I haven't updated in a few days, but we've been keeping busy. Adam's been working on more things in his workbook. Even though he's doing workbook work, we're doing it in a very informal way. He can pretty much stop when he decides he is done as long as he's worked on something. This weekend as the end of last week the kids have been sick with a tummy bug that we have yet to get out of here, so we've been very relaxed about things.
We have managed to do some fun learning activities though, including:
*Weather investigation about tornadoes with a bottle connector tornado gadget thing. (Ours is from when I was a kid, but I know they carry these at places like hobby Lobby.. just not sure what they call them.)
*Senses-hearing: we talked about hearing and sound and read Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?
*Reading Readiness: watched 2 episodes of Super Why
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Montezuma Castle
The other day I asked the kids what they would like to do on daddy's next day off, and the resounding answer was "Go to Tuzigoot!" Unfortunately Tuzigoot is under renovation right now and the visitor's center there is closed for the next 6 months. The up side is that during the renovation process there is no admission fee to visit the monument... but there is also no Jr. Ranger program, museum store etc. I'm not even sure about bathroom facilities. So we were thinking Montezuma Castle might be a better option. The two monuments actually have a joint Jr. Ranger program, so we could do that on this trip, and then take a later trip to Tuzigoot to just enjoy, and not worry about the work involved with the program. Not everyone has been feeling very well in our house this week, so we kind of left it up int he air until this morning as to whether we would make the trip or not.
But this morning, when my kids showed up in my bedroom in their matching pterodactyl shirts and ready to go, who could say no? We grabbed some bagels and headed on out the door!
Before we realized it we were there! On the banks of beautiful Beaver Creek, in a gorgeous canyon, looking up at the past. I truly think there are few things more amazing than the wonders that are preserved in our National and State Parks. Welcome to our past, and our future. Welcome to America, the beautiful, and breathtaking.
Our first stop was the visitor's center where we got an understanding of the way the cliff dwelling was built, and a feel for what the interior is like (it was closed to visitors in the 1950s to prevent damage to the structure.) The kids also picked up their Jr. Ranger program materials, and we all learned a lot more about the amazing Sinagua people who built and lived in these structures.
The 1/3 mile trail was an easy walk for the kids, and afforded amazing views of both the natural geology of the area, and of the ruins themselves. The walk was also an integral part of the kids' Jr. Ranger scavenger hunt.
Montezuma Castle is not the only ruin in the park, however it is much more well preserved than the secondary, Castle A. Castle A was destroyed by fire at one point, but some of the masonry, including foundations and walls of first flor rooms, can still eb seen today. This building was actually much larger than the more well known Montezuma Castle, and is presumed to have housed almost three times as many inhabitants.
(Rock face remains of Castle A)
Despite the lack of human inhabitants, Castle A is not empty. We spotted a squirrel who had obviously nested in a smaller cutout, mud bird nests hanging beneath rock ledges, and in one large entry to a large natural cave, a very impressive bee hive (the kind you think only exist in animation- I only wish it had photographed better).
(Bee hive hanging in cave entry, Castle A)
The kids completed their Jr Ranger program, and are looking forward to future trips up to visit Montezuma Well, and Tuzigoot sometime soon! And Reagan can't wait to reread her book A Kid's Guide to Exploring Montezuma Castle National Monument that was the catalyst for them wanting to visit the monuments of this area in the first place. :-)
But this morning, when my kids showed up in my bedroom in their matching pterodactyl shirts and ready to go, who could say no? We grabbed some bagels and headed on out the door!
Before we realized it we were there! On the banks of beautiful Beaver Creek, in a gorgeous canyon, looking up at the past. I truly think there are few things more amazing than the wonders that are preserved in our National and State Parks. Welcome to our past, and our future. Welcome to America, the beautiful, and breathtaking.
Our first stop was the visitor's center where we got an understanding of the way the cliff dwelling was built, and a feel for what the interior is like (it was closed to visitors in the 1950s to prevent damage to the structure.) The kids also picked up their Jr. Ranger program materials, and we all learned a lot more about the amazing Sinagua people who built and lived in these structures.
The 1/3 mile trail was an easy walk for the kids, and afforded amazing views of both the natural geology of the area, and of the ruins themselves. The walk was also an integral part of the kids' Jr. Ranger scavenger hunt.
Montezuma Castle is not the only ruin in the park, however it is much more well preserved than the secondary, Castle A. Castle A was destroyed by fire at one point, but some of the masonry, including foundations and walls of first flor rooms, can still eb seen today. This building was actually much larger than the more well known Montezuma Castle, and is presumed to have housed almost three times as many inhabitants.
