September 22, 2013

Impressions of Celebrations

Curiosities

Greeting me in the entry way this morning was a single Ginkgo leaf.  It must have wanted me to take it upstairs to show Cannon.  We looked at it’s shape very different from other leaves.  This tree has ancestors going all the way back to the time of Dinosaurs!  There is more to learn about this leaf and tree. 

 

 

Thistle Be Careful!

 

 

Cannon explored a thistle – very carefully.  We compared it with the seed pod from the Sweet Gum tree.  Both seed pods are prickly outside to protect the seeds inside. The thistle has several different prickles, on the stem, long prickles surround the seed head.  Hum, I wonder what kind of creature would try to get to those seeds inside.  

 Painting Impressions of Celebrations

Special days of celebration are coming! Cannon selected acrylic colors and he painted in layers – letting one color dry before adding another, red, pink, orange, and purple were colors of choice. Brush strokes moved like streamers and round shapes symbolized balloons. To finish it Cannon added thin lines and squiggles of orange glitter glue.

 

The Harmonica Challenge and Too-Ba-Loo Too

 

Cannon has very sharp ears!  He can hear sounds way in the distance, sirens, and church bells.  He practiced whispering in the too-ba-loo.  It is fun to hold it to the ear and talk into it and hear the softest sounds we make when we whisper so low that almost no one else can hear us.

 

What is blue and comes in a long box that you can hold in your hand? Cannon’s new harmonica! Cannon successfully achieved the first challenge. He wrapped his lips firmly around it.  The next challenge is to push air through his mouth and make some music. You can make music by blowing out and breathing in.   

 

Creating a Board Game for Frog and Toad

We like the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel.  So we decided it would be fun to make a board game based on their adventures.  First Cannon indicated where Frog’s house should be then he showed me where Toad’s house should be.  Then we started to make paths between the two homes.  Cannon drew the first path and then we added two more.  Along the way Frog and Toad will meet many challenges.  I hope Cannon can help them out.  In this first game Toad is looking for a lost button.

 

Communications – more signs – more silly sentences – more sight words!

We are always finding new ASL signs to add to Cannon’s growing vocabulary.  This week we added:

Finish

Apple

Hungry

Quiet

We did some research on the ASL website and found only one sign for quiet and it is not what you think it is.  Hint it is different from the sign for hush. Check it out here.

http://www.aslpro.com/

 

 

Using the game cards with names and images of interesting things and the magnetic sign words Cannon Composed a silly story as follows:

 

Helen wants a butterfly.

She wants to fly with the butterfly. 

Cannon and Helen ate a hot dog with the butterfly.

 

Cannon demonstrate mastery over 12 more sight words.  He will soon master all 95 words in Level 1.

 

Dictionary Search

Cell phone

Chain

Cello

 

We noticed that the “c” in cell phone was different from the “c” in cello.  The “c” in cello sounds the same as the “ch” in chain.  How confusing!

 

Cannon helped clean up and put away our many materials.  He finished our session by showing Aunt Jeannie his paintings of the lily pads and goldfish and his impression of sunflowers.

Note: More images will be posted at a later date.

 

 

Cicada + Silly Sight Sandy Stories

September 15, 2013

Cicada + Silly Sight Sandy Stories

Cicada Metamorphous -  it is not just for Frogs!  Cannon examined the Cicada sent by our gardening friend.  We took a closer look through our big magnifier to see the intricate and iridescent patterns on its wings and the different green colored patterns on its back and head.  When we turned it over we could see the segments in the white colored abdomen and all six legs curled up underneath.  We watched a time lapse video of the complete metamorphous process.  We are adding the cicada to our curiosity cabinet.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/watch-a-cicada-metamorphose/276253/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origami Cicada

Cannon and I made an origami cicada.  I positioned the paper and Cannon pushed and pulled the “folding bone”  to make the sharp creases.  The result was a somewhat abstract pink and white cicada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mastering Sight Words

Cannon has demonstrated understanding of 12 of the 95 Level One Sight Words.  He can accurately select the words from the selection of similarly configured words.  He can identify the words in the context of a story.  Only 83 to go!

 

want                 was                  we                    well                  went                 what

where               white                who                  will                   with                  word

yellow              yes                   you

 

Silly Stories

Cannon was eager to open the miniature lunch box full of  playing cards with pictures of  all kinds of nouns, (places or things).  We made a list of proper nouns to choose from – Cannon, Miss Beth, Avalon, Mr. Dan, Mom and Dad and pronouns.  Then we made a list of verbs/action words, adverbs and other parts of speech.  Cannon selected 5 of the picture cards and then added the other parts of speech to make silly sentences to make up a silly story.

 “One Day Miss Beth jumped around the milk carton and used an ax to cut            the door down.  Avalon said, 'give me the ax.  I will chop the door down.'              Miss Beth and Cannon chopped the door down with the ax and flew           away in an airplane.”

 

Sand Castles

“Moon Sand” is great for squishing and squeezing and exercising both righty and lefty and for building things.  Cannon used the blue-green colored “sand” material to fill molds – just like you would use a pail on a beach.  After he built a tower he happily smashed it down and made another.  What a fun way to exercise!

