Back to rather old saved posts before I face the October resize. Enjoy this NOt dinosaur!
But a bird found during the age of dinosaurs. The enantiornithine died out at the end of the Cretaceous period but was common during the Mesozoic era. With feathers and teeth, this omnivore has been found as small as a sparrow and as big as a turkey. Toted as the possible origin of feathers and birds… this prehistoric bird has been a creature of interest for some time. They are thought to be found everywhere but Antarctica, virtually all over the Pangea.
We came across the enantiornithine on Dinosaur Train so of course we had to hunt more. This bird was a wonderful creature to restart our dinosaur odyssey. We had one good video that both Emanuel and Gavin enjoyed. PL3_Bird_Enantiornithine Birds by Walter Jahn.
Our second video was more a peek at a rendering on the Dinopedia for Walking With Dinosaurs. An image from their opening HERE. Of course this bird is also featured on Dinosaur Train. You can watch them on PBSkids.org. Or Netflix of course. We found our best images on Google WERE Dinosaur Train. I simply did a Google search for enantiornithine or enantiornithine dinosaur train and clicked images.
We had a few links. Some were too advanced for my current learners but I have included them here all the same out of interest sake.
Random Thoughts has a… random thought about our bird HERE.
Dinosaur Train’s Field Guide… click search and find our bird HERE.
So the snow is still here, and the sunshine, and a laundry list of things to get done… including multiple trips to the post office, library and stores… I look forward to not only finishing my Christmas shopping but my immigration collecting. Don’t get me started on the post and crossing customs… grrr…
NOW they want to live outside in the snow!
Though Emanuel and Trinity opted for educational games on the laptop I love PBSkids.com
Anyway… Reindeer… well a start on them! We had a great freebie from The Simple Homeschool. Ken read the kids portions of the booklet that came with and then they worked in pairs on some of the worksheets.
Working with Daddy
I got together everything we needed to make a candy cane reindeer like I did in grade school. We didn’t have the traditional colours of pom poms but I love the end result. In the meantime Trinity and Emanuel were more than willing to make a few more candy canes and help put all of them on the tree… with Echo assisting of course.
Proud decorators
Miss Echo assisting
Trinity and Emanuel worked on their colouring of reindeer… Education.com and Activity Village (both on right) have some great printables with our theme in mind.
Coloured by numbers!
Activity Village had a favourite Christmas themed video on their site for the 11th of December… who doesn’t love Christmas penguins???
The 12th is an interesting date… 12/12/12… we didn’t really do anything special for the day but it is interesting to note. Though a friend on Facebook had a good point in while this is the only time this date will exist in our lifetimes that ALL dates are the only dates in our lifetime… I slept well past noon as this cold and sore throat finally caught me up… BUT Ken had the kids busy finishing their foam creations. Houses and ornaments and all…
Then the boys were back out in the sun and snow working on their Igloo… it is becoming quite the structure. Which means it was time to reinforce a very important rule – we do NOT go into the igloo ALONE, you HAVE TO be in pairs at least! They are very industrious about it!
A full out snow building now!
Trinity and Emanuel made MORE beaded candy canes… which of course had to go onto the tree.
So pretty
Our candy cane reindeer were finally ready for they debut as well. I bet MOST of us have done this as children as well!!
Candy Cane Reindeer creation
My family
The detail on the one I made. Those are mint chocolate candy canes!
With my voice rather non existent Ken did the book for the day – A rather humourous one called It’s Christmas, David! Hopefully the next day I can do the two books we got advanced copies of and get those reviews up for our seasonal books!
Story time with Daddy
It’s Christmas, David!
We have gotten some really lovely picture Christmas cards… all from family (after all we consider the Novak family family too). I love getting cards, and I want to say a big THANK YOU! I am not sure that we will be able to send one in return this year to everyone… but next year I will have my list and you will be on it!!!
We had a slightly more complicated set of Christmas themed instructions to work on from Art for Kidsas well – reindeer! I am rather impressed by Gavin’s rendition, inspired by the instructions and one of our Christmas books we had lying around.
A full out picture
With the pipe cleaners already out Gavin and I worked together to make a wreath with a pretty bow.
Very festive
With worksheets to be completed and Christmas to get ready for our house is a busy and increasingly festive one. This will be the kids’ first Christmas Day with Nana and Baba and our first here in Minnesota since we were first together! It is all so very special! I warn you all though – the post Christmas entries are going to be PICTURE HEAVY!!!!
Sunday was another at home day… with company once again. This time Joe, Gabriella and Zachary. They were so glad to see Nana and Baba again as well as their cousins. So it was run run run for the kids and a nice visit with his brother for Ken.
Outside
And inside fun
I managed to sneak off with Bree to do some shopping, have some Dairy Queen and generally do girly things. I found Hello Kitty stuff for a quarter marked down at Michaels (well on clearance that is, pencils and the like), stopped in at Bath and Body Works to get some hand sanitizers (5 for 5.00 and not sealed the same way they are in Canada). Sat and chatted for hours… it was TERRIFIC!
Monday was back to the grind stone. Back to schooling, and sorting out future classes. In the mail I received the coupons for Pizza Hut and the information for a reading program we are starting in October. I have printed out most of the printables we need to get going with and will be sorting out books to start. I may have to do some used bookstore and thrift store hunting for leveled readers… or raid the library! You can find out about the program HERE.
Gotta find lots of different ways to motivate! (Zander teaching Echo colouring skills)
Trinity and Emanuel did their craft project for the book Hungry Caterpillar. You can find our caterpillar project HERE. I really enjoyed this one – it covered colouring, scissor skills, creativity, gluing and of course… binder clips!
Colouring the print out
Cutting
Caterpillar AND food
Gavin is back to work on his cross stitching again and boy does that make me HAPPY. He is determined to finish his mouse joke card and then start another one. I am so glad that one of the kids is ready to stick it out with what is one of my absolute FAVOURITE crafting activities. (sorry crochet you are getting up to second and beating out duct tape but I must stay true to my first love!).
My crochet IS coming along though!
So Tuesday went a bit off kilter with Ken pulling an all nighter coding and myself having a lovely mishap with my head connecting with the edge of our bedroom door while cleaning (thus loosing half the day to a nap and Tylenol). I am not sure the kids were too upset as they got to play more time outside. BUT we did have the time for our basics and the boys to work on their Minnesota folder, which is now decidedly ONGOING.
Tuesday NIGHT, however, was fun fun fun! After seeing Nana and Baba off to a movie we got supper ready (spaghetti and garlic toast) and awaited our guests – Shandai and her boyfriend Skot! They brought knitting supplies and board/cardgames. So after supper we stitched and gamed it up! It was a total blast and I look forward to doing it again! Add another couple to couples to game with!
Gaming with friends always rocks!
So as days never seem to go the way we want we still had Emanuel learning on the computer…
Working on the PBSKids.org site
Trinity with the learning apps on the iPad… And Zander and Gavin spending learning time with Ken. Which was a total treat!
Thanks to Baba and Nana taking some time with Echo
The great adventure for tomorrow – hunting down a pie pumpkin for homemade pumpkin pie!! Wish us luck!!
Can you believe this top was mine when I was tiny!
