Filled with Joy

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

 I came across these cute Cat in the Hat snacks while searching for an easy way to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday.

 They looked just too cute to pass up. 

Washington State

We are coming to the end of our Washington state unit study. 

 

On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state in the United States.

 

Notebook pages

 

With the instructions from How to Draw Washington's Sights and Symbols 

they were surprised how simple drawing even the state bird can be. 

 

 

Picture Books used:  Washington State/The Pacific Northwest

  

Not all of the books we used are pictured, however they are all listed below.

 

 E is for Evergreen:  A Washington Alphabet

W is for Washington

How to Draw Washington's Sight and Symbols

Searching for Sasquatch

Raven:  A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest

Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree?

123 Moose: A Pacific Norhtwest Counting Book

Northwest Animal Babies

O is For Orca

Eaglet's World

 

Picture Book Study:

E is for Evergreen STUDY GUIDE

  

  

The plan was to draw the well known symbols of Washington, then create notebook pages with them.

 

 

After discussions their drawings sparked, hands on activities were added.

 

Hands on Fun

  

First up, a salt dough map of Washington. 

 Not too shabby for the first time ever making one.

 

 

 

 Includes details of the Cascade and Olympic Mtn ranges, rivers, and the three volcanic mountains (Mt. Baker, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier).

 

 

Next, Mt. St. Helens

 

 

View of their Mt. St. Helens and "Spirit Lake" before the eruption.

 

 

 

 

  
 No measuring.  Just dump and watch the chemical reaction.

Mt. St. Helens did not have red lava pouring down the mountain. 

It was an Ash flow that devastated an area of 600 square miles!

What about adding various colors?

 We are done with our Washington state study, yet!

Stay tuned as we visit Bigfoot, the Native Americans of this area, Potlach Masks, and more.

Feast of St. Jerome

Today, we celebrated the Feast of St. Jerome with the same activities as we did last year. 

We read the Catholic Mosaic picture book suggestion St. Jerome and the Lion and made lion cupcakes.

Sometimes, while planning our liturgical celebrations, I get trapped believing that I need to come up with new ideas for my children to enjoy our celebrations.  Not true!  There is no reason for me to try and reinvent the wheel when they enjoy our liturgical traditions.

 

Olivia made the cupcakes.

 

How many cupcakes do we really need to enjoy a celebration?  One per child is enough.    We individually wrapped, then froze, all but four of the cupcakes to be enjoyed another time. 

 

No one seemed to mind that all I had was blue, green, and pink icing to choose from for the face.

 

Olivia helped Teresa make a LION mask.  I didn't even have the brown colors for the mask , but they didn't mind that either.

We had a fun day together.

Hopefully, that's what they will remember.

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

Nicholas read The Good Man of Assisi to his brother and sisters.  After completing the Catholic Mosaic discussion questions for the book, it was time for art.  It's a subject that is often neglected, but I hope to give it more attention.

I enlarged a picture that I had found online of St. Francis, Nathan & Olivia traced a basic outline of it, and then I gave them the choice to color in the outline or paint it.  They didn't hesitate, enthusiastically telling me they wanted to PAINT.  We rarely ever paint, but that is going to change, starting today!

We are *so* proud of their completed paintings! 

Tomorrow, I plan to buy frames to display their work. 

Nicholas preferred completing a notebook page with a mosaic picture of St. Francis, a map of Italy that he colored, and this prayer by St. Francis:

Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me Lord, a correct faith, a certain hope, a perfect charity, sense and knowledge, so that I may carry out Your Holy and true command. AMEN

St. Francis cared for animals, also.  Painting birdhouses to put in the backyard was a huge hit.

Daddy helping Nathan put his birdhouse high up in a tree.

Olivia's completed birdhouse.

It's Arbor Day!

                                             

photo by: David J. Moorhead

.

Ten Things To Do To Celebrate

.

1.  Language Arts -- Imagine the most beautiful tree in the world.  Think about how it would look, where it would grow, what you would say to it.  Share your ideas through stories and drawings.

2.  Science -- Plant and study tree seeds, record germination rates, and grow seedlings.  Give as gifts!

3.  Art -- Make wooden bird houses, feeders or jewelry.  Create handmade paper greeting cards.  Design creatures from cones, twigs, and other tree parts.

4.  Geography -- Map the vegetation around your home.  Conduct a tree planting project.

5.  Art -- Design a T-shirt with a forest theme.

6.  Geography -- Dissect a candy bar to identify  tree products (nuts, cocoa, coconut, wrapper).  Map their possible origins.  Show how people depend on forests for food, shelter, and livelihood.

7. Science -- Identify ten different trees by leaves, bark, shape, wood, etc.  Sample tree products:  maple syrup, apples, nuts.  Determine which tree parts you're eating.

8. Math -- Explore how much wood is used to produce an issue of your favorite comic book or newspaper.  Investigate rates of recycling and reforestation.  Graph your data.

9.  Social Studies/Language Arts -- Interview people of many ages to learn how trees touch their lives.

10.  Science -- Keep a log of how wildlife use your neighborhood trees.  Describe the animals (insects, too!) and how they use flowers, leaves, limbs, seeds, and bard.  Surprises await you!

.

An Arbor Day Scavenger Hunt

A tree younger than you

An insect on a tree

A songbird in a tree

A bird's nest in a tree (don't disturb it)

A twig with a "face"

An animal's home in a tree

A tree shaped like a triangle

A tree that's changed something

A stump telling a tree's history

Dried tree "blood" (sap)

Last year's leaf still on a tree

Three leaves with different shades of green

A partially eaten seed cone

A tree with a healed injury

A tree that could use your help

A tree three times as tall as you

A seedling just sprouting near an older tree

5 things you've used today that have come from trees

We are reading the last few pages of The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono.  It's a wonderful story about, Elzeard Bouffier, a man who reforested land in southern France by planting 100 acorns each day.