4/24/07

Last week we were all not feeling well. Runny noses...coughing.... But we are feeling better now.

Last week Georgia read some of the library books on geology. She learned about the what geology is, and things we use everyday that come from rocks, such as, glass, plastic bags, coins, pencils, and toothpaste! She also read about minerals, acid rain, and erosion. She also read about the rock cycle and weathering at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/chemistry/rock_cycle_intro.shtml

She also wanted to make a tornado in a bottle, so we tried making that. It leaked! We'll have to experiment with different items to improve upon our first model.

Georgia had soccer practice on Saturday. Afterwards I took the girls to Boonshoft for the rest of the day. They had a lot of fun, as usual. It was astronomy day there. They had a telescope set outside with a special filter to look at the sun. We also watched "The Sky Tonight" in the space theater and learned about the North Star and why it is so special, as well as other interesting tid bits of information.

Yesterday, Georgia had softball practice. Today it's soccer practice.

We also watched a human body documentary about the brain. Georgia liked learning about the hippocampus because it has her favorite animal in it. (Hippo) She also learned that hippocampus means sea horse because that is what shape someone thought it looked like. She already knew that hippopotamus means "river horse".

After the documentary, Georgia and Olivia played with the brain model. They put it together, took it apart, and identified the different parts.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so the girls were out collecting dandelions. Georgia "dissected" one, identifying the different parts of the plant.

Last night, Georgia read her new National Geographic Kids magazine. She was telling me about the things she learned. She read about "cool inventions", "seven wacky facts about the world", amazing animals, how animals play, and an article on Jamestown. (which we will be visiting, so it was really nice to have that in there!)


Today, the girls and I visited a nursery and Georgia was naming off the different plants and flowers by name. She knows way more than me! She learns their names by playing the zoo game. The game has a bunch of different plants to put in her zoo. She also learns what biome each plant belongs in by playing the zoo game. And she remembers just about anything she reads! The girls each picked out two plants to bring home and to take care of.


The girls both practice math each day in their own ways. When we were at Boonshoft in the General Store (pretend store with play food items) Olivia counted her produce items, for example, five bananas, ten asparagus spears, etc. I also had her sort them into two groups, vegetables and fruits. She got them all correct! Georgia is always adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying different things. For example, when she was playing Age of Empires she used math to figure out how much more wood she needed before she could build something, or how much more food she needed before she could get another villager.


Olivia and I read books together every day. It's our special time, and it helps her with learning to read.


Some time this week the girls will write letters and draw pictures to send to a family member in the military.


Hope everyone else is feeling good and enjoying the occasional sunny spring day!