuesday is cleaning day, but I try to take breaks to play with L.  RJ has Kindergarten in the morning and co-op in the afternoon, so all these activities are for L.  Like yesterday, I probably won't get to all of these, but it's nice to have options of what to do when I take breaks from the cleaning to play with L.

1.) Listening to Baroque & Classical Music while cleaning

2.) Looking at Pictures of the pages we already covered in Usborne book - reinforcing topics

3.) Making of a Piano video (since L missed it yesterday): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAInt7hIZlU
4.) Rhythm practice

5.) Pitch Practice

6.) Glee Karaoke (L's favorite song of the moment is Don't Stop Believing and I've been intending to catch him singing it on video)

How it went:

1.) L did want to listen to music, but he insisted on listening to a variety of different versions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing".  Luckily after the 4th version (We listened to the original and then 3 different Glee arrangements), he let the playlist continue.  We'll try Baroque & Classical music another day.

2.) Didn't get to this

3.) He did get to watch the video, and I was impressed it kept his attention the whole way through, since it was a bit technical. Even if he didn't absorb the details, I would file this experience under "It's better than him watching cartoons when I'm trying to sweep the living room floor".

4, 5, & 6.) We did not get around to these.  I suppose singing along to "Don't Stop Believing" on repeat was pretty much what we would've done with the Glee Karaoke on the Wii, just without the microphones and knowing if we were hitting the right notes.  Unlike the karaoke game, I was able to sweep the floor in our family room and kitchen as I was doing it, which was a bonus.  When we were in the family room sweeping (and listening to music), he brought out the drumsticks and was freely playing the drums (okay, he was playing the RockBand drum pad even though it wasn't on - his drum kit is in the other room) along with the music.



While you would think that L's obsession with one song would get old, I have to consider myself lucky that this time it's one of my favorite songs too.  It is completely normal for 3 year old children to crave repetition.  Most parents probably see this most clearly in their child's frequent requests for a favorite book or a favorite movie, but it's common to see lots of repetition in music choices and in children's play as well.  It makes sense from a developmental standpoint, because repetition, both with and without variation, allows for mastery of skills, as well as deeper understanding with each repetition.  Even in your own life, you probably find that you catch something new when you watch a movie for the second (or the 10th) time.  Since children don't necessarily grasp all aspects of the plot (for books or movies) or lyrics (for songs) the first time around, they choose to go back and try again (and again and again) until they fully understand it.  In L's case, he's heard the song here and there for a good portion of his life, because I like the song and it's featured in one or more of it's incarnations on at least three different heavy rotation playlists.  Something about it was interesting to him, and he latched onto it.  He started asking for it as his bedtime lullaby a few weeks ago, increasing his frequency of asking to play the song, and now he walks around the house singing parts of the chorus and also sings along to the verses and chorus when the song is playing.  With that said, it's a good bet that part of his motivation for this little obsession was learning the lyrics was that he could sing along like I do.

I think the main reason why we didn't engage in the book review, rhythm practice, or pitch practice today was because he wanted to build with legos for our longer cleaning break in the morning.  So, I was spending time with him in between the cleaning, just not on music themed stuff.  It happens.  I try to maintain a balance of child-led play and adult-led activities, and some days have more of one while others feature more of the other.  It really depends on how much RJ & L are engaged in their free play and how the lulls in their play fit in with the times that I'm free for playing (because while I'd love to always be able to play, the house doesn't clean itself, nor does dinner cook itself, etc.)