A Couch Full of Books
Karlie has all her library books spread out over the couch so she can choose which one to read first. Not sure if the line of books are placed in random or specific order. She is very thoroughly in picking out what book she wanted to read.
She has been reading through the South Carolina Children’s Book Award Nominee list. For her Gifted & Talent class she is suppose to read at least four of the SC Children’s Book Award and pass an Accelerated Reading on them. We pick up several of the books from our local library and she has been working her way through them. A couple of the books Jake and I decided we didn’t want her to read for various reasons, but otherwise we want to encourage her to read as much as she wants.
Karlie loves reading! She was finished reading her four required books within a week. Now she is continuing to read just for fun and taking the tests. It is wonderful seeing her read and it amazes how quickly she can get through a book, sometimes one that is several hundred pages! If she really likes the book finish it and read it again the next day! Her stack of library books has been higher than mine lately!
School Projects: Southwest Region Native American Pueblo House
Southwestern Region Native American Pueblo House Project
Karlie recently did a Social Studies project for school. She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions. Karlie picked the Southwest Region and the pueblo house for her project. She had to make a pueblo house and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them.
Even though the girls are both in the same grade and have similar projects they rarely chose do to the same thing with their projects! The great part about them being so different is we have more opportunities to learn while doing various school projects. For this particular Social Studies Project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.
Putting the final touches on the pueblo house!
Karlie‘s Southwest Region Pueblo Paragraph: Southwest Pueblo Native Americans used pueblo houses that were made of harden clay. They lived in a village and their houses resembled an apartment building on mesas. The pueblo housing was beneficial to their way of life because the mesas helped cool the houses and protect them from sand storms. You can fit a lot of families into a pueblo apartment building. It is easier to help each other out because they were all together during bad weather or other hard times. In their village they grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton to help feed their families. All the people in the village worked together hunting, farming, and raising their families.
Karlie putting her title and name on her project!
Jake and Karlie put together this neat Pueblo House with items we had in the garage!
Pueblo Construction:
- Flat Pieces of Scrap Wood
- Wood Glue
- Speckled Paint
- Wooden Dowels
- Cotton Balls
- Markers
They took flat pieces of scrap wood from various wood working projects and glued them together to create this Pueblo house. The house has three levels. Once all the pieces are glued together and the glue has dried they attached the house to a flat board with wood glue. After the structure was put together we sprayed the whole pueblo with speckled paint (you can get this at Home Depot or Lowe’s). It ended up taking two coats of spray paint in order to get it covered well. The ladders are made out of small wooden dowels. The top windows and doors are cut out, but the other ones are drawn on with marker. The cotton balls represent the cotton the Southwest Region Native Americans grew in their fields. Inside the house on the top level there is a fire and a mat for sleeping.
Pueblo house is finished and ready to go!
We didn’t paint the back of the Pueblo with two coats of paint, but this picture gives you a glimpse at the top inside which has the 3D fire and mat for sleeping. The little storage “cubby” (as Karlie called it) with the paper in it on the lower left is where Karlie stored her written paragraph and ladders during transport to and from school.
Karlie so proud of her project! It was a handful to carry into school!
School Projects: Great Plains Native American Tepee Home
Great Plains Tepee Project
Brina recently did a Social Studies project for school. She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions. Brina picked the Great Plains Region and the tepee for her project. She had to make a tepee and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them. On this Social Studies project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.
Making her designs on the tepee!
She finished the Native American designs on her tepee! Looks good!
Tepee Construction:
- Cereal Box
- Old White T-Shirt
- Elmer’s Glue
- Wooden Dowels
- Hot Glue & Hot Glue Gun
- Markers
Cut a cereal box into a semi-circle. Use Elmer’s Glue and attach the T-Shirt to the non-print side of the cardboard from the cereal box. Once the glue dries use the markers to create your own special Native American designs on your tepee. Cut out the door to your tepee. Hot glue the wooden dowels to the inside of the tepee. Once the glue dries stand the tepee up and hot glue it to the poster board. To help your tepee maintain its shape you can use rubber bands around it as it dries in place.
Brina’s Great Plains Paragraph: The Great Plains Native Americans used tepees because they were very transportable. They used the tepees so they could follow the buffalo and other animals while hunting them. Their main source of food was buffalo meat. The tepees were light weight, transportable, could be folded up, and carried to the next spot. they also used the tepee poles to carry buffalo meat. The tepees were shelter during the nights for the families and transportable when they were trying to find food. The tepees were a valuable tool used to help feed their families.
Brina’s social studies project ready to go!
She was so excited to hot glue her horse and a folded up tepee on her poster board!
Her tepee turned out well!
Brina was super excited about the fire because Jake used his 3D printer to make it for her project!
Awesome learning lesson about the Great Plains Native Americans and their transportable home – the tepee! It was a great project!
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
It has been a busy few weeks and I think we are starting to get into the school groove now. Per a few requests I am going to try to update more regularly again regarding what items I pack for the kids school lunches. We try to pack a variety of items for the girls to eat. They have a snack in the morning, lunch, and an afternoon snack that needs to go into their lunches. Almost everyday of the week we have something right after school so we make sure they have enough to get them to dinner.
