September 9-10

We decided that Monday the 9th was our day to begin our new year. But first, a run to Walmart to purchase our very first brand new lunchboxes!! They were on sale and everything (one of the joys of having the ability to wait until AFTER public school starts). Each of the 4 big kids picked their own. We had only 2 that duplicated.

After the excitement of a lunchbox well chosen we went out to the front yard with our special signs for our new grades! Poor Echo had a blister on her foot and so was not in a picture mood but I think it suited her colourful “Toddler” poster!

Self decorated, of course!

We had a parcel come in the mail from England with items from France AND England inside! We have some amazing Facebook friends out there! Thank you Anne and family! I need to find a place to display these lovely things.

I found and printed out multiple beginning of the year worksheets, games, mini books… anything I could think of to make it fun and interesting to say what our goals are, find out what we like and dislike… that sort of thing.

Lunch was a special experience for us… we have never done the lunchbox thing before! The kids were quick to see alternative uses for these items… snacks on rides, toys, collections. I am sure we will get our use out of them!

We also started a new weekly program of 4 days of one on one time with each kid… what I am doing is Monday – Thursday each child gets their day with 30 minutes Mommy only time! Our order for this week is Zander, Emanuel, Trinity, Gavin. Zander chose to sit on the iPad and chat with me!

Tuesday continued on our trend. We had a couple science projects to start…

And a garden to pick through…

Schoolwork to explore…

and games to play…

We ended day one with supper together…

I think it was a beginning well planned and executed!!!

Girls working side by side

The Cetiosaurus was a misunderstood dinosaur for a long period of time simply due to the massive size of its vertebrae. In fact, it was mistakenly believed to be a whale. From the late Jurassic period this large dinosaur was found in England and Europe. Its limbs were solid and stubby and its tail long. This was a dinosaur that would have weighed tons and was VERY primitive.

We had one video for this dinosaur – I’m a Dinosaur.

Surprisingly for a dinosaur that roamed all over Europe there are not that many links to share. I will start with our colouring page HERE. Emanuel really enjoyed this one as the giant herbivore was only one in a scene of dinosaurs. Animal Planet has a lengthy article HERE. DinosaurKing has some general statistics HERE. KidsDinos has the usual charts HERE. Dinosaurs.about.com touches on our dinosaur HERE. EnchantedLearning has a fact sheet HERE. And finally, Wiki has their article HERE.

All 3 brothers got in on this one!

Whose name reminds me of a cleaning product! BUT that is not what is amazing. This theropod existed in the Early Cretaceous period in Europe and England where it was the ONLY fish eating dinosaur known to date! With its crocodile like head and long claws it is has more teeth than a Tyrannosaurs Rex and is tailor made to hunt at the edge of lakes and rivers for fish. In fact, a fossilized skeleton was found with fish remains partially digested where its stomach would have been! Very cool! 

Emanuel especially enjoyed this one with its very unique features and characteristics. We have 2 videos to share today off youTube. Emanuel has been choosing his dinosaurs from the I’m a Dinosaur list so I will start with that one. The other has more actual data and images of fossils. I hope they are helpful!

And now for our links! I will start with the one connected to the Natural Museum who were involved in the unearthing of the original amazing fossilized skeleton HERE. Jurassic Park Wikia has their page HERE, apparently this dinosaur was showcased or mentioned on a Jurassic Park movie! Dinosaurs.about.com has TWO pages on this dinosaur. A point form page HERE, and a 10 questions page HERE. EnchantedLearning has a page on this fish eating dino but surprisingly without a real picture or diagram HERE. Kidsdinos.com has a good timeline and map HERE. KidsDigDinos has a great fact sheet with a knowledge question HERE. Don’t forget Wiki’s usual dry article HERE. And of course our colouring page can be found HERE.

All 3 learning together