I recently semi-ditched our English curriculum. Why?
As a writing tutor, writer, and lover of all things English myself, I felt like the clunky textbook too closely resembled something from school. It was dry, uninspiring, and way too methodical. Writing should be messy, experiential, and alive! Shouldn't it?
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2014
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
8 Out-of-the-Box Summer Activities You've Got to Try
I admit it: I'm a little sad to start putting away the curriculum from this school year. But the days are stretching longer, the sun is beaming and summer is peeking from around the corner.
We've made our bucket list and put the usual summertime activities on it, but why not do something extra silly? If summer is our time to let loose, why not do some out-of-the-box activities that will create wonderfully personal memories? Below are 8 ways to do just that:
1. Host a glow-in-the-dark bowling game.
2. Have a Ice Excavation Day.
We tried this during the year (wish I took pictures!), but it consumed the whole day, was a ton of fun, and brought up so many questions about animals who really fossilized in ice and how to break/melt ice (hint: try salt...).
3. Throw an informal party and invite a clown to your house!
We're pretty lucky to know this clown personally. She's amazing at everything she does, and she's super fun and bubbly. She works in the central valley of California and you can visit her page HERE!
Search your area for clowns and invite one over to wow your guests.
4. Take a hike.
Everyone has some natural beauty around them that has yet to be explored. It's always some state park, river, creek, forest that you've heard about but have actually never been to. Go explore it!
One of our most fun activities last summer was trekking up Mount Diablo. We didn't even go with the intention of learning anything, but we found a quiet little path near the peak with these simple brochures about the trail.
We followed the trail and read the brochure aloud. There were 14 stop points and a little blurb about a specific geologic feature or the flora along the trail. We learned to identify chert, greenstone, and graywacke. We also spied a few reptiles darting under the chapparal.
Not only that, but we had fun, built confidence in climbing huge rocks, and gained a new perspective looking out on the mountaintop.
We had a TON of fun when we did this last summer! We got messy, we got full, and we laughed, all while learning a little bit about medieval times.
6. Travel back in time and enjoy a 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s Saturday morning.
Or a balloon fight. Whatever.
8. Bring a book to life with FOOD!
There are so many wacky cookbooks at the library. Scan the selections and pick something you and your kids would love. Here's a booklist to get you started:
1. The Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook
2. The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook
3. The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
4. The Little House Cookbook
5. Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes
6. Disney's The Magic Kitchen Cookbook
I would love to hear more ideas about having a unique summer! If you have any ideas, please share!
We've made our bucket list and put the usual summertime activities on it, but why not do something extra silly? If summer is our time to let loose, why not do some out-of-the-box activities that will create wonderfully personal memories? Below are 8 ways to do just that:
1. Host a glow-in-the-dark bowling game.
3. Throw an informal party and invite a clown to your house!
We're pretty lucky to know this clown personally. She's amazing at everything she does, and she's super fun and bubbly. She works in the central valley of California and you can visit her page HERE!
Search your area for clowns and invite one over to wow your guests.
4. Take a hike.
Everyone has some natural beauty around them that has yet to be explored. It's always some state park, river, creek, forest that you've heard about but have actually never been to. Go explore it!
One of our most fun activities last summer was trekking up Mount Diablo. We didn't even go with the intention of learning anything, but we found a quiet little path near the peak with these simple brochures about the trail.
We followed the trail and read the brochure aloud. There were 14 stop points and a little blurb about a specific geologic feature or the flora along the trail. We learned to identify chert, greenstone, and graywacke. We also spied a few reptiles darting under the chapparal.
Not only that, but we had fun, built confidence in climbing huge rocks, and gained a new perspective looking out on the mountaintop.
What natural wonders are waiting for you to explore?
5. Feast on a medieval dinner.
Brush up on your medieval etiquette and ban the silverware! Serve a hearty meal any peasant would love.
While you're chomping on delectables, talk about medieval happenings!
6. Travel back in time and enjoy a 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s Saturday morning.
This took a fair amount of planning, but our 80s Saturday morning was the BEST morning we had all summer.
