Animal Classification: Enrichment and Extensions: The Jungle Book

We are extremely privileged to have a very elaborate pop up version of the classic story The Jungle Book.

 The boys looked through it and enjoyed all the pop ups that really made the story come to life. 

Jacob thought the tiger was really cool, but really fierce. So we colored a picture of one to add to our animals bulletin board.

As a family we also watched the Disney cartoon The Jungle Book, which was a big hit

We can eat a rainbow!

I am doing a health and money unit and I am getting the kids ready to be money smart and health smart. I set a really simple activity for the boys.

I pulled out the color cards from Kizclub and the bin of play food and gave the instructions to match it up and then a short explanation of why we should eat foods of different colors and why we need variety in our diet. This one was a huge success with Benji who loves our play food.

Money! Money! Money!

I am trying to get my kids ready for a unit that will be about both money and healthy eating. To kick things off though, I need to get them oriented with the coins. I am using the large demo coins that came with our saxon math units and I am using some play money from Lakeshore Learning, but you can find some at cool money printable from printable 4 kids that work just as great along with some other cool activities.

The activities I have my kids mastering are:

Matching and identifying coins

And using counting and skip counting to add coins. Again, You can easily create your own cards to what ever amount you think is helpful for you child.

Hopefully in a few days we will be setting up the playroom as a store and I can send the boys shopping. We will be shopping for healthy foods and be making our own food pyramids. So stay tuned. If you want some cool worksheets to work on money with you kids, I found some at super teacher worksheets.

Hang man....ok not really.

In my pursuit to find new ways to learn to read and spell new words I remembered an old standby from when I was in grade school. I played hang man and was very good at it. I always figured Jacob was too young for this game, but I revamped it and now it is just right.

1. I pulled out our word sticks that I made  a while back, a basket of letter magnets, and a dry erase marker eraser set. 

    2. You pull a word and then make lines for all the letters in the word and put all the magnets on the board. As they guess letters to build the words, you build the stick man following the traditional rules. I didn't make the man "hang" because I am not ready to explain to my young ones why anyone person would want to make a person do that. 

Anyway, Jacob loved the game and it was a great way to do spelling and word memory with out pain. 

It's been a few days.....

and I asked my self, "where does the time go?" It's been a crazy hectic couple of days for us. We came into possession of a western painted turtle and he passed away. He had a crack in his shell and it fell off and it was just too much for him and he died. The boys were ok, knowing that "sheldon" was very hurt. We are now trying to move on from this sad moment. Thankfully the boys still want a pet even with knowledge that it can potentially die.

 In other news Jacob and I went to our city hall for a rally.

We wanted to show our support for getting a space shuttle to our local city. It is a great way to inspire learning, discovery, and ingenuity and would love to have it. It was time well spent that day. Jacob got to meet all the Houston sports mascots and then we went across the street to a farmers market. The market was really cool. There was a girl who raised goats with her little sister, a man who had eggs in what seemed every color and bread of every type and more. Oh and the weather couldn't have been nicer. If you want to know more about getting a shuttle to NASA you can go to http://www.bringtheshuttlehome.com/

Oh and with out further ado, I have chosen the colors for the playroom/classroom. I had a great time looking at a lot of options and I finally chose a robin's egg blue.


I think it will bounce off of the red and white storage bins we have nicely and create a warm and still inviting room. I will also use it in the boys bedroom and get some red sheets and make their quilts my self.
               Apparently I like to be adventurous!

I looked out the window and what did I see?.....Our new class pet!

Introducing: "Sheldon"

My neighbor knocked on our door this morning and in her hands was a box. She informed my husband that there was a turtle in it and asked if we wanted it.

He then said "hold on, let me get my wife..." and of course I thought this would be an awesome pet for the boys. So I came inside for a moment and we already had our first adventure because he climbed out of the box during that short time and went really far down the lawn. I am just glad he didn't try to cross the street! He was very hard to find since he blends in with our landscape. We picked him up and put some big rocks in the pond for him and put him in his new home....our small pond.

I actually don't know a thing about raising turtles, but am going to after a few trips to the library. The boys are thrilled to be the proud owners of the little turtle. Let the adventure begin.

I was actually contemplating getting them a pet, but it was going to be a fish in a bowl. I have to say this has already been way more exciting. The boys are now drawing pictures and talking up a storm about their turtle and Jacob has even made one out of legos!

http://www.petturtle.com/

It's a Party...

And you're invited! You can find the Ultimate Blog Party host here and if you want to join the party just link up too! There are prizes to win and blog friends to be made so join the party April 1st through the 8th.

Here are the rad prizes and how to enter:

Prizes!

Oh and don’t forget to enter for the prizes! THIS YEAR we are handling prizes DIFFERENTLY…

To enter to win the Prizes on the Prize Page you must fill out a PRIZE ENTRY FORM. You can submit it any time before midnight Friday April 8th. So take your time and browse the prize listings, because in your entry form you will have the chance to indicate your top prize choices from the incredible Ultimate Blog Party 2011 Prize Pool!

We will ALSO do separate random draws for a $100 Visa Gift Card from our Featured Prize Sponsors for each of the Linky Lists and for two $100 Land’s End Gift Cards drawn from the Comments section.

About me: Hi, I am Sarah, a former Navy rocket scientist turned stay at home mom. I love homeschooling my kids and helping them learn the honor courage and commitment I did with the love of Jesus Christ. With each step of the way I like to blog and share it.

I love reading so don't forget to comment so I can see the wonder of your fabulous world too!

Field Trip!

Today we had lots of sunshine all around, so why sit inside.....

We headed out to an awesome park that had not just one, but three play structures adjacent to each other. It was marvelous! I have to say, I am now a huge advocate for those huge coverings. It was at least 15 degrees cooler under them.

Benji continued his love affair with climbing and sliding

And Jacob was loving the activity centers on the playground

This place was a winner and I have no doubt we will be back again!

Other highlights include Jacob taking on a kite by him self

And Benji being king of the rock wall.

And this green and yellow tube tunnel