Maptastic

DINOSAUR BRAIN DRAIN: This morning before ballet, I let the kids watch Dinosaur Train. It's a bit more sophisticated than many kiddie dinosaur shows in that a train is the vehicle that literally (in the dinos' cases) takes them traveling through the different eras when dinosaurs lived (rather than just throwing 'em all in mix together, like many shows do). The animation is interspersed with live action shorts featuring a paleontologist. Overall, there's lots to like. I told the kids to be ready, we had to leave as soon as the show was over. Meanwhile, Mr. Not Listening kept insisting that they had to watch the show because of its educational value. Yes, fine, I get that, I told him, but be ready to go right when it's over. I headed upstairs to change and use the bathroom. While in the bathroom, um, using it, I hear CJ call, "OK, Mom, we're coming with you now," followed by squeaking hinges and the front door slamming. Great, so here I am upstairs, indisposed, and CJ is running up toward the street/car. I have all sorts of horrid visions about how this is going to turn out. I pull myself together, tear down the stairs and then UP the stairs and find CJ. So while I blamed him for taking off like that at the time, as I recount this, it occurs to me that HE was the one ready to go right when the show was over (per instruction) and I wasn't. My bad.

MOSTLY SILENT READING: While Bee was in ballet, CJ and I made our weekly trek to the library. One of the dozen-plus books we came home with was"Snoopy: Flying Ace to the Rescue." I pulled it off the shelf because while watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, the kids really enjoyed the vignette where Snoopy is a WWI flying ace. Since we got back to the community center/ballet central early, I had CJ sit down and read the book to himself. He managed to do so with only a couple of exceptions, one being reading/shouting BAM BAM BAM when Snoopy was kicking Charlie Brown's front door. A few pages later he muttered, "Snoopy has lost his mind." Not sure what prompted that conclusion, but I can relate, Snoopy.

CHARTING A COURSE Thanks in large part to Dora the Explorer, the kids have been familiar with the concept of a map since toddlerhood. But it occurs to me that it would be good for them to study the elements of a map and a map's uses a bit more in-depth, as it combines geography, spelling, graphics/art, some math (calculating/estimating distances) and just plain practicality.

I asked the kids what they think a map is for and Annabelle immediately said, "A map is something that tells you how to get somewhere." I thought rather than go straight to worksheets, we'd START with the fun stuff - making our own map. So, we decided to map our midday Kirby walk.
I drew our alley, and CJ labeled it. As we passed houses along the way, I made boxes to signify houses we passed, and had the kids come up with an initial of a person who lived there. I had them label the E-W street leading to the park, as well as cross streets we encountered, and on the way back we checked our work.

Once back home we read "How Tall How Short How Faraway." Recommended by the National Science Teachers Association, this great book didn't just "talk" about miles, meters, inches, yards, and such, it shared info about the origin of measurements in very kid-friendly terms, with engaging illustrations, and along the way were suggestions to stop and measure things around the house using newfound knowledge (for instance, using a 'cubit' or the length from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger).

Afterward, the kids completed a good map exercise comparing a photographed map with a graphical reproduction. They had to ID landmarks in the photo map and ID them on the graphic map. They caught on quickly, and I think our making our own map ahead of time really helped. Next, they played an online game where they had to drag and drop states to their proper place on a US map. I was surprised how quickly they caught on to that, too (for instance, that the tiny states are in New England, that the boxy ones are in the Midwest, etc.).

BARBIE ZOMBIE: During free play time CJ and Annabelle were playing with some cute little dolls Bee got for her bday (thanks Nonnie & Bops!). I started to listen and had to laugh when I heard they were actually playing out a horror movie of sorts with them, and one doll was instructing another to "take me to your zombie master." Too funny!

IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE!: I really wanted to do a little "hands on" (cough cough) experiment today, so I decided to bust out the ghouly hands trick I found on education.com. It was simple - all we needed was a wide-mouthed jar, a disposable glove, vinegar and baking soda. I let an anxious Annabelle color the hand (truth be told, she wanted nothing to do with making a monster hand come alive). Then we poured 3 tablespoons of vinegar into a jar, 3 teaspoons of baking soda into a disposeable glove and put the glove over jar and sealed it with a rubber band. Soon, the monster hand started to expand, much to the kids' delight. Says Annabelle, "At first I was a little scared, but then it got fun." Yay for science!
IT COMPUTES: Later this afternoon, CJ requested FunBrain, a Web site where lots of games live. Even though there are tons of just-for-fun games there, happily, he specifically requested the MATH games FunBrain features. Good boy. : )

BEDTIME STORIES: Tonight before bed, the kids watched a Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD with five great stories, all tied together by a "magic" theme. Titles included the classics Strega Nona and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. I really love this series.