Monday, October 17, 2011

My Father's World--The Letter N (Nest)

Last week's lesson was on the letter "N" and the theme was "God takes good care of me."

We learned a lot about habitats and nests and how birds care for their babies.  They all had to draw four animals and then the animal's home on the inside of the page.



When I was a teen I always made little treasure hunts for the kids I babysat for.  So, I decided to fill a basket with some colored plastic eggs and put clues with "N" words in them.  They LOVED it!  Ali got reading practice by reading the clues aloud to the boys.


The last clue led them to the Bible notebook where they found their treasure!  I used marshmallows, chow mein noodles, and jelly beans to make these.


My sugar-lovin' kids thought this was the highlight of the week!


Grammy had given us some little booklets with dots for the boys to make counting books, so in addition to doing Math-U-See, we made their booklets and practiced adding and counting.


Some of our really good friends (who used to live a block away) bought a new house and moved across town.  We had extra nests so I thought it would be a great opportunity to bless our friends (a character lesson in thinking of others) and take them some treats.  Ali colored a little bird print-out and we wrote "Welcome to Your New Nest!" on it.


We made our binder pages by gluing some paper grass stuff (used in gift baskets) onto the page.


The kids collected supplies to build their own nest.  They found it was a lot harder than it looks!


A friend of my mom's, Miss Ann, lives half a block away and has a pond and some land.  It's like a little oasis with all kinds of animals.  A month ago she told me she had some baby ducks and I should bring the kids by to see them.  We went by once a few weeks ago, but she was gone.  So, I thought it would be a perfect week to go for a visit, as we're studying nests and birds.  She was home and gave us a fabulous tour!



This is Duck-Duck.  A raccoon tried to eat him and so he has a lame foot and can't get around very fast, but he is very lovable.  Because Miss Ann has geese too, when she goes to feed them she yells, "Duck-Duck Goose!"


Beautiful birds!


We also got to see Bo and Peep, her two sheep, and her horses Daisy, Smokey Jo, and Angel.  She also had a swing set the kids enjoyed, and gave us a big sack of apples to take home.  But perhaps the most wonderful thing of all (to the boys, that is) is that there were tons of snakes all over her property and the boys could reach down and grab two at a time.  She gave them a milk jug to take 4 of them home.  They have tried all summer to catch them, but they were too fast.  Now that it's fall, they are slowing down and the boys could get them!  I don't like snakes, but I know Jeremiah is enthralled with them so I let him have them.....as long as they stay outside!!!



One day for snack we died hardboiled eggs blue to look like robin's eggs.


The kids thought this assignment was sooooo much fun!  They were told to build a little home since we've been learning about nests/habitats.  They built a room for everyone, even Katri.  She loved crawling in and out of it with them.


My mom, who is a teacher and has an endless supply of resources to share with me, saved this nest that a robin built on their horse trailer this spring and loaned it to us to look at.  I got lots of pics this summer of the baby birds in it and the busy mama.




We walked and picked our friend Arianna up from school a couple of days last week (it's only a block away from our house) and she played with Ali and they practiced stuff for the talent show we did at church.  Wed. night was AWANA Crazy Hair Night, so they wanted to be crazy twins.



Thursday I took my first Teacher's Workday off of school since we had completed everything I wanted to get done for the week and had LOTS to finish up for the Talent Show/Craft Fair my friend Amanda and I put on at my church.  So, the kids got to watch some movies, something we usually don't have time for during the school week, while I sewed and finished rag baby dolls and pillows.  I will include pics of that event in another post!

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