REFLECTIONS ON THE STARDOME

In the reclining seats of the Stardome's theatre

The kids had a wonderful time at the Stardome and loved the show we went to about The Night Sky ... its amazing how much you can keep learning!  The Stardome seems to be under construction at the moment, so there are limited (nothing) things to do unless you take in a show, however, the shows are totally worth it and really not very expensive at all ($35 for a family).  So part of today's writing was about reflecting on their experience on Friday night going to the Stardome.  They loved the domed roof theatre where we took in the show and both had things they learnt about the night sky that they have keep with them ... a sign of a good learning attitude or at least a willingness to learn from others I reckon!

Ben working on his reflections about the Stardome

SQUEEZE IN ... a photo of us at Burger Fuel 

POLLYANNA'S SURPRISE

Polly told me this morning that she had a surprise today for the class and we wondered what it was going to be as she wouldn't play soccer with Ben before school as she was "practising" in her room.  To our surprise she read us Green Eggs and Ham, the whole story, without help!  I was so proud of her and she did a great job, the words might not be overly challenging but it is a really long story full of words.  Well Done Polly, it was such a treat to hear you read :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

The kids were devastated when they realised they had missed wishing their Dad a Happy Birthday before he left for work.  I didn't want to wake them as we are going to Aucklands Stardome tonight as a reward for all the awesome Space work they have been doing this term and of course for Steve's Birthday, so they are going to be up really late.  Anyway it may not have paid off because they were so disappointed and upset with me :(  To make up for it I told them we could show the cards to Dad on the blog so he would be able to see they during the day, they thought this was a great idea, SO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HONEY, HERE ARE YOUR CARDS!

The front of your cards

The insides of your cards

HAVE A GREAT DAY FROM US TO YOU!

YAH FOR THE NO RUSH MORNING

With my husband home a bit later than normal due to a Doctor's appointment, it was a timely reminder of one of the things I love about homeschooling ... the lack of rush in the morning and the grumping at the kids to get organised so we are not late for school.  We DO start our school day at 9.15am every morning, we are never late and we never grump in the morning, unless, like this morning, when Steve is home unexpectedly and destroys our routine (it was nice having a coffee with you this morning though :) . No, we weren't late and we did get everything done in time for school to start, it was just that our usual independent routines were lost and I got a tad grumpy!  You see, my children have a laminated list (oh my god, I have a laminator and saying I LOVE it, it is not putting it mildly) of what they have to do in the morning to get ready before schooling starts.  Thanks to this list, my two little friends get on with their jobs in whatever order and at whatever time they want to as long as it gets done before school.  So great is this magic list I no longer need to nag at them to do the everyday morning tasks or remind them of what needs to be done, which is what I used to do each and every morning :(  It honestly was no wonder I used to wake up in the morning tired, just the thought of all that nagging was enough to want to stay in bed. 

Now my morning is delightful, easy going, and relaxed and it is exactly what I need before I spend the day with my children teaching, coaxing learning, and positively reinforcing their efforts to understand.  What I didn't realise until this morning was just how perfect my normal morning without interruptions is!  My children have cottoned onto this morning routine so well I take it for granted that they are so awesome at getting themselves ready in the morning. 

THANK YOU BEN AND POLLY

Yes, I mean you two!

This time first thing in the morning where I get to just worry about myself means so much to me, especially as I have never been one of those people who feel the joys of life in the early hours, talk to me at 9 and I'm good to go!  I am so grateful for this morning routine because I spend the rest of the day devoting myself to making sure they have everything they need and making sure I am always available to them as you need to if you home school kids and expect them to be the best they can be.  That little bit of my time first thing is just the perfect way to start the day and for that I am so thankful to my children.

