More Nutcracker Resources

I recently realized that the Ovation channel is running six versions of The Nutcracker in "The Battle of the Nutcrackers".  So I set my DVR to record a couple so that the girls could watch them and then compare and contrast them.   The girls can even vote for their favorite version online.  You can check them out at  http://www.ovationtv.com/Programs/battleofthenutcrackers/.  It looks like the winner will be shown on Christmas Eve and then there will be a marathon of all 6 versions on Christmas Day.

The Nutcracker

As a follow-up to our trip to the Nutcracker ballet, we have been listening to the CD of the Nutcracker that we purchased at the show, and reading this book.  

The pictures in this book are great, and it really simplifies the story.  The girls ask to have it read over and over again!  

Also, I found a recording of the Nutcracker, thanks to Tracie's Adventures in Homeschooling blog.  You can find it here.  I am looking forward to using it with the girls to compare and contrast the two versions of the story.

I was particularly happy to find all of these recordings since we just decided to take the girls to Walt Disney World in February, and I think I will download some of them for use on the plane ride.  Included in these recordings is a version of Peter and the Wolf, Madeline, and Alice in Wonderland.  I do plan to preview them myself as I sometimes find that some of the older recordings contain things that I do not think are appropriate.  

Preparing for the Christmas Recital

Our trip to see The Nutcracker came at a particularly fitting time as Madeline and Isabella will be performing in their Christmas dance recital on Sunday.  They have been working very hard this fall to get ready for this performance.  While it is not nearly the event that the spring recital is, it is very exciting for the kids.  Both Madeline and Isabella really love the fact that they get to perform on stage.  It is also nice that we are able to get a video of the performance, and it is a good way to see their progress through the year when compared with the video of the spring performance.

Here are some pictures from their dress rehearsals.

These are pictures of Madeline' rehearsal.  Her class is dancing to "Senor Santa".  They had to make some last minute changes because a student dropped out of the recital.  

Here are pictures of Isabella's rehearsal.  I am impressed by how much more she pays attention this year than last.  Last year at this time I was really concerned that she was just going to stand there on the stage, and even at their spring performance last year she would just miss entire sections of her dance.  She really follows along this year!  She is very proud of herself! 

The Nutcracker

One of the best things about where we live is the easy access to the arts.  With the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts (MTCA), the University of Missouri, and a wide variety of art galleries in town we rarely have to leave town to expose the girls to fabulous theater and art programs.  

Last night I took Madeline and Isabella to see the Moscow Ballet preform The Nutcracker at the MTCA.  The Nutcracker is also preformed at The University of Missouri's Jesse Hall every year.  It was their first time seeing this particular ballet, although we did go to see Swan Lake at Jesse Hall last year and I took Isabella to see a production of Cinderella, also at Jesse Hall, about 2 years ago.  We all really enjoyed the production, although the girls did get a bit antsy toward the end.  I think they both would have been happy if I had let them dance along in the aisle (we actually had to leave the production of Cinderella because Isabella insisted on doing just that).  Isabella also made up her own words to go along with the music, which I thought was interesting.

This production also had some local children in it who had spent a few months preparing for the show.  A couple of their friends were in the production, and they thought it was really cool to see their friends on stage.  That the type of opportunity I think we may take advantage of in the future.

I also brought home the CD, and I am looking forward to seeing them dance along and act out the story.  I hope Isabella remembers some of the words to her songs, because I would love to hear them!

It was also an opportunity for a geography lesson!  We spent some time looking at the map and finding Russia and Moscow, and seeing how far it was from Missouri.  I am also planning to have them locate the other countries that were represented in the show.

A Day for Making Smiles

I have been trying to find ways to include some community service or volunteering activities into our lives to teach the girls about the importance helping others and caring for people in your community.  I have considered several options, but not really settled on any, partly because they are too young for many of the activities.  

