Unity Wreath

Thank you ladonnamobile. You inspired me! I was going to put up a picture of Luke and Isabel's new morning charts, but as I am always reminding everyone, I am no perfectionist so check out ladonnamobile's. Luke and Isabel's morning list is as follows:

1. Pray

2. Brush Teeth

3. Shower (on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

4. Hang up towel

5. Clothes in hamper

6. Get dressed

7. Comb hair

8. Breakfast

Isabel loves having a morning chart and followed it to a tee. It really helped get Luke moving this morning (my slow poke space cadet) but after he thought he was finished I noticed number 4 and 5 weren't done.

In going along with Martin Luther King Jr., we made a Unity Wreath today. Very cute and fun.

We used to have a "Pot of Gold" that my mother gave us, but it got ruined. It was a black cauldron like pot made out of paper with popsicle sticks inside that had the beginning of a story on it. Example, Once upon a time, there was a magic paint brush.... then you finish the story. the other day Isabel wanted to make up stories from the "Pot of Gold" so I made a new one. It's really a fun idea and my kids love finishing the stories. Here is a picture of mine just for an example. Once again, no perfectionist here.

Space Battle, Dr. King and a Frogs and Toads Diagram

While I was getting their spelling words together this morning, Luke sat down and started creating a board game. He first wrote instructions on "how to play" in his journal. He then drew a diagram of what the board and cards would look like. I gave him half of a poster board and some 3x5 cards and he created the "Space Battle" game. Today I read to them Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by David A. Adler and Illustrated by Colin Bootman. I think it is a great simple overview of MLK and his "dream." Luke knew about MLK having attended public school for two years, but it was Isabel's first time learning about racism, separate drinking fountains etc. It is wonderful how strange and silly that whole concept seems to children. I know this sounds so dramatic, but I kind of felt sad like I was taking away some of her innocence in just teaching her what racism is. Okay okay, back to school stuff, when I was looking for the link to this book I found another book by David A. Adler, A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. Illustrated by Robert Casilla. I'll have to get that one too.

Another wow-they-ARE-learning-things moment the other day. I have been reading to them out of a book called, What's Inside a Frog by Aimee Bakken. Luke writes down on a big piece of paper anything new that we learn about frogs. There is a section in the book that explains the differences and similarities between frogs and toads. I suggested to Luke that he could make two lists: frogs and toads. He said, "I'm going to do this." and he drew a VENN DIAGRAM!!!

Friday Flamingo Field Trip

The great thing about living in Las Vegas is that there are always free things to go see and do. The not so great part is that you always have to walk through a smoky casino to get there. With the Veenendaal family and the Marchants we visited the Flamingo Hilton to see the penguin habitat. We found out that they took that out so we had to settle for some flamingos and an African Crowned Crane. Actually they had a beautiful set up with huge koi and ducks as well.

We then visited the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory in Henderson and walked through the cactus garden.

My personal favorite part of the trip was finding the Learning is Fun store. Maybe a bit pricey, but aisles and aisles of good ideas. Plus I finally got some butcher paper. Luke loved the Science section.