Kicking Back on Friday Afternoon
Today, our penultimate Friday of the '09-10 school year, we had some fun with a visiting snapper and outdoor art.
During spelling Ben ran in to alert us to the fact that a snapping turtle "was sleeping" in our backyard under the kids' favorite climbing tree. We all hurried out to observe, debating whether or not this could be the same snapper who showed up last year at almost the same time of the year to lay eggs by Amanda's treehouse. During the year, I'd read Minn of the Mississippi (by Holling C. Holling, also author of Paddle to the Sea) to Paul and Ben, which made seeing this gal (guy?) even more exciting.
Later, after reading about Jan van Eyck, I sent Paul and Ben, Amanda and Faith outside to find something to draw with oil pastels. I found it funny how each child chose a location to sit and a subject to draw which perfectly reflected his or her personality. Ben sat on the trampoline, watching the snapping turtle, Paul climbed the fort and sketched our garden, while and Amanda and Faith sat together on the front walk drawing flowers.
School's almost out!
During spelling Ben ran in to alert us to the fact that a snapping turtle "was sleeping" in our backyard under the kids' favorite climbing tree. We all hurried out to observe, debating whether or not this could be the same snapper who showed up last year at almost the same time of the year to lay eggs by Amanda's treehouse. During the year, I'd read Minn of the Mississippi (by Holling C. Holling, also author of Paddle to the Sea) to Paul and Ben, which made seeing this gal (guy?) even more exciting.
School's almost out!
Comments
Congrats on another school year almost wrapped up! I remember one time you wrote about the planning you do in the summer for each child's upcoming year. You mentioned learning objectives and a few other categories you think through. I'd love to read about what kind of outline you use. I'm also looking forward to those science mini-reviews. Sorry to give you more blog work to do just when you probably would like to wind down (and are reforming your internet use)!
Take care,
Lydia Carter
Good to hear from you!
I've actually been thinking about writing about summer planning. (And I haven't totally forgotten about the science reviews.) School's been pretty intense this year, and Tim's sending me off for a couple of days of rest in early/mid June. I'm planning to take a computer, so maybe I'll make a stab at some of those topics.
Hope you, Nathan, and your children are all well!
- Anne
We've also enjoyed many of the other Holling C. Holling books. Have you ever used any Institute for Excellence in Writing (Pudewa) materials? They have a relatively new course out which is built around Paddle-to-the-Sea, Minn, Tree in the Trail, and Seabird as source texts. I'm going to use it with my 9 year old in the fall.