Ella Fine Arts Spring '11

1.  piano
-  Ella is working on piano and basic music theory this term.  She has lessons for 1/2 each week with Rochelle Henbury and practices 20min/day 4 times a week.

2.  dance
-  Ella has re-joined Fitkidz gym and has been working on an integrated hip hop and gymnastics routine that will be performed on May 29, at the provincial Gymnaestrada



3.  sculpture
- After we made play dough for Ella's science, she used it to make this awesome sculpture!

We've been blown away by Ella's drawing lately. Sometimes she draws out of books, but other times the characters are straight out of her head, and they're often hilarious, like this evil genius shown here. A few more:

• Monster at the bed
  
• Two fun male characters from a cartooning book.
  
• An angry old guy with a newspaper, probably a vision of my future.
  
• A mean girl, complete with speech bubble accusing the cat of misdeeds.
  
• Funky owl -- I believe this one was just made up, not out of a book.
  
• Backpack girl, showing some serious flair.

Ivy and Ella: Active Living Spring 2011

A couple of minutes of video of some of the girls' active living from this season:

• One of the last backyard skates of the year after a late freeze (and snow!)
• Inside, trying an exercise video online
• Ivy's first downhill skiing, followed by Ella's very first run
• Ella working on her gymnastics/dance routine for her spring show. She's been working hard in class and doing some practicing at home as well.
• Trampoline fun with the cousins in Manitoba
• Dancing with the cousins, Wii-style
• One of the hotel pools on the MB trip
• Ella doing skateboard pushups(?!) in the cul-de-sac
• Ivy on the scooter
• Ivy trying out the track on her new bike
• Ella on the track

The kids have been loving being outside as the weather gets nicer. We feel lucky to have a big yard these days, where they can wander outside and explore. We've been enjoying biking into town (and back) a couple of times a week, as well as visiting the local parks.

math game links

Ivy and Ella are both working on their times tables.  With a few moments to think, Ivy knows them up to 11x 9.  We're continuing to practice them so that they come automatically.  We are also working on division up to the same level.  Again, Ivy can almost always figure them out but they take more time than the multiplication because we haven't spent as much time on them yet.

Ella can fairly consistently answer correctly up to the end of her 4x tables, and is planning to finish to the end of the 5's before summer. The concept of division has been introduced but not emphasized yet.



Here are some of the games the girls enjoy using for practice.

http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/ConeCrazy.htm

http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/windows/washup.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/

"Matter" Experiments

Ella and I have been using a library book called "Change It!  Solids, liquids, gases and you" (Adrienne Mason), to learn about matter.

Another parent's review of the book:

I recently found a series of books about Primary Physical Science. Change It! Solids, liquids, gases and you was one of the books in this series that my son and I read together. It is a great book for early elementary school children.

We first learn what matter is and how it has different states, solid, liquid, and gas. The author Adrienne Mason tells us how matter can change shapes, like when you play with play dough. There is a recipe for play dough so you can do it yourself.  We see how different containers can hold the same amount of liquid but look like the amount is different.

There is the opportunity to follow instructions to make a balloon fill up without blowing it up by using baking soda and vinegar. And we learn how water is one of the easiest things to realize it has different states. Mason shows us simple ways to see how matter can change when you mix it, like when you bake a cake. And my son's favorite part of this book was when we turned liquid (milk, sugar, and vanilla) into a solid (ice cream).

This book is so hands on and describes things in a way that children will understand. Plus there are tips at the back of the book for parents and teachers to further help children understand the concepts taught in the book. I really felt it was completely geared toward children in a fun, but educational way.

The illustrations will also help keep kids' attention. They are done by Claudia Davila and are done in Photoshop. They mostly show children, but do show adults where appropriate, like the play dough says to have an adult pour in hot water and there is an adult doing that as the illustration. The kids in the illustrations are diverse, with boys and girls with a variety of natural hair colors and skin tones. There are also illustrations of animals doing things that they wouldn't normally do (like a tiger eating ice cream) with tips in word bubbles from them about things like that if you don't eat ice cream fast it will melt into a liquid.

Overall we have really enjoyed this series and liked this book too. The balloon experiment and making ice cream were a lot of fun for my son who thought this book was very cool. Plus he learned some stuff about science and you can't go wrong with that. I definitely recommend this book.


Some of the experiments we worked on:

Play-dough
Combination of liquids and solids to make a liquid.  We heated it and it became a solid.

