Boonshoft Photos

Above are some of the pictures from our Boonshoft Museum of Discover field trip on Monday, March 19th. We took a ton of photos, so posting them here in a new entry as a collage is a lot easier and quicker, instead of posting them to the original Boonshoft post.

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Sunday (3/25)

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Today we went to the Nature Center and had fun looking around. The girls practiced their archaeology skills and uncovered bones, fossils, and tools. The girls looked at different things under a microscope. They showed Dad all their favorite animals (stuffed). We saw the snake the girls held, the bee hive, turtles and fish. We went on a walk in the woods in search of salamander larva, and other creatures. We inspected a fallen tree for signs of life. We saw a bird's nest, and a cardinal. We saw a May Fly larvae swimming in the flooded field. We saw some animal tracks that we deduced were from a dog. And Mark also noticed a small snake camouflaged by the dead leaves on the ground! It was a fun trip, and we had a nice walk through the woods with sun and warm temps.

Next, We stopped off at the Bluebird Festival at the Armory. We saw some wild cats in cages outside. There was the Bobcat, Siberian Lynx, Caracal, and the African Servil. Inside the Armory we saw several craft items and bird nest boxes and feeders. There were a lot of nature books for sale, jewelry, and other nature inspired items. We viewed some educational booths on the local watershed, and creek and river life. We came home with a ton of information on Ohio wildlife. We received free booklets on Ohio Amphibians, Reptiles, Butterflies, and Fish. We also received some informational pamphlets on various topics, such as Lyme's Disease, White-tailed Deer, the Bluebird, etc.

It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed it!

Friday 3/23

Today, Georgia finished studying butterflies, learning about their senses and defenses in both catapillar and butterfly stages. She also worked in her math workbook on halves and quarters and learned about equality.

She studied the US government on http://bensguide.gpo.gov with Ben Franklin as host.

Olivia read the butterfly book she made and put the life cycle cards in the correct sequence.

She also watched a PBS show called Big Big World, and then did some activities on their web site.

Georgia and Olivia watched a Spanish video called Rock 'n Learn Spanish. They learned greetings, numbers to 100, and several other phrases. They had fun repeating the words and phrases and did well. We didn't get to finish it because it was time to go to Georgia's eye appointment. She's getting new glasses.

While we were at the eye doctor's, Olivia and I read a book about words that start from each letter of the alphabet. Olivia did really well matching the pictures to the letter with which they start.

When we got back, the girls watched Maya and Miguel on PBS. This show has Spanish in it as well. Then they watched Fetch which has children trying to figure out different clues, invent different objects, and other interesting activities that use reasoning and logic.

The girls each had a turn playing Petz, then Mark and I played a board game called Wits End with the girls helping us.

Thursday, 3/22

Today, Georgia worked on some division practice with word problems.


She also reviewed plural nouns and completed some worksheets. On the Internet she studied on Zoom School USA and learned about the United States. She learned about the White House and what it is used for, some early Presidents, animals in the US, the flag, early explorers, symbols of the US, etc. I showed her the symbols and presidents on coins and paper money. Mark brought home the new George Washington dollar coin and we inspected that as well. Mark and I also sang the Star Spangled Banner and explained its meaning, custom, and origination.

Georgia also studied butterflies. She reviewed their life cycle, anatomy, diet, habitat, classification, and early ancestors preserved in fossil. She also learned about the Monarch butterfly's anatomy, how to tell male and female apart, life cycle, diet, protection from predators...they are poisonous. She also learned about the butterfly that looks similar to the Monarch and because of this enjoys protection from predators because the predators think they are the poisonous Monarch. She learned about the Monarch's habitat, range, migration, life span, and classification. She learned that the Order Lepidoptera means "scaly wings" in Greek, and that the butterfly and moth are the only insects to have scaly wings.

Afterwards, Georgia completed a diagram filling in the names of the stages of the life cycle. She also completed a math color by number of a butterfly scene. She had to complete the addition problems to find out the number.

Olivia worked on the computer program Reader Rabbit Thinking Adventures for 4-5 year olds today. Last time she tried it it was still too advanced for her. Today she was doing great! She worked on completing and making patterns, sorting and classification, and following directions.

Next, Olivia learned the word "he" and searched and highlighted it in the book "He Ran". She then read me the book. She later read it to Mark before bed.

Olivia learned about the life cycle of the butterfly. She made a book about it that we read together. Afterwards she used four cards each with a picture of a stage in the life cycle, and she needed to put them in the correct sequence. She did!