 

 

 

Story Time

Cannon used the sign for frog and toad to request a story. The title of the story was Shivers.  The word Shivers is also in the title of one of his new books from school. Frog and toad gave themselves the shivers when frog told a scary story to toad late at night.

 

Communication

Throughout the morning Cannon would tease me by signing “hear/listen bells”.  Then we would stop and be very quiet so that I could hear the bells….then he would laugh and shake his head “no” to tell me he was teasing me.

New signs today:  dirty and happy

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 8, 2013

Whee! Last Sunday Cannon was busy exploring and experimenting with the concepts of centrifugal force and the laws of gravity and other aspects of physics.  His laboratory – roller coasters and other constructions in an amusement park.  Great fun and some time down the road we will explain and discuss the scientific explanations for such great fun. But for now it is just plain fun!

 

 

 

 

A Curiosity - a Fungus or as Daddy says a fun guy.  Is that a pun?

 

 

Popping out of the ground at Miss Chery’s house were these beautiful examples of a shelf type fungi. This type of fungus is also known as Bracket fungus.   The ones we found were close to the ground and were living on the underground roots of an old tree that had been cut down. They are a type of mushroom. Some types of this fungus are edible but they are not the kind Cannon likes to eat.  We will be asking lots of questions about this fungus – how does it grow – how is it different from other types of plants and other types of fungus – so many questions.

 

 

 

 

Where in the World is Cannon Hoops?

We played the game and found ourselves in Antarctica – a place Cannon says he

 

would like to visit to see the penguins

and at the Taj Mahal in India.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cannon reviewed the continents and oceans. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came back to the USA

… and looked at some states four ways – coin search – quarter coins with state information and clues on the back, the state silhouette flash cards, matching to the talking map puzzle and then finding the sate on the large USA map. Cannon is getting very good at recognizing and finding states on the map.  Of course his favorite two states are California and Washington.

We read a chapter from Frog and Toad All Year and Cannon readily identified some sight words within the context of the story.



Word Searching and nibbling and sipping
...yum, fresh cinnamon rolls.

 

This Sunday we reviewed sight word vocabulary using the new flashcards found a couple of new words – choose and deviate and we added the ASL signs for choose, later and out. Cannon used his signs to offer me a cup of coffee on my arrival and helped make my latte.

August 25, 2013

Where in the World is Cannon Hoops?

Cannon enjoys maps and he is becoming quite the armchair traveler.  The new board game (based on the game Where in the World is Carmen Santiago) is revised and made just for Cannon.  We had lots of fun exploring the game and increasing his general knowledge and geography skills.  Mr. Dan and his wife even joined us and sang God Bless America for Cannon.  Did you know Irving Berlin was born in Russia?

 We also used the “States” flash cards to match the shape of the state on the card with the state on the large US map.  We focused on the middle region of the country and found Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan. 

Cannon tried out the new modified sight words flash cards. He had to find the right word to fill in the blank in the sentence on the back of the card. The words to choose from had similar beginnings and similar configurations.  It took sharp eyes to choose the correct word.  He identified all twelve words correctly.  His reading skills are growing.

We also did our Dictionary Search and found: take (there are 15 definitions for this little word), incandescent, spelunking, spend and spin.

 

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Tadpoles

They vanished without a trace.  Mom is sure they did not go down the drain…she checked every possible place in the environment but no tadpoles or tadpole remains were found.  Hmm, it is a mystery.

Coffee Time – Reading Together

Cannon used the sign for frog and the sign for book to tell me he wanted to read one of the stories from the Frog and Toad books.  It was time for a break to eat one of the yummy cinnamon rolls mom left for us.  Cannon offered me another cup of coffee using the sign for coffee and then he made it for me himself. What a treat!

 

 

It was a fun and full day we were so busy we forgot to take pictures.  So we will have to use our mental pictures to remember the day.  

August 18, 2013

Amphibians, Water Lilies and Words Oh, My!

This past week Cannon and family have been figuring out the best way to care for the ten tadpoles fished from my friend’s pond last Sunday.  Mom learned how to how to siphon off stinky pond water and to add fresh water for everyone, humans and tadpoles alike, to enjoy.

We watched part of the Eyewitness video on Amphibians and then completed a Venn diagram on the similarities and differences between the Frog and the Toad.  Cannon learned the sign for Frog and he learned that President Ronald Reagan had a frog named Jelly Bean. 

On the tadpole expedition Cannon helped feed the goldfish in the larger pond.  Gold fish of every size and color combination rushed from under the water lily pads to the edge of the pool to nibble on the pellets Cannon threw out to them.  The pond reminded us of the water lily paintings by Claude Monet.  So we took another look at his paintings of water lilies.

 

Then Cannon looked at the photograph of my friend’s water lilies and goldfish.  Cannon selected the colors for his pallet and began work.  He worked in layers again putting in the blue green first then adding highlights and at last some bright orange brush strokes to indicate the goldfish rushing to feed. Cannon learned the sign for fish.