Here's how:
1. Find out what was playing on a typical Saturday morning of your chosen decade. Here's a wiki article showing the TV grid for Saturday mornings all the way to 1960. The 50s technically did not have a Saturday morning cartoon lineup, but you can still pull some 50s shows together to watch.
2. Make a playlist on YouTube and add episodes of your chosen shows. Look for 3-part episodes and insert commercials from that decade. If you have an XBOX or another system that allows you to watch YouTube on your TV, you're set. If you don't, play movies from your chosen decade.
3. Pack away any toy that screams modern day. Take out any toys you might still have from that decade (we pulled out all the old Star Wars figures). Visit flea markets and thrift stores to find toys from your decade.
4. Explicitly choose your breakfast. For 80s Saturday morning, we chose the then-popular Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Visit the breakfast timeline to see which cereals were most popular.
5. If you want, purchase other foods from your decade. This food timeline could help you out.
6. Plan an activity after watching cartoons and playing with toys. For our 70s Saturday morning, we went roller skating and played table tennis (with an actual set made from the 70s that we found at the flea market).
7. Talk about your decade, play music from your decade (you can search any decade on Pandora), and have fun!
7. Have a marshmallow fight.
8. Bring a book to life with FOOD!
There are so many wacky cookbooks at the library. Scan the selections and pick something you and your kids would love. Here's a booklist to get you started:
1. The Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook
2. The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook
3. The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
4. The Little House Cookbook
5. Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes
6. Disney's The Magic Kitchen Cookbook
I would love to hear more ideas about having a unique summer! If you have any ideas, please share!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Field Trip Report: Fresno Chaffee Zoo and Forestiere Underground Gardens
This weekend, we visited the unexpectedly chilly city of Fresno. Usually, Fresno, being splat in the middle of California, has people sweating and donning sunglasses. Despite the cold breeze and threatening rain clouds, we visited the Fresno Chaffee Zoo as well as the amazing Forestiere Underground Gardens.
What is wonderful about this zoo is that it has exceptional viewing areas and observation towers. Here, we were able to observe two elephants having hay for breakfast. We watched them gather hay with their trunks until making a pile, and then they scooped it up and into their mouths.
Experienced, kind and informative docents were sprinkled all over the zoo, ready to talk and share personal insights into the animals. When we visited the orangutans and siamang, a docent told us which one was the mother and which were her children, their names and the meaning behind them, and a bit about orangutans in general.
When we neared the Bengal Tiger exhibit, a docent informed us that she was pacing the fence because she knew that it was almost lunchtime. She and the male tiger had come from San Diego Zoo, and the Chaffee Zoo hoped that the tigers would produce a litter soon.
Again, the viewing area for these African animals was open, expansive, and made us feel super close to these beautiful creatures. Here, we saw the giraffes being fed.
We learned that when giraffes are born, they are already six feet tall! Here, Aidyn stands at just under four feet. He was amazed that he is shorter than a newborn giraffe.
The only thing you gotta watch out for at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo is the random hippo that hungrily emerges from the bark chips to gobble young zoo-goers.
Overall, we had a blast at this zoo. Admission was only $7.00 for adults and children (2-11) and seniors (over 62, I think) were only $3.50. They also have a rotary playground next door as well as a storybook land, both of which we did not go to because the weather turned, but they both seemed sweet and enjoyable.
Before heading home, we visited at the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno. We had stopped at "the best kept secret in Fresno" before, but it was closed. This time, it was open and we promptly signed on for a tour.
It is an historical landmark and, from what I read, was featured on California's Gold with the late Huell Howser.
Here's the basic story:
Baldassare Forestiere, the second oldest son in the family, was denied property by his father (it traditionally going to the first-born son), but Baldassare had a dream of owning a citrus empire. He moved, by himself, to America in the early 1900s, dug tunnels in Boston for his first job, and eventually moved out to California to start his citrus farm. Property in Orange County was too pricey, but there were unbelievable deals in the Central Valley; therefore, he purchased 80 acres of land in Fresno, Ca, and got to work on his lifelong dream.
