Unbelievable, our school year is finished! The past two weeks were crazy, but we made it.
Photo of the week:
It’s been wet and overcast on and off for a couple of weeks now, yet I love it
Today, we had an amazing experience attending a class in our local Audubon Society . We had a pleasure of taking a Bird Walk here before and attended another class for homeschoolers. Today was extra special as we got to see how the birds are banded, and we learned about migration.
First we took a walk among the wetlands and trees that were so full of life comparing to our late autumn and winter visits.
There were so many of Red Winged Blackbirds and the air was full of their song.
Children learned about beavers being active again and spotted a white heron that was a bit far, but there nonetheless 🙂
Before long we reached the bird banding station (which is open to general public on weekends until May 31,2015, folks in the area hurry up and visit!) and got to see a little Lincoln sparrow that got caught in the net and was ready to be banded. Another little Lincoln sparrow was caught later. Just as we were about to leave more birds came up from other nets, too bad we couldn’t stay to see what kind they were.
Little leg is being measured for the band
The bird’s leg was measured for the band and a band quickly attached, then the wings and tails were measured and carefully recorded, then the fat on bird’s chest was checked- we got to see its little heart fluttering through the transparent skin- so tiny and so fast! Finally the bird was weighted
and the little kids helped release the bird back to nature.
After kids learned about things that help and hinder the migration. It was a lovely walk and we were very lucky to have a warm sunshine after two days of rain.
For more information on migration check out PBS video
And Winged Migration is an excellent film on the topic.
April is National Poetry Month, so exciting!
Saw an awesome idea at 100 Scope Notes about creating book spines poetry. We decided to give it a try today. Kids pulled down half of a bookcase and here’s the very first cento they came up with:
![One Big Rain It's Raining Pigs and Noodles. The Cat in THe Hat Buying Mittens, The Vasa Piglet Instruct[ion]s Blue Chicken To Fly Outside Your Window. Shapeshifters Hop on Pop, Maps Sing a Song of Popcorn](https://sunflowerous.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/dsc_0918.jpg)
One Big Rain
It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles.
The Cat in The Hat
Buying Mittens,
The Vasa Piglet
Instruct[ion]s
Blue Chicken
To Fly
Outside Your Window.
Shapeshifters
Hop on Pop,
Maps
Sing a Song of Popcorn
Such fun game, I’m curious to see what they will come up with next.
This week we began our Silk Road Study, this is part one.
We had an awesome visit at Denver Museum of Nature and Science exhibit. It is called Traveling the Silk Road. It was most interesting visit. We got to learn a lot about major stops of the Great Silk Road. We learned about market life, means of transportation, tales and perils.I highly recommend this exhibition, it is on for another month.
Before visiting the museum we watched TED video about Silk Road
I decided to use Marco Polo’s travels as a guideline for our study. A biography video for Marco Polo can be found here. I got a very good book at the museum’s shop. Marco Polo for Kids: His Marvelous Journey to China by Janise Herbert. This book is great, it talks about Marco Polo’s travels and provides around 20 activities.
This week we talked about Marco setting off on his journey. Children created a medieval map. We looked at a few old maps and tried to re-create them, not forgetting to include monsters that lurked in the seas and lands long ago. The fact that we visited Mythic Creatures exhibit earlier this week helped a lot. Children painted their maps on paper grocery bags, I made little boats for them out of polymer clay.
Our next stop this week was Turkey. We located it on the map, learned a bit about its history, practiced saying simple words in Turkish( a video for common words and phrases can be found here)
We talked about carpets that were made there (children actually got a couple of souvenir bookmarks from the exhibition) and children found it fascinating that making of a carpet could take months. We tried cereal box weaving at home. It is very simple to make a loom cut a large rectangle out of a cardboard box, make notches to string the yarn and start weaving using yarn, fabric or embroidery thread. Children used grandma’s knitting left overs.
final result
Children loved this project.
We also visited Denver Mint this week and besides learning how the coins are made, we had a chance to discuss what was used as a payment among the traders of long ago.
This was first part of our learning about the Great Silk Road, stay tuned for more.
We had to drive a lot today and sometimes kids were bored. So they came up with a game that I found quite awesome.
C. is allowed to ask D. any question and he can answer it truthfully or make stuff up.
C’s questions included “Why do we eat? ” (so we survive), “Why do we wear clothes?” (long winded explanation involving pre-historic people), “What are we made of?” (of love:)) and so on.
I found it super touching how C. trusts her brother to provide the answers and how D. tries his best to make it easy for her to understand. Tomorrow C. will be the answerer and I am already excited about things she’ll come up with.
Wow, I realized I skipped a roundup last week, we were so busy and life got so chaotic. I must make an effort and do better.
Picture of the week:
Spring is here and ground is slowly being covered in flowers
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Another week flew by, the air is thawing and snow is melting. I’m sure there are a few snowstorms to enjoy before summer comes, but for now we are basking in the sun.
Photo of the week:
guests on our lawn. It was so funny, how the crows that live in the surrounding trees were upset that geese came. There was a lot of talking between the birds.
This is our second year in a row visiting Hina Matsuri Doll Festival.
Hinamatsuri is a Japanese holiday taking place on March 3rd. It is Girls’ Day in Japan and colorful dolls are displayed in every home with girls.
Local Japanese community celebrates by getting together for a festival. The festival includes an amazing doll exhibition, ikebana and bonsai display. Tea Ceremony demonstrations and various acts celebrating Japanese culture are presented throughout two days.
We went today not just as guests, but also participants, D. along with his dojo-friends were doing a karate demonstration. We also got to see singing and Okinawa dancing acts, as well as Taiko drums performance.
Now a few pictures from the festival
all the dolls are amazing works of art
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February is over and thank goodness it is. It was a good month, but it seemed long and heavy. Russians congratulated each other on the beginning of spring today. And even though here, in the US it doesn’t come for a couple of weeks at least, I think it is here already, lurking in the woods and soon will drive winter out completely.
Photo of the week:
nothing better than spending Sunday afternoon with my baby girl by my side, all nice and cozy
Sunflowerous Days 