Starry Night on a Rainy Afternoon!

We spent the rainy afternoon today listening to music and colouring our Starry Night mural (a project we're doing with the Giesbrechts).  We have to colour 24 8x11 sections and then put them together on a big wall to display our rendition of the original (will post the end result when we finish). 

Delightful!

A School Day?!!!!

My little man usually runs, hops, jumps, skips, and leaps from room to room.  So, I couldn't resist taking this unusual picture of him napping in the middle of the morning (he's been sick this past week) ....

Poetry Teatime!

Today Bekah made golden, fluffy scones.

Then we choose a selection of poetry books,

got a mug of juice (!) and enjoyed a Poetry Teatime!





Snow & Ice Cream!

We started our Social Studies co-op unit on First Nations ("Canada's Natives Long Ago" by Donna Ward) today and read about the Inuit in the Far North.

To set the Arctic scene we played with some snow .....

It looked like snow and sort of felt like snow....

...but it was really Instant Snow Polymer (fun stuff!).

Then we started to get hungry and read about what the Inuit ate.  We learned that, for a very special treat, they loved seal skin stuffed with small birds that had been left under the rocks until everything had the consistency of cheese.  Deciding we weren't hungry enough for that we stuck with the cold theme instead and made ice cream in a bag.

First we put some cream, sugar & vanilla into a small bag ....

Then we put it into a big bag full of ice and salt ...

and shook it .....



Yum, the sweet taste of success!

Amazing Adjectives

Bekah has started the online Junior Author's course with Laura Thomas (www.AgentStory.net) and she had to come up with lists of adjectives to describe different photographs. 

When describing the photo of a car she came up with:

• Cherry red   
• Pumpkin orange
• Flaming
• Burning
• Lime green
• Silvery   
• Buttery yellow
• Sunny 
• Sunshiny   
• Glistening   
• Gleaming  
• Shimmering 
• Curved  
• Rounded   
• Striking 
• Impressive
• Striped 
• Navy
• Reflective  
• Light orange  
• Rectangular   
• Circular  
• Old fashioned 
• Fiery
• White

And when describing the photo of pumpkins in a pumpkin patch she choose:

Smooth, wet , round , large , dirty , shiny, light orange, greyish black, yellow, oval, jagged, rough, gooey, slimy, plump, polished, murky, grimy, lime green, soggy

Don't you love how glistening, gleaming and shimmering roll off your tongue?  Or how gooey, slimy, murky and grimy remind you of every pumpkin patch you've every been to (at least on the West Coast)???

Art Co-op

We're all loving our new drawing unit with the Giesbrechts (and we're thankful that Mrs G is so good at art!).  Have you every thought about how every drawing is really just a compilation of simple lines & shapes?

We started doing science together with the Giesbrechts but realized we like hanging out so much that we now do science, socials and art as a co-op.

Bounty from the garden!

This fall we got to enjoy corn picked from our garden

and home grown decorative squash!

Math Games

We love math games at our house and it is now getting

harder for Mommy to win!

One of our current favorites is "Corners" (you have to place your card with another card so that the colours match and the sum equals 5, 10, 15 or 20). 

Each player also has to keep track of his/her own score which adds to the fun!

Daddy likes playing "Cat in the Hat" with the kids because they get to

 learn about buying and managing real estate.

Entrepreneurs!

This fall we got a bunch of bark mulch for the gardens and the kids decided to bag up some of the extra to make money for new bikes next spring.

Matt was in charge of production ....

While Bekah took care of advertising and sales.

Together they made a great team (and sold all of their product)!

Starting our year off with a blast!

This summer Matt spent several afternoons creating a paper mache volcano (of course, we had to read a bunch of books and watch some dvds first in order to get it right!).

Choosing just the right colour.

Finally getting to blast it with vinegar and baking soda "lava".

(Bekah had to get a few words in as well!) 

Matt's Weather Wordle!

These are some of the weather words Matt knows already.

Bekah's Weather Wordle

We've just started our science unit on weather and these are all of the "weather" words Bekah knows.  Go, Bekah!

Just Because ....

A love note for Bekah from Matt.

Aldor Acres 2011



A fall visit to Aldor Acres with Nana & Grandpa.

Taking the Hay Ride to go and pick out pumpkins.



And then a trip into the barns to visit with the bunnies ...

and the piglets!

Finished off with a much deserved pit stop!

Skating with Bekah!

A pro at skating backwards (and Mommy can't even skate forward!).

Trying to keep up with her little sister, Sarah.

Skating with Matt!

Making it look easy!

A future NHLer???!!!!