Austin has been doing more firemen related activities this week.  Yesterday he did a relational worksheet.  The top said "find the fire that is between the tree and the bush" and it had several pictures.  Then he played a matching game matching an object to it's shadow.  He thought it was just going to be a regular matching game and when I starting laying out the shadow pieces on the table he said, "Hey, they're all black!"  It was kind of funny...probably more so if you were there...

In geography we are learning about Russia this month.  Yes, it's random.  Gavin opened his Little Passports package.  It was only some temporary tattoos this month.  Usually they have fun stuff but every once in a while they disappoint you.  Gavin wasn't disappointed but I didn't think it was that great.

Gavin traced a map of Russia and labelled major cities and landforms then we read this book.

 

We didn't read a different book in science yesterday but Gavin drew the layers of the Earth in his science journal (he used stencils for his circles).

Then we tried to make an edible Earth with a recipe I got from the American Museum of Natural History.  It didn't work exactly but it was fun to make.  Gavin wrapped a big marshmallow around a cherry (inner core and outer core).  Then he made Rice Krispy Treats and used them to form a ball around the marshmallow (mantle).  Finally he spread peanut butter around the Rice Krispy's and rolled it in crushed Oreo cookies (crust).  When you cut it in half, it's supposed to show the layers.  Ours kind of collapsed on itself since it was all soft substances.  All was not lost though because it tasted really good!

 

 Here he is making Rice Krispy treats.

Crushing the Oreos.

Spreading peanut butter.

And trying to roll it in Oreos that were not crushed enough.  We really need a kitchen mallet...

Today Austin was excited because he got to use Gavin's ruler to measure fireman tools.  This was his first time using a ruler and he was pleased to be a big boy!

Then he labelled a fireman's helmet, boots, uniform and hose.  I tried to get him to sound out the words and he did a good job with a little help.  He got helmet and hose easily.  He glued the words next to the fireman.

Today Gavin read about sedimentary rocks.  They usually form from layers of plant and animal matter that gets pressed down and over time turn into rock because of heat and pressure.  To demonstrate, we made seven layer bars.  Although they were really six layer bars because when I made my grocery list we had coconut in the pantry.  After I made my grocery list I cleaned out the pantry and apparently the coconut was expired and trashed.  So, I had an 'Oops' moment when I opened the pantry to look for coconut and had a bad feeling that there was no longer any coconut there.  Anyway, first we got out our ingredients and Gavin drew pictures of each one separately.

   Adelaide's uneaten salad was not apart of it even though it is in the picture.

Then he added the ingredients to a baking dish and when he was finished he drew what it looked like and observed that you could plainly tell one thing from another, they were all separate things.

When we pulled them out of the oven he drew them again and noticed that they were all melted together and you couldn't see individual ingredients anymore because of the heat of the oven.

 

This is the book he read in science today.

In history he has been studying the time of the judges in the Bible this week.  He is going back to the Israelites.  This semester he will learn about many of the same civilizations he did last semester, but later in their history, eventually learning about their demise.  Consequently there will be lots of warfare which should make him happy.  Last semester focused on their origins, way of life and things they were known for, kind of an overview of the culture.  Anyway we have read about Deborah and Gideon together, and he is working on this book, set in the time of Ruth.  But, we don't have any history projects this week which is a good thing since we have been doing projects in science.

 



We are in the middle of the Arctic blast that is going through the country.  Schools were closed today and are closed again tomorrow.  It has worked out well for us because today we were able to get back to our routine without having to leave the house for outside activities which made the transition easier.  Before I post pictures of today's activities, here are a few pictures of Christmas.  These were taken on Christmas Eve when we got home from church.

If you wonder why I always make the little ones sit on Gavin, that would be because it's the only way I can get all three to smile.  I try to take a normal picture of them together nicely, but it never works!

And here are a few pictures of Christmas morning.

Adelaide liked her new dress up clothes.

The boys got a CD player for their room.

Adelaide got a cradle for her dolls and had to try it out to make sure it was comfortable.

The boys both got toy pistols with holsters.  Adelaide thought they were part of her dress up clothes.

Austin was happy with his Peter Pan costume.

Today it was back to school.  You'll have to excuse the pictures.  For some reason no matter where I took a picture I got weird glares of light across it.  I kept moving around but it seemed to be following me.  Maybe the snow is glaring to brightly...I don't know!  Anyway, this week Austin is learning about the letter F so our theme is firemen.  I got a bunch of free fireman activities for him to do from this website: http://mamasmonkeys.blogspot.com/2011/09/firefighter-tot-pack.html.  First he did a maze to help a fireman get to the fire by following the alphabet in order (letters were along the correct path).  Then he found the object that was different.

Next I laid out some number cards 1 - 10.  He got cards with Dalmatians on them.  His job was to count the spots on the Dalmatian and match it to the correct number.

Next he picked out words than begin with the letter F and glued them under the fire truck.

In science we started a new unit on geology today.  I think this will be a fun one!  Austin joined us for our book and activities today.  First we read this introductory book about the Earth.

Then the boys used Play-Doh to make a model of the layers of the Earth.  First they picked their colors and molded them into circles, starting with the inner core and making bigger circles as they made their way to the crust.  Then they flattened the layers and wrapped them around the inner core, which was still a circle.  Here is Austin putting on the mantle.

Then Gavin put on the crust, which is brown for rock.

Then Gavin put the ocean around the mantle and Austin put green continents on parts of the water.  It was a team effort.

Here it is with just the ocean on it.  You can't tell from the picture, but we used two different blues because we needed a bigger circle and our ocean turned out to have very pretty swirls of bright blue and turquoise.

And here is with the continents. 

Then I cut open a section so they could see the layers and Gavin labelled it on the paper plate although you can't see his writing in this picture.

Then we talked about how not every layer is solid, some are liquid and some are a little of both.  We reviewed our states of matter and their characteristics and then, to illustrate further, we made goop and talked about how it has some properties of solid and some of liquid.

By lunchtime everyone was very hungry so Adelaide and Austin insisted on helping me cook lunch.  We had roast fingerling potatoes (luckily the salt in this doesn't come out very fast!),

salmon,

and a salad.

Putting on the croutons is the best part!

That was our day.  We had a great vacation and enjoyed our time off but it was nice to get back into a routine once we were started.  Getting started is always the hardest part :)