But, once he ran a shovel into the ground, he struck hardpan soil, a rock-infested soil that his trees would definitely not be able to grow in. Even though he was disappointed, his dream crushed, he tried to make the best of the situation. Once summer arrived, he met with the suffocating 100 degree heat of the summertime and sought a way to escape it.
He dug tunnels. Lots of them.
He made himself a network of underground tunnels in which to live, hide from the heat, and host small gatherings of friends with the hopes of eventually turning the property into a resort. He began experimenting with plants underground, using the soil he had extracted from the uppermost hardpan soil. The hardpan itself he used to build strong walls and ceilings.
What is there now is an intricate tunnel system with beautiful trees reaching for the surface, a cool getaway from the shine and heat of the sun, and relics to this innovative man's 40-year labor of love.
*Disclaimer: All pictures taken are property of Forestiere Underground Gardens and my own personal pictures of the property. They are not used for commercial purposes but rather to report on our field trip.*
Here is Aidyn by an orange tree, above ground (with soil extracted from that hardpan soil), prior to our tour.
Aidyn and Grandma by a citrus tree underground. Every tree has an open ceiling so that it benefits from the heat of the sun without being damaged by the frost of winter.
Baldassare even put a bathtub outside!
When we neared the Bengal Tiger exhibit, a docent informed us that she was pacing the fence because she knew that it was almost lunchtime. She and the male tiger had come from San Diego Zoo, and the Chaffee Zoo hoped that the tigers would produce a litter soon.
Prairie dogs of North America!
Overall, we had a blast at this zoo. Admission was only $7.00 for adults and children (2-11) and seniors (over 62, I think) were only $3.50. They also have a rotary playground next door as well as a storybook land, both of which we did not go to because the weather turned, but they both seemed sweet and enjoyable.
Before heading home, we visited at the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno. We had stopped at "the best kept secret in Fresno" before, but it was closed. This time, it was open and we promptly signed on for a tour.
Here's the basic story:
Baldassare Forestiere, the second oldest son in the family, was denied property by his father (it traditionally going to the first-born son), but Baldassare had a dream of owning a citrus empire. He moved, by himself, to America in the early 1900s, dug tunnels in Boston for his first job, and eventually moved out to California to start his citrus farm. Property in Orange County was too pricey, but there were unbelievable deals in the Central Valley; therefore, he purchased 80 acres of land in Fresno, Ca, and got to work on his lifelong dream.
But, once he ran a shovel into the ground, he struck hardpan soil, a rock-infested soil that his trees would definitely not be able to grow in. Even though he was disappointed, his dream crushed, he tried to make the best of the situation. Once summer arrived, he met with the suffocating 100 degree heat of the summertime and sought a way to escape it.
He dug tunnels. Lots of them.
He made himself a network of underground tunnels in which to live, hide from the heat, and host small gatherings of friends with the hopes of eventually turning the property into a resort. He began experimenting with plants underground, using the soil he had extracted from the uppermost hardpan soil. The hardpan itself he used to build strong walls and ceilings.
What is there now is an intricate tunnel system with beautiful trees reaching for the surface, a cool getaway from the shine and heat of the sun, and relics to this innovative man's 40-year labor of love.
*Disclaimer: All pictures taken are property of Forestiere Underground Gardens and my own personal pictures of the property. They are not used for commercial purposes but rather to report on our field trip.*
Aidyn, his grandma, and I waiting on a bench above ground.
Here is Aidyn in the Trinity Courtyard, below the surface.
Beautiful home-style touches.
Aidyn, sitting on a planter, ready to descend into the dark tunnel in the background.
Baldassare even put a bathtub outside!
His bedroom.
A second bed, for guests, presumably.
A gorgeous view of one of the open ceilings. Even though Baldassare was technically underground and enjoying the cooler temperatures, he could still enjoy the sunlight.
Heading out of a tunnel and back to civilization.