Lunch Box Meal
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Tortilla & One is actually a Soy Butter & Jelly Tortilla (peanut allergy)
- Fresh Cherry Tomatoes
- Raisins
- Pistachios, Cashews, and Almond Mix
- Oreo Cookies
- Fresh Red and Green Grapes
- Vanilla with Oreo Cookie Topping Yogurt & One with Soy Blueberry Yogurt (dairy allergy)
- ABC or Animal Crackers (one with non-dairy)
- Strawberry Fruit Nuggets
- Chocolate Milk & One with Simply Orange Juice
- Water Bottle
The girls pack their lunches at least once or twice a week. Since they have so much going on at school plus homework I try to pack their lunches for them on the other nights. It gives me a chance to help them out and after homework if they have any extra free time I want them to be able to relax, read, play, or do something fun (be a kid). I am thankful they are still excited about bringing their lunch to school because I know they are eating a variety of food.
The items in their containers (grapes, oreos, nuts, raisins, tomatoes).
Karlie’s lunch is ready to go!
First Day of School Notes & Teacher Gifts
First day of School Notes!How is that time again – the first day of school?! The summer break went by way too fast! Thankful for the fun adventures we had while they were out for the summer. Not sure how it is possible that they are now in 4th grade. Ready or not it’s here and we are looking forward to another great year of learning.
Brina’s lollipop note!
Karlie’s lollipop note!
Happy First Day of 4th Grade Brina!
Happy First Day of 4th Grade Karlie!
Note are on their bar stools and their special breakfast plates were laid out!
All four teacher gifts are packed and ready to go! Complete with items requested by the teachers!
Happy First Day of 4th Grade!
It’s hard to believe it is that time of year again! School started this week. Somehow my babies are growing up quickly and now are in 4th grade. Praying that they have an amazing year, packed full of fun, and learning. Thankful for these two sweethearts and looking forward to another big year.
Ready for the first day of 4th Grade!
Family STEM Activity Night
Karlie watching the robotics demonstration right after giving her speech to the students, faculty, parents, and family members in attendance. So proud of her! She was the only 3rd grader to give a speech that night!
The girls had a blast at their Family STEM Night! Karlie gave a presentation to everyone in attendance about their STEM Club and robotics competition. That night they had a lot of fun activities as well as informational meetings throughout the evening. Brina and Karlie had a blast learning, soaking in all the great information, and participating in the various activities. It was neat to see them work both independently and together to create some neat projects in the evening!
Learning about the cool pieces and their purposes. Karlie was thrilled to hold the one that had been up in space!
Karlie testing her dragon racer.
Brina testing her dragon racer.
Putting together a soft bed for the raw egg.
Almost done with wrapping our egg!
Final wrapping to their egg nicknamed “Pink Flemingo” for the egg drop competition. I remember doing a similar activity in elementary school. Super Fun!
Under all those pink and orange feathers and bubble wrap is a raw egg – “Pink Flemingo”!
A little concerned that the Pink Flemingo may have broken in the drop so they are hurrying to get back and unwrap her!
Brina so proud of her Pink Flemingo egg drop activity and wrapping skills! The Pink Flemingo did survive the egg drop! Yay! The girls loved this activity!
Making their airplane gliders to fly and measure!
Lunch Box – Special Snack
Every once in awhile I will pack a special surprise snack in the girls lunch bags. Since they have the last lunch of the day their teachers allow them to have a snack mid-morning. I love hearing their comments after school about their surprise snack. Most of the time I am able to “sneak” the treat into their lunches so it is a surprise when they open up their bag at snack time! I picked up these goodie bags on clearance and filled them with homemade trail mix. Some of the items in the trail mix were cheerios, pretzels, dried bananas, cranberries, raisins, and nuts. They loved the beautiful bags and the delicious snack.
Hero of the Year History Project
Karlie’s Time Magazine Hero of the Year Project – Thomas Sumter
The girls did a Social Studies project at school recently about various people in the American Revolution. They made their own Time magazine “Hero of the Year” cover page and article. They each picked one person and they did more research about the life of that particular person. Karlie choose to research Thomas Sumter who was nicknames “The Fighting Gamecock”. Brina did her research on George Washington who was nicknamed “The Father of His Country”. Both men were instrumental and influential during the early years of our country specifically during the time of the American Revolution.
Brina’s Time Magazine Hero of the Year Project – George Washington
On the back of each of the girls Time Magazine cover page was the details about the hero and his life. It was a fun Social Studies project and the girls got to learn a lot of other details about the American Revolution during their time of research. It is neat to see them get excited over fun school projects. Both of them really enjoy learning about history!
Creativity & Honey Pot Awards
Brina’s was picked by her teacher for the Creativity award!
Brina recently earned the “creativity” character trait award at school. One of the perks of winning the award is she got to go on a trip to Fatz Cafe during the school lunch and celebrate. She was so excited!
Brina’s honey pot prize!
Every week kids will be entered into the honey pot drawing for doing great things and getting noticed by school faculty. At the end of the week they draw one name from each grade and recently Brina was the lucky winner. Each winner gets a cup full of goodies.
Brina also got a coupon for a free Kid’s Meal from Fatz for winning the “creativity” award!
