The Arboretum: The Educational Stuff

Today Grandpa took us to Dallas Blooms at the Arboretum.  It's been several years since I've been and they have added a lot to it, including the educational displays.  In other posts, I'll show our kid & family fun and the amazing flowers. 

 Our first educational display was the bugs.  Of course, David spotted some rolly-pollies and tried to step on them.  Then they saw these:

What keen observers children are!  Those are ladybug larvae!

Elizabeth spotted this full grown ladybug (above) on the flowers.

Can you find it?

Then she found this one on the bricks coming out of the restroom!

She stopped traffic around it as it walked on the walk.

They have installed a "Texas Pioneer Adventure" at the back of the park.

 Bekah: Wha dat?

Grandpa: That's a wash pot.

 David was especially interested in the Indian tepee.

 Also a new exhibit is the Fairy Tale Castles.  We didn't see all of them today, but here are a couple.

 See the pinkish castle behind the flowers?

So we did get some learning done today after all!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Last week's verse:

Sunday on the way to church, Elizabeth was singing in the back seat:
Daddies wear dresses - NOOOOO! Mommies wear dresses; they wear shirts...

David was pestering to get on lego.com and I kept saying no. Finally David spelled it out:
Can I click on l-e-g-o dot c-o-m?
Mom, spelling out the answer: N-o
David: What?
Mom: N-o is my answer.
David: How about...(thinking)... y......e?.....s
Mom: Wow, David!!! I am really proud of you for figuring out how to spell yes! That was really good! But the answer is still n-o.

First Day of Kindergarten

We actually planned on starting Kindergarten on September 1. After the summer of traveling and house guests, we decided that it might be better to go ahead & start setting up a routine. So... we started Kindergarten today!
I like to have pictures of the first day. You can see our first day of Pre-K here. This is our school area:

Of course, we have to have a picture of David with his teacher. : )

And I like to get a picture with the other kids in it, too. These turned out pretty good, I think.

After just one day, I am even more excited about this year! I know we're going to have fun and I'm excited to see what all we're going to learn! Today we started reading The Boxcar Children and David didn't want to stop after chapter 1.

Part of today's work was assembling David's notebook. He was quite proud of it when it was all together.

His Language Arts Readers are on paper that he cut apart & assembled the book.

Then, much to my amazement, he just started reading through the book! My job may be easier than I thought this year...

We also did a gross motor assessment, which David & Elizabeth both enjoyed! Rebekah even got a kick out of it! Here's David hopping on one foot.

After day 1, I can see that his weakest skill is handwriting. He never has liked writing or even coloring. Looking back on the day, I had a revelation... look back up at the photos. He's pointing with his left hand. He's jumping on his left foot. Perhaps he is left handed?

Tiny Talk: Genius Edition

This settles it. My children are geniuses. Though I have never doubted it.

In the car last week, Dad said he wanted some Asian food. I suggested a buffet, so that we could also find things for the kids to eat (and myself). As we discussed what would be on the buffet that David would eat (yeast rolls with butter... not exactly Chinese!), I said, "And if there's nothing else, they always have C-A-K-E," half teasing... half not. And I spelled it out so I wouldn't put any thoughts into the little minds in the back seat. THEN, from that back seat, David said, "Hey, cake is for dessert!"

"WHAT?!?!?! No! He's too young for me to have to stop spelling things," I thought. Then in an instant it changed to, "Wait a minute, he just figured out what I spelled!!!!!" To test out this theory, I asked him what I was spelling: C-A-T. I heard him whispering the sound of each letter then he asked, "Cat?" I like to have passed out. He's 4!!!


Elizabeth was watching Super Why while I feverishly sewed on my bridesmaids dress yesterday. Pig is going through the alphabet and stops at J. He asks, "What letter comes after J?" From her little ladybug chair, Elizabeth calls out, "K!" Pig says, "K, that's right," and he continues on to stop at P. He asks, "What letter comes after P?" Again, she calls out, "Q!" I am in total awe. And she just turned 2!!!

I must be a good teacher after all, huh? Either that or I let them watch too much PBS. But if this is what they're learning, then I'd say it's ok! : ) See more Tiny Talk over at Not Before 7.