Sunday, April 29, 2007 - Our Adventure with Storm In The Night
We finished up our school week with Storm In The Night this afternoon. Due to a few unexpected interruptions we had a few things that needed finishing up. Oddly enough, after all the miles we've traveled, we found ourselves studying Tennessee this week. The library here has very little on the United States, much less the brake down of each state, so it was nice to have a little background information all ready on hand. With a few tidbits from the internet we had enough information to make due with.
The boys fully enjoyed having a "Tennessee" meal, all though I have to say I nearly pulled my hair out attempting to make biscuits without my trusty Bisquick Heart Smart. I know, what kind of person uses the "cheaty" method, the kind who doesn't eat biscuits very often! Our fried chicken was oven baked too, but the boys didn't mind one little bit. I promise you though, the potatoes really were potatoes!
With our journey of learning this week we touched some basic topics on punctuation. To my amazement Morgan informed me that he would like to do sentences with question marks because he liked to draw them best! I do not ever recall touching the topic of punctuation with him. I figured we'd get there eventually, and with all the books we read he's bound to pick it up. I guess he was two jumps ahead of me!
For math the boys enjoyed making patterns on their paper quilts as well as learning to tell time on the hour and on the half hour. Morgan is delighted to be able to look at the clock and really know what time it is. Of course he's only covered two of the major minute numbers, so we still have plenty of work there, all in due time.
Much to my amusement while doing vocabulary words Morgan was completely baffled as to the use of "errand" in our story. In the story the grandfather is telling his grandson a story (you should really read the book!) and he's telling a tale of when his dog, Melvin, was caught out in a storm. He told his grandson, "The day came when Melvin was off on some errand of his own." I explained to the boys that an errand is when you go out to do something, like pick up something from the shop, go to the library, drop off a video, post a letter. The list went on. Morgan sat there for a minute and then said, "Mom, exactly what kind of errand was Melvin on?" We had a lot of fun guessing!
The boys had a blast painting on real canvas today. We were working on blending colors (white and blue) to come up with varying shades for a storm cloud. We didn't have a proper scroll brush to work on raindrops, but Daddy and Morgan made do anyway. There's even a few yellow lighting bolts on the picture.
Thanks to the Lord's perfect timing we even enjoyed a few days of rain to go along with the book. None of the wild storms we are use to, all though I think Jayden is still on the ever present look out for thunder. This of course was not helped by his brother explaining that when we see green clouds it means a tornado is coming.
I'm so glad our science experiments had to wait until today, because we were able to use the rain to our complete advantage! I'm sure the neighbors might have wondered what was up with all the darting in and our and the whoops of laughter coming when the rain kept falling. The boys really love science, and they were completely delighted with the experiments we tried this week.
First we made some rain inside on our own. We stretched a bit of felt over a wide mouthed jar and rubberbanded it in place. Next we each guessed exactly how many raindrops our felt cloud could take before it spilled them down like rain. We figured Morgan was going to be way off with his guess of 98, but half the fun for them is seeing who comes closest to being right. So off Daddy went one drop of water at a time, letting it gently drip onto our felt. When we rounded the 30's we just looked at each other and kept right on counting. When we hit the 70's Morgan said, "Have I won!" It took exactly 87 drops of water before our poor felt cloud could hold no more. Morgan did, indeed, come closest to having the correct guess.
Next we decided to see what raindrops look like up close and personal. So the boys took their newly painted umbrellas outside and held out a piece of dark colored paper. We then ran back inside and looked at them with our magnifying glasses. Morgan was really amazed by all the different shapes and sizes. He was very sure they'd all be the same.
Lastly we each took a turn guessing which puddle outside would dry up first. The one in the sand, the dirt, the grass, or the concrete. Jayden guessed the dirt and was right on with that guess too. I figured with the ground being so dry the grass would drink it up just as quickly, but it was a step behind the dirt. Daddy figured the sand would get it soaked up first, and Morgan picked the concrete. We all learned something new today!
We also took a mini poll to see who likes rain and who doesn't. The idea was to graph the results, but we had more fun decorating our giant raindrops and never officially counted the votes. All though most us of were very grateful for the rain, so I believe Jayden was the only one frowning over the weather. I suspect this had something to do with the fact that he wanted to ride his bike..
Comments
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by socalval
Great Blog! I enjoyed my visit. Feel free to stop by and visit with me any time.
Valerie
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - :)
Posted by CarpeBanana
sounds like you have a lot of fun in school. :)
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