Magnificent Moon Week in Review

“The Earth was very small. (It was) the size of a marble. I thought if the Earth is that small, how small am I? Just a speck in the universe, but yet signifcant enough that God would love me and create me and love me enough to touch my life. . . .
I felt privileged like an angel to get God’s view of the Earth.” ~Astronaut James Irwin


Magnificent Moon's five daily objectives are:
Day 1: What Exactly Is a Moon?
Day 2: Getting to Know the Moon
Day 3: The Story of the Moon
Day 4: Science Secrets of the Moon
Day 5: Cool Things About the Moon


I choked up when we watched the NASA video of the Apollo 14 launch. We learned about a different astronaut each day. I took astronomy in college and I must have forgotten A LOT after class ended. Although, plenty of moons have been discovered in our solar system since I graduated, so I can't be held responsible for those facts. Right? Rightrightrightright. :)


This is a painting of James Irwin in prayer by astronaut Alan Bean called We Came In Peace For All Mankind. He uses actual moondust and bits of Apollo spacecraft in his art! On his website, Alan remembers a conversation between Dave Scott and Jim Irwin.
Dave: "Oh, look at the mountains today, Jim. When they're all sunlit isn't that beautiful?"
Jim: "Really is, Dave. I'm reminded on a favorite biblical passage from Psalms: 'I look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.' But of course, we get quite a bit from Houston, too."

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

We found a lot of the suggested reading at our library this time, which made Magnificent Moon that much more fun. I also decided to browse the DVDs at the library this time. We found Space Buddies, Leapfrog's Math Adventure to the Moon, and Goodnight Moon, which, by the way, is absolutely adorable. I hadn't really ever thought too much about adding movies to a DNG, but I was glad I did.

We also had the Build It! theme bag from the library and found some fun acrylic pieces that were perfect for making our rockets to the moon!


This was a really fun study and we all learned a lot. I highly recommend it!

The Cabin Fever Fun Pack includes Magnificent Moon as well as Winter Wonders, Expedition Canada, and Hoppin' Popcorn and is on sale through 1/31/11 for $20 (regularly $28). The link for this product is here.

See what fun other families are having with Magnificent Moon. The blog hop is here.






***I was provided a copy to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.***

Happy 4th Birthday Xav!

The cake. Xav helped me make it, frost it and he decorated it.
Waiting for cake.
Gifts. Do we look a little mischievous?
(Once again, he is pulling his lips into his mouth over and over and has gotten a terribly chapped mouth. The chocolate around his mouth does not improve the look. sigh...)

The Dragon and the Turtle

I posted a review for the children's book, The Dragon and the Turtle, over on my review blog "Stuff I Like and Stuff I Don't" the other day. Check it out and see the first comment for information from one of the authors (Donita K Paul) about a contest going on at the publisher's website. Your littles could win their very own camping equipment and books!

Winter Wonders Week in Review

Well, it *is* Vermont. And winter *is* wonderful here, assuming you don't have to drive anywhere or be out of doors for an extended period of time, or *ahem* dig up the last of your carrots when it's 20* outside. :) The mountains nearby, the snow on the trees, the birds at the feeders all combine to create beauty all around us. We are so blessed to have such a nice place to bring up our littles.
This week, we've been exploring Download N Go's Winter Wonders unit study.

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22 (NIV)

Winter Wonders has a five day plan with a different learning objective each day.
Day 1: What is Winter?
Day 2: Science Secrets of Winter
Day 3: People and Places of Winter
Day 4: Time for Tips and Treasures of Winter
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Winter

We have found so many rabbit trails to chase this week, that we are taking two weeks to complete this study. For instance, we found out THE Snowflake Bentley lived very near us. I'll be taking the littles to see his exhibit in Jericho, VT. After our attempts to capture, magnify, and photograph snowflakes, we really got an appreciation for the struggles Mr. Bentley endured during his work. If you go to the Snowflake Bentley exhibit page, you can play a Match the Snowflake game.



Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

Here are some of the great books we found at the library. Snowballs was super cute. I've really enjoyed all of the books we've looked at by Lois Ehlert. We also like the My First Little House book series.

You can purchase Winter Wonders here. It's on sale today for $4, regularly $7.95.

Need some more convincing to give Winter Wonders a try? The Winter Wonders blog hop is located here. You can just jump right to the next blog from here.


***I was provided a copy to use with my family in exchange for my honest review.***

Owie

Note to self: When you have a headache and a boy says, "I saw a movie behind the TV" take note of where the corner of the clock is hanging as you reach for said movie. When you smash the top of your skull on the bottom corner of the clock and you crumple to the floor in pain, be careful not to fall into the wall, hitting your shoulder and your head again.

I decided to cry, even though I'm the mom. Xavier shouted, "Let's get out of here, run Mal!" (Thanks Xav!) Mal ran alright and I hear *crash* *bang* *slam*! Mal got the first aid kit and wanted to put "lotion" and a band-aid on my owie. Thankfully, he couldn't find the ointment. I was so excited that he was having this moment of empathy, I let him put a smiley face band-aid in my hair. I love that kid!

Christmas Cactus in Bloom

I've had this Christmas cactus about 6 years. This is only the second time it has bloomed. I think it's beautiful and I just love the unique way the petals all open back and up. It actually didn't bloom until New Year's eve day.

Wrapping Up 2010

This was one happy and excited little boy. Santa got him the *one* thing he asked for!The funniest part about this picture is that Xav is opening the gift he got me! He just saw his name on it and tore it open. :)Part of my Willow Tree Nativity.M cracks me up. He put this sign on the *bathroom* door. If you can't see, it says "Santa Stop Here!"We are a super exciting bunch. Here's what we did for New Year's eve. Click here for details!