H made her own Glog last night about her day in an African Village.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Glogster
I've been experimenting with GlogsterEdu, an online poster creation site. Here's my first attempt:
May 23 - 29
A week of discovery!
While reading this book:
a self directed research project began. H spent many hours with Google and YouTube and discovered sea spiders, Niagara Falls, the Rainbow Bridge in Utah, Antartica and many interesting and creepy looking deep sea fish.
H also has become somewhat domesticated and enjoys baking and cooking, and feeding the guinea pigs (finally!). Every day she diligently chops up their veges, tops up their water and coos devotedly at them.
R finished the last two episodes of Headsprout this week, and has been reading all the readers endlessly. According to the Headsprout chart she can officially 'READ' now and is getting ready to begin the second part of the program.
As a treat (unrelated to work) the girls got new minifigs. Funnily they both picked identical figures - the cute little banana holding gorilla. R promptly built hers a circus to perform in.
Our latest chapter in The Elements called for some experimenting.
The first used iodine to determine the presence of starch in foods (we used carrot, cheese, chocolate, a raisin, bread, apple, potato, a corn flake and a chocolate pillow):
The second experiment involved dissolving MgSO4 (epsom salts) in water, then adding some ammonium solution. We watched as the cloudy solution gradually became clear due to the atoms rearranging themselves to form new molecules.
The final experiment used bleach (NaClO) and red food colouring. We added red colour to water then added the bleach until the colour disappeared. This happens because the bonds between the oxygen atoms and NaCl molecules break and the oxygen atoms join up with the red colouring, changing its composition so that it can't reflect the light anymore.
Once we had a clear liquid the girls experimented further by adding more colours and we got some spectacular patterns:
All in all a very successful and messy chemistry lesson.
On the weekend we had another birthday party to go to - cousin B's 8th and Uncle P's 44th, and then we finished off the week with some Mini-Marshmallow fun for the whole family.
H also has mastered her 8x table. Three cheers!
While reading this book:
H also has become somewhat domesticated and enjoys baking and cooking, and feeding the guinea pigs (finally!). Every day she diligently chops up their veges, tops up their water and coos devotedly at them.
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| Choc chip cookies - our yummy morning and afternoon tea |
As a treat (unrelated to work) the girls got new minifigs. Funnily they both picked identical figures - the cute little banana holding gorilla. R promptly built hers a circus to perform in.
The first used iodine to determine the presence of starch in foods (we used carrot, cheese, chocolate, a raisin, bread, apple, potato, a corn flake and a chocolate pillow):
The final experiment used bleach (NaClO) and red food colouring. We added red colour to water then added the bleach until the colour disappeared. This happens because the bonds between the oxygen atoms and NaCl molecules break and the oxygen atoms join up with the red colouring, changing its composition so that it can't reflect the light anymore.
Once we had a clear liquid the girls experimented further by adding more colours and we got some spectacular patterns:
On the weekend we had another birthday party to go to - cousin B's 8th and Uncle P's 44th, and then we finished off the week with some Mini-Marshmallow fun for the whole family.
H also has mastered her 8x table. Three cheers!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
May 16-22
To start the week with a bang we began with Monday Maths. The girls did some maths worksheets and we played a new game called Win a Flat using our MAB blocks. It was a fun game but we ran out of units and longs (10's) before we'd finished and R just ran out of patience and abandoned the game halfway. Then we knuckled down to learn some pluttification tables (as our friend Pippi Longstocking calls them). H made her way through tables 4 to 12, then decided to try memorizing the 8 times table. She is still working on them now.
On Tuesday we decided to cram for our King Tutankhamun excursion the next day. We looked up King Tut and ancient Egypt in our various books and began to get a picture of the man and his kingdom. The next day when we saw the exhibition I was really pleased to see that alot of it had sunk in and H felt knowledgable enough to teach her Oma all about Tutankhamun's life and times.
When we got home we made some pyramids from cardboard, glue and sand and we plan to make a diorama once we collect a couple of large boxes. H also made bookmarks for everyone with their names in hieroglyphics.
