Thursday, December 27, 2012
Christmas Picnic
Catching up with my sister and her family at Carss Bush Park. We had a good play and a nice swim, although the girls weren't so keen on the squishy mud. Burrowing down with my toes, I found some decent sized live cockle shells for the boys to examine, and later, looking for shells amongst the oysters on the water's edge, we found some very interesting hermit crabs.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Greenfields Beach
A long drive through Kangaroo Valley, then a fun afternoon playing at the beach with my brother: learning to use a surfmat, finding crabs amongst the rocks and building a sandcastle.
The trip home was not as uneventful as we might have wished. A broken throttle cable component resulted in a three hour wait in the dark for a tow truck and an exciting drive home. An unexpected late night adventure which we did our best to enjoy.
Friday, December 7, 2012
New Silkworms.
(Dictated and photos by Waratah)
Yesterday we picked up our silkworms.
Today, one has started building a cocoon.
There are four more who are hungry.
We picked some mulberry leaves for them. We have four different mulberry trees. We want to find out which leaves the silkworms like best.
The English mulberry has very fuzzy leaves. The White mulberry has small leaves which are lighter coloured.
The Boy mulberry has flowers but never fruit. The Girl mulberry has lots of fruit. Their leaves look the same but I think they smell different. They are big and shiny. We snipped the stems off the leaves from the Girl mulberry so we could tell them apart.
We put the five caterpillars in the box with the four types of leaves. We will check back later to see which ones they like the most.
We put the caterpillars in their box with the leaves and some boxes for building cocoons in. The caterpillar who was building his cocoon started moving around more. We wonder if he is hungry and will stop building his cocoon to eat?
UPDATE
Here are the leaves we tested. The English Mulberry was the most popular. We wonder if that was what the silkworms were used to? When we breed our own silkworms, we will test them again as babies.
Yesterday we picked up our silkworms.
Today, one has started building a cocoon.
 |
There are four more who are hungry.
 |
We picked some mulberry leaves for them. We have four different mulberry trees. We want to find out which leaves the silkworms like best.
The English mulberry has very fuzzy leaves. The White mulberry has small leaves which are lighter coloured.
 |
The Boy mulberry has flowers but never fruit. The Girl mulberry has lots of fruit. Their leaves look the same but I think they smell different. They are big and shiny. We snipped the stems off the leaves from the Girl mulberry so we could tell them apart.
We put the five caterpillars in the box with the four types of leaves. We will check back later to see which ones they like the most.
 |
We put the caterpillars in their box with the leaves and some boxes for building cocoons in. The caterpillar who was building his cocoon started moving around more. We wonder if he is hungry and will stop building his cocoon to eat?
UPDATE
Here are the leaves we tested. The English Mulberry was the most popular. We wonder if that was what the silkworms were used to? When we breed our own silkworms, we will test them again as babies.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
2012 Term 4 Week 8
Most of week 8 was taken up with the excursions depicted in the previous posts. Other activities included:
 |
| Helping Daddy fly his remote control helicopter. |
 |
| Making beaded Christmas presents. |
 |
| Mulga "reading" to Boronia. |
 |
| Boronia's first taste of solid food - apple puree. |
 |
| Boronia deciding that she really likes solid food. |
 |
| Mummy cuddles. |
 |
| Waratah made a Golden Eagle Christmas card for Daddy. He crumpled it up to throw away when the paper tore (due to an excess of glue), but eventually allowed himself to be convinced that all was not lost, and it was resurrected. |
 |
| Boronia playing with the Schatzii kaleidoscope app on the iPad. |
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Dabbling Ducks
Swimming at Springwood today, followed by a picnic and explore at Werrington Lake.
 |
| Mulga motoring along. |
 |
| Boronia investigating her toes. |
 |
| Waratah has mastered the art of floating. |
 |
| Mulga chasing the ducks (and slipping on the mud and sliding into the lake). |
 |
| Studying the wildlife. |
 |
| Two well-camoflaged lizards. |
 |
| A Blue Wren fluffing himself dry after a bath. |
 |
| Intrepid explorers. |
 |
| Rainbow Lorikeet. |
 |
| Collecting and classifying feathers. |
 |
| Dusky Moorhen. |
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Circus Skills Workshop
Today we attended the long-anticipated Circus Skills workshop. There were some initial nerves, but the boys quickly settled in and enjoyed themselves immensely.
 |
| These pedal pushers were extremely popular. |
 |
| Learning the rules for the day. |
 |
| Practising juggling skills. |
 |
| Boronia helped Mummy with the picture taking. |
 |
| Clinging to the flying trapeze. |
 |
| Spinning in the Lyra Hoop. |
 |
| More juggling skills. |
 |
| Keeping the silk in the air. |
 | ||||
Mulga on the high trapeze.
