School has ended and summer break is here!!  Trenton is now a 1st grader!  I can already feel a lighter load on my shoulders and am planning on totally embracing the more relaxed atmosphere of SUMMER BREAK.  Before I share all that we have planned for summer, let's review graduation!

The graduate:


He also had a speaking role in a skit.  He did a wonderful job!


Just a fun one I love:


So, summer:  We have two new workbooks to work out of.  Trenton wrapped up the others in the past month. These workbooks are meant for summer academics and bridge the gap between 2nd and 3rd grade.  I'm excited to provide a challenge for him and see how he does.  We will also continue with journal writing, reading daily (taking advantage of a few reading programs locally), French, and piano lessons.  Horse riding lessons have come to an end.  The fun addition is our Summer Passport adventure.  We will be studying a country a week, centering activities around that country, and completing a little homemade passport booklet.  We will dine on that country's food one night during that week and stretch our palate.  Week one starts today and it is Italy!!  Trenton's grandparents just happen to be there right now, so that is fitting.



Since Trenton's been out of school, he's been thirsty to learn and create.  Here are a few examples.

He created a balancing pencil at a local science museum:


Discussions about weapons, specifically bayonets, at a history museum:


Some great Lego creations such as Snowy, his flying dragon:


And a graph we made together (I spelled) based on data found online on the deaths of our Presidents.  Trenton requested the info and compiled the data for the graph.  This was a wonderful project that combined reading, spelling, history, a little science, and math.


So stay tuned for our weekly posts on our Passport Adventures!

SPRING is here so we focused on some seasonal activities this week. We studied the parts of the flower, watched some videos on pollination, and picked some of our own flowers from the yard. We also observed the eagle we've been watching for weeks finally hatch her eggs and start to care for her babies. It is so amazing to be, what seems like, a foot way from her as she cares for them. This week we'll do a few more spring activities leading into Easter. We also have a fun field trip planned out of town. More to come on that! We are also adding French lessons to our learning plan next week.





Other activities involved reading about dolphins and sharks, playing some Dreambox math, subtraction, addition (finished the 1st grade book), language arts, journal writing, two games of chess, BrainPop, piano (first piece with a # in it), and horse riding (learning to post).

We've had a fantastic week of learning! Trenton is back on the mend and asking a million questions. This week we took a deeper look into solar flares, investigated the evolution of the American flag, and started our lesson on Indians. We did a fun exercise on pictographs and learned about the different types of Indian dwellings. Next week we've scheduled a field trip to a mound/museum and plan to make our own miniature dwelling. Other activities for the week include double-digit addition, place value, subtraction, language arts, spelling, reading, bingo dauber art, Lego building (of course), and piano and riding lessons.

Some fascinating online viewing/learning this week:
The Piano Guys: http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePianoGuys
Eagle nest watching: http://www.farmyou.com/falcon_cams/index.html

This week I learned about hurricanes. I found out I was born during Hurricane Katrina, a terrible storm that flooded all of New Orleans. Mom said the hospital's power went out while we were there. Here are some of the things we did this week:

• Watched the satellite and radar in motion clips of Hurricane Katrina


• Saw some photos of the damage


• Talked about characteristics of hurricanes, such as the eye, and were the winds are the worst


• Completed a hurricane strength/category chart


• Plotted the course of Hurricane Katrina


• Made a hurricane (vortex) in a bottle (experiment)


• Created a hurricane book and colored the pages


• Discussed storm surge and hurricane safety procedures


• Learned about the American Red Cross and mom donated to help them out


• Had two Dairy Queen Blizzards (because they are yummy and weather related)


• Ate a delicious themed breakfast

This week was filled with:

• dinosaur matching game


• dinosaur dot-to-dot


• online paleontology game


• dinosaur wrestling


• carnivore/herbivore/omnivore lesson


• dinosaur monopoly


• making dinosaur skeleton out of noodles


• dinosaur meal


• plant water absorption experiment


• Dinosaur Cove reading books

For the summer, Mom is doing fun weekly themes with me. This was our first week and we learned about robots. I watched YouTube videos of robots building cars, working on satellites in outer space, and even a doctor using a robot to operate. One robot looked like the inside of a human with bones and could shake hands.


I watched the Robots movie and really liked Bigweld. We also read the book "Ricky Ricotta's Giant Mighty Robot" which was very interesting. The robot was good and beat the monster and Mr. Stinky.


Then Mom made a Lego robot with me. I designed it. This is 616 (I named him).



Dad and Mom both helped me build a real working robot using a soda can. This is C1000-1 (I named him, too). He really walks.






Here is a little art project robot I made out of scraps.




Tomorrow Mom is making special robot sandwiches for lunch!

This weekend I:

• Went to the beach with Daddy and pretended to be a sand crab. I dug in the sand, played in the waves, and got to ride on a jet ski!


• Went to dinner with my grandparents and my great-great grandma.


• Went to the pool and pretended I was on a pirate ship with a sword. I practiced my winking too.


• Gave my mom a flower pot that I painted with some seeds inside. We planted the flowers.


• Made a REAL volcano with dirt, a plastic bottle, vinegar, food coloring, and baking soda. It erupted! I think the dirt looks like pudding. I think I can eat it. :)

Earlier this week I made planets out of playdoh. Here is a photo.

Mom and Dad took me on a field trip today to the landfill. I rode on a big bus. It took us to see hazardous waste such as paint cans and I saw a machine crush one. I saw piles of sorted recycling like paper, cardboard, plastic, and aluminum. Then we went to the top of the landfill! We were up so high. A truck with a blue cab was dumping all its waste and compactor tractors were rolling right over it. I saw lots of WM garbage trucks too. wmwmwmwmwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwmwmwmwwm (I really love Waste Management)

I had fun at the dump.

Bye,
trenton

- played garbage. I actually do this everyday. Mom took a video of me this time. I used my cans to dump garbage (little legos) into my big red dumpster. I did not use my trucks this time.
video

- became interested in candles. Mom gave me some of her little votive candles to run around the house with. I started asking more questions about them so Mom found a YouTube video that showed me how to melt wax, find a wick and stick it in the bottom of a glass, then pour the melted wax into the glass. You can even add coloring to your melted wax or scented oils to make the candle smell good. After the video, Mom took me to the kitchen where we recycled an old candle to make a new one. We melted the old candle on the stove. We placed an extra wick in the bottom of a little glass. Then poured the wax into the glass. After a couple of hours, the wax was hard and we had a new candle. Mom and Dad took me to a store today to look at all the different sizes and colors of candles. They let me pick out one to take home. I picked a pink little votive candle. I now have a candle collection since Mom gave me a few others we had at the house.