Ice Cream
Freeze liquid combination to become solid.

We plan to do a few more along these lines yet before mid-June:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/movingmolecules.html

games Ella's played to help understand the unit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/materials/

Bike Upgrades

Since the weather turned nice the kids have been out on bikes, especially since Jeremy built them a bike track!



Ivy now has a new-to-her racing BMX, Ella moves up to Ivy's old BMX and Ezra moves up to Ella's.  Now all we have to do is get out to that track! 

The girls have been biking to their gifted classes for a few weeks.  Although it's only about a 10min ride one-way it's been great for fresh air, a feeling of independence (even though one of us is with them), and just pure fun.  The big hill on the way home is always a challenge to be conquered.

Health Fair

We participated in the Trout Creek Health Fair last week.  I ran a session about nutrition, based on a website I found about "Breakfast Superheroes".  Ella helped with my research about calcium and non-dairy sources while Ivy independently made a fact sheet on why protein is important and how to get non-animal forms of it.  We are not militant vegetarians but I feel that "alternatives" are not generally well publicized in the Canada Food  Guide education that's usually taught.  The girls attended my session and helped set up, organize and take down.

During the half hour that I had each class we spent a bit of time on each food group and had an activity to go with each.  Of particular interest to me was the "breads and cereals".  We chose to focus on the sugar content of various breakfast (mostly) foods.  A volunteer came to the front to match the food with the corresponding package of sugar.  A can of pop was 11tsp and a commercial bran muffin was a whopping 10tsp - almost as much!  The daily recommended maximum (American Heart Association) is 7 tsp.  It's not in the Canada Food Guide of course because we can live just fine without added sugar.  The basic calculation to figure out tsp of sugar is grams per serving divided by 4 (technically 4.2).  We discussed this in detail only with the oldest kids, who were in grades 4 & 5.

Winnipeg Trip

During the first two weeks of April the kids & I took a road trip to Winnipeg.  It reinforced for me how much learning really takes place while we're experiencing things, not necessarily reading and writing them down.  Here's a list of the topics that come to mind.

Socials
Obviously geography is huge when you drive from the Okanagan, through the mountains and out onto the plains.  Changes in terrain, altitude and weather were duly noted.  While we were in Winnipeg there was a critical focus on the impending flooding.  We saw the Red River rise over the week we were there and we spent a fair bit of time trying to explain how river diversions and flood gates work to protect the houses within them (and what it means down and upstream).  On the way home through SK we ended up taking a 65km+ detour due to flooding on the trans Canada highway.  Not what we had been planning!

One morning we took a trip to the historic Forks area and had a lovely breakfast in the market, which Ivy wrote about in her blog.  We briefly talked about the value of the forks to the First Nations of the area and how it was the heart of Winnipeg.  It was neat to see the 2 rivers converge and note how much more quickly one was moving (the Red River) than the other (Assiniboine).  We were disappointed that the Manitoba Children's Museum was under construction, since we've enjoyed it in the past, but look forward to returning again a different year!

The girls probably wouldn't count this as learning, but I toured them through many of my childhood haunts, houses and schools.  I love the idea of helping them establish a sense of roots and family  history.  Whether or not it succeeded I may never know!


While we were in Winnipeg we made a visit to see the kids' great grandma in the hospital.  They have met her a few times but hadn't seen her in over a year.  It was the first time they had visited someone quite ill in a hospital and it was a bit shocking for all of us.  They slowly absorbed what they were seeing in the hallways, in her shared room and in conversation with her.  She was conscious and her memory is amazing, but physically she was very weak.  We took half an hour in the lobby afterwards (over snacks) to talk about what we had seen and how we felt.  This isn't in the curriculum anywhere but was a major learning time.

Ivy may not recall this as it was late evening after 12 hours of driving, but we had a reasonably long discussion about Canada's political parties and how our voting system works (based on all the election signs we were seeing).  We touched on the concepts of "left" and "right" wings and how we might compare to some other countries in general.

Language Arts
In the car the girls listened to books on tape to help pass the time.  They also got a new DSi game called "Scribblenauts" that I love.  You face obstacles and can type in the name of any tool you want to help you overcome it (eg. you reach a deep river and need to cross - you could type in "bridge", "jet pack", "trampoline" or whatever you can come up with).  It's very creative and requires correct spelling!  One rainy day we walked the 2 blocks over to the library near my parent's place and spent some happy, mellow time choosing books to read over the next days.

