Dragon of the Red Dawn

Ella has recently discovered the Magic Treehouse series and we finished Dragon of the Red Dawn (#37) last night. The artwork was beautiful so we were inspired to do some drawings and paintings of Japanese gardens today. They were so pleased with the results that they proceeded to play an imaginary game involving the family traveling to Japan, based on Ivy's interpretation of the Imperial Gardens from the story. We followed up with trying our hand at Haiku and short poems. The girls are developing a base of knowledge about the Japanese culture this year, including popular motifs, plants, architecture and artwork.

Ella's poem

Imperial Garden - Ella

Basho's House - Ivy

Imperial Garden with Friends - Ivy

Koi

The golden koi fish
Swimming in it's rocky pool
Quietly waiting.

-Ivy

EECO Centre - Birds of Prey

In early March we spent part of a morning at the EECO Centre at Mission Creek Park in Kelowna. Their current display is "Birds of Prey". Ivy and Ella spent most of their time looking at the various stuffed owls, noting the differences between them and listening to the sounds they make. They also leafed through magazines, did some puzzles & colouring and took advantage of the "hands on" exhibits.

Pottery

Ivy and Ella have both been working with clay over the past few weeks and are loving it. Their first items came out of the kiln today and the second batch will be fired this week.

Ivy

Ella

Gluep & Ooblek

Ivy is enjoying some free science time, meaning she's free from curriculum and can explore whatever she's interested in. She came to me this morning with recipes for gluep & ooblek. It was a smashing success and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Gluep
Dissolve 1 tsp borax in 6 tbsp water. In separate bowl mix 1 tbsp white glue with 1 tbsp water. If you want it coloured, add one or two drops of food colouring to the glue mixture. Add 2 scant tsp of the borax solution to the glue. Mix until it turns into gelatinous goo and then play with it.

Ooblek
This was was a little trickier as the instructions were vague. Fill a small bowl half full of cornstarch and add water. There's a magic sweet spot where it's in limbo between solid and liquid. If you try to stir quickly it chunks up like a solid, but when you put it back down it oozes together. Ivy's assessment was that it was like it was "...on a timer for solids. It's solid for a few seconds and when time runs out it turns into a liquid".


From the book: Science Smart: Cool projects for exploring the marvels of the planet earth, Gwen Diehn, Terry Krautwurst, Alan Anderson, Joe Rhatigan, & Heather Smith

Ivy's art

Ivy's brush painting

Ella's term 2 art

Recent sketches & paintings

web games

Several times a week we spend about half an hour on the computer playing games that we feel are both fun and educational. Here are some of the most recent favorites.

Science - Matter


or link to game

Typing practise

Story making (mostly Ivy)

Math patterning(Ella)

Custom Oven

Ivy was inspired to devise her own oven in January. She had been hoping for a kid's oven for Christmas but didn't receive one. Jeremy worked with her on the basic design. They brainstormed, experimented and modified numerous times until they came up with one that worked. Ivy is delighted to report that although we burned her miniature brownie, her marshmellows toast well in it! The attempt to make popcorn was not successful but enjoyable anyway.

Drama

The girls have written and performed several skits together. Ivy tends to do most of the writing but they collaborate on ideas and making the props.

While they were still working on their unit on Animals in science, they were inspired by one of Ella's assignments in which she was asked to colour an animal and then cut it out and find places in the house where it was well camouflaged. Ivy wrote a play and they made puppets and a backdrop for it. Here's the video:



Ivy ad Ella occasionally spend days with their Grandma who helps facilitate some of their learning. In January they co-wrote and performed " Alice Saves Coneland". We regret that we did not take video or photos of the performance but we have pictures of the props. (note the cursive writing Ivy is working on!)

Pets

We finished our "Animals" units a few months ago but have only recently acquired some small pets for the girls to observe. Ivy has successfully raised a family of sea monkeys to the point where they are reproducing and we've found them surprisingly compelling. She feeds them herself on a carefully noted schedule. Ivy took them to her Brownies class for pet day and earned a "Pet Pals" badge.

We purchased a small fish tank and the girls actively participated in planning and choosing fish. Sadly we are down to 1 out of 3 fish but it has lead to teachable moments.

Origami

Ivy and Ella have been experimenting with Origami since December. They have enjoyed making "balloon" covers for the Christmas lights, Japanese dolls and small puppies, among many other projects.

Cooking

Ivy made a meal plan with items from each food group. We had our choice of sandwiches or veggie burgers with cheese. I made the beets as it involved knives and boiling water.

Ivy and Jeremy made a fantastic chocolate cake, with Ivy doing most of the reading, measuring and mixing.