 

Words, Words, Words!

Between layers of paint we played with words. Cannon showed me the spelling words he was working on and we played with the new word family flashcards.  Then it was time to get out Cannon’s new dictionary and go on a “word hunt”.  Cannon opened the book to a random page and pointed out a word. Then we read the definition and discussed the word before highlighting it and adding it to our list.

 

 

We got out the map of the United States and Cannon was challenged to match the outline of the state on the flash card he drew out of the pack to the state on the map.  Cannon always wants to go to Washington to visit friends and California to visit family.

 

We read The Letter, Story from Frog and Toad Are Friends.  It is one of our favorites.

 

Words Captured on Today’s Word Hunt

Pandemoniem



At the end of our day Cannon likes to cross off
the activities on our list and erase the board.

Knight

Tape dispenser

Canopy

Catbird

Castle

 

New Signs

Frog/toad

Fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field Studies – The Great Tadpole Expedition

Sunday August 11, 2013
We have been waiting all summer to get word that tadpoles had been sighted in my friend’s garden. They were seen darting about in the little pool in the formal garden in late July so we started planning the expedition as soon as Cannon returned from his holiday and work session up north.  

While Cannon researched the life cycle of the tadpole I searched for a good habitat for them to live in while

we observe their growth over the next few weeks. I settled on a 2.5 gallon aquarium and found some food just for tadpoles and frogs and toads. I even discovered that Pet Smart sells live crickets, which frogs and toads prefer.

 

 

Cannon is ready to go!

 

My Friend’s Garden




My friend waited for us by the tadpole pool.

We met at 9:30 at my friend’s garden and after brief introductions headed straight for the small pool in the formal garden where the tadpoles are located.

 

 

When we looked into the small round pool we could see hundreds of tadpoles swimming among the water lily pads and then we could see tiny frogs.

 

They were so small they could sit on the nail of Cannon’s little finger.  They were hopping about and even hopped out onto the grass next to Cannon. 

 

 

After the aquarium was filled with pond water we were ready to capture the tadpoles. Cannon got into position over the pond and dipped his net into the water.  He lifted it out and counted the number of tadpoles in the net then transferred them to the tank.  Then he went back for more. Our limit was ten since that is the number that can be supported in our environment.

 

 

Sister was eager to help catch them

and practiced dipping the

fish nets into the water.

Cannon counts the number of
tadpoles he has caught. Ten is
the limit.

 

Cannon show off his

dirty hands.

 









Then it was time to feed the goldfish in the large pool.  Both Cannon and Avalon enjoyed throw the fish food into the water and watching the different kinds of gold fish rush to gobble it up. 

 

We continued our tour of the garden stopping to look at all the different blossoms. In the hydrangea bed Cannon enjoyed touching the big round blooms.  He discovered they were made up of lots of tiny flowers.  He even saw a Daddy-Longlegs climbing among the leaves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we stopped at the Zen garden to ring the large bell.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sampled raspberries and black berries from the garden.  

 

 



Raspberry Red Tongue

Sister helped pick some sun-kissed grape tomatoes and popped them right in her mouth, then she shared one with brother.

 

Cannon and Avalon enjoyed a giggle and a little rest in the hammock. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time leave my friend’s garden and go visit the Sunflower Room.

 

 

 

 

A Visit to 930

 

 

 

 

Cannon was eager to visit 930 and to see my house and garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was some quiet time

in the Sunflower Room.  

 

 

Cannon has been tracking the growth of the sunflowers over the past three months. They have now reached their full height.  The tallest one is over 12 feet tall. He and Avalon each explored a large blossom and sat quietly and watched a bee gathering pollen from a blossom hanging over our heads. 

 YUM!

Then it was time to come inside and cool off. While sister explored the “Africa room”, Cannon and I mixed up a batch of blueberry scones for our lunch. 

 

3 Cups flour

½ cup sugar

5 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoons salt

¾ cup butter

1 egg beaten

1 cup milk

 

400 oven / lightly greased sheet

 

§         combine flour, sugar, powder, salt

§         cut in butter

§         beat egg and mix with milk in small bowl

§         make a well in dry bowl, pour in milk and egg mix

§         stir just until moistened and all dry ingredients are incorporated

           

 

Turn dough onto floured surface

Knead briefly - Handle dough quickly – over working will make scones tough

Roll or pat into 1/2  inch thick round or rectangle

Cut into wedges or squares

Place close together on baking sheet

 

Bake for 15 min or until golden brown on top.

 

Yum, cheese, blackberries, melon and scones! We sipped lemonade and nibbled our way through the rest of the visit. 

Between nibbles we added some water iris roots to the tadpole environment – tadpoles like to nibble on the roots and play hide and seek in them. We also added a little island so that little frogs would have a place to rest on. Too soon it was time to say goodbye to the day and head for home.  Nap time for sister.  

 

Cannon can be so silly.

 Time to help the tadpoles get comfortable

 in their new home.

What a special day. A day to tuck away in our memory to visit again and again.