 Active Living
The kids' only 2 cousins live in Winnipeg and they're active!  We met them at the pool one evening and followed it up with pizza.  We also took the time to watch Marissa (11years old) do some gymnastics training.  Since Ella  has just gotten back into this it was neat to see her facility and what level she's working at.  On a few of the sunny afternoons we took advantage of the selection of outdoor toys available.  Frisbee, skipping, football, catch, lawn "darts" and shovelling leftover snow were popular activities.  We only made it to a playground one day but it was good for over an hour of exploring!  On the road trip itself we had a few stops at motels with pools, which was good for blowing off some accumulated energy.

Science
On the way home we spent 2 nights in Calgary, with the dual purposes of hanging out with my brother and his partner (Uncle Mark and Roel) and seeing the Calgary Zoo.  Ella blogged about it on her new site (we're hoping to add updates most Mondays).  Although it was chilly the kids hadn't remembered ever being at a zoo and were blown away.  I had never been to one like that either!  They fell in love with the Red Pandas but enjoyed seeing almost everything there.  Ella especially liked the elephants and Ezra was thrilled with the zebras, tigers and monkeys.  Mom was most enamoured with the (warm) tropical & butterfly gardens.  There were some neat science displays there that were related to solar heat/light.

Our last night on the return road trip was in Vernon, an unusual stopping point for us.  We slid into town with 15min to spare to watch some of Ivy's friends in their dance performance.  Afterwards, we checked into our lovely hotel and had a long swim.  The next morning we visited the Okanagan Science Centre for the first time.  As it was very quiet, Ivy pronounced it "much better" than the one in Vancouver.  I could not tear the girls away from the flight simulator!


Math
There was a LOT of discussion about how many hours/kms there were until the next stop, and how many left in the day.  It lead to a lot of talk about how fast I may have been driving to get those results...

Not bad for two weeks without textbooks!

Daily Math

We've been trying to integrate our math into daily activities to put it into context (and to provide a reason for learning it!). Ella and Vanessa went out on an errand to buy us some apples from the "Apple Barn" down the road. They knew that apples would cost 50 cents per pound, and that we had $6. They set off and came back with the perfect amount of apples and big smiles. It was a great snack, thanks!

Ivy and her friends have also done this errand for me with fabulous results but sadly, I didn't take photos! 

Ella Fine Arts Winter '11

Ella loves graphic novels and cartooning. She's even written her own first comic! Here are samples of the kinds of things she's been working on.


1. There is a story to go with this lovely girl, I'll see if I can get Ella to re-tell it for the blog...

2. Photocopied cartoon

3. Ella continues to go to voice lessons one time a week and practices her songs and some basic piano 4 days a week. Her favourite song she's worked on so far is still "Sally's Song" from the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas", but she's working on some new ones, including Weird Al!

4. Kerpoof

5. DSi animation

6. Mini-clips

7. Sketch-up

Sushi Experiment

We picked up this fancy sushi maker in the kids section of the thrift store (who knew?).  It took us a good hour to figure it out, with the instructions primarily in Japanese.  We did manage to make some and even more exciting, eat a few!  The kids were game to try although the nori does take some getting used to for these Canadians.

Habitats & Animals

We are re-visiting the Planet Earth dvd series this month to learn about both animals (Ella) and habitats (Ivy).

Overview of Planet Earth

Overview of biomes
Ivy has copy of the biomes sheet and matches the episode to the corresponding category.  We look it up on maps to see where in the world they are located.

Planet Earth animal guide
Here's a great animal guide to go with the series. Ella is specifically watching for the different animals in each episode and we discuss how it is adapted to that particular habitat.

Animal & Habitat Games


Deserts
More info on the desert biome


Jungles
Rainforest biome

Solar Kit

Ella was inspired to want to build herself a remote control vehicle this last week! It's beyond my skill level but we were all interested in what kind of parts you might need and how it would work. We looked up a few ideas online and then decided to start with a kit. We also downgraded from a remote to a simple motor!

We picked up this kit and assembled it together. We got all the wires right and the wheels spin when the panel is exposed to sun and held off the ground but it's not powerful enough to actually drive, which is a bummer. We'll try some of the other variations and see if we have more luck!



Ivy has also shown an interest in electronics in the past so we'll revisit the kit parts we have and see if we can learn something new.