Doll house continued

We put up the walls and floors of the doll house. The girls helped hold the wood as I assembled and both had chances to use the drill and file. I had intended to do some finishing work to make a roof, interior walls and a balcony but the house was brought in and put to use immediately! We have made some simple furniture and sewn small blankets. We may work further on it this winter or leave it if the girls are satisfied.

First Peoples

We read the First Nations legend "Origins of the Eagle Clan", (Pacific Northwest Coast). We talked about the concept of sharing - when we do and when we don't. Is it okay to not share? Why? We also discussed the value of animals, do we honour them in our culture?

As a follow up we also worked on colouring in some Haida style depictions of a sun and wolf. Ella designed her own "First Nations Moon".

After reading about some of the coastal nations we were curious about the Okanagan Nation in our area. This site gave us a great starting point. It was fun to spend time looking at the Sylix calendar and figure out which season it is. We will look for the signs in the landscape and return to this site as the months change.

Safety

The girls participated in the DARE unit presented by the RCMP at Brownies/Sparks. They discussed basic safety rules and emergency procedures.

Animal Units

We hiked down below our property to look at the bones from a deer that died in summer. The girls identified the jawbone, teeth, vertebrae and skin. We talked about how it might have died and what animals may have benefited from that.

I went over a list of animals in North America that are listed as endangered. The girls each chose one to represent on a poster. We discussed reasons for their decline including natural cycles, direct human contact and indirect damage through the environment. We would love to go to the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls but they are not open to the public at this time (according to their website).

Ella's unit pointed out different ways that animals can defend themselves. One exercise involved making puppets, colouring them and then finding a spot in the house where they would be camouflaged. Ivy also participated by making her own additional puppets. The girls then proceeded to script a play, make a backdrop and perform it for the family.

There is a buffalo field near our home but on the morning of our visit they were at the far side of the enclosure so we did not get a good look. They were so far away that they might actually have been cows. In any case, we read up on the many ways that First Nations used the whole buffalo. Eating the raw brain got the most reaction from all of us but using the tongue as a hairbrush was fascinating. It lead to a discussion of how we raise/consume meat. What is ethical consumption? Do we want to eat meat at all if practices are unhealthy & wasteful? Great discussion with no easy answers.

Exploration of Violin Styles

Ivy and Ella have been trying out the violin this fall, Ella more informally and Ivy in group lessons. This week, I sent Ivy a list of videos on YouTube showing different styles of violin playing. Then the three of us went through each one, discussing the differences and marveling at the incredible skills displayed.

James Ehnes, the classical violinist we're going to see in March:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXi5D366n7o

Dueling Celtic violins -- two women really lettin' 'er rip fiddle style, while dancing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywMPtwM8avs

A woman who plays jazz on the violin -- really neat style, where she slides the notes up and down a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FReGLY2lLuY

Natalie MacMaster -- a wonderful Canadian violinist who plays upbeat fiddle-style songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdHR12lPcgI

Maybe not your style, but Ashley MacIssac is an incredible fiddler who also plays the violin in a punk rock band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNVTUh5yviI

Yellowcard song that really uses the violin nicely in a few places:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeCR6-gaQaA

Art Inspiration

We've been going through old art books we had collected over the years with pull-out fine art prints. It's become a favourite activity to go through a stack of them and each select a classic painting. Discussions are interesting during the selection, talking about why we like some pictures better than others, what makes them compelling, and how they might inspire us to create something interesting. Once they've selected, they fasten the picture to a large blank sheet and draw something of their own, inspired by the picture.

Each time we give them a few questions to answer about the process, and discuss the finished work. They've really enjoyed it, and we plan to make it a regular thing. So far they've each done four (some of Ivy's -- 1, 2, 3 -- and Ella's -- 1, 2, 3), with a bit of the process captured in this quick video:

Girl Guides

Ivy and Ella joined Girl Guides this fall. They are enjoying all aspects of the program so far.

Ivy is a Brownie. Last week she researched a project called "Symbols of Canada" which was presented to visiting Guiders from England. Ivy had an opportunity to go camping with her group and learned new games, practiced a skit and participated in chores.

Ivy sold cookies as part of her membership responsibilities and worked hard on her math so she could give correct change. She learned the relative values of coins and small bills. She used addition to find out how much multiple boxes would cost and subtraction to figure out change. We counted the money several times during the sales period to make sure the sold boxes balanced with the cash.

Ella is a Spark and the focus has been on learning to be a good friend. She has enjoyed playing new games and is beginning to make friends with the other girls.

Volcanoes

Ivy loves making baking soda volcanoes. We've experimented with using liquids other than vinegar to see if it still works (no!). The last volcano was made using a toilet paper roll with a "skirt" around it to make it look more authentic. Ivy also thought of adding food colouring to the vinegar to make the lava pink.