Baby It's Cold Outside!

SLOW MOVING OBJECTS: A bit sluggish from nearly 7 hours in the car yesterday (funny how doing nothing makes a person tired!) MPA got off to slow start this a.m. The kids watched "In Search of Santa," a (really weird and lame, IMHO) Christmas special about "Penguin princesses Crystal and Lucinda try(ing) to return a sleigh bell to Santa at the North Pole." Once that monstrosity ended, we shifted gears and moved into a mix of brain work. On tap were worksheets on consonant blends, telling time, fractions and some math (in the form of a coin value exercise). The kids whipped through those in no time flat. Time to find something new and more challenging ... Flipping through a workbook I realize we haven't worked on alphabetical order yet, so that it was!

First, we talked a bit about what alphabetical order is. Then I gave them some from-their-real-world examples of why it would be practical to use alphabetical order, such as finding a library book and picking tickets up at will call. Then they each had a couple of worksheets where they had to put words in alphabetical order. To be honest, I was expecting there to be at least a bit of a struggle with the new-to-them concept, but they both breezed through their work with no trouble whatsoever. Cool!

PA RUM PA PA PUM: Continuing our percussion/drum theme from last Friday, and given that it's December, we listened to a few versions of "The Little Drummer Boy" today. One from the Christmas special of the same title, another was from the late great John Denver (sung at the Vatican, interestingly enough), and I saved the Best Ever - Bowie and Bing for last. Annabelle felt compelled to drum along for much of the songs.

CHRISTMAS STORY: We used the Scholastic Web site today to learn a little bit more about Christmas and Christmas traditions. I found myself disagreeing with their definitions and explanations almost immediately. For example, they said that Christmas is a holiday celebrated by Christians - as if it was Christians and only Christians who celebrate it. I think it's fair to say it's a holiday rooted in Christian traditions, but you're telling me that every shopper at Wal-Mart on Black Friday is a Christian? And that only Christians have Christmas trees and stockings hung by the chimney with care? I hardly think so ... Anyway, I let the footage roll, so to speak, and then put in my 2 cents with the kids. And it wasn't all bad - there was some good cultural knowledge to be gleaned from the slideshow - like the story of the Christmas star, the three wise men, the manger story, Christmas tree and Santa Claus origins and so on).

ON TOP O' MAGNOLIA: Our chilly but refreshing PE today was trudging up to Ella Baily Park at the summit of "Mount Magnolia." It was a beautiful, clear day and oh-so-cold. The kids spent more than half their time 'ice skating' atop frozen puddles.

IT'S THE (SNOW)PITS: After lunch and warming up a bit, it was back at the "books." This time we watched a NASA-produced video about snow pits and animals living in snowy conditions. It was fact filled and fascinating. We learned that a biome is a major regional or global biotic community characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate. And we learned that adaptation is key to survival for animals who are inhabitants of snowy/frigid areas. For instance, a snowshoe hare has big, wide feet which allow it to run atop the snow, and frogs have a chemical, internal antifreeze that keeps their cells from exploding even in freezing water. We also learned about NASA's HOW (History of Winter) program. (Who knew that NASA was studying snow and ice here on earth?)

CRAFTY SANTA: Throughout the day we worked on an art project - cute Santa faces from paper plates and assorted items found around the house. This morning the kids painted the plate back a flesh tone. After that dried, they carefully stretched cotton balls out so that they were a little bit flatter and varying shapes, to be used to make Santa's beard, moustache and eyebrows. After we glued on the facial hair and it dried, they glued on hats, complete with fuzzy pom pom and hat band. More dry time. Then it was time for eyes and a mouth and more dry time. Lastly, they fashioned glasses from pipecleaners and glued them on. Clearly, it was an exercise in patience, not just artwork! In the end, their sticktoitiveness (or should I say gluetoitiveness?!) paid off. They were pretty pleased with the Jolly Old Elf project.

BONUS SHOT: The kids this weekend @ (the nearly vacant) Jantzen Beach (is it still even called that?)