EECO Centre

After the Club Penguin visit, we made our way over to the EECO Centre (Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan) in Mission Creek Park. Their current theme is "Wild Neighbours" and the kids played games to match local animals with both their footprints, skulls and scat. There were dioramas of various animals in their natural habitats.

Club Penguin

On Friday,Ella,mom and I went on a very special field trip;the club Penguin headquarters in Kelowna! We learned how to draw club penguin characters(penguins and their pet puffles)and got cool little sketchbooks to practice in.
then some game programmers came in and showed us how they programmed the games on club penguin. then, they used us to demonstrate how they made up the games,like we were a human computer! it was very fun and exiting and at the end we got to sit on giant puffle-shaped beanbags!
by Ivy



Mom's notes: The blue puffle pictured on the side was drawn by Ivy on our new computer stylus. We're not sure why he insists on standing on his side. Unpredictable creatures. Ivy arranged a penguin drawing contest for the family and handed out custom step-by-step learning sheets. We all did pretty well I think!

LA Fall 2010

Ivy

Writing:

- lyrics & music for "Bounce" band she's started with 2 friends
- as many forms, notices, newspapers and posters as she can find content for!
- reflection on the dance class she tried
- Storyworld playing cards for creative writing/storytelling.


Comprehension:

- Artemis Fowl book review
- Accelerated Reader quizzes


Partial book list:

Secret of the Sirens, Julia Golding (of the "Companions Quartet")
Icefire, Chris D'Lacey, of the Last Dragon Chronicles
Septimus Heap, Syren



Ella

Writing:

• Kerpoof story
• Halloween poem
• Planet anthem
• Storyworld games Ella got a pack of these cards for her birthday and both she and Ivy have been involved in creating stories using these visually rich cards and their imaginations. Fun!
  

Comprehension:

• Ruby Gloom book report
• Accelerated Reader quizzes

Book list

• Amulet

• Ivy & Bean, Bound to be Bad and Doomed to Dance

Magic Tree House:

• Viking Ships at Sunrise
• Polar Bears Past Bedtime
• Ghost Town at Sundown
• Day of the Dragon King

Tashi Series by Fienberg, Fienberg & Gamble

• Tashi and the Giant
• Tashi and the Ghosts,
• ...the Baba Yaga
• ...the Dancing Shoes
• ...the big Stinker,
• ...the Demons

• The Cool, Krazy,, Crickets, The Cool, Krazy, Crickets to the Rescue

• Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye (Geronimo Stilton)
  
• Amelia's 5th Grade Notebook
• My Father's Dragon
• Tiny Tyrant

Throughout the summer and fall Jeremy has been reading the Harry Potter series to the girls at bedtime. They are very excited to be starting book 7!

Active Fall

Although we have missed recording some days, the girls have been busy this fall! Their most recent discovery was rollerblading. The thrift store was kind and provided 2 sets of skates and pads that (mostly) fit. They diligently swept off the cul-de-sac and started experimenting with the different feel of the wheels compared to ice skates. They both did fantastic and are putting on speed.

One of our favourite activities continues to be swimming. Our last dunk in the lake was about the second week in October. On Thanksgiving we spent the weekend in Canmore with family and they spent hours in the pool with cousins. We also went for a long walk that included an intense staircase. Certain members of the family were sore for days afterwards! The girls have also enjoyed the Summerland pool where they can swim independently.

Biking has dropped off a bit now that the temperatures are lower but through to the middle of October we were riding a couple of times a week (mostly Jeremy & the kids). There are a few special spots in the area that they like to ride to: the ball fields, Apple Barn, Shrek's House, and the Car Museum parking lot where they demonstrate their newest tricks.

Ivy and Ella both showed interest in hip hop this fall. Ella went to a gymnastics/hip hop combo class for a month but found that it wasn't as challenging as she expected (or at least not in the ways she had hoped). It was an interesting experience but she decided not to pursue it after the month was up. Ivy watched a class of hip hop as well and was invited to try it out. I have great admiration for the way she went in and gave it her absolute best, even though it was really tough. She hung in there and learned some fun moves. At the end she chatted with the teacher who told her at that point that the other kids in the class had all been dancing for 3-4 years and that she'd done fantastic for a first go! She did decide that it wasn't going to be a priority for her either but was glad she'd tried.

Our family enjoys the home school skate every Wednesday at noon here in Summerland. Many of our friends go as well so we get to have a social event in addition to our active living. We all love skating and look forward to our own rink in the yard again if the weather cooperates.