While at first I was a bit shocked at the $15 price of admission, the tour was worth every penny. We had a jovial and informative tour guide who was obviously passionate about Baldassare Forestier's story and life's work. Seeing this man's creation and walking through his tunnels is inspiring; it teaches us to be flexible with our dreams and work hard to develop our passion. This little gem is often missed as people coast by on highway 99, with only a small historical landmark sign mentioning its existence. But it is worth the turn off Shaw Avenue and the admission cost.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Autumnal Outdoor Hour
It has been said that people usually favor the seasons in which they born. As a November child, I've always loved autumn-- the colors, the fragrances, the food! I'm thrilled that our outdoor hour nature walks will morph into these beautiful strolls among fiery leaves and cool morning air.
Yesterday morning, we were luckily enough to have Dad home with us, and we decided to take a walk to the corn field. It grows behind where we live, and, over the last few weeks, we have watched it sprout like magic beanstalks.
Venturing in always stirs up the excitement. For me, I was thinking of every horror movie I'd seen with creepy children or creatures emerging from the eerie corn fields. The two guys, though, bravely soldiered in.
It wasn't long before they started disappearing.
Aidyn, standing on Daddy's shoulders.
I love the excitement on his face.
And here's the Daddy. :)
This is going to be a beautiful season. I can just feel it.
To read about our other outdoor hour challenges, peruse these posts.
Yesterday morning, we were luckily enough to have Dad home with us, and we decided to take a walk to the corn field. It grows behind where we live, and, over the last few weeks, we have watched it sprout like magic beanstalks.
Venturing in always stirs up the excitement. For me, I was thinking of every horror movie I'd seen with creepy children or creatures emerging from the eerie corn fields. The two guys, though, bravely soldiered in.
It wasn't long before they started disappearing.
Aidyn, standing on Daddy's shoulders.
I love the excitement on his face.
This is going to be a beautiful season. I can just feel it.
To read about our other outdoor hour challenges, peruse these posts.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Outdoor Hour Challenge #4
The next challenge at The Handbook of Nature Study blog encouraged us to focus on a specific element of study. Our lesson with Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel asked us to look at trees and things in motion. We decided to combine our studies to focus on trees in motion.
First we observed the tree nearest to us, touched its bark, commented on its high-up branches. We saw another tree further on with striking differences to the first. We simply traveled from tree to tree, comparing each to the last.
Eventually we plopped down and began sketching. We talked about the "shape" of some trees, that many evergreens look "pointy," while other trees like more rounded.
Aidyn sketched a mammoth evergreen tree and a little tree with pink flowers blossoming on it.
When we returned home, Aidyn added splashes of color.
As we read Mike Mulligan, we noted the illustrator's style in creating motion in her drawings. Aidyn noticed the blurs of color to show that something was moving. We revisited our tree picture, and I showed him how to take a piece of chalk, create lines from the moving part and blend in the direction it moved.
He tried it with his evergreen, and his tree looked like it was experiencing a blustery day!
We are both so enjoying our outdoor hour challenges. We both come in refreshed and ready to start the day. Aidyn's attitude, as well, is much calmer and peaceful if we've had a morning nature walk.
What we were able to accomplish this day:
Check back for more Outdoor Hour Challenges and the FIAR row of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel!
First we observed the tree nearest to us, touched its bark, commented on its high-up branches. We saw another tree further on with striking differences to the first. We simply traveled from tree to tree, comparing each to the last.
Eventually we plopped down and began sketching. We talked about the "shape" of some trees, that many evergreens look "pointy," while other trees like more rounded.
Aidyn sketched a mammoth evergreen tree and a little tree with pink flowers blossoming on it.
When we returned home, Aidyn added splashes of color.
Adding some brown bark.
As we read Mike Mulligan, we noted the illustrator's style in creating motion in her drawings. Aidyn noticed the blurs of color to show that something was moving. We revisited our tree picture, and I showed him how to take a piece of chalk, create lines from the moving part and blend in the direction it moved.