We did get a chance to do a couple of things today in this area, however.  We belong to the University of Missouri Fortnightly Preschool Playgroup.  The major focus of the Fortnightly Club in general is service.   The playgroup has adopted a Christmas family through the Voluntary Action Center this year.   The girls and I took a trip to the store today to pick out Christmas gifts for the 4 children in the family.  It was a great experience for them to go to buy toys for someone other than themselves, and I think at least Madeline understood that we were doing this because there are kids whose families do not have the money to buy presents for them.  At least it was a start!

Then, this afternoon, also as part of the MU Fortnightly Preschool Playgroup, we made some holiday cards and then took them to Tiger Place to deliver them to residents there and sing a few holiday songs.  Both Madeline and Isabella were very interested in the people there.  Isabella especially showed concern for the people who were living there.  I think she would have stayed for quite a while and visited with the residents.  She was very concerned that not everyone there may have gotten a card!  I think this might be one avenue that we may investigate further on our own for some volunteer activities. 

All in all, a good day!

Animal Tracks

We had some snow accumulation last night, so we decided to go out and play and explore in our backyard.  We found some squirrel tracks on our play structure on the ramp and on the beams. It was interesting to see where the squirrel went and count his toes.    

This is a close-up of the prints we found.

Here are some prints on the beam of our monkey bars.

Isabella compared them to her own hand.

We also checked out the inside of our bird house.  Most times we check we can see evidence of more than one type of nest built on top of each other.  This time it looked like just one nest, although we found feathers from different types of birds inside.
Isabella drew this paw print in her nature journal.

This is Madeline's drawing of the squirrel prints in the nature journal.

Thanksgiving Lessons

I wanted to add some information on Thanksgiving to our lessons, without doing an entire unit in it at this time, so I found some interesting web sites for us to look at.  I thought I would share.

The First Thanksgiving - Scholastic

Thanksgiving Information

The Thanksgiving Story

and HERE is a free printable book about Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Our First Lapbook

Well, it is another cloudless day here... cold, but cloudless.  We have been trying to find a day for the Outdoor Hour Challenge #39 Weather Challenge #1, but it has not seemed to work out yet.  We have had lots of cloudless days, and yesterday, when it was very cloud, we had no time to do it.  A few days ago, though, I decided we would try a lapbook, so I got this Weather Lapbook to go along with this nature study challenge, so I decided to try it out with the girls this morning.

They really liked putting it together.  Isabella was especially interested in getting her book put together.  And she has been carrying it around and protecting it since she finished putting it together.  She did need a good amount of help to put it together, and will need more help as we complete the activities in it.  Madeline was able to do more of it by herself, and I suspect would be able to almost complete the assembly by herself if we did another one.  She was also really excited about the fact that she gets to track the weather.  They were also really interested in all of the different types activities in the project!

I think we will probably be looking to do another lapbook, if I find one that compliments our lessons.  It was a nice activity for the girls to do... something different than what we usually do, and they have a finished product that they can be proud of.

Here is Isabella working on her cover.  Yes, she is still in her PJs... I love homeschooling!

Here is Isabella with her lapbook almost completely out together.

Madeline liked the cutting and gluing involved in creating her lapbook.

Building a Love of Learning

I am always so pleased when my girls make decisions to learn on their own.  One of my major reasons for homeschooling is to nurture a love of and excitement for learning.  Madeline and Isabella asked to watch The Way Things Work DVDs again.  Then they got out the K'Nex and spent quite a while building and experimenting with them, together.

Puzzling States

The girls' nana brought them a big floor puzzle of the United States.  Madeline just loves this puzzle and puts it together frequently.  She got it out this morning and decided to put it together by herself.  She was very proud that she completed it by herself!

Then she showed off her ability to find several states, including Missouri, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York (she is very excited about a trip we have scheduled to NYC next summer), Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska.  We had to pull out a map of the world to find exactly where Alaska and Hawaii are located since the puzzle places them both in the ocean southwest of the US, as most maps of the U.S. do.  Luckily I had picked up a couple of place mats with maps of the U.S. and the world on them a couple of weeks ago.  She was surprised to see where Alaska is actually located.    

Here is Madeline pointing out where Missouri is located.

