Miss K's week of Drs, frogs and Advent

Miss K was busy for most of the week - trying to get well again. It seemed a lot like the pre thanksgiving virus she had. This time though we didn't let it take hold and took her off to the Dr on Day 2. The decongestant worked well and let her breath better and gave her tummy a rest -don't ask!
It did make her a bit foggy so she just read a lot and drew.

Not too many action shots this week of Miss K but here is a bit of what she got up to

She is nearing the end of her AB Christmas unit Study. This week we also added the mini books from the 1+1+1=1  Christmas symbols lapbook, into her Advent notebook. Here she is researching meanings.

She also made a photo frame craft she received for Mini Piwi's birthday (we practice a family tradition of giving small gifts to siblings too).  It involved flocking so it was a bit tricky but she did a great job.

 American Girl Crafts Frame Kit, Flocked Flower

 

This week we also looked at Frog anatomy as part of an amphibian lesson we missed in Science. Miss K did the closest thing that we will ever get to a dissection and looked at this cool model we found

 

After labeling the parts in her notebook, she had lots of questions about frog vs. human anatomy so we pulled out our books and compared them side by side.

 

 

 Cross Section Frog Model & 3-D Human Body book

 

Miss K also had an awesome week on IXL.com completing nearly 2 hours and earning 14 medals. At-ta-way-to-go!

Mini Piwi's B'day week

It was a busy week....

We celebrated Mini Piwi's Birthday and she spent most of the week playing with her new toys.


Birthday cupcakes

Learning Resources Smart Snacks Alpha Pops

Thrilled with her new chair and sandwich making set

 

She did manage to fit some counting into her schedule with the Lady bug countdown puppet set we made together to go with '10 little ladybugs' by Melanie Gerth. The post about making the set is here

We also had a trial of ABC Mouse.com. Mini Piwi seemed to really like it.

I made the Christmas tot pack from 1+1+1=1 and one of the activities that Mini Piwi enjoyed was matching the shapes to the pictures of Christmas shapes....

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Painted Chicken

The gifts Mini Piwi loved!

10 little ladybugs

I asked Mini Piwi to choose a book she wanted to do some 'arts' (Mini piwi's word to describe her tot school) with. I had been doing the choosing so I was interested to see what she would come up with. She disappeared into Miss K's room and came back with '10 little ladybugs' by Melanie Gerth

This has been one book that both kids have yet to grow tired of after years of reading it. I think it is the catchy rhyme and the 2D ladybugs that 'disappear' that makes it more fun. We read the book and  pulled out her C is for Caterpillar folder and did this activity from 1+1+1=1

After 'night night', I worked on making up some bugs and critters. At this point I wasn't too sure what we were going to make with them. Thankfully I woke up with an idea to turn it into a felt board/puppet show activity. Mini Piwi glued all of the critters onto cardstock squares.

We attached popsicle to all the animals except the ladybugs.

I draw a background for the ladybugs to rest on.

piwi kids 2012

 

As I read the book, Mini Piwi would hold up the animal on the page that was taking a ladybug away and pop one ladybug under the flower flap. We counted down until they were all gone, just like in the book...and then Mini Piwi got to open the flap for the surprise ending...

Piwi kids 2012

 

 



Piwi approved: Maple Teriyaki chicken

Sometimes I dread the thought of cooking chicken. There are only so many ways I can cook Piwi kid friendly chicken. It isn't just my boredom either. If I cook one style of food too often, the kids won't eat it anymore. I blame the Food network for teaching kids that it is ok to critique meals :-).  We should have known this would happen though. Miss K's favorite shows, at age 4, were Good Eats and Iron Chef. Her Pillow pet is named Alton (Brown dog).

We have about four 'go-to' baked chicken  recipes. but this week we needed another option. My inspiration for this new recipe was Honey Mustard Chicken. I found this particular version on Pinterest a while back and the Piwi's loved it.

I mixed up the flavors to make Maple teriyaki chicken. It turned out sticky and golden. Piwi Dad was all complements and the Piwi's ate without any critiques. Score! (or as Mini Piwi says Skort!).

Mini Piwi  enjoyed helping me coat the chicken with the marinade. She took a long time working with the silicone pastry brush. She even announced to Daddy that we were having 'Paint Chicken'.

