Magnolia Preparatory Academy: Fall Fun

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Fall Fun

AUTUMN ARTWORK: I wanted to do something artsy and craftsy, but not delve headlong into Thanksgiving just yet, so I settled on having the kids make a leaf banner. On our midday fresh air outing, I had CeeJ and Bee each pick up some fallen leaves, asking them to try to find different sizes and shapes. We had red, yellow and blue paint on hand, but the kids had to make green and orange paint. We spread the leaf collection out on some butcher paper and they used sponges to outline the leaves.

The artists and their autumnal creation. This photo doesn't do it justice - it really is beautiful

ELECTION REFLECTION: Nov. 4 marks the one year anniversary of the election of the first African American president, Barack Obama. It is, undoubtedly, the first presidential election the kids will remember. We followed last year's election VERY closely in our home, and the kids still talk about election parties we went to. I spent a bit of time this morning explaining the &%*$^$ electoral college to the kids - and how a president doesn't get elected by having the most votes nationwide (just ask Al Gore about that), they get elected based on getting the most votes in individual states, and being awarded winning states' electoral votes. To help illustrate that fact and remind them of how last year went down, I played a really great video that recaps Election 2004 , with networks calling states for McCain or Obama, followed by part of Obama's acceptance speech. What a historic night it was.

We also read the book "Yes We Can." Published by Scholastic, the book features photos of children on the campaign trail, and lines for Obama's speech, including:

Change has come to America.
The road ahead will be long.
Our climb will be steep.
We as a people will get there. Block by block, brick by brick.
We are not enemies, but friends. It cannot happen without you.

When we finished reading the book, CJ, studying the photo of the Obama family on the last page, said, "I wish I had brown skin."

TUBBY TIME: Yesterday we discovered Tubby the Tuba via a library book. Today we explored the world of "the most famous tuba in history" via his Web site.

We learned Tubby was born in 1941, one week after Pearl Harbor. Composers Paul Tripp and George Klinesinger were thanking orchestra musicians who had just played their music. The orchestra's tuba player is said to have responded, 'Tubas can sing too.' The declaration prompted Tripp to go home and write a story about Tubby the Tuba, which he and Klinesinger put to music. It became a hit in 1945, and has been translated into 30 languages since then.

Thanks to Google, I found what appears to be a reeeeeally old 9 minute stop action animated Tubby the Tuba story. The kids really enjoyed the golden oldie. I also found a short segment of a Tubby the Tuba cartoon from 1975. None of us liked it.

I figured we should get some language arts in, so I made a worksheet. It read, "If I were an instrument I'd be a ____ because ___. Annabelle chose a piano, because "it sounds so good." CJ opted for the tuba, "because it's so fun." They also drew themselves as the instruments.

MORNING MUSIC: Today's hit parade was a hat tip to tonight's World Series match up. First up was "Philadelphia Freedom ", a great version featuring Elton John and an orchestra at the Royal Opera House. The kids asked to see/hear it three times. Together we picked out the various instruments in the orchestra (we finally found a tuba at the 3:16 mark!). Next up just had to be Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York." Because the song just BEGS for it, I had to teach the kids how to do chorus line kicks. After they picked that up, I tried to introduce the arm lifts that go with. Annabelle caught on, but CJ literally went spinning across the room. Guess we won't be adding hats and canes anytime soon. ...

ROLL OUT THE BARREL: Today's outing involved heading out to Warren G. Magnuson Park to pick up a couple of rain barrels for the homestead. A former Navy facility, the 350 acre park has a huge playground, an off leash dog park, a swimming area, lots of trails and ballfields and features a mile-long stretch of Lake Washington’s shoreline in northeastern Seattle.

Our first stop was to pick up the rain barrels. We parked in a lot that was surrounded by chain link fences and dilapidated government buildings. "This doesn't look like FUN," CJ lamented. He was right, but I told him business before pleasure. So we got our rain barrels loaded and then went looking for the "real" park.

OUTDOOR SCHOOL: With little trouble we found a ginormous playground. The kids ran around for about a half hour. We went and checked out the dozens of dogs romping in the off leash area (and felt guilty that Kirby was home). Next, we strolled the Children's Garden - my favorite part of the park. There we found lots of artwork, including a whale created from a large landscape mound with a mosaic tail, mouth and eyes. A tall grass plant created its spout.

We also discovered a gorgeous outdoor amphitheater. The kids had a great time running up, down and around in it.

See the kids way, way over there?

From there, we headed south toward the shoreline part of the park. There we found kite hill. No wind today (and no kite), but the kids found logs and made a fort, and ran to the pinnacle and rolled all the way down.