Cave Paintings

Hall of Bulls Cave in Lascaux, France vs. Marcus and Lella's cave painting. Lella's reverse hand print is on the left and Marcus' is on the right. Fun!

Salt Map of Egypt

This was a fun project we did a couple weeks ago. Shaping the map caused the kids to easily see how Lower Egypt is actually North.

Directions:
Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 3/4 cup water. (Add a little water at a time). This should make a very thick dough. Add more flour if needed. Spread dough over map you've outlined on heavy cardboard or plywood. I had the kids create their map in a gift box! Shape mountains, valleys, plains, etc. You may dip fingers lightly in water to smooth out rough places in dough. Allow to dry and paint with tempura.

Recently Completed Books 11/4/09

There were times when Marcus was reading E. B. White's classic tale The Trumpet of the Swan. Trumpet is an unforgettable, poetic and deeply moving story of love, friendship, and most importantly, coming to terms with a disability. The book not only teaches, but entertains. There were even several times Marcus laughed out loud!

Marcus:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis, 189 pages
The Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White, 210 pages
Edward Tulane, K. DiCamilllo, 198 pages

Lella:
The Call of the Wild, Great Illustrated Classics, Jack London, 238 pages
Peter Rabbit, A Lift-the-Flap Rebus Story Book, based on the original by Beatrix Potter
Zak's Lunch, Palatini, 32 pages

The Chronicles of Narnia

I found this special read-aloud edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S Lewis, 189 pages) at the library recently, and Marcus was finished with it in five nights. He was intrigued by the large text, black and white illustrations and then, of course, was drawn into C. S. Lewis' magical and mystical world of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a charmingly written, classic story.

When I asked Marcus what he liked most about the book, he replied, "When Aslan died for Edmond. It reminded me of Christ dying for us."

We are ordering him the rest of this series for him on Amazon!

A Place in the Sun (Jill Rubalcaba, 80 pages)

We read A Place in the Sun today and compared Sunmet's life with the lives of Marcus and Lella in the following ways:

• Worship and Prayer
• Treating Sickness
• Home and Family
• Country Leader
• Punishment for Wrongdoing
• Entertainment

Summary of story:

When Sunmut's sculptor father is bitten by a cobra, Senmut believes that if he can carve a statue of the healer-goddess Sekhmet that will please her, she will help save Yuf. As the boy works, he carelessly throws aside a tool, accidentally killing a dove. This thoughtless act, in ancient Egypt, means a death sentence for Senmut, unless the gods intercede on his behalf. They do, and instead of a quick death, the boy is sentenced to work in the mines, which will lead, he knows, to a slower, but no-less-sure, demise. How Sunmut escapes this fate and, by virtue of his talent and some good luck, survives to become Royal Sculptor to the Pharaoh, makes for an exciting and information-filled adventure!

So many books, so little time...

Marcus is reading several books at the moment, but recently completed A Good Night for Ghosts, Mary Pope Osborne (~110 pages), and a few shorter stories like: Grandaddy's Place (Helen Griffith), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (a modern take on the old fairy tale by Steven Guarnaccia), How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball (David Shannon).

Gabriella is reading through all of her Magic School Bus Books again and also her "about" books: About Birds, About Mammals, About Arachnids, etc... (Catherine Sill). We have all of them and although they are very simple, she enjoys the illustrations and the longer descriptions of each animal in the back of the book. Gabriella is very much enjoying Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg (Levine, ~208 pages) and is almost finished.

Gabriella and Marcus both recently finished The McElderry Book of Aesop's Fables (Morpurgo), and The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Book 2, ~320 pages).

We are currently reading The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Braum, ~200 pages). I particularly like the version illustrated by the Junior Library, as the writing is a bit larger and the illustrations are simple and sweet.

Steve recently finished his unit on Literary Devices and now, especially during family worship, the children are recognizing them when we read scripture. His plan is to teach them ten new devices each year. They now are familiar with: Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Hyperbole, Understatement, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Hendiadys, Eupemism, and Irony. If you would like to see what he has done, feel free to email him! He's happy to share :-).

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Kate DiCamillo writes such lovely childrens' books. You may recognize her other books: The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn-Dixie.

Gabriella just finished The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (197 pages), and said it was one of her favorite books.

Summary:

Edward, a china rabbit, is lost when he is dropped over the side of a boat. Edward journeys home and has many encounters along the way. He learns valuable lessons about life through these encounters..

