Our current read-aloud is "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".
Yesterday, we read part of "Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution" by Steve Jenkins. We read about the rough timeline for the development of life on Earth. We learned a little about Charles Darwin. And we learned what "natural selection" means, with a frog example.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Similes, from December
This is something we did in December and I meant to record it here.
"We've been talking about similes at home, because we ran across some in the Hobbit (our nightly read-aloud) and I've been talking a lot about the language that Tolkien uses to create images in our heads...Hang on...actually, it's mostly metaphors but there is one simile in there. The dragon, Smaug, describes himself to Bilbo:
"My armour is like ten-fold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, and the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane and my breath death!"
That was too good to pass up! I love that passage! It's way more interesting than saying, "My armour is really tough, my teeth are sharp and so are my claws...."
I thought similes would be easier to explain than metaphors so that's what I did. B needed to let it sink it a little, but T got it right away. I think T is going to be my liberal arts buddy. Anyway, T has been making lots of similes and announcing them to me. It's so cute. Some of the similes he's made are:
"This lantern is like the sun."
"Mashed potatoes are like clouds."
(I told him that you often have to tell a reader WHY they are like those things).
"Mama's hair is as fluffy as cotton-balls."
And this is my FAVORITE one:
"Your belly is as squishy as a jumping-house."
Anyway, similes are fun. And they're easy to do with kids; it's easy for kids to make them, I mean. Look at some of the things we read that had similes in them:
"Mary had a little lamb, *It's fleece was white as snow.*"
"Twinkle twinkle little star....*like a diamond in the sky*."
And from "Twas the night before Christmas":
"His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!""
This is an excerpt from a post I wrote somewhere. We did finish reading the Hobbit and based on the kids' questions and MY questions to them, I feel confident that they understood what we read.
"We've been talking about similes at home, because we ran across some in the Hobbit (our nightly read-aloud) and I've been talking a lot about the language that Tolkien uses to create images in our heads...Hang on...actually, it's mostly metaphors but there is one simile in there. The dragon, Smaug, describes himself to Bilbo:
"My armour is like ten-fold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, and the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane and my breath death!"
That was too good to pass up! I love that passage! It's way more interesting than saying, "My armour is really tough, my teeth are sharp and so are my claws...."
I thought similes would be easier to explain than metaphors so that's what I did. B needed to let it sink it a little, but T got it right away. I think T is going to be my liberal arts buddy. Anyway, T has been making lots of similes and announcing them to me. It's so cute. Some of the similes he's made are:
"This lantern is like the sun."
"Mashed potatoes are like clouds."
(I told him that you often have to tell a reader WHY they are like those things).
"Mama's hair is as fluffy as cotton-balls."
And this is my FAVORITE one:
"Your belly is as squishy as a jumping-house."
Anyway, similes are fun. And they're easy to do with kids; it's easy for kids to make them, I mean. Look at some of the things we read that had similes in them:
"Mary had a little lamb, *It's fleece was white as snow.*"
"Twinkle twinkle little star....*like a diamond in the sky*."
And from "Twas the night before Christmas":
"His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!""
This is an excerpt from a post I wrote somewhere. We did finish reading the Hobbit and based on the kids' questions and MY questions to them, I feel confident that they understood what we read.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
B has been very taken with a dinosaur called "Coelophysis". It's one of several dinosaurs on his placemat.
He's done many things in his pursuit to learn more about coelophysis:
1. He's borrowed dh's measuring tape to see how long the dinosaur is. He used both feet and meters.
2. He was desperate to know how tall coelophysis was so I showed him how to use Wikipedia. We found the answer to his question, in addition to seeing lots of interesting pictures of coelophysis fossils and illustrations.
3. We learned how to pronounce coelophysis and what the name means in Greek. We also learned that "saurus" means "lizard".
4. He read several bits of information on coelophysis in his various dinosaur books and in the "Peterson Field Guide to Dinosaurs". I showed him how to use the index in the field guide.
5. He learned what "biped" meant.
He is extremely excited that a coelophysis fossil is in the London Natural History Museum, because it's one of the places we're going to on our England trip next fall. Wiki showed a photograph of the exact fossil that's in this museum.
I have promised to read his evolution book to him. He can read it, but it's always nice to have someone read to you. I need to remember to do this!
He's done many things in his pursuit to learn more about coelophysis:
1. He's borrowed dh's measuring tape to see how long the dinosaur is. He used both feet and meters.
2. He was desperate to know how tall coelophysis was so I showed him how to use Wikipedia. We found the answer to his question, in addition to seeing lots of interesting pictures of coelophysis fossils and illustrations.
3. We learned how to pronounce coelophysis and what the name means in Greek. We also learned that "saurus" means "lizard".
4. He read several bits of information on coelophysis in his various dinosaur books and in the "Peterson Field Guide to Dinosaurs". I showed him how to use the index in the field guide.
5. He learned what "biped" meant.
He is extremely excited that a coelophysis fossil is in the London Natural History Museum, because it's one of the places we're going to on our England trip next fall. Wiki showed a photograph of the exact fossil that's in this museum.
I have promised to read his evolution book to him. He can read it, but it's always nice to have someone read to you. I need to remember to do this!
Math
My kids have been obsessed with playing a board game called, "Money Bags". It teaches American coins and it requires lots of addition. The object of the game is to earn money. The money that can be earned is usually an untidy sum like 13 cents. So, while playing the game, you must do lots of addition and skip-counting. It's a great little game.
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