He tried it with his evergreen, and his tree looked like it was experiencing a blustery day!
We are both so enjoying our outdoor hour challenges. We both come in refreshed and ready to start the day. Aidyn's attitude, as well, is much calmer and peaceful if we've had a morning nature walk.
What we were able to accomplish this day:
- Aidyn wrapped up Unit 1 of his math book and took the unit test.
- We played a few rounds of the sight word/tower building game, only this time he had to also put the word into a sentence. I lost three times.
- Aidyn wrote his sentences for the day with very little assistance from me.
- We read about the gods of ancient Egypt, specifically Osiris, Isis, and Set. Afterward, he colored a picture of Osiris and shared the story with his grandma and dad.
- Aidyn played outside with his friends, with his new cement mixer toy (from the Dollar Tree) inspired by Mike Mulligan.
- I made a "Neat and Square" Mike Mulligan Chocolate Cake.
Check back for more Outdoor Hour Challenges and the FIAR row of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Outdoor Hour Challenge #3
Yesterday's Outdoor Hour Challenge was to find something in nature to draw. Aidyn snoozed way past normal, and I made 'Neat and Square' chocolate pancakes a la Mike Mulligan so I was sure a nature walk just was not going to happen.
Although I had informed him that it would be a quick walk, taking our time proved inspiring.
We walked around, trying to decide what to sketch. We eventually watched a colony of red ants soldiering around. These guys were HUGE and walked like beasts. Because the goal was to eventually draw them, we observed them quite a bit longer than we ordinarily would.
There were some poor little ants that looked like they showed up to the wrong family reunion, but we just watched how they all seemed to get along.
After I had finally asked, "So are these red ants what you'd like to draw?" he said, "No, I want to bring something in the house with us."
Nearby, he found a small log, just resting on the ground. Turning it over, he quickly found that the damp part of it was home to a family of pill bugs. Even though Aidyn was startled, he was so excited and watched them scurry, saying, "I wanna draw these!"
On our way home, he asked me what pill bugs eat, where they like to live, if we can have one as a pet, etc. As usual, I had little knowledge of the pill bug but told him we would definitely find out.
As Aidyn drew in his nature journal, I found a pill bug site for kids and shared with Aidyn that:
Keep checking back for more Outdoor Hour Challenges, and maybe start your own at The Handbook of Nature Study blog.
To read about our other Outdoor Hour Challenges, visit Our Outdoor Hour Challenges.
Although I had informed him that it would be a quick walk, taking our time proved inspiring.
We walked around, trying to decide what to sketch. We eventually watched a colony of red ants soldiering around. These guys were HUGE and walked like beasts. Because the goal was to eventually draw them, we observed them quite a bit longer than we ordinarily would.
There were some poor little ants that looked like they showed up to the wrong family reunion, but we just watched how they all seemed to get along.
After I had finally asked, "So are these red ants what you'd like to draw?" he said, "No, I want to bring something in the house with us."
Nearby, he found a small log, just resting on the ground. Turning it over, he quickly found that the damp part of it was home to a family of pill bugs. Even though Aidyn was startled, he was so excited and watched them scurry, saying, "I wanna draw these!"
On our way home, he asked me what pill bugs eat, where they like to live, if we can have one as a pet, etc. As usual, I had little knowledge of the pill bug but told him we would definitely find out.
As Aidyn drew in his nature journal, I found a pill bug site for kids and shared with Aidyn that:
- pill bugs are the only crustaceans that live entirely on land
- pill bugs eat rotting vegetation
- pill bugs enjoy moist environments
- pill bugs have 7 pairs of legs
- pill bugs have armor
- pill bugs have antennae
- pill bugs do not spread disease or contaminate food
Keep checking back for more Outdoor Hour Challenges, and maybe start your own at The Handbook of Nature Study blog.
To read about our other Outdoor Hour Challenges, visit Our Outdoor Hour Challenges.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Outdoor Hour Challenge #1
Yesterday we had our first emotional roller coaster. I felt it, too. I was tiring of the textbooks and itching for something more fun.
