Do you love animals? I know that I do! My family and I have been watching the Animal Planet Documentary, The Aquarium, starring the animals of the Georgia Aquarium. The aquarium in Atlanta hold 10 million gallons of water and over 600 different species. Disclaimer: These documentaries feature the full circle of life for these animals. Check out their website which includes lessons for teaching at home. Check out their webcams here. (super fun to watch!) Inspired by the documentary the family wanted to find a book featuring an animal that may live at the Georgia Aquarium. Because we did not have a book featuring an animal that could live in an aquarium in our home. Mrs. Harden found a trailer for the book, This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. It does not show us the whole story so we don't know how it ends. So we used our skills of prediction to write our own ending to the story. Prediction is a guess that you make using pictures or text. I think________ because______. Once we get back to school and back to the library, the family will have to see if our predictions for the ending were correct or if they need to adjust their predictions. We were able to find the audiobook version on Epic! More ideas for this book: Talk about sequencing: what happened first, second, third and last in the story. Describe the characters' personalities. Design a new hat for big fish then use your designs to actually create the hat. Tank the turtle is one of our favorites from the Georgia Aquarium. Mrs. Harden found a book on TumbleBook called, Turtle, Turtle Watch Out. After watching, the family discussed how best to help turtles in the wild, focusing on their habitat and what they eat. Then each family member created something that explains the importance of sea turtles and how humans can do more good than harm. Their choices were: write a letter to others educating them on the importance of sea turtles, make a book of facts about sea turtles (in print or using Book Creator), create signs with illustrations, make a movie or create slides about the dangers sea turtles face. I overheard that the family want to plan a visit to the Georgia Aquarium. I hope that I get to go too. I would love to see the whale sharks in bunny (person)! I just had a thought, my family and I (or just the kids) could use this time to actually plan a trip to Atlanta. They could research how much money it would cost to travel there by car, how many hours it would take and what we could see once we arrive in Atlanta. I wonder if they can read a map? Real world learning! Stay well, Tulip
0 Comments
As I sit in my palace (what my family calls my kennel) I can hear my family watching Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a British television show. The show's original run lasted 26 years, from 1963 to 1989. I don't know much about Doctor Who as me and Mrs. Harden are not big fan. I do know that they are on their 11th version of the Doctor. Right now the girls and Mrs. Harden are watching the episode featuring Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Oddly, I can see Mrs. Harden on her computer. She is scrolling through Facebook and clicked on a link to that took her to eight virtual art museums from around the globe. One of which is the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Below is a short snippet of the episode when the Doctor and Amy Pond lay in a field at night and Vincent Van Gogh explains what he see; this being his inspiration of his painting, Starry Night. Sunflowers was also one of Van Gogh's more popular paintings. He actually painted five versions of the painting. See a video here with a description in Dutch with English subtitles. Let's all use our passion for life to paint, share, and come together to celebrate the good in our world. Stay well, Tulip Brad Meltzer is an author. Do you remember what an author is? Yep, the person who writes the words in a books. Last week, PBS Kids shared a live event on their Facebook page of author Brad Meltzer reading his book, I am Amelia Earhart. During the live event, which is now saved on the PBS Kids Facebook Page (@PBSKids), Brad shared some behind the scenes secrets to the books. I am Amelia Earhart is part of Brad's series called "Ordinary People Change the World". This is a series of biographies for kids. Do you know what the word biography means? It means a book written about a real person. The person may be alive or passed away. They do not have to be famous. You could write a biography about your parents, or your aunt, or your neighbor, about your teacher or even about our principal, Mr. Burns. The youngest in our family was studying biographies in her class and was even preparing for a wax museum where the speakers dress up like their people and showcase the amazing attributes, characteristics and share information about them with an audience. The youngest was studying Ameila Earhart. PBS turned Brads series into an animated cartoon on PBS Kids. It stars three friends who travel through time to meet famous people throughout history. It is pretty interesting! On the PBS Kids website you can watch videos, play games and print activities. Check out PebbleGo Next for even more biographies, science and social studies. Below you will find a youtube video of Brad sharing his story. - Know No Bounds Stay well, Tulip My family listened to this book today via Tumblebooks (login: hamiltonwi password: reads). It was pretty awesome! I loved watching the video. Duck! Rabbit! is from author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and illustrator, Tom Lichtenheld. The story takes on the optical illusion question of is it a duck or a rabbit? Of course I think it is a rabbit!
I guess you may have a different opinion. What is an opinion? An opinion is a belief, judgment or way of thinking. My family all thought is was a rabbit too. I know because they were each given a piece of paper where they had to write their opinions. They then shared their thoughts. If you are watching this at your home, you can turn the sound off of Tumblebooks. One family member can read the right side of the page and one family member can read the left side of the page. Or perhaps you want to compare and contrast the two animals. Do they have any similarities or are they all differences? You can also take a quiz and write a book report all on Tumblebooks. How cool is that? Click on the link here: Tumblebooks (login: hamiltonwi password: reads) or visit the library's webpage. Stay well, Tulip Today the family watched a couple of different videos. The first was a rap on Flocabulary about the importance of hand washing or should I say "paw" washing? Then the family watched another video about the Coronavirus, a yucky bug that is going around. It suggest that you talk to a trusted adult if you have concerns. Do you have a trusted adult? I have my humans. There are so many cool things on the BrainPOP website. Not only did my family watch the video about the virus but they also could review volcabulary, take a quz and make a movie. So many different choices! Next, they watched this video about how to properly wash their hands. It is in Spanish, which is cool. The red paint represents soap on your hands. The two people are discussing and reviewing how to use soap all over your hands including your palms, fingertips and wrists.