You are all probably dying to see some of the girl's drawings from Mark Kistler's Mini Marshmallows Drawing Lessons, so here are my favourites:
That's all for this week :)
On Tuesday we decided to cram for our King Tutankhamun excursion the next day. We looked up King Tut and ancient Egypt in our various books and began to get a picture of the man and his kingdom. The next day when we saw the exhibition I was really pleased to see that alot of it had sunk in and H felt knowledgable enough to teach her Oma all about Tutankhamun's life and times.
When we got home we made some pyramids from cardboard, glue and sand and we plan to make a diorama once we collect a couple of large boxes. H also made bookmarks for everyone with their names in hieroglyphics.
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| My name in hieroglyphics |
You are all probably dying to see some of the girl's drawings from Mark Kistler's Mini Marshmallows Drawing Lessons, so here are my favourites:
That's all for this week :)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
May 8-15
A busy week last week, but not because we were out and about. We mostly stayed home and got stuck into some fun stuff like learning grammar rules (yes, H really does think it's fun) and playing some games of Letters and Numbers. Admittedly it's mostly me doing the numbers games (quite badly sometimes), but we all have a go at the letters games which are decidedly more fun.
I found a grammar cd-rom at the library which H took to immediately. She (and I) learnt about nouns, verbs, predicate, subject, common nouns, proper nouns, pronouns, adverbs and articles. Sadly the cd stopped there, and we are now searching for the next in the series so H can continue. She was quite upset at having come to the end, so if anyone sees a copy of the 9-11yr grammar series please let me know!
Both H and R have been busy making earrings for family and friends:
...and H's book of choice for the week is:
R has been busy with IXL maths and Headsprout, while H worked hard at Brownies to earn her World Badge and finally received her Arts badge for weaving. They need to be sewn on to her sash, so I've got some work to do...
To finish off the week we had humungous breakfasts at Flippin' Pancakes, watched our very talented brother in law Pete in "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime", celebrated P's birthday with a family pot luck dinner and two birthday cakes, and had fun at 6 yr old L's mini golf birthday party with gourmet vegetarian fare!
I found a grammar cd-rom at the library which H took to immediately. She (and I) learnt about nouns, verbs, predicate, subject, common nouns, proper nouns, pronouns, adverbs and articles. Sadly the cd stopped there, and we are now searching for the next in the series so H can continue. She was quite upset at having come to the end, so if anyone sees a copy of the 9-11yr grammar series please let me know!
Both H and R have been busy making earrings for family and friends:
...and H's book of choice for the week is:
R has been busy with IXL maths and Headsprout, while H worked hard at Brownies to earn her World Badge and finally received her Arts badge for weaving. They need to be sewn on to her sash, so I've got some work to do...
To finish off the week we had humungous breakfasts at Flippin' Pancakes, watched our very talented brother in law Pete in "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime", celebrated P's birthday with a family pot luck dinner and two birthday cakes, and had fun at 6 yr old L's mini golf birthday party with gourmet vegetarian fare!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
With our holiday over we jumped straight back in to work. Last week we completed some drawing lessons every morning. We're all getting good at drawing balloons and ninja eggs and they are popping up all over the place in all our pictures complete with shading, horizon lines, van Gogh suns and shadows.
R is now up to episode 36 in Headsprout. She's almost halfway and doing really well. She is also very interested in numbers all of a sudden, so I'm searching for a fun maths program for her.
H and I have started reading 'The Periodic Kingdom' - a fairytale-like story about the elements.
We also revised the chapter on Rome in MTTWA and redrew our map with only a little more success compared to last time!
For H's maths I've found this site which has a wealth of worksheets for primary levels. So far it's been a good addition to our usual way of doing maths (mostly living maths). We use it mainly as a way for H to practice writing her work on paper.
After three full working days at home we needed some fun. A walk to the library and a stack of new books and games took care of that. H finished The BFG at last and continued her Roald Dahl obsesssion with a reading of Esoi Trot. We also played canasta endlessly, Storm the Castle, Fraction Lotto (even R is enjoying this game) and of course the best game ever - Coffee Shop, where H plays to make as much money as possible and R plays to see how many virtual people she can make vomit.
No pictures to show for this week as our Mac crashed and I can't upload anything from the camera.
Instead here's the girls' current favourite song: Charles II - King of Bling
R is now up to episode 36 in Headsprout. She's almost halfway and doing really well. She is also very interested in numbers all of a sudden, so I'm searching for a fun maths program for her.