We watched the movie Whale Rider about a girl from the Maori tribe in New Zealand. I picked it out because Georgia likes whales, and she had studied New Zealand. But I found it to be rather slow, but good if you could follow it. The girls needed a lot of explanations, but they seemed to enjoy it as they stayed for the whole thing.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Wednesday 3/21/07 (Livy's class)*

Today, Olivia had her class at the Nature Center called "In Search of Spring". For the preschool nature classes the parent attends with their child. Georgia came with us and hung out in the Kids Korner where there are a bunch of nature activities, such as puzzles, nature books, seeds, nuts, fossils, furs, skulls and bones to examine, and a bunch of other activities. She also brought along a chapter book to read.

In the class, everyone welcomed Olivia...she was timid at first but warmed up fairly quickly. The kids were handed a laminated picture of something that happens in Spring. Livy received a picture of grass. Each child went in the middle of the circle and shared their picture. When it was her turn, Livy ran right into the middle and said with a big smile on her face, "Grass!". We discussed the signs and changes of Spring.

Next, we dissected a bean seed that had been soaked in water to be more pliable. We removed the outer coat and looked at the two halves of the seed and located the sprout.

Afterwards, we went outside in search of the signs of Spring. We noticed the sun shining bright. (It was supposed to be rainy...we were lucky!) We saw some bees, grass growing, water collected on the ground. We walked through the woods following the path and saw buds on tree limbs, where new leaves were starting to form. We saw holes in trees from woodpeckers. We saw bugs and creepy crawlies under a log. We saw some onion grass, moss, and ivy starting to sprout up from the ground. And we saw some holes in the ground from burrowing animals.

When we went back in the Nature Center, Georgia joined us for some painting fun. The girls used flowers as stamps and brushes to paint a picture of Spring.

Georgia's picture

Olivia's picture

When class was over, the girls looked at the bee display and watched the bees busily at work. There is an opening in the side of the building for the bees to come and go. When they enter the hole, they are in a display case that sandwiches honeycombed beeswax. We are able to see what it is like inside a hive without having to get stung! It was interesting.

We also looked at the fish, frogs, turtles, and snakes they have. The naturalist took a snake out of its cage and the kids had fun touching and petting it. Georgia and Olivia each held it for a bit.

(I was able to take pictures of Livy in her class and woods walk, but wouldn't you know it....when the girls are holding a snake the darn memory card gives me an error message....I'm still trying to figure it out so that I can get the pictures from it.)

We also studied the life cycle of a frog, and played a frog identification game before leaving the nature center.

Once home, Georgia worked on some division in her math workbook. She also reviewed the Spring Spanish words she learned the day before. Then she learned about Greenland. She did a map study, and reviewed two websites that told about Greenland, the Vikings, and Denmark. (Greenland is a territory of Denmark)

Olivia made some words with Boggle Jr, practiced writing her name, worked on the PowerTouch, and learned the word "the". I took two simple books that were printed off the computer and gave her a yellow marker. She needed to highlight the word "the" whenever she saw it in the two books. She did really well recognizing the word. Afterwards we read the two stories together. I read one, and Olivia read the other!!!!

The girls each had a turn to play Petz, a computer game that teaches what it takes to be a good pet owner. They can adopt a cat or dog....and there are several breeds of each to choose from. They are in charge of feeding, bathing, exercising, and playing with their pets. They even have a spray bottle to discipline the pets when needed as well. They can win prizes if they teach their pets to do tricks, too. They have had a couple runaways....from not being taken care of. The problem with that was that they like to adopt a ton of pets!!!! Too many to take care of them all. But they have a lot of fun with the game.

They are sculpting with play dough now...

Tuesday, 3/20/07

Today, Georgia worked on division in her math workbook. We discussed the Vernal Equinox and the symbols of Spring. She made an acrostic poem about Spring, and learned some Spring words in Spanish. She also put a list of Spring words in alphabetical order.

Georgia also took a Spanish test on numbers and colors, a North American test on Canada and Mexico, and an adjectives test.

She had her gymnastics class tonight and had fun with that. She was excited because they were doing handstands....something she loves practicing.

Olivia worked on PBSkids.org with making words, letter sounds, pronunciation, patterns, and measurement estimation. She worked on her number cups, this time they went up to ten. She used M&Ms for counting.

Livy participated in the Spring discussion. Livy and I also looked at pictures of each season and talked about the differences of each. She did a worksheet with different patterned eggs. She needed to follow the directions and color the eggs of a certain design a particular color. Afterwards, she counted how many eggs there were of each design and wrote the down the number on the line indicated. She wrote her numbers really good for being the first time.

Livy also worked on an alphabet puzzle. We talked about what words start with each letter and we made the sound that the letter makes.

In the evening we all read a book about bones and touched the bones that were being highlighted on each page.

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You may have noticed that there have not been any pictures in the recent postings. This is because we have switched cameras and I am still becoming familiar with the new camera. I will update the postings that are without pictures and add them. When I do, the title of the updated post will have an asterisk (*) at the end of it so that you know pictures have been added to the post.