Next my family went into the bathroom. I am not allowed in the bathroom as I make too much of a mess. I put my long ears to good use, and I l could hear them though the door. They were practicing what they just learned. They used soap and water and a timer to make sure that they were washing for at least 20 seconds. I challenge you to wash your hands or paws for 20 seconds and to make sure you and your family all have safe hands! Stay well, Tulip Have you been doodling with Mo? My family has. I know that they love all of Mo's books and I do too! Each day my family watches Mo Willems via Youtube (The Kennedy Center). The videos take you into Mo's studio as part of his position as the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence. Mo shares on The Kennedy Center webpage, "When I became the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, I didn’t realize the most impactful word in that title would be ‘Residence.’ " Did you know that the Pigeon hates when Mo Willems writes books featuring other characters? Did you also know that every Elephant and Piggie book has 64 pages? I also learned from watching these videos that Mo likes to doodle because it is fun and it makes him feel better. Grab some paper, a pencil, and an eraser to start to doodle with Mo! The video on the left will lead you to the very first episode with LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems. The video on the right is what my family created and compiled using Clips for the iPhone. Stay well, Tulip #MoLunchDoodles
Sometimes I like just looking out our window. I like to watch the birds that fly by and see the squirrels running through the trees. Some days I even see deer running through our yard. With my family home I do not get as much time to just stop and think. Today my family just took a few minutes to look out the window and then they wrote and drew what they saw. Afterwards they shared what they wrote and what they saw. It was so fun to listen to them. No one saw the exact same things. What do you see from your window?
Stay well, Tulip Every afternoon my family sits down around the couch and starts to read. They don't read out loud and they hardly ever notice me. I am not sure what exactly they were doing until today. At one point, Mrs. Harden says to the girls, "After you read this book we are going to discuss it." Then she began asking the girls about their books. For example, she asked, "What is the setting of your book?" I thought to myself, what is a setting? Then one of the girls said, "Where the book takes place. When it takes place and the weather." Oh, that makes sense! Then she started talking about the characters and asked the girls to describe them. Finally, the family talked about the beginning, middle and end of their books. Wow! I learned so much about books. I may not be able to read (yet!) but I love to listen to stories!
Stay well, Tulip Today's book was about a bad seed. I thought it was an interesting title. How can a seed go bad? Well, it turns out that this seed was happy in his flower until one day he found himself in a bag. When suddenly the bag was opened by a giant and he found himself going into the giant's mouth. Thankfully, he was spit out at the last possible second. Ever since then he was a baaaaaad seed. He was a friend to nobody, and he did not care. He finished other people's sentences and he would never listen. He would not put things back where they belong. He never washed his hands or his feet (gross)! One day he decided to make a change. He started to smile and say please and thank you. He was trying! I think a-lot of bunnies and humans can relate to this. We can all make good changes in our lives even when we think that there is no hope. Check out the book trailer on the Harper Colins Publisher's website. After reading, the family reflected on their good qualities and things they can work on. They drew pictures and wrote sentences practicing their cursive. Then they watched a video featuring the illustrator. Do you know what an illustrator does? Yes, they draw the pictures! The Illustrator, Pete Oswald, shows the viewers how to draw the Bad Seed on an iPad with an Apple pencil. So cool! If you need a little laugh, check out this video summary of the book reenacted by Scholastic's Book Boys. They are Scholastic Reading Club employees who want to get kids excited about reading. Stay well, Tulip Today I watched the family read the book, Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles. This book is a nonfiction biography. Do you know what that means? It is a true story about a real person. It is written by Patricia Valdez and illustrated by Felicita Sala. It is a great story about a woman who was born in 1897. She grew up in London, England and loved reptiles of all kinds. She passed away in 1931. After reading the story the family was challenged to create their own reptiles made out of LEGOS. Then they had to describe the new species of reptiles including its habitat, a description of the reptile, the reptile's special features and the name. Dictionary.com says the definition of reptiles is a vertebrate animal of a class that includes snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises. They are distinguished by having a dry scaly skin and typically laying soft-shelled eggs on land. Learn more about where Joan started her career under Dr. George Boulenger at the Natural History Museum in London. Following her success time at the Natural History Museum, Joan began working at the London Zoo in 1923. She was the curator of reptiles. Need even more? Write a letter to Joan @ the London Zoo. Describe your findings to her in a business letter. Don't know how to write a business letter? Check out this BrainPop Video and enjoy the activities with it. (login: hamiltonwi password: hamilton) Ms. Joan Proctor Zoological Society of London (ZSL) London Zoo Outer Cir London NW1 4RY United Kingdom Check out a picture of my family and me. The girls are taking turns reading the book to me. You can see the LEGOs are out and ready to be used in their designs. Stay well, Tulip |
TulipI am a Lionhead bunny that lives with the Harden Family. Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|