How Your Body Works

In our science studies, we've been using Christian Kids Explore Biology by Stephanie Redmond. I appreciate how the author weaves our Christian faith into every lesson. As a Christian, is there really any other way to talk about the awesome creation around us without talking about God, our creator??? We've just begun our study of the human body. Of course, we have our Human Body Flip Chart mentioned in a previous post that will be a favorite around here for years.

Two books we've found useful and right on my boy's level are The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness by Lizzy Rockwell






The Best Book of the Human Body by Barbara Taylor. I delight in seeing my boy's faces as they discover new things about how our bodies are made...206 bones???!!! They just couldn't get over it...so we had to count to 206!





I came across a website the boys loved playing around with called How The Body Works. There are movies to view about each body system and body parts/organs, where each part is located in the body, activities, quizzes and articles to read among other helpful information related to health. After showing the boys how to maneuver the site, they mostly watched videos as some of the information was above their grade level.

The timing is great for this topic in our house as the boys are questioning more about our baby due in July. Luke was surprised to know that the baby is "naked" right now and will NOT be born fully dressed. Ha, ha! What a neat way to bring real life to school studies!

King Tut

In our Story of the World studies, we're reading about King Tut and the discovery of his mummy and treasures. I found this chapter book about the life of Howard Carter and the team that discovered King Tut's tomb. It's an easy read and presents our topic in story form instead of fact laden pages in picture books. Don't get me wrong, it's essential that we use the non-fiction picture books, but this is a nice change of pace. And it works as our Read-Aloud this week!

The Uterus

This flip chart has been a favorite the last few weeks upon rediscovery of the page on Reproduction and Pregnancy. I've begun telling the boys more specific details about the baby and my body in response to their questions. The best question so far, because we say that Mama has a baby in her tummy, is about whether the baby is mixed in my tummy with all the food I eat. I explained that the baby is actually in my uterus or womb separate from my stomach and food. Now, every few days, particularly when I'm wearing a snug shirt, Elijah comes up to me and puts his hand on my growing tummy and says, "I know our baby is growing because I can see your uterus." Ha!


I'm just waiting for the BIG question that I know will come..."How does the baby get out???" In the past, I've answered that there is a special opening on a Mama's body for their babies to be born. I think they'll want a more specific location this time...and if Elijah can read the chart he may figure it out on his own!

Set

The boys received a new game for Christmas - Set: The Family Game of Visual Perception. The object of the game is to identify a "set" of 3 cards from 12 cards laid out on the table. Each card has four features which vary as follows:

(A) Symbols: ovals, squiggles, diamonds
(B) Colors: red, green, purple
(C) Number: one, two or three symbols
(D) Shading: filled in, outlined, striped

A "set" consists of 3 cards in which each of the card's features, looked at one-by-one, are the same on each card, or, are different on each card. All of the features must separately satisfy this rule. In other words, shape must be either the same on the 3 cards, or different on each of the 3; color must be either the same on the 3 cards, or different on each of the 3; etc. (game explanation taken from instruction guide)

Do you spot any sets???

Elijah LOVES this game!

A New Reader

Friday was a momentous day in our home! After practicing his phonics sounds, Luke asked me to quiz him on how to spell words like I do with Elijah. So we started out with CAT, HAD, PEN, SUN, BUS, etc. and with some help making each letter sound, Luke did a fabulous job! Once we were on a roll, Elijah joined in to help teach Luke by writing words on our white board and reviewing more phonics sounds. Then, Luke read his first book!!! We have the first set of BOB Books which are great phonetic readers. I can't describe how proud Luke was of his accomplishment. He read and re-read the first two books and now has them memorized. I am amazed at how much Luke picks up by participating with Elijah during our school day. It's wonderful to see the two of them helping and encouraging one another. Way to go, Luke!

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

I came across these books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal in my local library. They are wonderful for teaching children the meaning of character traits in a way they can easily relate. These books are on my wish list for my boys. They'd make really great gifts for others as well.

The first book Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons teaches traits through the activity of making and eating cookies. Here are a few of my favorites:

"COOPERATE means, How about you add the chips while I stir?

PROUD means, My chin is high, and I sure do like the way my cookies turned out.

MODEST means you don't run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if
you know it to be true.

RESPECT means offering the very first cookie to your grandmother.

PESSIMISTIC means, How awful, how absolutely dreadful - I only have half my
cookie left.

OPTIMISTIC means, This is great - I still have half my cookie left.

REGRET means, I really wish I didn't eat so many cookies."


Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons just came into publication this fall and explains character traits in the same simple-to-understand style.

"DISAPPOINTED means, I tried to make it look like a star, but it didn't turn out at all the
way I expected.

APPRECIATIVE means, Thank you so so much for taking the time to bake with me.

CHARITABLE means setting a big batch aside to give to people who maybe don't have any
cookies at all.

MODERATION means at the party not having twenty cookies, and not having zero cookies,
but having just enough cookies.

FRUSTRATED means, I can't believe we burned them again!

PERSEVERANCE means, We tried and tried and tried, and we finally made the perfect
not-burned batch.

THOUGHTFUL means, Let's give some to our neighbor!"

Tchaikovsky

This month, I quickly switched gears for our composer study to learn about Tchaikovsky instead of Bach. Why??? FREE mini concert, that's why!!! Our local children's museum was hosting groups from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Rochester City Ballet to celebrate the upcoming performances of The Nutcracker. We listened to the String Quartet and the Brass Quintet play selections from the ballet. The musicians spent time talking about their instruments and story behind the ballet that related to the music they were performing. I was impressed with the musician's interest in the children and their willingness to explain in simple words about the music. For only having two interactions with the RPO (both in the past two months) I am very impressed.

It was neat to see the boys bopping their heads and "tum-ta-ta-ta-tum-tuming" with the music. In the week prior to the concert, we read The Nutcracker story and listened the music, so they were familiar with it before attending. While listening the first time, during a lively section, the boys battled with their swords and guns. I was thankful they sat politely during the concert.


Of course, some time was spent enjoying other activities around the museum, too. Although, the boys told their dad that it wasn't much fun because there were too many people visiting on Veteran's Day. We usually visit the mostly empty museum in the afternoon while everyone else is still in school and the afternoon nappers have gone home - he, he!