The Composer is Dead

We had a great time at the Bass Performance Hall yesterday!  We saw The Composer is Dead, a young persons concert.  The conductor, Andrés Franco, introduced the audience to the orchestra, pointing our each section while each played a but from a piece.  A narrator then took us into a murder mystery to solve the puzzle on who had killed the composer.  Each of the sections were given a personality such as, the brass section (strong, patriotic, loyal), the percussion (hip and keeps the beats), the flutes (bird like) and the strings (dedicated and industrious).  The narrator was wonderfully animated and funny, the boys both got a kick out of his story.  He then pointed to the conductor, after all he says “wherever there’s a conductor there’s a dead composer.” :)  Anyway,  it was a super fun time, and a great way to introduce kids to the symphony in a light, fun way.   I loved that it was during the day, 10:15 and only $4 each!

Here are some pictures of the boys at the performance and afterward we had a picnic and played at one of their favorite parks in Fort Worth, Burnett Park. 

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Physical Education

I thought I would make a little entry about ways I have figured out to do P.E with only the two guys and I. First, I went online to see what the president's challenge website has to offer: http://www.presidentschallenge.org/ which has tools and the activities that are used to measure achievements. I figure we can use that as a guide when we really want to work out. Otherwise, we have been dancing (lots of Michael Jackson:), we have done some yoga (mom likes this one:) and outside time at parks. Another thing I did last week and may do once a week is set up obstacle courses outside back, each of us makes up one and we all do them twice. I am trying to get creative and do something everyday. Winter is always a challenge here but coming into spring I won't worry so much about it because they both will be playing soccer and baseball. I am learning what works as we go but we are keeping active for sure!

Dancing Raisins



We did a pretty cool (simple) science experiment last week. It's one that many elementary teachers use called "dancing raisins". I love experiments that don't include much seeking and gathering;) For this one you just need water, baking soda, vinegar and raisins.

This is what worked for us after fiddling around with it for a LONG time.

about 1 cup water
about 1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda
about 1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar
2-3 raisins

* Have the child measure the water and put it into a clear glass
* Add baking soda and stir to dissolve
* Put in the raisins
* Add the vinegar
* Turn on some music (must upbeat, maybe some kidspop?!)
* Voila! You should have some dancing raisins

Here is why it works (in super simple terms): CO2 builds up from the mixing of the baking soda and vinegar and attaches itself to the rough edges of the raisins and causes the raisins volume to change allowing them to float.

We had covered density earlier on so we talked about that while doing this experiment. The boys had a blast dancing around trying to get their raisins to dance faster and faster. They also did it many different times and with different amounts of the ingredients. We did have a few "mad scientists moments" with a little overflow-age but it just added a little excitement to the whole deal.

Fun, easy experiment!

Our 1st AHA! Moment

We have been making steady progress but I haven't had one of those moments where the boys let me know "ooooh, ok-now I get it! Today we started First Language Lessons by Jesse Wise & Sara Buffington, part of their Well-Trained Mind Series. While on lesson 2 (making nouns plural), Mason says "ooooh, the teacher always made that so complicated-I understand this now." What an amazing thing to hear. I told him that these are the building blocks of writing and he responded "Yeah, I can use this on my spelling!" (Yes!)

More Medieval Times

I just wanted to add a little tidbit on our Medieval Times Unit, including some of the boys' art work. I love this unit but I am finding it hard to delve in as deeply as M may need while keeping it fun for C. Tomorrow I am going to try and have Mason start this "build you own castle" project at this website: http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/castle_builder/
It may get a little too in depth for his age but I am at least going to have him take notes, plan something and build or draw a castle for "Norman Baron William de Clare ".
We will see how that goes!
Meanwhile, here is some of their art work that turned out really well!

MEDIEVAL TIMES
We have started our study of Medieval Times this week. I have decided to make this a short unit study and we are focusing on familiar literature of the time, including Robin Hood and the legends of King Arthur. M has been a bit apprehensive about reading Robin Hood (the original) as it is actually pretty hard to get through, it is written in classic English. I think he is ready to step it up a little in his reading, though. He is a proficient reader and though it may be a bit annoying with all the "hitherto(s)" and "quoth(s)" he is enjoying it. C has been reading about dragons, which he loves, and we have been enjoying the legends of King Arthur (full of fun boy stuff;) They have both completed their architecture art of a castle (www.deepspacesparkle.com) and today they made a poster sized coat of arms. We (yes, me too!) learned that a coat of arms was used to cover up a knights true identity but yet signified who he was through the use of the graphics and colors on his coat of arms (a sleeveless shirt he would wear over his armor). I am planning to print pictures of their art onto paper and transfer onto shirts...we'll see if it happens, I will post pictures if we get it done.

