FOR PLATYPUS RESOURCES PLEASE GO TO “PLATYPUS IN DEPTH”

February 21-22

We watched a rather lengthy video on the Platypus today! So of course I need to share it here!

The resulting mini book

Trinity and Emanuel made their very own paperbag puppet today of the Platypus. Just add googly eyes to the bag and template and you are golden. You can find the version we did HERE.

Hard at work

Zander and Gavin finished a book with me from our advance reading list… Kid in Chief! You can read their review of it HERE. Just keep in mind that there ARE some spoilers with their review. It was a fun book that deals with the job of being President.

We had TWO books to share! The first was a story called Platypus by Chris Riddell, it was fun to have Trinity involved in this one!

Gavin and Trinity

Our second book had a section on the platypus. One of the very unique animals about to use or see the electricity in other animals! Electric Animals by Natalie Lunis.

Zander with our little book

We also brought out the tracing paper, Trinity wanted a Hello Kitty picture and I figured it would be a good addition to our lapbooks if the boys traced not only a platypus out of one of our library books but also an Echidna, the other animal in this tiny family.

Hello Kitty

Echidna and Platypus, hopefully they will show better in the lapbook

We had a family trip out to the store as well. We needed it… time out in the van and the store doing a little shopping and getting some fresh air!

Babies in the sun

Friday brought with it MORE snow! We have some very happy boys with their fresh snow to dig in! Of course we had to continue with the platypus and two more videos. The first is a National Geographic one where really they TRIED to make the platypus scary. The boys were thoroughly unimpressed!

The second a quick video of a platypus handler with a 6 month old platypus, basically useful for the cuteness factor and a bit of a show on how they feel around with their bills.

Emanuel did a riddle style worksheet from TeacherVision. We read the information at the top and then worked together to fill in the riddle. It is amazing how many of the facts they remember. Although not totally surprising as it is hard to forget that it has a bill, webbed feet, beaver tail, venom AND lays eggs but is a mammal!!

Emanuel’s worksheet

We had a rather fun book called A Platypus, Probably by Sneed B. Collard III for our book of the day.

All of my boys

It amazes me how the structure the boys have created in the backyard with all that snow that keeps falling is looking more and more like a burrow. We have our own little home in the backyard! 

So quiet

Miss Trinity and Miss Echo got in some quality girly play time themselves!

Purty

I finished a scarf that is either an August birthday present or a Christmas present done super early. You can find the pattern for sale for this on CrochetSpot HERE. I used the Caron simply soft yarn and it is so soft and shimmery!

Toilet Paper Scarf

 Ending the day with the kids watching some Minecraft videos on youTube I think we did good! I know that we are having some quality family time around the learning and the work and some of the family time IS learning… 

the joys of youTube

So hopefully I will get the rest of the platypus blog entries up in good time! And then there is that pesky resource one to include as well! We are loving our time on the platypus!

Bit of an 80’s retro baby

It is time for a book review with the twins… This is an advance read we got called Kid in Chief by Paul Maguire. For us Canadians transplanted onto US soil it was fun to have this avenue to discuss American politics. Especially with the idea that a KID could run a country. The book itself is multiple chapters and took us more than a few sittings to go through but even with our reading schedule broken up by events and deadlines the story stuck with us as did the wish to finish it! 

Oh, for a quick intro… on a field trip Bobby Barton is on his way to Washington DC. with his 3rd grade class. While looking at the National Archives he notices a fold in the Constitution… what is under that fold changes his life and the country’s future all at once! I will leave the rest of this entertaining story up to you to enjoy and the boys to explain below! 

Now for the boys’ thoughts and opinions on this book. I will warn you, there MAY be spoilers! Onto the reviews of our two newly 9 year olds!!

Gavin:

I liked this story because the president let the boy play checkers and if he won he would be president. This is because they found a crooked paper. I thought it was interesting that the boy didn’t know how to be president. He had to learn how to make speeches, he had to learn how to be nice to everyone. I liked the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. I liked the kid president the most because I liked his laws. I really liked the exercise one because you get to exercise each day and that is fun. I think I would like to read this book again another day.

Gavin’s illustration of the President sneaking away

Zander: 

My favourite person was the president because he was cool because he ran the whole country (the one in the end). I liked Black and Block the bodyguards because they can tell when the kids were playing tricks. I liked that most of the people were really smart. It was interesting that the boy didn’t know how much the party cost. I liked all the laws. I learned that you should always be nice and it’s good to follow the president’s laws. I would probably read this book again. 

Zander’s illustration of one of the speeches

So there  you have it, the boys loved the story. Though we are still having to remind them that it is PRESIDENT not PRINCIPLE but the interest is now started to learn more about who governs this country and how. Though they still do NOT believe me that only ONE president is needed! Kid in Chief is a fun chapter book the deals with some rather interesting and complex ideas in a way that makes a great impact on your young reader. 

Kid in Chief