After we were finished finding the states she knows, she decided to take the pieces out one-by-one as I named them.

Then she put the puzzle back together again!

Nature Study: Tree Study

I was planning to do the Outdoor Hour Challenge #39 Weather Challenge #1 today from the Handbook of Nature Study blog, however as you will see in some of the pictures, there was not a cloud in the sky today.  So, instead I decided to go back and complete the Autumn Tree Study .  I have been meaning to start the tree study, but have just not gotten to it.  This was the perfect opportunity.  Plus, then we have an excuse to get outside again this week to complete Challenge #39 when we have some clouds.

We chose this tree, which is in our front yard.  Bill and I thought it was a Maple, because of the shape of the leaves, but were confused by the fruit on the tree.

We checked out the leaves and fruit...

and the bark.

Madeline checked in this book...

to see if she could find our tree.  Which she did.  It looks like it is a Sweetgum tree.

Then we examined the tree further and the girls wondered if anything lived in this hole.

Then, we noticed these collections of leaves in the tree.  We wondered if they were just dried leaves, or if they were something more.

We got to use almost all of senses while we explored the tree.  We felt the bark and leaves and fruit, we looked at the tree and all of its parts, we smelled the leaves and fruit, and listened to the leaves as the breezes past through.  We did not taste, but evidently some people do chew on the gum-like sap that comes from the tree, so I guess we could have.

When we went inside we took these items in with us.  Sorry about the shadows, but if you look carefully, the dried fruit that we brought in released a small seed, so we go to examine the seed as well.

The girls go right to work drawing in their nature journals.  Isabella decided to draw a leaf and a fruit.  She even traced around the tiny seed so that she could show that!

Hailey decided to trace around a leaf.

Madeline decided to draw the entire tree.  She looked at Claire Walker Leslie's Guide to Sketching Trees, as suggested in the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Here is Isabella's completed journal page.  I was impressed that she even wanted to include the name of the tree, since she dislike writing so much.

We also learned that the fruit is sometimes painted and used for decorations on the Christmas tree, so after they were finished with their journal entries Madeline and Isabella went back outside and collected some to paint.  All in all, I would say it was a very successful nature study.

A Fall Walk

We took another walk at Rock Bridge Park.  This time we were checking out the leaves that have fallen off of the trees.  We found several different kinds of leaves.  I really need to get a tree guide so that we can identify the trees the leaves came from!  

Isabella collected a lot of oak leaves.

Hailey found some big leaves.

Here is a picture of Madeline making me nervous (yes, that is a drop off right behind her)!

Habitats

As part of Isabella's Moving Beyond the Page program, she has made several different crafts for each of several habitats.  She has really enjoyed the projects, and really wanted to do all of the crafts in the book.  We have a stairway down to our basement that really needs to have the walls redone.  The wallpaper is peeling off, and has had help peeling from 3 little girls.  I decided to put up some white butcher paper on the walls, let the girls decorate them for each habitat, and the we will hang the projects in the appropriate habitats.  They had a great time creating habitats on the paper.

I will post pictures of the walls once they have projects on them.  I'm sure it will be a continuous project, however!

School House Rock Election Collection

Before Election Day, I picked up a this School House Rock DVD.  

I had planned to have the girls watch it while we were waiting for election results.  I was afraid after what had gone on in the past 2 Presidential Elections that it would be a long night.  Well, election night went a little faster than I thought, and I never did show the video to them.  So, last night I got it out.

There was some initial negative reaction to it, particularly on the part of Isabella who said, "Is it all singing?  Where is are the talking parts?".  After the first 2 songs, however, they were all into it.  And, surprisingly, they had their favorites by the end.  "No More Kings" and "The Preamble" were definitely at the top of their lists.

I was also surprised at how much they know already, and the kinds questions and comments they came up with while watching the video.  Madeline noticed that the flag pictured during many of the songs was different.  She asked how many stars were on the flag and already knew that that was how many colonies there were.  I guess she was paying attention when we were at Fort McHenry!  We also had a nice discussion about the right to vote and the fact that at one time only white men were able to vote, prompted by the song "Sufferin' Till Suffrage."