(Rock face remains of Castle A)
Despite the lack of human inhabitants, Castle A is not empty. We spotted a squirrel who had obviously nested in a smaller cutout, mud bird nests hanging beneath rock ledges, and in one large entry to a large natural cave, a very impressive bee hive (the kind you think only exist in animation- I only wish it had photographed better).
(Bee hive hanging in cave entry, Castle A)
The kids completed their Jr Ranger program, and are looking forward to future trips up to visit Montezuma Well, and Tuzigoot sometime soon! And Reagan can't wait to reread her book A Kid's Guide to Exploring Montezuma Castle National Monument that was the catalyst for them wanting to visit the monuments of this area in the first place. :-)
The Week In Review
This last week Reagan's been doing a great job on her school work, and has made some great progress with her math. Adding larger numbers is becoming easier, and her handwriting has been improving vastly. Adam started doing workbooks at home this week. HE had been doing some before that were, "stick this sticker there" type direction following activities, but this was his first real workbook work. Based on some of the work he did on his Jr. Ranger program at Walnut Canyon, I thought he might be ready to do some of this type of work, and he loved it! He did a great job of identifying colors, matching colors, circling objects and connecting the dots. He was doing a fantastic job with controlling his crayon or pencil doing those activities, but is still a wild color-er. hehe
Reagan's been having a lot of fun learning about the first Thanksgiving at school, and loved reading The Magic Treehouse: Thanksgiving on Thursday at home. She's been especially excited about it since we can trace our family back to people who were there! She's been really bummed however that she won't get to be part of the Thanksgiving potluck at school since it's going to be held on a day that she doesn't go. I'm going to be planning some fun Thanksgiving activities for that day at home so I'm sure we'll still have a great time!
Reagan's been having a lot of fun learning about the first Thanksgiving at school, and loved reading The Magic Treehouse: Thanksgiving on Thursday at home. She's been especially excited about it since we can trace our family back to people who were there! She's been really bummed however that she won't get to be part of the Thanksgiving potluck at school since it's going to be held on a day that she doesn't go. I'm going to be planning some fun Thanksgiving activities for that day at home so I'm sure we'll still have a great time!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A Ride on the Magic School Bus
My kids absolutely LOVE this show. I would definitely recommend it for grade school science! Reagan has been reading the books, and saw on some that it said there was a TV series. I don't think it runs on TV anymore.. at least it doesn't seem to here.. so we borrowed all of the available ones from the library. Of course, we have been so busy doing things that we haven't had a chance to watch them yet, and they're due back in a couple of days. So today was Magic School Bus Day! I was sure Reagan would love them, but wasn't so sure about Adam. Not to worry though, he is captivated. Even Catie sat in her Bumbo munching Cheerios and happily watching with them. they watched 3 episodes about bugs, and learned a lot about bees and butterflies. Then they watched one about the human body, and learned why they get sick, and how their body fights infection. Next it was time to learn about the water cycle! I definitely think that planning some hands on activities ahead and rewatching these would be great. Also having the books on hand to reference information while doing activities. And possibly even coupling them with Sid the Science Kid when appropriate. (The kids also watched ones about the ocean.) And in the afternoon Reagan finished reading the Magic Tree House adventure where they go to Pompeii! :-) Nothing to structured today, but lots of learning nonetheless.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Flagstaff National Monument Weekend
This weekend we went on a fantastic trip to visit the three national monuments in the Flagstaff area. We travelled up on Saturday after Reagan's soccer game and spent the afternoon at Wupatki. Then spent the night in Flagstaff, and visited Sunset Crater the nest morning, and stopped by Walnut Canyon in the afternoon on the way home. We all had a wonderful time, learned a lot, saw a lot of amazing things, and despite squeezing them all into one weekend, we had time to stop and enjoy each of the three.
Wupatki
The first national monument stop for the weekend was at Wupatki.
We stopped to hike the Box Canyon ruins, The kids were amazed by the buildings, and it only got better. At the back end of the trail, we got to actually walk through one of the ruins!
After our Box Canyon hike, we drove by and only stopped to look at The Citadel, so that we would have more time at the visitor's center, and to see the Wupatki ruin. It was incredible!
The hike down to the bottom of Wupatki, led us past the main ruin, as well as the gathering circle, and the ball court- all amazing sights in their own right. But the whole hike would have been more than worth it just to see the blow hole! IT may not look like much, but it was AMAZING!
Cool air actually blows up out of this crack in the earth's surface as if there were an electric fan in there. (See Reagan's hat flying off!) It was truly incredible, and is really beyond describing. This home of the wind spirit is something that really must be experienced first hand!