This morning we decided to go on a nature walk to enjoy the quiet of the morning, reconnect with nature, and let the world be our classroom.
I am much inspired by the Handbook of Nature Study Blog and followed their guidelines for an outdoor hour challenge. After reading the first twenty pages of The Handbook of Nature Study (available for free here), I printed a blank nature journal that the Handbook of Nature Study blog offers FOR FREE.
I asked Aidyn to create a challenge, and he chose a "no talking" nature walk. We laid some ground rules (our poor attempt at sign language was acceptable, do this ::waves hands erratically:: if you hear something we should record, nearly poke yourself in the eye if you see something you want to record, and if someone we pass talks to us we may talk to them.)
And we were off.
It took Aidyn exactly five seconds to find something both alive and slimy.
He decided to bring his new friend along.
We jotted down a bunch of stuff we saw and heard, communicating it all in our terrible sign language.
We also found some weird brown seed pod something-or-other that had fallen from a mystery tree. We took it back home for dissection and to try and figure out if we could identify the tree.
The answer is no. We were not able to. But we did learn some thing about leaf types! And we learned and recorded the latin name for snails and that they can live for 20 years!
Using a corkscrew to crack it open.
We returned to the mystery tree to bring back a branch and leaf sample, but we had zero luck.
The tree who remains unidentified.
But we did find an adorable and cuddly cat.
Enjoying nature in the morning created a completely different child than the one I taught yesterday. His attitude was positive, he was engaged in every task, and he seemed more relaxed. Activities that went well include:
This morning we decided to go on a nature walk to enjoy the quiet of the morning, reconnect with nature, and let the world be our classroom.
I am much inspired by the Handbook of Nature Study Blog and followed their guidelines for an outdoor hour challenge. After reading the first twenty pages of The Handbook of Nature Study (available for free here), I printed a blank nature journal that the Handbook of Nature Study blog offers FOR FREE.
I asked Aidyn to create a challenge, and he chose a "no talking" nature walk. We laid some ground rules (our poor attempt at sign language was acceptable, do this ::waves hands erratically:: if you hear something we should record, nearly poke yourself in the eye if you see something you want to record, and if someone we pass talks to us we may talk to them.)
And we were off.
It took Aidyn exactly five seconds to find something both alive and slimy.
He decided to bring his new friend along.
We jotted down a bunch of stuff we saw and heard, communicating it all in our terrible sign language.
We also found some weird brown seed pod something-or-other that had fallen from a mystery tree. We took it back home for dissection and to try and figure out if we could identify the tree.
The answer is no. We were not able to. But we did learn some thing about leaf types! And we learned and recorded the latin name for snails and that they can live for 20 years!
Using a corkscrew to crack it open.
We returned to the mystery tree to bring back a branch and leaf sample, but we had zero luck.
The tree who remains unidentified.
But we did find an adorable and cuddly cat.
Enjoying nature in the morning created a completely different child than the one I taught yesterday. His attitude was positive, he was engaged in every task, and he seemed more relaxed. Activities that went well include:
- third reading of The Day of Ahmed's Secret while paying extra attention to the art throughout the book.
- watercoloring (Aidyn a kaleidoscope and me a sunset behind Mt. Diablo-- or pyramids, as Aidyn called them)
- sight word/tower building game (We cycle through sight words on flashcards. If he reads it correctly, I stack a block; if he doesn't, he stacks a block. First person whose tower of blocks falls loses. I lost four times.)
- math lesson on number lines and worksheet
- reading of Story of the World on Two Kingdoms become One. He was so disappointed that the Red Crown king lost and that King Narmer became king of Egypt. Aidyn, it was 5,000 years ago. It's cool.
- map coloring of Egypt and bonus points for coloring the Nile River "up" northward, in the direction it flows.
- coloring a small picture of King Narmer for our timeline.
- plowing through the last three chapters of The Magic Treehouse: Mummies in the Morning.
- coloring "stained glass" pictures (Aidyn- King Tut, Me- Cleopatra)
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