Recently read books 10/5

Marcus: Coudy with a chance of Meatballs (Junior Novelization) 112 pages, The Rockhound Science Mysteries (book 1, 2, and 3) all about 50 pages

Lella: Mole and Shrew (Koller), Pickles to Pittsburgh (Barrett)

Both: Nim's Island Movie Storybook (Scholastic), Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat (Miller), Three More Stories You Can Read to Your Cat (Miller)

It was so fun to see Marcus and Gabriella read to their stuffed cat "Alley". I am going to reserve the dog version for sure!

We are also reading the McElderly's book of Aesop's Fables. The kids love to read a fable and then write down what they think the moral of the story is.

Enjoy!

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs Junior Novelization

Marcus and Lella loved reading this book based on the soon to be released movie and famous book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by the Barretts . Marcus even laughed out loud at certain parts of the story!

Enjoy!

Books Recently Completed

Marcus: Apollo 13, The Movie Storybook, Around the World in 80 days (Great Illustrated Classics)
Lella: Three More Stories You Can Read to Your Cat (Sara Miller), Margarine and Marbles (A Go Bananas book), Moby Dick (Great Illustrated Classics)

Both: The McElderry Book of Grimm's Fairy Tales (Saviour Pirotta): The Sleeping Beauty, The Magic Bear and the Handsome Prince, The Golden Haired Girl in the Tower, The Princess and the Seven Dwarves, The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Tangrams

I recently picked up this book from the library:

The Tangram book : the story of the Chinese puzzle with over 2000 puzzles to solve
Slocum, Jerry.

Marcus loves to look at an image, create it using one set of Tangrams, and then check his answer. Gabriella likes to play with all of the Tangrams and create pictures (shown here). Either way, Tangrams are an easy, creative, smart activity for children.

Enjoy!

Choose Your Own Adventure Series

We recently purchased several "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from ebay and Marcus and Lella LOVE them! There are so many books in this series to choose from.

Gabriella recently finished Return to Atlantis and Marcus recently finished By Balloon to the Sahara. They eventually read the entire book, as they choose different paths each time.

Most of these books seem to be approximately 100 pages.

Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse

Gabriella and Marcus recently finished this delightful book and requested more from this series.

The author is George Seldon.

Summary:
This book tells the story of a mouse, Tucker, and a cat, Harry, who become friends, share food, and search New York for a home of their own. Their wanderings take them to the basement of the Empire State Building and to Gramercy Park, among other places. Eventually, they settle down in the Times Square subway station.

Books Recently Read, Handwriting Article, Hall of Presidents

Marcus' recent completed readings: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Great Illustrated Classics), Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, Andrew Jackson (Steve Potts)

Lella's recent completed readings: Swiss Family Robinson (Great Illustrated Classics), The Jungle Book (Great Illustrated Classics)

Books they have both read recently: G-Force, The McElderry Book of Grimm's Fairy Tales (Saviour Pirotta): The Magic Gingerbread House, The Girl Who Spun Straw into Gold, Little Mouse and Lazy Cat, The Swans and the Brave Princess, The Naughty Princess and the Frog, Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Wenzel and Wheeler): Little Snow White, The Three Sluggards, The Shoemaker and the Elves

This is an interesting article on handwriting:

Cursive writing may be fading skill, but so what?

Marcus is learning cursive this year and it's one of his favorite things we do in a school day. We use Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive.

This part of the article encourages me that this is not a waste of time: "...[A]ccording to Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham, who cites multiple studies showing that sloppy writing routinely leads to lower grades, even in papers with the same wording as those written in a neater hand."

Finally, a few months ago, Marcus and Lella asked me to buy them a place mat (it was $1.00) that showed all 43 U. S. Presidents, the time they served, their party affiliation, and various facts. They both took it upon themselves to memorize all 43 presidents! Marcus also memorized their party affiliation and is in the process of memorizing their years of service.

At Disney, The Hall of Presidents was recently redone and Marcus and Lella thoroughly enjoyed it! It was fun to see them find so much joy in our country's history. If you ever have the opportunity to view this exhibit and show, I highly recommend it!

Starry Starry Night

Although the children and I have no "formal" art curriculum, we often look through art books or "youtube" slide shows of famous artists. We recently studied Vincent van Gogh and this was Marcus' masterpiece.

If you have younger children, there is a delightful three series program called Classical Baby (art, music, or dance) that introduces children to various genres of art, dance and classical music. My children still love to watch these sweet shows every now and then!

Classical Baby