Waratah had been practising on the pedal pushers and was proud to win the final race!
|
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Ideas for Week 8
- Tonight we watched the Space Station fly over our house, so this week we will do some follow up investigation and exploration.
- Waratah has asked that we learn about the desert.
- A visit to the library (and perhaps the local museum) on Monday.
- We will be attending a circus skills workshop on Wednesday.
- Swimming lessons on Thursday.
- Sunday will be the first Sunday of Advent, so we will be dusting off and renovating the Advent candle and calendar, and discussing their significance. We may also consider making a Jesse tree.
I have decided to use this blog now as a showcase for photos / portfolio of our work and for special learning stories, and swap to a less time-intensive method of record keeping, rather than listing everything we do each week.
- Waratah has asked that we learn about the desert.
- A visit to the library (and perhaps the local museum) on Monday.
- We will be attending a circus skills workshop on Wednesday.
- Swimming lessons on Thursday.
- Sunday will be the first Sunday of Advent, so we will be dusting off and renovating the Advent candle and calendar, and discussing their significance. We may also consider making a Jesse tree.
I have decided to use this blog now as a showcase for photos / portfolio of our work and for special learning stories, and swap to a less time-intensive method of record keeping, rather than listing everything we do each week.
2012 Term 4 Week 7
THEME FOR THIS WEEK: Waratah had a dream about a Golden Eagle, so this week we explored Eagles, which also tied into our ongoing exploration of North American Indian culture.
RELIGION
- who are we named after? discussion of why our names and those of many of our friends and family are based on people in the Bible
ENGLISH
- discussion of written advertising; writing signs for shop (see description under Mathematics)
- writing about Golden Eagles: composition (dictation) and handwriting practice
Dictated: "Golden Eagle. It is not gold. It ac tually has brown feathers. Their feathers have gold tips when the sun shines on their wings."
- independent reading (shop signs, packages etc)
- writing lists: a to-do list for our day; a shopping list
Story time - library books
- Lydia Monks, Babbit (2011)
- Arone Raymond Meeks, Enora and the Black Crane (1991)
- James Marsh, Bizarre Birds and Beasts (1991)
MATHEMATICS
- Waratah set up a shop selling cicadas ($2) and nut shells ($1) and rides on his skateboard ($100).
- how much is 1 million?
- currency recognition; counting money
- weights and measures: making tortillas after reading about North American Indians
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
- make a snow globe: experiments with viscosity (adding glycerin to water and observing effects); experiments with particle size and weight (adding shells, tiny gemstone chips, sequins and glitter and observing which stay suspended for the longest time and how they move in response to gentle / violent forces)
- watch a number of short documentaries on Golden Eagles [playlist]
- observation: Christmas tree reproductive cycle; identifying male and female flowers, immature and mature pinecones
- investigating hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of various objects
- plant vegetable seeds and watch for seedlings sprouting
- observation of moths
- observation of skinks
- observation of butterflies and a dragonfly (which you can just see in the net); discussion of catch, observe and release
- inventing and testing a butterfly trap
- David Attenborough Blue Planet: Tides
HUMAN SOCIETY & ENVIRONMENT
- discussion of relative values and how scarcity affects price (cicadas were worth more because they were more difficult to find)
- discussion of goods and services
- watching documentaries of humans interacting with Golden Eagles in Scotland and in Mongolia
- learning about the Golden Eagle Festival in Mongolia
- discussion of legislation in Australia preventing the keeping of Eagles as pets or for hunting
- Michael Stotter, Step into the world of North American Indians (1999)
- making beans and tortillas
CREATIVE ARTS
- oil pastel drawing of the Golden Eagle from Waratah's dream (he described it as being the size of our kitchen and pure gold)
- completed the water colour painting of a praying mantis
- clay modelling: making Christmas ornaments
- painting - goache on canvas. Waratah painted the picture of a spouting whale but was dissatisfied with it as pencil lines from his first idea - a gecko - were still visible, and there was a blotch where paint had dripped. We discussed what kind of background his subject might have and agreed that the spume might create a rainbow. Waratah asked me to paint in the background, and I showed him how his previous pencil outline could be hidden in the sea, and how the blotch could be disguised as a bird flying by.
