Co-op continues to be a fun place to learn and grow, with weekly classes in music, art, and phy ed. I got to be a helper in Olivia's class this month. It was fun to watch her interact with her friends and see the many cool things they are working on, including drumming! Both kids enjoy connecting with friends during this time.
We did an experiment about bird beaks during our animal structures unit in science. The kids used chopsticks, tweezers, spoons, and toothpicks to mimic different types of beaks. They tried to pick up different types of materials including rubber bands, beans, rice, and mini marshmallows to evaluate how different beaks would be advantageous for different types of food.
We practiced making lists using commas, bullet points, and checkmarks.
We pretended to be salmon, looking for the right path upriver. There were different flavored extracts in the different numbered bowls, and the kids had to each figure out their individual paths based on their smells.
Olivia was very proud of her duplo tower that was taller than Nolan!
We practiced comparatives and Superlatives using household objects: big, bigger, biggest, for example.
The boys helped me make puppy chow for their friends.
Just enough snow for the tiniest snowman.
The kids each chose an animal to study more in depth over the course of the month. Olivia chose seals and Nolan chose pandas. Each of them made a book of facts, pictures, poetry, and jokes about their animal.
We also gathered with the Wallermanns to make dioramas for their animals. Simon made one for a narwhal.
Our adorable book of study this month was "Heartwood Hotel: A True Home" by Kallie George. It featured adorable woodland animal characters such as Mona Mouse and Tilly the Squirrel. One of the concepts featured in this story was anthropomorphism...when animals act like people. Nolan and Livi each made up their own anthropomorphic character to visit the Heartwood Hotel.
They made these beautiful Tilly the Red Squirrel art projects. They used oil pastels, tempura paints, sponges, tissue paper, and pipe cleaners to make this adorable project. I think they turned out so cool!
I traveled to Eau Claire for a weekend to spend with my Mom. My kids are just the sweetest and Olivia hatched a plan to have a chocolate cake waiting for my return.
We made donut hole acorns for our Heartwood Hotel party.
We had our adorable Heartwood Hotel party at the church. Jessica made them the sweetest animal ears. Gabrielle made beautiful signs featuring the Heartwood motto: "We live by protect and respect; not by tooth and claw."
We did a couple of different relays and made some precious woodland animal wooden ornaments. It was a super fun time celebrating the completion of such a sweet book!
The kids also made homophone books, which turned out really fun. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. (Break vs Brake)
Nolan has worked really hard on his family tree. He found 7 generations worth of ancestors using ancestry.com and some of the materials other family members have contributed. We found pictures, old records, and he really enjoyed seeing the different places his ancestors lived. Almost all of Mom's side is from Austria, while Dad's side included relatives from Germany, France, and Norway.
