Thursday, July 28, 2011

animal week

its time to get back to posting about all the fun we have been having doing "school" this summer here at home. the week after cooking week (look back a few weeks if you are interested in some really yummy and fun to make recipes) was ANIMAL week.

on monday we headed to the library as usual. i told the kids they could pick which ever animal they wanted to learn about. i pointed them in the direction of the animal books and helped them pick. they could each pic two books about the animal they wanted to learn about. kenzie was with us too, so she picked out some books as well.

Brenna picked elephants, raelyn picked snakes, garret picked scorpions, and kenzie picked fireflies. oh well that only one of the pics was really an animal. :)

when we got home we drew names to see which order we would go in to learn about the animals.

tuesday was brennas day so we learned about elephants. i wrote some questions on our chalk board and they had to listen for the answers as we read. the questions were: where does it live? what does it eat? what does it look like? and any fun facts they wanted to add. after reading and learning lots of cool things about elephants i had a little coloring sheet.

wednesday was kenzies day so we learned about fireflies. we read books and answered all the same questions. we made our own fireflies out of construction paper and added glow sticks. i told the kids we could stay up late and catch fireflies that night. they were so excited. since it doesnt get dark here until almost 9 i had them all cleaned up and in their jammies and then we just waited for it to get dark so we could see the first firefly.

the kids had a great time and so did kenzie and i. none of us had ever caught fireflies before. they are super easy to catch but hard to keep in the jar. they all kept wanting to fly right back out. dont blame them :)

after they all said goodnight to the bugs we let them go. i dont normally do things like that. especially when im so tired and ready for bed myself by 9 oclock, but i am so glad we did. the kids still talk about it.

thursday we learned about scorpions. we read our books, answered our questions, and did a coloring sheet.

friday daddy came and surprised the kids and took them out to camp for the day. so we didnt get to learn about snakes but i dont think they minded. they loved spending time with their dad. this also gave kenzie and i a special day to just hang out. jori and i took her out to lunch at a place she kept wanting to go to while she was here and then we went to a few stores and did a little shopping. it was a really nice time for the three :) of us. good sister bonding time!

so that was our animal week. our kids sure do love animals and insects and all of gods creation. i love being able to tell them who created all the things they love to learn about and watch and discover.

4 comments:

Tara said...

What a great, fun week, Bonnie!!! I loved your ideas, and the "field trip" of staying up late and catching their own fireflies! How fun!!!

katiew said...

Yay! I love that you let them pick their animals. I really think that kids retain more information when it's something they WANT to learn about. Fun!

kenzie said...

aww thx bon :) ily sosososo much!!! ur my fave sister ever!!! i enjoyed being up there with u guys and i cant wait till nxt year <3

Ruth Poirier said...

I remember catching fire flies when I was young, at my Grandmas house, and sitting on the front porch steps eating fudgesicles. Hope ya'll will remember these fun times for years to come.