Week at Whittier

June 16-22 2012

Griffith Observatory

 

Tesla Coils

(The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

 

Dissecting a pig's heart

Peggy the peer counselor was saran

wrapped into her dorm room!

Out on a research vessel

The claw scoops from the bottom of the

ocean for scientists to study

They also have a large net to gather

fish and other creatures to study as well

sea creature

lizard fish

sea star

Peggy

Goliath bird eating spider

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blonde tarantula

scorpion (they glow under uv light,

this is how they are found at night time)

This is a mexican redknee tarantula.

Right in the center of this picture is a spider pincher,

there are actually two of them. They are black and

shiny, one right in the center at 12 o'clock and one

at about 9 o'clock. I wouldn't want to feel that!

Emma said you could hear the pinchers tapping

the cage!

 

bird eating tarantula

corn snake

Emma is standing on top of a mountain of trash.

One of their field trips was to a landfill.

P.U.!!!

Jacob the Awesome!

Because I use my blog as a journal, I write about things that I don't want to forget. I KNOW that I brag about my kids a bunch, but I am VERY proud of their accomplishments. So here I go again!

I am going to brag for a moment here about my little man Jacob. His teacher Mrs. Mozee is starting a new program called The Six Minute Solution. Children are tested and put into a category according to their skill level. There are 20 lists of words to start with and each child is paired with someone that has an equivalent skill level. They read through the words and quiz each other. In Jacob's class there are 16 kids starting on list #1. There are 6 kids starting on list #2, and there are 6 kids starting on list #4. Jacob is STARTING on list #20! She has to pair him with a parent helper because there isn't anyone in his class that can read with him. Mrs. Mozee said she was planning on starting him on list #9, but she decided to check and see if it would be too hard, NOT too hard, she had to keep moving up. He already knows most of the words on list #20, but the one that he missed is the word - though. He knows this word, but if he is reading too fast he will say through or thought (I think I do that too).

SO, I am SUPER proud of Jacob and all his hard work with reading. His teacher has him correct the other kids work if there isn't a parent helper. She has him teach other kids how to log on to the AR program on the computer and help them read words they get stuck on.

Jacob is AMAZING!

(OK, yes ALL my kids are AMAZING, but this one is about Jacob!)

Straight E's

Last week was parent teacher conferences and time for grades. Michael was telling me about Jacob getting straight A's (they do letter grades now starting in 1st grade). Allie said, "what about me?" So Michael told her, "you got straight E's." Allie asked if that was good and we told her, yes it is very good. Emma and Gracie got home from school and we were discussing school and grades. Allie shouts out to Emma and Gracie, "Guess what! My E is straight!"

Cub Scout Day Camp

June 25-28, 2012

 

Learning how to play kickball. It was SO funny to watch! Some of the kids kind of understood because they had played t-ball before, but others, NO CLUE! One kid would kick the ball and run to first. The next kid would kick the ball and run to second, the first kid still on first! And so on.

 

Jacob the master of the slip-n-slide!

Some new friends we met: Molly and Cameron

 

Learning the rules of archery

 

The T stance, very important

Ready, Aim, Fire!!!

BULLSEYE!

 (If it is touching yellow at all it is a bullseye!)

Me and the little man hanging out

 

Stilts are SO much fun!

 

Arts and Crafts

This is a balloon boat he is painting

 

At the end of the first day! He was so exhausted, so was I for that matter!

But he was excited to go back the next day!

 

Day 2 Kickball, not much better than Day 1

 

Jacob's first set of shots for the day!

3 Bullseyes, AMAZING!!!

Jacob's den leader showed the instructor and told him he should

announce it or something, because that is impressive, and he said,

 "we have already had 2 people do that today!"

My response, "yeah, but were they six years old?"

He said, "OK, that is impressive!"

Way to go Jacob!!!

 

He wanted to stay at archery for the rest of the camp,

he loved it so much! Jacob said it was the best part

 

Scout skills

Learning some sign language

 

Getting goofy at arts and crafts!

 

Jacob and Cameron

 

BB guns, Jacob did really well with this one too.

Didn't get as many bullseyes, the targets were suspended

between two ropes and for those of you who have been here

you know about the wind we ALWAYS have. He was

consistantly getting his shots in the same place and the instructor

said that was very impressive for his age.

 

 

Making slime

Water bottle, vinegar, baking soda, and a balloon. A very cool

experiment they did. The balloon blows up from the gases.

DON'T SHAKE THE BOTTLE

 

This is Christina the den leader just after she shook the bottle

and the balloon exploded everywhere!

Super climbing Jacob!

 

Jacob loved the rock wall they had

Safety goggles for BB guns

 

Crossing the rope bridge

 

Crossing the rope bridge from the bottom

(it is hard to get all the way across)

(OK maybe just for me)

 

The boys were more excited about flag football

than they were about kickball.

 

It was four VERY long days in the sun, but Jacob had a blast. I had fun watching him learn new things and make new friends. He now has a love for archery (BIG time), BB guns, climbing the rock wall, stilts, and crossing the rope bridge. All things he hadn't done before.

 

He is already asking if he can go back next year!