THE MODERN ART MUSEUM FORT WORTH
Another great free field trip today! The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth offers some great family fun-today was "Wonderful Wednesdays." The staff and/or a docent takes the children and their big people to see one of the peices of art. They get to learn about the art and then explore what it may mean, how it makes them feel and do some interacitve learning. Today the boys learned about a sculpture that is made of red granite. The best part about these field trips is the people we meet and they get to talk to. Today, the volunteer and education coordinator were super helpful explaining what unfamiliar words were to them. (i.e.-docent, which is a fancy word for volunteer ;) They also got to trace the a photo of the artwork and use an old fashion drill to make the same holes the sculptor used to make the peice. Here is the website with a link to events: http://www.themodern.org/

THE BUREAU OF ENGRAVING & THE OSCAR E MONNIG METEORITE GALLERY





We took some really great, FREE field trips last week. The first, the Bureau of Engraving-it is one of only two production facilities in the U.S that makeup ALL of the currency flowing through our country. It was a really great tour, about 45 minutes moving throughout the production facility through an elevated see-through walkway. We watched billions of dollars being made, it was amazing! If you decide to go, remember to arrive about 30 minutes in advance to go through security and hop on the shuttle from the visitor center to the actual museum & production facility. It is worth a trip!



We also visited the Oscar E. Monnig meteorite gallery at TCU in Fort Worth. It is a small place but it's packed with displays of meteorites, all from Texas and a really good short film about meteorites. There are also computers setup to give the kids a chance to get interactive with meteorites.

GECKOS~




The boys received a really special gift for Christmas this year from their Nona, two leopard geckos which have been bestowed with the creative names, Liz and Chaka. So, I wanted to make sure that it is a learning experience and it's proven a good one.
M kept telling me he thought Liz was bigger so we have started a growth chart for them. He was right, Liz molted today! What a neat thing to watch...M helped "her" out by holding her as she wriggled and finally when it was almost off he put her back into her cage. Minutes later the skin was gone, we are assuming she ate as some animals do to prevent their scent from attracting predators, there may also be some nutritional value to eating it :O When I explained the fact that animals do that so that their predators do not smell them C responded with: "Well, why wouldn't they leave it so that the predator would think it was them and eat it then the could get away?" I thought that was pretty clever...like a decoy ;)

TEXAS UNIT STUDY



We have been having lots of fun studying about Texas!

I split it into a four week process, basically four different small unit studies within the big one.

The first week we spent talking and learning about how different each region is in Texas, there were eight that we learned about;

The South Texas Plains Plains, the Hill Country, the Piney Woods, Prairies and Lakes, Gulf Coast, Big Bend Country, and the Panhandle Plains.

We learned the characteristics of each and each of the boys completed a diorama of the region of their choice. (they both chose the Hill Country as we had just taken a trip there and they were in awe of enchanted rock)

The next topic we studied was Texas plants, we learned about all of the trees and wildflowers that are native to Texas. We went on hikes to see them in real life (no wildflowers-wrong season for that)and did some great drawings of them.

We covered Texas animals next, learning about all of the indigenous animals of the state. We are going to revisit this one as the holidays hit and it was a little chilly for the zoo, which is our field trip for this unit. The boys are anxious to learn more...especially the hawks and snakes that are prevalent here. (M learned first hand about one snake at enchanted rock, he went hopping around right OVER a Western Diamondback. It was a good thing it was late November and he was in hibernation or M could have been in some real trouble. Watch out M!!)

This week we are wrapping up Texas for now, learning about the history, signs and symbols. They have made some Texas time-lines, a Texas tornado in a jar, and they are finishing up their Texas themed stories as well as some cowboy art.

So far, the Texas unit has captured their attention and been a fun subject to cover...especially since we live here and can experience so much first hand!