I am sure that we will get this video out again many times in the future as they gain a greater grasp of American History, the U.S. government, and the election process.

Reading Through Math

I know that I have talked about how Madeline is making lots of progress now in reading, and I am very happy with the materials we are using.  I do, however, think that a lot of her motivation to read came from wanting to be able to do her math by herself.  She truly started reading because she did not want me to read the instructions and story problems in her math book to her.  She can read many of the math terms... greater, less than, altogether, how many more, etc... I think it is interesting how they can do things when they are motivated...

Inclined Planes

We watched the The Way Things Work DVD on inclined planes today, at the girls' request. Afterwards, Madeline decided to try to build the steep inclined plane by herself.  I was not sure if she would be able to follow the instructions on her own, but I figured she would ask for help if she needed it.  I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she was able to complete the project on her own, and even went on to make a modified version of the wheelbarrow to hold a doll to ride down the incline.  On another day we will experiment with the benefits of using an inclined plane.

More on Isabella's Writing

As I noted in a post yesterday, Isabella had been really quite reluctant to write.  So, I noticed on a post from the Adventure's in Homeschooling blog, which I recently mentioned as well, a link to Startwrite, so I thought I would check it out.  They have a free trial, meaning you can use the software for one use without purchasing it.  Tonight I got my chance to try it out.  

I wanted the girls to do some writing, so I went to the Startwrite site.  I asked Isabella to dictate to me what she wanted to write on our topic.  She did.  I typed them into the program.  The program created a page for her with her words on it, in dashed letters for her to trace over.  The program allows me to choose the font that I want to use, including an option for a Handwriting Without Tears font, as well as whether to use dotted, dashed, or solid letters.  It also has an option for making the color of the letters darker or lighter.

Isabella was absolutely tickled to be able to write her own words.  She willingly sat and traced her paragraph.  She was soooooo proud of her work.  We put it up on the refrigerator!  We will definitely be using this program again!

Reading & Writing

Madeline has been making good progress in reading recently.  I have been very happy with the ClickN Read Phonics Program. She has also been using the ABeCeDarian Reading Program along with several sets of Bob Books that I picked up.

 I wanted to add some additional language and writing activities for her.  I really like to idea of a daily journaling time, but I needed motivation for her.  So, I found this book

It contains lots of writing prompts, some of which are a bit too advanced for Madeline right now... the book is recommended for grades 2-6... but some which will work now.  I figured that I would be able to use the ideas for years to come.

I also picked up a couple of out writing resources.  This one has daily practice activities correlated to the 6 Traits of Writing.  I am planning to explain the activities to her and then let her work independently on them.

This book has lots of writing prompts and provides guidance on topic development.  I thought it had a lot of good ideas.

I am also thinking about spelling.  Earlier in the year I thought that I would be using the Making Words books and that would provide an easy spelling list.  I decided not to use those books, however, since the work is very similar to that in the ABeCeDarian Reading Program.  So, I am going to pull spelling words from the work Madeline is doing in both the ABeCeDarian Reading Program as well as from word lists that are provided with the ClickNRead program.  ClickN Read provides both a list of words she is learning in the program as well as Dolch word lists for pre-primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade.  

So, that is my plan for now.  I think it is a good one!

Isabella's Writing

Isabella has been quite a reluctant writer... I am not talking about journal writing or story writing, or anything like that... I am talking about just the task of writing.  She has not wanted to write letters or numbers, and has certainly not wanted any instruction in how to form letters and numbers correctly.  So, I asked her to write some words as part of the ABeCeDarian Reading Program.  At first she thought it would be a good idea to draw a picture instead.  When I again asked her to write the words, she went and got a piece of blank paper.  I thought she has just decided to draw somewhere else.  Instead, she drew lines on her paper and wrote all of the words several times, almost all correctly.  Then she proudly wrote her name at the top.  I never know!

Here she is working away on writing the words.

Here is her finished paper.