Reagan completed her Jr Ranger program, but it was above the level that Adam could complete here. The ranger did give him a coloring sheet to design his won pottery though, so he felt very included. :-) We got a book at the visitor's center shop: ...If You Lived With The Hopi, by Anne Kamma. Reading it gave us all a better understanding of one of the pueblo building peoples. It's a Scholastic book, so it's geared for kids, and really gives them a lot of information from a child's perspective, but also about the people and their lifestyle as a whole .
Sunset Crater
On Sunday morning we headed back to the north of Flagstaff to visit Sunset Crater.
Reagan is very into volcanoes right now, so doing preparatory reading for this one was easy. One of Reagan's favorite books right now is Pompeii: A Doomed City by Rona Putterman, that describes the events surrounding the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, and the modern archaeological efforts to unearth the city. She has read this, and much of the Eyewitness Book, Volcano & Earthquake many times at home, and brought them along in the car to read on the trip up to Flagstaff along with a Smithsonian mini book on Volcanoes that they had collected from Subway meal awhile back. She also read The Magic School Bus Inside The Earth by by Joanna Cole, and a couple of other books.
We spent a good deal of time in the visitor's center learning about the geologic history of the region and of Sunset Crater itself, and about the different tribal stories and beliefs about the volcano and it's importance to their cultures. Then we hiked the lava flow. It was a truly amazing experience, with great views of the volcano, and a fantastic up close experience with different kinds of lava formations. Including squeeze ups, hornitos and lava tubes. This kids loved exploring the lava field along the trail, but were sure to not climb on any of the rock.
Walnut Canyon
Out last stop was at Walnut Canyon National Monument.
It was a long way done and back up on the Island Trail, but well worth it! Reagan's favorite part was what she called "the secret passage" where we passed between rocks onto the "island" from the canyon wall.
Just around the corner we got to the first set of cliff dwellings. The trail led us right along the rock face, and we were able to walk through some of them!
Below:Some of the amazing cliff dwellings of the Sinauga.
After completing the trail, the kids sat down and filled out the remainder of their Jr Ranger booklets (Reagan did the readers one, and Adam completed the non-reader one.) They turned them in and after reviewing them with the ranger, took the Jr. Ranger pledge. Over the weekend, Reagan completed Jr Ranger programs at Wupatki, Sunset Crater AND Walnut Canyon, and Adam completed both Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon as well. They learned so much, and enjoyed themselves to the extreme!
And of course Catie was along too!!! She tried toast at breakfast on Sunday, and LOVED it! This picture is of her with her 2nd slice!
And here she is in the backpack where she happily rode most of the weekend. :-)
Wupatki
The first national monument stop for the weekend was at Wupatki.
We stopped to hike the Box Canyon ruins, The kids were amazed by the buildings, and it only got better. At the back end of the trail, we got to actually walk through one of the ruins!
After our Box Canyon hike, we drove by and only stopped to look at The Citadel, so that we would have more time at the visitor's center, and to see the Wupatki ruin. It was incredible!
The hike down to the bottom of Wupatki, led us past the main ruin, as well as the gathering circle, and the ball court- all amazing sights in their own right. But the whole hike would have been more than worth it just to see the blow hole! IT may not look like much, but it was AMAZING!
Cool air actually blows up out of this crack in the earth's surface as if there were an electric fan in there. (See Reagan's hat flying off!) It was truly incredible, and is really beyond describing. This home of the wind spirit is something that really must be experienced first hand!
Reagan completed her Jr Ranger program, but it was above the level that Adam could complete here. The ranger did give him a coloring sheet to design his won pottery though, so he felt very included. :-) We got a book at the visitor's center shop: ...If You Lived With The Hopi, by Anne Kamma. Reading it gave us all a better understanding of one of the pueblo building peoples. It's a Scholastic book, so it's geared for kids, and really gives them a lot of information from a child's perspective, but also about the people and their lifestyle as a whole .
Sunset Crater
On Sunday morning we headed back to the north of Flagstaff to visit Sunset Crater.
Reagan is very into volcanoes right now, so doing preparatory reading for this one was easy. One of Reagan's favorite books right now is Pompeii: A Doomed City by Rona Putterman, that describes the events surrounding the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, and the modern archaeological efforts to unearth the city. She has read this, and much of the Eyewitness Book, Volcano & Earthquake many times at home, and brought them along in the car to read on the trip up to Flagstaff along with a Smithsonian mini book on Volcanoes that they had collected from Subway meal awhile back. She also read The Magic School Bus Inside The Earth by by Joanna Cole, and a couple of other books.
