Family tree

Frank had a wonderful idea for teaching Alex about his family tree. We had Alex call his grandparents (also a lesson in phone etiquette) to ask them their name and the names of their parents which he wrote down. Then Alex got to talk to each of them for a few minutes. Afterwards I explained a little about genealogy and showed him a family tree. Finally Alex made a simple family tree.

We didn’t include aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents, adoption, single parents, or step families, (all included in our family) though we did discuss them. (I totally confused him with single parents; maybe I should have waited with that one.)

Marie-Anne

Book Drop #1

I came across this blog and loved her idea.

http://www.ourrandomactsofreading.blogspot.com/

Tonight I did my first book drop. It was Fancy Nancy; The Show Must Go On. (I love Fancy Nancy.) I included paper dolls that I printed from the Fancy Nancy website.

I dropped the book at Martin Luther King Park after the puppet show. I left it on the steps of one of the play grounds. Some kids who were at the puppet show told me I left it and I said they could keep it. They were super excited and yelled, “Thank you!”

It was fun, but next time I’ll try harder not to be seen.

Marie-Anne

catching butterflies

This activity provided loads of fun for Alex and Sabrina. I had trouble with the pipe cleaners so we just used tissue paper and the ceiling fan. I got the idea from Frugal Family Fun blog, (lots of good ideas on this blog!)

http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2010/03/welcoming-spring.html

City View Park

For family night we went to City View Park then to CiCi’s Pizza. We went to this park a couple of times when we first moved here. It is a nice park with two playgrounds. One is at the bottom of the hill near the pond and the other one is on top of the hill. There is a waterfall and a stream that flows into the pond.



Alex and Sabrina enjoyed both playgrounds. Sabrina loves the slides and can go down by herself now. Both kids also enjoyed the wagon ride.





Marie-Anne

Another wonderful day at Lake Mead

Today the kids and I took our friends Tammie and her son, Jacob to story-time then to Lake Mead. We had our usual picnic then headed to the beach. Today was warm enough for us to wade! We all got soaked and all enjoyed ourselves immensely. The kids also got rides in the wagon. Lake Mead is always great fun!

Marie-Anne

Probability worksheets

Alex was playing the sample games on Time4Learning’s website. After he did the pre-k-1st grade games he wanted to play some of the 2nd-3rd grade games. Most were too difficult, but he really liked the Probability game. I was amazed at how well he did after I explained it to him.

I made some worksheets based on the game. Here’s a sample problem:

1. 5 frogs, 2 salamanders, 1 beaver
What is the probability of choosing a frog? ________


The child first counts the frogs = 5. Then the child counts all animals = 8. The answer is 5/8.

If you would like a copy of the worksheets I made leave a comment or e-mail me.

Marie-Anne

Audio books

I got a set of audio books from the library. Alex is addicted to them! He has been listening to them since last night. He’s already listened to 5 stories out of 8. These are Magic Tree House books that I’d already read to him.

We have the Narnia series, Adventures in Odyssey, and Your Story Hour: Life of Jesus and Acts of the Apostles. I’ll have him listen to some of those next. We also have some Jack London, but I’ll have to see which ones would be appropriate for him.

Marie-Anne

Springs Preserve

Saturday we took advantage of Bank of America’s Museums on Us program to go to Springs Preserve. It is a wonderful museum. Almost every exhibit was hands on. It is about conservation and living in the desert. There are outdoor parts as well as several buildings. We did not see it all.



Alex’s favorite part was “the outside part; I loved it.” He really enjoyed putting foam pieces together to make the buildings. Sabrina loved the sand box. Frank’s favorite part was the erosion exhibit where we built a mountain of sand then turn on the water to see it wash away. That was also one of my favorites and the flash flood.



People can bring in nature items, such as, rocks, pinecones, shells… and trade them in for other nature things. I read about this on their website so I had Alex collect things. He had a hard time deciding on what he wanted; there was a whole wall of things to choose from. Finally he got a mold of a coyote track and one of a fox track.



We are planning on going back. I am also planning on going with friends. I highly recommend this museum.

Marie-Anne

Lake Mead with Lulu

We picked up Lulu, Jr, and Josielyn this morning and went to the library for story-time. Afterwards we headed to Lake Mead. It was her kids’ first time. We enjoyed a very delicious lunch.





I brought enough shovels and pails for each child and they had a lot of fun digging in the sand.



After lunch we went to the beach, but didn’t let the kids in the water. They had more fun digging and Lulu helped a very excited Alex make a sandcastle. Each of the kids got a ride in my new wagon, (a b-day gift- my exercise program). As always we had a lot of fun. We love Lake Mead!

Marie-Anne

Dr. Seuss’ b-day Bash

Yesterday we walked to the library for Dr. Suess’ b-day bash. I thought it started at 3, but it didn’t start until 3:30. I read a lot of books to the kids while we waited. Sabrina was so fussy that I almost left. I’m glad we stayed. There were about 6 stations set up and b-day cake. Alex did them all except the coloring sheets. He had so much fun! Alex got his face painted and insisted that Sabrina needed hers painted too. Half-way through she started screaming so she was half a cat. Alex did not want to leave. I’m glad the library is so close.

Marie-Anne