Letter V: Valentines and Volcanoes

Every letter deserves a party and "Vv" is no exception. The children exchanged Valentines, tried various vegetables, and conducted a volcano experiment. The experiment went so well, I think we will work more experiments into our classes this spring. The kids loved the exploding volcano and "lava."

Making Fairy Houses

Has the Tooth Fairy visited your house? Two of our three children have had visits from the enchanted creature who leaves fairy dust in her wake and delivers treasures under pillows of toothless children. The kids made a fairy house yesterday near a pine tree. Fairy houses are tiny structures constructed from all natural materials set in natural settings to keep fairies comfortable. Here are some great sites with pictures of fairy houses.
http://kidoinfo.com/ri/make-a-fairy-house/
http://askthepartyfairy.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/fairy-houses-jpeg.jpg
http://askthepartyfairy.wordpress.com/fairy-craft-make-a-fairy-house/

Hmm, where's that caterpillar?

I love seeing kids investigating. My son had a clump of weeds and a magnifying glass. We had found a caterpillar but it had carefully re-hidden itself prompting further investigation. Magnifying glasses are an inexpensive must have tool for young scientists.

Letter T: Tent, Tree, Tractor, Triangle!

We threw on our T-shirts and tennis shoes to head to the park for "Tt" day. We set up a tent on the playground, learned about the title page of a book, did abstract triangle art, made turtles with googlie eyes, played pin the face on the tree and more! Could learning be more fun?

Letter F: Fairytales, Fur, Feathers, Fins!

Our Pirates and Princesses Learning Adventures class focuses on a letter each week and uses the multi-sensory approach in Alphabetology to engage learning while having fun! We visited Barnes and Noble to look for a tour. We found "Ff's" on magazines, movie covers, books, mugs. stickers and more! We learned that "fairytales are fiction." Then we headed over to Pet Co for our "Fur, Feathers, and Fins" tour. We saw some scales too! It was great to see the kids searching print to find the letter "Ff." Who needs worksheets when you have the world to experience!

Love of Learning

We are learn best when we are engaged and having fun. My kids go through phases of topics they are completely taken with. I love to just go with it and help them become experts in their areas of interest. I know lots of names of heavy construction equipment from my middle sons' obsession as a toddler. My boys ages 7 and 9 have become fascinated by the airplanes and ships of the World War II era. Spending time with their Great Grandpa Robert King, they have learned of his adventures in the South Pacific as he served as a young navy sailor on an oil tanker. I love taking topics my children are captivated by and facilitate their further study. So... we've headed to local aerospace museums, built models, saved money to purchase small die cast models, watched documentaries, interviewed Great Grandpa, and checked out books at the library. We even found a WW I and II themed restaurant in San Diego called the 94th Aero Squadron. It turns out that it's not just young boys who love old planes. After telling Grandpa Paul about our adventure, he made reservations for his extended family to celebrate a family occasion there.

Our fabulous local library allowed the boys to set up a display of WWII in a glass case at the entrance. The boys were thrilled! We love our local librarians. They help us find and order books and movies and share the boys' excitement. It is crazy to see how our 7 year old can name WW II planes. I can recognized the Corsair but have a LOT to learn!