Friday, October 1, 2010

100 Books-A-Month Challenge, Reading My Library

We have been making our way slowly through our library shelves. I think we are only to H but we are approaching the center of the shelves. As I said before, I'm not sure we'll make it through the whole alphabet this year, but that is okay. It has been fun.

Read to Austyn and Zoe:
1. A Boy Named Giotto by Paolo Guarnieri
2. A Dragon in a Wagon by Jane Belk Moncure
3. A Dolphin is Not a Fish by Betsey Chessen and Pamela Chanko
4. A Horse Called Farmer by Peter Cummings
5. Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch
6. Andrew’s Loose Tooth by Robert Munsch
7. Angela’s Airplane by Robert Munsch
8. A New House For Mouse by Petr Horacek
9. At Break of Day by Nikki Grimes
10. A Wish-For Dinosaur by Jane Belk Moncure
11. Bag in the Wind by Ted Kooser
12. BINGO by Rosemary Wells
13. Birds by Susan Canizares and Pamela Chanko
14. Butterfly Express by Jane Belk Moncure
15. Calendarbears by Kathleen Hague
16. Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci
17. Creepy, Crawly Baby Bugs by Sandra Markle
18. Dear Fish by Chris Gall
19. Dirty Joe The Pirate by Bill Harley
20. Elena’s Serenade by Campbell Geeslin
21. Falcons by Julie K. Lundgren
22. Fire! By Celia Godkin
23. Footprints on the Roof Poems about the Earth by Marilyn Singer
24. From a Distance by Julie Gold
25. From Lullaby to Lullaby by Adele Geras
26. Grandfather’s Pencil and the room of stories by Michael Foreman
27. Hello, Fish! Visiting The Coral Reef by Sylvia A. Earle
28. Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli
29. I Have To Go! By Robert Munsch
30. Into The Deep by William Beebe
31. It’s a Hummingbird’s Life by Irene Kelly
32. Itsy Bitsy The Smart Spider by Charise Mericle Harper
33. Jane Goodall and the Chimpanzees by Betsey Chessen and Pamela Chanko
34. Jeremiah Learns to Read by Jo Ellen Bogart
35. Jupiter by Thomas K. Adamson
36. Leaving Home by Sneed B. Collard III
37. Let’s Look at Fall by Sarah L. Schuette
38. Love You Foreer by Robert Munsch
39. Mary by Brian Wildsmith
40. Mind Your Manners, B. B. Wolf by Judy Sierra
41. Moonboy by Carolyn Garcia
42. Mortimer by Robert Munsch
43. Mother to Tigers by Peter Catalanotto
44. Mousekin’s Special Day by Jane Belk Moncure
45. Mr. Doodle Had a Poodle by Jane Belk Moncure
46. Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes by Jan Fearnley
47. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel by Robert Munsch
48. My Great Big Mamma by Olivier Ka and Luc Melanson
49. My Mother Talks to Trees by Doris Gove
50. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
51. Night Shift by Jessie Harland
52. Nina’s Waltz by Corinne Demas
53. Nursery Crimes by Arthur Geisert
54. One Tricky Monkey Up on Top by Jane Belk Moncure
55. Owls by Gail Gibbons
56. Owls by Julie Lundgreen
57. Pick, Pull, Snap! By Lola M. Schaefer
58. Pirate Pearl by Phoebe Gilman
59. Polka-Dot Puppy by Jane Belk Moncure
60. Presenting Tanya the Ugly Duckling by Patricia Lee Gauch
61. Rabbits’ Habits by Jane Belk Moncure
62. Rosie’s Ballet Slippers by Susan Hampshire
63. Science Fair Day by Thor Wickstrom
64. “Smile,” Says Little Crocodile by Jane Belk Moncure
65. Sofie and the City by Karima Grant
66. Solo by Paul Geraghty
67. Something Good by Robert Munsch
68. Spuds by Caren Hesse
69. The Bones of Fred McFee by Eve Bunting
70. The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler
71. The Day of the Dinosaur by Stan and Jan Berenstain
72. The Erie Canal Pirates by Eric A. Kimmel
73. The Fabulous Song by Don Gillmor
74. The Legend of El Dorado by Beatriz Vidal
75. The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake by Linda Beech
76. The Moon In Swampland by M. P. Robertson
77. The Naked Mole-Rat by Jody Sullivan Rake
78. The New Creatures by Mordicai Gerstein
79. The Old House by Pamela Duncan Edwards
80. The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
81. The Riddle Book by Roy McKie
82. The Secret Life of Walter Kitty by Barbara Jean Hicks
83. The Tailypo A Ghost Story by Joanna Galdone
84. The Trip Back Home by Janet S. Wong
85. The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray
86. Tiger Trouble! By Diane Goode
87. Tuesday in Arizona by Marian Harris
88. Vanishing Animals of the Wide Open Spaces by Lydia Bailey
89. Venus by Thomas K. Adamson (Austyn Helped)
90. Very Boring Alligator by Jean Gralley
91. Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre
92. Walter’s Magic Want by Eric Houghton
93. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
94. Westlandia by Paul Fleischman
95. What Can We Play Today? by Jane Belk Moncure
96. What do you do with a Grumpy Kangaroo by Jane Belk Moncure
97. What Do You Say When a Monkey Acts This Way? by Jane Belk Moncure
98. What Will I Do Without You? By Sally Grindley and Penny Dann
99. Who is Queen of the Forest? By Beijia Lin and Mark Thurman
100. Wind in the Willow by Wonderful Junk by Troon Harrison
101. Yucky Riddles by Marilyn Helmer and Eric Parker

