Capyboppy

We just finished reading Capyboppyby Bill Peet to go along with the Mammals unit that Cole is doing in Science Class. We finished it in two days, and he really enjoyed it. It's a cute, endearing, true story about a families pet capybara. A capybara is A South American mammal (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, family Hydrochaeridae) that resembles a large guinea pig. It lives in groups near water and is the largest living rodent. they can grow up to 4.3ft in length and weigh up to 140lbs, now that's one BIG RAT! lol

Now Cole wants to go to the zoo to get one! Unfortunately the Honolulu Zoo does not have any Capybaras, but check here to see if you might have the opportunity to visit them at your local zoo

You can also check out this page for some original pictures from the family in the book (on which the illustrations were based)

We have one more week of mammals & birds left, and since he has already completed his project that is due this coming Thursday, we will be focusing on mammals throughout the week. Then we'll have a week off (though I use the term 'off' loosely, we still read and do fun educational activities, and of course we do scriptures). The first full week of June (June 6th) starts our official school year, and science class will begin 4 weeks of reptiles and amphibians. We may get a jump start on our 'off' week and begin reading Magic Tree House #45: A Crazy Day with Cobras (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) with Magic Tree House Research Guide #23: Snakes and Other Reptiles: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #45: A Crazy Day with Cobras (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
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Some other books we have planned for Science in June:



We will be hitting up the library soon too.

Cole will be attending science class through July. Then we will start our own Science program. He will return to class in November for the Oceans unit as supplementation to our own 10wks of Ocean unit study.

Puffins Lapbook

So with science class being about birds and mammals, each child was assigned to do a report on a bird of their choice. We came home after the first class and went through what animal books we had about birds, and Cole chose to learn about Puffins. We read about them, watched several YouTube videos about them...and we lap booked about them. The assignment actually said to write a report, but since he is the youngest in the class and is not writing much more than his name as of right now, we decided a lap book was the best option. I wrote in the words, but he helped me find the information, he read it to me (in most cases), and I wrote it. Then he did the gluing and some of the cutting.
So presenting our Puffins project:




I got most of the lap booking items from Bird Lap books and from Enchanted Learning (I mentioned this site before, it's a $20/yr membership fee, but has lots of really useful stuff, well worth the cost IMO).

Zane of course wanted to have something to do as well, so I pulled out the play dough and some plastic scissors. This is a great way to build the muscles kids need to use scissors. Paper is to flimsy for them to cut, so starting out with play dough really helps them get a feel for scissors, then you can move onto card stock or tag board (b/c it's not flimsy).... The only way for kids to learn to cut is to let them do it! Cole still needs some work, but he has never been into arts and crafts, and never graduated much past cutting play dough (b/c he never wanted to).

Then we took a field trip to the Scholastic Books Warehouse SALE...a dangerous place for me! YIKES! I am a book-a-holic, but I found lots of great books...and controlled my spending (for the most part). I got some books for this year (K) and the next 2 schools years (1st and 2nd grade). But, as I always have said...you can NEVER have to many books...and I have put it to the test! I'd much rather have my bookshelves over flowing than a bunch of junk toys everywhere! Here is what I got for $75.

We're going to the zoo! zoo! zoo!

So since science class this month is covering Birds and Mammals, and the Honolulu Zoo was having a Migratory Bird Day event, we headed that way to check it out. I'll be honest the Migratory Bird thing was a bust...it took us forever to find it, and it wasn't really much of anything. We still participated, the kids colored some bird masks, then we played a 'migration' game where we were the game pieces and we were migrating from station to station...however, we died...we were eaten by a cat. O well, survival of the fittest I guess.
We went over what he has learned in class...Mammals are warm blooded and they have hair. Birds are warm blooded and have feathers. Both are vertebrate (meaning they have backbones).
Here are some pics from the zoo trip:


a display about eggs and nests

a kookaburra

a bird of paradise

a Victoria crowned pigeon



The boys with their bird masks

Probably the best part of the day was when we saw the spider monkeys, C read the sign himself, and said "Do spiders come out of their butts or something?" We about died laughing!


We also checked out the Keiki Zoo (Children's Zoo) and of course, the playground!

The yummiest part was getting shaved ice afterwards






We found that the zoo does have lots of great keiki programs as well, and may look into doing some of them while we are here...as they coincide with our curriculum.
Some of the zoo activities they have are:
Twilight Tours
Keiki Zoo Keeper
and Star Gazing at the Zoo

And of course, we'll be covering oceans and oceans animals this year...we will also be checking out the Aquarium! Which also has lots of great programs, as well.

I have some zoo cards that I need to laminate and put on a ring for us to use on our next zoo trip.