Ella Fall 2010 Art

Ella set up a new desk station this fall and has been enjoying the relative quiet of her new spot. She's spent hours drawing and listening to her favourite music.







1. Ella started weekly voice lessons this fall and has connected really well with her teacher, Rochelle. (hard copy of practice list)




2. Hip hop - she attended four classes in September and learned a short routine.

3. First Friday at the Penticton Art Gallery. (hard copies of journal entries)

4. Sketch "Funky Star Girl" (hard copy)

5. Poem/Song (hard copy)

6. Kerpoof - story intro emailed

Hiebert Science Fair

Here are the photos from the inaugural Hiebert Science Fair. Special thanks to Jeremy Hiebert for being the official judge who asked great questions and had insightful feedback.



Grandpa won "Excellence in Electrical Innovation" prize for his lemon powered battery (later combined with the light up lollipop experiment for true learning on the fly).




Ivy did an experiment based on the warning on jello boxes not to use specific fruits. She took the prize for "Food Chemistry".



Grandma grew numerous Sweet William plants under different conditions and carefully recorded when they sprouted and how well they grew. She is planning to update her findings in spring. Her project earned her an "Excellence in Horticulture".



Not to be left out, Ezra helped mix up a batch of play dough from scratch, after carefully selecting the fruit punch flavour of kool-aid to add colour and scent to his creation. He earned the award "Excellence in being Ezra".



We didn't get a shot of Ella's rocks, but her project included a description of some of her gem stones as well as a matching game to test our knowledge of them. She was awarded "Excellence in Geology".


My (Tannis) light up lollipop involved soldering wires to an LED light and slipping the wires through an empty pen tube. I followed a recipe for a large lollipop and placed the LED end in the mold. When it was firm I used electrical tape to hold a watch style batter in place at the base of the pen ( we also managed to run it off the lemon battery although it wasn't very bright). Ezra helped us prove that yes, the lollipop was indeed edible. I don't remember what my award was called!

the grande rendezvous

Or something like that. We called it the "fur trade party".




Step 1

Come in costume. Some participants were representing the First Nations, others were voyageurs. We also had one native guide and one bourgeois shop keeper.


Step 2

The voyageurs and guide grabbed their packs and canoe (wagon) to do their trade route. Along the way they encountered rapids, lost a pack overboard, took wrong turns and had to portage.









They did finally find the village where the First Nations were patiently waiting to trade their furs for shiny goods. This village was particularly friendly and gave them a generous gift of pemmican and dried berries for the return trip.




On the journey back there was more bad luck. A raid by an unfriendly tribe resulted in the loss of several furs, most of the supplies and an injured voyageur. The last push back up the rapids was cold and tiring.


Step 3

All of the participants earned the right to trade goods. The store was stocked with basic items ahead of time and everyone came with items to trade. The number of trades was unlimited and numerous side deals were cut outside the confines of the post.


Step 4

No party or end of fur trade season celebration would be complete without food. A warm soup made from local ingredients (trademark recipe of the JEB club, original made by Ivy, Cassandra & Jessica) was complemented by hot bannock. The baked beans with pork, "pemmican" (beef jerky) and creamed corn may have had a more authentic vibe but were less popular on this particular day. A beautiful wooden box contained a wonderful variety of nuts and dried fruits. There is little historical precedent for apple and rhubarb pie to finish it off but it was appreciated anyway!




Step 5

A creative mother & daughter team brought a guitar and music along and taught us several French songs. The voyageurs often used songs to keep rhythm for paddling and also to pass the time.

Summer Classes

The girls each took a few classes this summer and although they fall outside of the school year they did a lot of learning! Both girls attended and helped me teach a children's pottery class through the Summer Arts Program here in Summerland.

Ivy took a whittling course in June and then again in August because she enjoyed it so much. She made a walking stick, sailboat, hedgehog, "yip stick", whistle, boomerang and a bunch of other things!

Ella signed up for a week of gymnastics camp where she got to practise her basic moves, play games and learn a bit of hip hop. She was only planning to spend mornings there but stayed all day a few times! Her energy is astounding. Ella also loved the one week drama course she took with JenViens. The theme was "Twisted Fairytales" where the kids got to rewrite some classics with their own twists. Ella ended up playing the part of the frog prince and looked really comfortable on stage.

A few fun sketches from over the summer...

Ivy's portraits of space club members:



and Ella's "Hay Dude".