Zoe Read/Read to Zoe:
50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch – Online Book
Anansi and the Talking Melon by Eric A. Kimmel
Bartleby Speaks! By Robin Cruise
Boomer Goes to School by Constance W. McGreorge – Online Book
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal – Online Book – Online Book
Princess Backwards by Jane Gray
Something Good by Robert Munsch – Online Book

Read to Austyn and he read:
Birds Natures’ Magnificent Flying Machines by Caroline Arnold
China In Colors by Maria Gamze-Pendergrast
Dancing Dinos by Sally Lucas
East O’ The Sun And West O’ The Moon by P.J. Lynch
Everything I know about Pirates by Tom Lightenheld
Frightful’s Daughter Meets The Baron Weasel by Jean Craighead George
How Many Blue Birds Flew Away? By Paul Giganti, Jr.
Optical Tricks by Walter Wick
Super-Size Bugs by Andrew Davies
The Disappearing Island by Corinne Demas
The New Friend by Holly Hobbie
The Very Worst Monster by Pat Hutchins

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Lego Creations!





You can usually tell what Austyn is interested in by what he makes with his lego. This is a bald eagle.

This is a humming bird.

Here he is taking the humming bird out of it's flower and attaching it by it's feet.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Homeschool Track and Field Day

We attended Track and Field day for the first time this year. This was the first year where two groups got together to do the event. 

The kids had so much fun. They got to compete, just for fun, in many physical activities.

The weather was cool and damp but the rain held off enough for us to get through all of the activities.

My hubby did a great job of helping out and taking pictures.

Austyn loved to be with his friends from both groups at the same time.

There was a javelin toss, foot ball toss, shoe toss, Frisbee toss, a soccer challenge, and much more.


It was great to see the kids running and doing all of the activities.


 Here is long jump...



... and here is running long jump.

 After all of the main activities the kids headed for the beach to make sand castles.


Zoe was playing around with the mud along the shore and her little container. 





Austyn started on the beach with a bunch of kids making a castle.
 


The water on the beach recedes in the fall so the kids could wade out onto little sand islands. They eventually made their way out there to make castles on islands.

It was a great day with many friends.

Canada's Wonderland


This past weekend was probably the most busy weekend we've had all year. On Friday we left home in the morning all packed for our weekend. We went to pick up our car trailer and headed to an old friend's house to visit and have supper. We were there until after dark. We headed to the track to drop the car off and some of our things. After that we headed to a motel on the way to Toronto to spend the night. We got up, went for breakfast and headed to Canada's Wonderland. We spent the day and long after supper we headed back to the track to unpack, set up beds and get sleep to race the next morning. Racing started late because they had so much rain the day before. We raced all day in two classes and headed home late. We went to bed that night at 2AM and got up early enough to go to our Homeschool Track and Field day. 
Here are some pictures from Canada's Wonderland. We went with family. Here is Kev on Drop Zone with our two nieces.

While the older kiddo's, their Papa included, went on the big kid rides we hit the kid section so that Zoe could go on something. She was too short to go on most of the faster rides. It was a bummer because she loves fast rides.

Zoe really loved the bumper cars.

This is the kids loving Woodstock from Snoopy.

Our kids were the goofy ones on the kiddie swings. They were making faces the whole time.

Here they are hugging a couple of the Peanut crew.

This is a picture my niece took. I was trying to hitch a ride with the kids. LOL!
We had a good time. Thanks to family for inviting us.

Science in a Bag

We have a book called Science in a bag but this isn't from that book. It just reminded me of it since Zoe put muddy water in a bag. She let it sit over night to see what it would do and after observing it settled she shook it all up again. What an interesting way to do science naturally.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Book Sharing Monday - It's a Hummingbird's Life

Earlier in the summer we studied hummingbirds, but I never knew this book existed. I remember thinking that it was hard to find a good book on hummingbirds. We just read this one and I have to say that it was a perfect book for introducing the life of a humming bird. Austyn and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Read It's a Hummingbird's Life by Irene Kelly.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

First Full Day of Fall

Our first full day of fall was HOT! The temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius. 

I decided to weed the lawn and prepare it for more grass seed and nematode spray. Our lawn is full of grubs again. I put out the pool and the kids played. They invited a friend over and helped me do my work a bit. Yes, that is Zoe with no top. LOL!

This picture was taken by this little boy's mother. I think this moment is so cute!

Strange Caterpillar and butterfly

I was weeding the lawn when I noticed a caterpillar on one of the weeds. 

For the life of me I can't identify this little guy. I wish I could make the image bigger so you can see it but Blogger changed their image import. It's black, spiky, with orange markings and metallic blue spots. If you can identify it let me know. 

This is the picture of it on the plant we found it on. The plant to the left is covered in caterpillar poop. So if you live in Ontario and have weeds like this on your lawn, look for the little droppings and you may find this little guy.

Ironically, later that day this little guy was landing on me and and flying all around me. He just wouldn't leave me alone. I identified him as the Silver Spotted Skipper Butterfly. He is a deep chocolate brown colour and the markings on him reminded me of looking at islands on a map. Again, I couldn't identify him. I'm going to have to get my hands on a more complete identification guide. 

If you can help me to identify either of these, please let me know.