Here is the recipe I used to make 'Paint Chicken'

Ingredients
8 (2 1/2 ounces each) chicken drumsticks
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Soy Vay very yaki teriyaki, see bottom of the post for picture)
1/8 cup maple syrup
1 table spoon olive oil
1 teaspoon  (could use lemon juice)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a shallow baking dish with foil –these stuff is pretty sticky. Place drumsticks, skin side up,  in pan. You can use a lined baking sheet, the pan just keeps your oven a bit cleaner from the splattering honey mix.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the sauce, syrup, oil, vinegar and black pepper. Brush the chicken with the mixture.

3. Bake about 45 mins, basting often with the remaining sauce mixture, until chicken is browned and juices run clear.

This sauce also works well on grilled Tilapia or Salmon.

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Piwi Recipes: a collection of links to our favorite recipes and (in case any one is interested) an explanation of our eating habits.

Piwi Family approved recipes

Family recipes I want to try 

Plant based/vegetarian meals I love



Products I love in the kitchen

Christmas Science round up

Last week we had a Christmas Science linky. I was excited to see all the creative ideas. For future use  wanted to put these and the other resources,we found to use, together in one post. There is nothing to stop us from 'doing' holiday science after Christmas day. We had planned to continue the advent season to Three kings day. Let me know if you try out any of these ideas or have something else to add to this list.

The original Christmas Light science post and linky



Playing with Pine needles @Fantastic Fun and Learning

 

Advent Pine cone Bird Feeder @ The Tiger Chronicles

Math & Science with Balloons in the cold @Blog me Mom

It's snowing angles @Relentlessly fun, Deceptively Ed

Chocolate lollipops & States of Matter @Relentlessly Fun



Thinking about Christmas Printables @Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk!

Snow flake Science @ The Tiger Chronicle

Here are some other older Christmas/winter related science projects I found around the web. Most of them I would say are fairly kid friendly (with adult supervision). I steered clear of anything involving flames.



photo credit

Glow in the Dark Crystal Snowflakes. Depending on the age of your kids you can use Sugar or borax to make the crystals for this project.

Chemistry, making saturated solutions, evaporation

Snow Ice cream recipes: Use the snow to make Zip lock bag ice cream or use clean snow as a base for your creamy treat. I also found another recipe at The Party animal

Tags:Chemistry, states of matter, food science

Poinsettia pH paper @ Science made fun.
Extract the red pigment (which responds to changes in acidity) from poinsettias and use it to make your own pH paper strips.

Tags: Chemistry, Acids and bases, Plant science

Photo credit

Homemade gum drops

Homemade candy canes

Tags: Chemistry, Food Science, Involves use of heat.

Christmas tree investigation@ Education.com.
Tags: Plant Science & Observation

Leftover Christmas candy vs. Heat @ Almost Unschoolers
Tags: Chemistry, effect of heat on food, melting points, states of matter

Santa's sleigh race &Christmas tree buzzer game @Snapshot Science
Tags: Electrical science, circuit diagrams, force of motion, basic machines


In the meantime I have found some good free printables for Christmas themed science activities. Sigma science (UK) have two really good booklets to download. They are cut and paste type activities that would be appropriate for K-3 (maybe older?).
Sigma Christmas Science investigations

 Let me know if you try out any of these ideas or have something else to add to this list. Be sure to tell the original posters how much you liked the ideas too!

The Library trip with books about Angel Pigs

This past week was a mixture of Measuring and Christmas. Our library choices started out that way. We found so many fun books. It was had to make our ten book pile but here are our favorites this week, in no particular order.

Angel Pig was a cute heart warming story about the true spirit of Christmas.

 

I would really like to get all of Ms Leedy's Math themed stories. Miss K really loved the dogs and it explained the Measuring concepts well.

 

I found this one, full of colorful photographs and clear text. Miss K sat down and read it cover to cover as soon as we got home. Mini Piwi decided if Big Sis liked it, it must be exciting and carried it around for the afternoon. The following day she also insisted we weigh apples like on the cover of the book.

 

Spiderus from the 'Little Miss Spider' series has to learn about the joy in giving.

 

This is full of cute and easy Christmas art and craft...our favorite was the ice candle.

  

A cute collection of short Cat tales, quotes and facts. Being a big Cat fan, Miss K chose this one and has been reading quotes aloud to us all week.

We love all of Lisa Bergen's books. She has a great Christian YA series I can thoroughly recommend Waterfall: A Novel (River of Time Series)

 

I am reading this aloud as it is full of great facts about the way different countries and cultures celebrate Christmas. Miss K is working on a Christmas around the world lap book from Home school share.

 

Bear's buddies try to keep him awake to celebrate Christmas. I think we can all appreciate being woken up early for Christmas present opening!

This beautiful story from Mexico was new to all of us. We really enjoyed this and 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' by Tomie DePaola.

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