We spent a good deal of time in the visitor's center learning about the geologic history of the region and of Sunset Crater itself, and about the different tribal stories and beliefs about the volcano and it's importance to their cultures. Then we hiked the lava flow. It was a truly amazing experience, with great views of the volcano, and a fantastic up close experience with different kinds of lava formations. Including squeeze ups, hornitos and lava tubes. This kids loved exploring the lava field along the trail, but were sure to not climb on any of the rock.
Walnut Canyon
Out last stop was at Walnut Canyon National Monument.
It was a long way done and back up on the Island Trail, but well worth it! Reagan's favorite part was what she called "the secret passage" where we passed between rocks onto the "island" from the canyon wall.
Just around the corner we got to the first set of cliff dwellings. The trail led us right along the rock face, and we were able to walk through some of them!
Below:Some of the amazing cliff dwellings of the Sinauga.
After completing the trail, the kids sat down and filled out the remainder of their Jr Ranger booklets (Reagan did the readers one, and Adam completed the non-reader one.) They turned them in and after reviewing them with the ranger, took the Jr. Ranger pledge. Over the weekend, Reagan completed Jr Ranger programs at Wupatki, Sunset Crater AND Walnut Canyon, and Adam completed both Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon as well. They learned so much, and enjoyed themselves to the extreme!
And of course Catie was along too!!! She tried toast at breakfast on Sunday, and LOVED it! This picture is of her with her 2nd slice!
And here she is in the backpack where she happily rode most of the weekend. :-)
Petrified Forest: Our Adventure
Even before we made out journey to Petrified Forest National Park, we started learning about it! Of course mommy did some research through the National Parks website, but Reagan learned a lot by reading Petrified Forest National Park, A True Book, by David Petersen. This book was very informative, and great for emergent readers. It is written in large easy to read font, and includes a glossary of important words at the back, as well as information for further research resources and on the park's Junior Ranger program. Even non-readers can follow along with an older sibling and enjoy the captivating color photos of the park. Reagan loved reading the book, and learning about what she would see at the park, the process of petrification, and the basic geology and fossil record of the area. I thought this book did an amazing job of presenting a lot of complex information in a way that is very approachable for children of all ages.
After reading about it, the kids were even more excited about our trip to the park, and couldn't wait to get there. We arrived just after opening, and they eagerly bounded into the visitor's center to have hands on experience with different types of rock and petrified wood, and collect their Junior Ranger workbooks. We were soon headed out on the road through the park. We stopped at several overlooks of the painted dessert and the badlands. The kids were very excited to look for things on the scavenger hunt that was a part of their ranger program. Then we stopped at the the Painted Desert Inn. The kids had a great time exploring the main building of the building that was once a hotel, and then a restaurant, and enjoying the views. Further down the road they were very excited to stop an see the few things where old Route 66 passes through the park. They weren't as excited about the Puerco Pueblo Anasazi ruins as we were, but enjoyed playing I Spy, finding petroglyphs on the rocks and deciding what they must mean. The best part of the trip was definitely going on hikes through the petrified forest, and getting to see and touch the logs. The kids did a great job looking for the answers to questions in the Jr. Ranger books here. they enjoyed measuring the logs, and looking at their different colors. Their favorite hikes were the Crystal Forest, and Giant Logs.
Both kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges, and each got to pick a piece of polished petrified wood in the gift shop. By the end of the day they were somewhat tired form all the hiking and excitement. But the next morning at home, they were asking when we could go back! We had such a great time, I'm sure we'll go back at some point in the future. :)
After reading about it, the kids were even more excited about our trip to the park, and couldn't wait to get there. We arrived just after opening, and they eagerly bounded into the visitor's center to have hands on experience with different types of rock and petrified wood, and collect their Junior Ranger workbooks. We were soon headed out on the road through the park. We stopped at several overlooks of the painted dessert and the badlands. The kids were very excited to look for things on the scavenger hunt that was a part of their ranger program. Then we stopped at the the Painted Desert Inn. The kids had a great time exploring the main building of the building that was once a hotel, and then a restaurant, and enjoying the views. Further down the road they were very excited to stop an see the few things where old Route 66 passes through the park. They weren't as excited about the Puerco Pueblo Anasazi ruins as we were, but enjoyed playing I Spy, finding petroglyphs on the rocks and deciding what they must mean. The best part of the trip was definitely going on hikes through the petrified forest, and getting to see and touch the logs. The kids did a great job looking for the answers to questions in the Jr. Ranger books here. they enjoyed measuring the logs, and looking at their different colors. Their favorite hikes were the Crystal Forest, and Giant Logs.
Both kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges, and each got to pick a piece of polished petrified wood in the gift shop. By the end of the day they were somewhat tired form all the hiking and excitement. But the next morning at home, they were asking when we could go back! We had such a great time, I'm sure we'll go back at some point in the future. :)
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