- hand sewing: making a toy size feather pillow
- origami paper boats
- music: playing ukulele
- painting a feather: we learnt that since Eagles are now a protected and rare species in America, the Indians today use painted Turkey feathers to simulate Eagle feathers in their costumes. Waratah collected a white wing feather dropped by our pet Corella and painted it to be a feather from a more colourful species of parrot.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION
- Upon A Time... Life: Neurons [Playlist - 3 episodes]
- Upon A Time... Life: Eyes [Playlist - 3 episodes]
- eye tracking experiments
- chasing and catching butterflies
- skateboard riding
- swimming: Waratah is now comfortable floating on back; attempted underwater rocket for the first time; working on putting head under water without holding his nose
- bike riding without training wheels: needs help starting off but is otherwise doing very well
- breakfast picnic under Waratah's new umbrella which he purchased using his pocket money
PLAY BASED LEARNING - MULGA
Create a car app
Scrambled picture puzzles
Sorting games
Clay modelling
Swimming
Drawing with oil pastels
INFANT DEVELOPMENT - BORONIA
Playing peekaboo
Rolling over
Trying to crawl
Self -directed movement
Singing
Observation of her brothers
RELIGION
- who are we named after? discussion of why our names and those of many of our friends and family are based on people in the Bible
ENGLISH
- discussion of written advertising; writing signs for shop (see description under Mathematics)
- writing about Golden Eagles: composition (dictation) and handwriting practice
Dictated: "Golden Eagle. It is not gold. It ac tually has brown feathers. Their feathers have gold tips when the sun shines on their wings."
Handwriting: "They are great hunters. I want to own a Golden Eagle."
- writing lists: a to-do list for our day; a shopping list
Story time - library books
- Lydia Monks, Babbit (2011)
- Arone Raymond Meeks, Enora and the Black Crane (1991)
- James Marsh, Bizarre Birds and Beasts (1991)
MATHEMATICS
- Waratah set up a shop selling cicadas ($2) and nut shells ($1) and rides on his skateboard ($100).
- measuring length, width and weight of an Eagle feather found in our bush (see above under English)
- counting to 100- how much is 1 million?
- currency recognition; counting money
- weights and measures: making tortillas after reading about North American Indians
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
- make a snow globe: experiments with viscosity (adding glycerin to water and observing effects); experiments with particle size and weight (adding shells, tiny gemstone chips, sequins and glitter and observing which stay suspended for the longest time and how they move in response to gentle / violent forces)
- watch a number of short documentaries on Golden Eagles [playlist]
- observation: Christmas tree reproductive cycle; identifying male and female flowers, immature and mature pinecones
- investigating hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of various objects
- plant vegetable seeds and watch for seedlings sprouting
- observation of moths
- observation of skinks
- observation of butterflies and a dragonfly (which you can just see in the net); discussion of catch, observe and release
- inventing and testing a butterfly trap
- David Attenborough Blue Planet: Tides
HUMAN SOCIETY & ENVIRONMENT
- discussion of relative values and how scarcity affects price (cicadas were worth more because they were more difficult to find)
- discussion of goods and services
- watching documentaries of humans interacting with Golden Eagles in Scotland and in Mongolia
- learning about the Golden Eagle Festival in Mongolia
- discussion of legislation in Australia preventing the keeping of Eagles as pets or for hunting
- Michael Stotter, Step into the world of North American Indians (1999)
- making beans and tortillas
CREATIVE ARTS
- oil pastel drawing of the Golden Eagle from Waratah's dream (he described it as being the size of our kitchen and pure gold)
- completed the water colour painting of a praying mantis
- clay modelling: making Christmas ornaments
- painting - goache on canvas. Waratah painted the picture of a spouting whale but was dissatisfied with it as pencil lines from his first idea - a gecko - were still visible, and there was a blotch where paint had dripped. We discussed what kind of background his subject might have and agreed that the spume might create a rainbow. Waratah asked me to paint in the background, and I showed him how his previous pencil outline could be hidden in the sea, and how the blotch could be disguised as a bird flying by.
- hand sewing: making a toy size feather pillow
- origami paper boats
- music: playing ukulele
- painting a feather: we learnt that since Eagles are now a protected and rare species in America, the Indians today use painted Turkey feathers to simulate Eagle feathers in their costumes. Waratah collected a white wing feather dropped by our pet Corella and painted it to be a feather from a more colourful species of parrot.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION
- Upon A Time... Life: Neurons [Playlist - 3 episodes]
- Upon A Time... Life: Eyes [Playlist - 3 episodes]
- eye tracking experiments
- chasing and catching butterflies
- skateboard riding
- swimming: Waratah is now comfortable floating on back; attempted underwater rocket for the first time; working on putting head under water without holding his nose
- bike riding without training wheels: needs help starting off but is otherwise doing very well
- breakfast picnic under Waratah's new umbrella which he purchased using his pocket money
PLAY BASED LEARNING - MULGA
Create a car app
Scrambled picture puzzles
Sorting games
Clay modelling
Swimming
Drawing with oil pastels
INFANT DEVELOPMENT - BORONIA
Playing peekaboo
Rolling over
Trying to crawl
Self -directed movement
Singing
Observation of her brothers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)