Boxing Day

THANKSGIVING: For this morning's writing and art session, I thought it would be good to idea to tackle at least a couple thank you cards for holiday kindness. First we generated a list of words they might use in a holiday thank you card and wrote them on the whiteboard. Then they set about writing a couple of notes to loved ones. They both barely met the 10 minute deadline I gave them for writing (not that I'm trying to rush the thank yous, mind you, it's just that I know by now that if they don't have a deadline, these writing exercises can drag on and on and on ...).

HE HAS THE TOOLS AND KNOWS HOW TO USE 'EM: We're going to have a steady diet of math worksheets for the next few days as with the Christmas Chaos we got away from that for awhile. This morning when I presented CJ with some story problems he immediately recognized that having some manipulatives (the fancy word for thingees to count) would make solving the problems easier.

So, I went and grabbed him some poker chips and he was off to the races. He solved the problems post haste and while he was working suggested that he was earning an "A." I found that interesting since we have never ever ever talked about letter grades (and he didn't receive them in preschool or kindergarten). Obviously he's heard about grades somewhere - cartoons or ??? Whatever the case, I gave him an A+ :)

SCHOOLTASTIC!: The kids enjoyed a mid-morning story time thanks to one of the fantastic Scholastic DVDs that bring award-winning children's picture books to life. This morning's treat was titled "Click Clack Moo," though that was just one of 7 stories featured. I appreciated the fact that the DVD has a read along (close captioned) feature, so the kids actually read the story while it's being narrated.

CJ gets happy when he sees "Scholastic" branding, and he reads their name as "school-tastic!" (I think we should trademark that word!) So, the kids enjoyed the stories, including an extra on the DVD - a Spanish version of "Click Clack Moo," complete with subtitles in Spanish. We learned that a Spanish typewriter makes a "Clic Clac" sound and that Spanish speaking cows say "Muu!" That tickled the kids.

YOU SAY YOU WANT A RESOLUTION?: Wait until Jan. 1 to start a new exercise program? Not here at MPA - we're (two whole) DAYS ahead of the crowd! ; ) Since it's often cold and rainy, we don't walk/jog/run as far or as often as we do in nicer months. So, we need to incorporate a few more on campus workouts. I figured the kids might get a kick out of kickboxing. I explained to them that real boxers and kickboxers don't just battle opponents all the time. In fact, they do that infrequently. What they spend most of their time doing is conditioning, and that's what we'd be working on. So, I fired up a video from the folks at Sparkpeople (PSA - anyone looking for non-intimidating, non-irritating, effective, short, encouraging FREE exercise routines - everything from gentle yoga to cardio bootcamp that you can do anywhere - Sparkpeople are your people.)

ROUND THE NORTH POLE: I know, I know, Christmas is over, but the North Pole is still there. Today, we learned lots about the Arctic Circle, thanks to the fabulous BrainPop Jr. First, we viewed an informational animated video about the Arctic Circle. Afterward, we printed out questions from the site's "Notebook" feature and watched the video again, this time pencil in hand, to glean answers to questions. We learned exactly where the Arctic Circle is and which countries have land within it (Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the U.S.). We learned how plant life has adapted to the Arctic (shallow roots, a short, fast growing season, low-to-the-ground growing, and some even have fuzzy hair!). Animals have adapted by growing thick fur or packing on layers of blubber. Some migrate south when it's cold. The video also talked about global warming and its effect on the Arctic Circle and, in turn, the world. (For those wondering, global warming was presented as definite/real and man-made. Quick, someone alert Senator Inhofe's office! BrianPop is brainwashing our youth! ;)

CJ & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Several times today CJ insisted that he wants to be a chocolatier. "I will make dark chocolate, white chocolate and my favorite, brown chocolate," he proclaimed. He also emphasized that he does NOT want to wait until he's a man to do it; rather, he wants to do it soon. Realizing his limitations, he informed me that he will need some help attaining this goal, so his dad and I should build him a chocolate factory. ...

I think that before we invest our time and resources in doing CJ's bidding, some hardcore research needs to happen. To that end, I found what looks to be a cool tour of several Seattle area chocolatiers, but it's for ages 10 and up only (geez, discrimination - don't they know the boy wants to be a chocolatier?!).

In happier news, five minutes from our house is award-winning Theo Chocolate, the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the United States. They offer tours seven days a week. We are SO there (maybe for next Monday's field trip?!).