H and I have started reading 'The Periodic Kingdom' - a fairytale-like story about the elements.
We also revised the chapter on Rome in MTTWA and redrew our map with only a little more success compared to last time!
For H's maths I've found this site which has a wealth of worksheets for primary levels. So far it's been a good addition to our usual way of doing maths (mostly living maths). We use it mainly as a way for H to practice writing her work on paper.
After three full working days at home we needed some fun. A walk to the library and a stack of new books and games took care of that. H finished The BFG at last and continued her Roald Dahl obsesssion with a reading of Esoi Trot. We also played canasta endlessly, Storm the Castle, Fraction Lotto (even R is enjoying this game) and of course the best game ever - Coffee Shop, where H plays to make as much money as possible and R plays to see how many virtual people she can make vomit.
No pictures to show for this week as our Mac crashed and I can't upload anything from the camera.
Instead here's the girls' current favourite song: Charles II - King of Bling
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Term I wrap up
Ok, here's take two of this post - just as I clicked on publish post it disappeared completely! AAARGH!
Anyway, moving on..
I think the girls did very well this past term. We are up to chapter 5 in both The Elements and MTWWA. R is almost halfway through Headsprout and is really enjoying the fact that she can read 'real' words when we are out and about. Her favourite word at the moment is nepo (she was reading the 'open' sign on a pizza parlour door backwards).
Maths with Dad and Saturday Science sessions are progressing nicely, as are piano lessons, occasional clarinet and recorder lessons, kids cardio, ballet and brownies. Last week we started an online drawing program here. It is alot of fun and a lovely way to begin our days. It seems to motivate the girls enormously and they are always very animated and happy afterwards.
As our reward for all our hard work we took a fantastic trip to Canberra for 10 days. We drove up in a luxury 7 seater 4WD courtesy of the G family and stayed with our good friends the K's for 4 nights at their new place in Canberra. The children were in heaven - 4 sleepovers in a row! We spent our days exploring the National Gallery (saw the Ballet Russes Exhibition), National Portrait Gallery, Questacon, op shops and the K's local library which was brilliant.
On Good Friday we set up camp at the EPIC centre and immersed ourselves in all things folky at the 45th National Folk Festival. We danced, sang, listened, learned and played guitar, ukelele and tin whistle for three and a half days. It was so not long enough.
Anyway, moving on..
I think the girls did very well this past term. We are up to chapter 5 in both The Elements and MTWWA. R is almost halfway through Headsprout and is really enjoying the fact that she can read 'real' words when we are out and about. Her favourite word at the moment is nepo (she was reading the 'open' sign on a pizza parlour door backwards).
Maths with Dad and Saturday Science sessions are progressing nicely, as are piano lessons, occasional clarinet and recorder lessons, kids cardio, ballet and brownies. Last week we started an online drawing program here. It is alot of fun and a lovely way to begin our days. It seems to motivate the girls enormously and they are always very animated and happy afterwards.
As our reward for all our hard work we took a fantastic trip to Canberra for 10 days. We drove up in a luxury 7 seater 4WD courtesy of the G family and stayed with our good friends the K's for 4 nights at their new place in Canberra. The children were in heaven - 4 sleepovers in a row! We spent our days exploring the National Gallery (saw the Ballet Russes Exhibition), National Portrait Gallery, Questacon, op shops and the K's local library which was brilliant.
On Good Friday we set up camp at the EPIC centre and immersed ourselves in all things folky at the 45th National Folk Festival. We danced, sang, listened, learned and played guitar, ukelele and tin whistle for three and a half days. It was so not long enough.
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| leaving at 5am |
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| stopover and obligatory play on old steam engine at Jugiong |
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| Australian War Memorial |
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| not really sure why they are saluting... |
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| furry friend Basil |
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| setting up early before the hordes arrive |
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| pear racing |
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| giant pears advancing on the National Gallery |
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| fun in the Ballet Russes family activity room |
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| H's ballet costume design |
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| festival girls |
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| marimba playing lion |
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| monkey and lion playing echocellos |
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| scene from Wayang Kelly |
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| our way of saying goodbye to our campsite |
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