CUBS AND KEAS AWARDS BADGES

The kids have been doing heaps of work and using their time to get their learning done really well.  So as a reward, I gave them an hour to work on earning some of their Award Badges for Cubs (Ben) and Keas (Pollyanna).  Polly worked on her Healthy Kea badge, which she has almost completed with only two tasks left to finish.  She just needs to help me plan and cook a healthy meal, which she chose this afternoon to be a FISH meal!  So proud, she has such a good understanding of healthy food options thanks to our healthy minds, healthy bodies theme we did last term for our PE/Health curriculum strand.  The other part left to complete was a poster showing the foods she thinks are healthy.  This is the part she completed this afternoon on the computer .. I especially love the food choices she chose (definitely a favourites list for her!) and she did a great job of making the poster look super pretty too!

Polly working on her Healthy Foods Poster for Keas

Ben finished working on the list of things to obtain his Home Help badge and then started the work on earning a new badge, the Collectors Badge.  He wanted to collect Lego (go figure, his number one passion), however, Mother put the foot down on this one given the VAST amount of Lego we already have and the expense and instead suggested stamps as being a more achievable and sensible option!  Yes, somewhat boring but it does mean over 12 weeks he can get two a week and have a nice little collection that can be easily presented.  Speaking of the presenting aspect, this is what he spent the majority of his afternoon working on with my scrapbook supplies.  He sliced up 24 pieces of card to mount the stamp collection on and then he is going to attach them all to a large piece of card ... boy did he work hard at getting each piece exactly the right size and numbered ... yes, anal did come to mind!

Ben working on the presentation for his Collectors Badge for Cubs

SSR: SILENT SUSTAINED READING

Ben's ABSOLUTE favourite time of the week comes on a Thursday, when he has one complete hour of SSR ... I hear you asking why not more often and why am I writing about this on a Tuesday?!

Why not more often?  Ben reads EVERY day for hours, the concept that you can buy a light that attaches to books so you can read in the dark when you are supposed to be sleeping is the equivalent of telling a chocoholic their house is made of chocolate, that is, its dangerous for the rest of us, but pure unabated joy for the person in question.  Ben reads at least 6 250 page plus books every week.  Last night he had cubs, unfortunately this coincided with finishing a book, luckily even though it was dark he was able to finish reading the book by the light of the radio lights in the car ... now that is desperation.  It is also lucky that he reads really really fast, faster than both his parents (who are no slackers) because I had only given him the book at 3.30pm and cubs started at 6.30 :)

Why am I writing about this today?  Well, my wonderful friend and school teacher Alana provided me with the PM Benchmark Reading Tests for Pollyanna on Sunday and they were sitting on my desk.  Polly decided to read the top one last night, and without stumbles read the whole test without picture cues. Humph ... so this morning I thought I had better test her on the next one given the ease of the first one.  So while I tested Pollyanna, I had been planning to do some generic testing on Ben, but given the urgency of needing to get Polly's reading level sorted with the new testing system so I could request the appropriate level books, I gave Ben the news ... YES, for 1/2 an hour he could SSR ... yip apparently I am the best teacher and he didn't move from that seat for 1/2 hour, imagine though the drama when the testing was over and it was time for maths ... No Ben, you may not read through maths, Ben put the book down, Ben you can have the book back at lunchtime, No Ben, if you hurry through your maths you cannot have the book back, but you can have more geometry worksheets, No Ben we will not have unscheduled SSR again because its too hard to make you stop ...... Honestly

We did get to some geometry and Polly did pass the test with flying colours, way to go Polly :) Ben will no doubt finish the book this afternoon and order will be restored until he starts the next one ... you can see why I only give him his reading at 3.30 aye, its far to risky any other way!

MATHS: SHAPE DESCRIPTIONS LEARNING GAME

Freshly laminated cards ready to be cut out!

Cut out and ready to be sorted!

Today I downloaded a brillant game to help with kids learning to describe shapes according to their unique features (faces, edges, corners or vertices). My five year old, Pollyanna, has learnt the shapes and now it is time for her to describe a shape in terms of its qualities and this game is a perfect starter to learning the describing terminology.  I found it at this brilliant UK Primary Resources website that has fantastic worksheets aswell.  The thing I find very easy about the site is that it caters for all primary age groups and the site is really well set up for easily navigating your way round, definately one for the favourites folder!