Go for the Gold

GOOD GRAFFITI: I thought I'd mix up the spelling 'drudgery' today by having the kids go graffiti artist with their words. We headed upstairs and instead of a verbal spelling bee, I had the kids write the words on the glass of the master bedroom door. One tiny slip up aside, they nailed all 24 new (frequently used!) words. Excellent. Time to add some more words to the mix!

PERFECT TENS: We did a couple of math worksheets today dealing with place value. The kids had to figure out how many tens and ones are in a number (for instance 38 would = three tens and eight ones). They had to noodle it for a couple seconds on the first couple ones, but were breezing through by the end.

nASHUnUL gRaMMeR dAE: Turns out today is National Grammar Day. (At which I can't help but wonder, 'Shouldn't EVERY day be grammar day?')

That aside, there's an entertaining Web site that's event central. A highlight is "The King of Ing" by Nancy Wright, winner of the 2010 National Grammar Day contest

I love the King of Ing
He makes me want to sing
Add him to an action word
And it's a gerund... now a thing!

Is that not brilliant?!

Also not to be missed - the playlist of grammatically offensive songs. The Stones' (I Can't Get No) "Satisfaction" is on it of course, as is "Lay Lady Lay."

LIBRARY DAY: Thursday is ballet-and-library day. We had a couple of books that had to go back, so we read 'em quick like this morning. One was "Arctic Thaw" by Peter Lourie. Judging the book by its cover, it appears to be a picture book. But when you open it up, it's more like a National Geographic article - pretty photos but text heavy. This is not a criticism, of course, just an observation.

We also read "The Story Behind the Toilet," a gem of a book by Elizabeth Raum. It outlines the truly fascinating history of toilets, from ancient Egypt to modern day. The kids loved it, and so did I.

Our library stop today ended up being the "exotic" Broadview branch, as it was near Home Depot, a destination of ours today. What a nice library. Nice architecture and a great collection and it was sooooooo quiet! After looking around, I realize why. I was the only one there with kids. : )

This library must have Magical Powers, as there, CJ uncharacteristically had no interest in the DVDs - he was all about the books! I had to take a picture to document this momentous development. (Look, the DVDs are to his immediate right -and he's totally fixated on his [Pokemon] book!)

But back to ballet for a moment. This afternoon, Annabelle wanted to demonstrate her "ballet hands" for me. I was glad she did. :) LITERACY OLYMPICS: Tonight we attended a special event - a Literacy Olympics at the school where CeeJ & Bee's big bro Rick works. The kids were VERY excited about attending.

It started with free hot dogs, and then it was on to fun and games with an Olympic theme. CJ and Annabelle teamed up to complete Olympic-themed tasks, including a word search, and a game where they had to use their bodies to form letter shapes. MEAN MACHINE: Yesterday, I discovered a geek-tastic music video (thanks to reader Undine). For whatever reason, I've always wanted to do some ridiculously over-the-top domino set up knock down. Well these guys (OK Go, with the help of a whole lotta friends, I'm guessing) do that a million times better.

CJ and Annabelle are captivated by it. I have little doubt you will be too ... NOTE: Click on the video quick TWICE so it launches in a new screen (if you don't you're going to miss half the action as half the frame is cut off here in blogger).