ON THE GO: We started our morning by diving into a themed bag of books from Seattle Public Libraries. Transportation was the topic, and we read five picture books about going places. One was called "Go!" and had a couple dozen poems about different modes of transportation. Likewise, "Bunnies on the Go" was about a family of rabbits traveling via various means. And then there was "Duck Rides a Bike", a silly-but-lovable story. "Fast Food" was a hit - it had pictures of food - mostly vegetables - fashioned as vehicles and/or drivers. Very cute!
I saved what I knew to be a favorite of the kids' for last: "Larry, Lost in Seattle." It's a cute book about a dog who gets separated from his owner while visiting the Emerald City. It's fun for the kids to see some of their stomping grounds (Kerry Park, the Fremont Troll, the Ballard Locks) showcased in a picture book.
They each took Accelerated Reader tests on the books, and then later in the day I asked them each to write a four line with an A-B rhyming pattern about the mode of transportation of their choosing.
I saved what I knew to be a favorite of the kids' for last: "Larry, Lost in Seattle." It's a cute book about a dog who gets separated from his owner while visiting the Emerald City. It's fun for the kids to see some of their stomping grounds (Kerry Park, the Fremont Troll, the Ballard Locks) showcased in a picture book.
They each took Accelerated Reader tests on the books, and then later in the day I asked them each to write a four line with an A-B rhyming pattern about the mode of transportation of their choosing.
Wanting to keep it as simple as possible for them, as an example, I wrote:
They float
They go
The boats
They row
Within a couple of minutes Bee whipped out:
Scooters glide
Scooters roll
Scooter ride
Race to the goal
CJ, on the other hand, decided to make it reeeeeally hard on himself by opening his poem with:
There has to be two people.
"How many words do you know that rhyme with people?" I asked him.
"None," he deadpanned.
I told him when I have to write a poem, I usually choose words I know will be easy to rhyme, to make it easy on myself.
But CJ does things differently. :) So differently, in fact, that apparently he doesn't feel the need to follow the constraints of a typical A-B rhyming poem. He wrote:
There has to be two people
One of them has to pull the wagon
Be careful
Make sure it doesn't get burned up by a dragon
ZOOMING: The kids are now "zoomer" making veterans, but they still enjoyed watching this tutorial we found on YouTube today.
In the process, we learned about the Steve Spangler Science YouTube channel, which has lots of other science-is-cool type videos. Nice!
From the videos, I could see Spangler appears on The Ellen Show once in awhile. I watched a clip from one of his appearances - it was pretty entertaining. And it's nice to see Ellen promoting the cool science cause!
ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING: This evening we watched some of the coverage of space shuttle Discovery being rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad.
Image: NASA
We started out watching it online, but then I realized we could probably catch it on NASA TV (which is channel 76 for Seattle Comcast subscribers). So, we switched to the big screen. What a sight it is to see. That said, we didn't watch the entire 7-hour move (5 p.m. to midnight).
Image: NASA
This mission (STS-133) has been a long time in coming - it has been delayed multiple times for a whole host of reasons. However, NASA seems to have things back on track. Its new launch date is February 24. You know we'll be watching. :)
In the process, we learned about the Steve Spangler Science YouTube channel, which has lots of other science-is-cool type videos. Nice!
From the videos, I could see Spangler appears on The Ellen Show once in awhile. I watched a clip from one of his appearances - it was pretty entertaining. And it's nice to see Ellen promoting the cool science cause!
ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING: This evening we watched some of the coverage of space shuttle Discovery being rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad.
Image: NASAWe started out watching it online, but then I realized we could probably catch it on NASA TV (which is channel 76 for Seattle Comcast subscribers). So, we switched to the big screen. What a sight it is to see. That said, we didn't watch the entire 7-hour move (5 p.m. to midnight).
Image: NASAThis mission (STS-133) has been a long time in coming - it has been delayed multiple times for a whole host of reasons. However, NASA seems to have things back on track. Its new launch date is February 24. You know we'll be watching. :)
A side note - it was 40 years ago today that mankind returned to the moon. Apollo 14 was commanded by Alan Shepherd, the first American in space. I certainly remember watching coverage of that on the news!
Image: Apollo 14 on the lunar surface, NASA
Image: Apollo 14 on the lunar surface, NASATWIRLY SKIRT: Bee had ballet today. I think there are more girls in this session of her class than ever. For her free dance she wore a skirt we fashioned yesterday from a pretty, colorful curtain valance that Grandma gave Bee for just that purpose.
WEEKEND REWIND: Sunday was another soccer game for Annabelle. Per usual, they were pitted against another vastly more experienced and slightly older looking team. Good thing there's no official score being kept. It wouldn't be pretty. But she had fun and played a tad bit less tentatively this week. I'm still hoping to see her play as aggressively as she does vs. Christian, CJ and me during our Saturday schoolyard scrimmages.
During the soccer game, CJ got to enjoy climbing and jumping around on the mammoth inflatable slides and such they have in one section of Arena Sports at Magnuson Park. He had a blast.
WEEKEND REWIND: Sunday was another soccer game for Annabelle. Per usual, they were pitted against another vastly more experienced and slightly older looking team. Good thing there's no official score being kept. It wouldn't be pretty. But she had fun and played a tad bit less tentatively this week. I'm still hoping to see her play as aggressively as she does vs. Christian, CJ and me during our Saturday schoolyard scrimmages.During the soccer game, CJ got to enjoy climbing and jumping around on the mammoth inflatable slides and such they have in one section of Arena Sports at Magnuson Park. He had a blast.
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