Week 3, Day 2 in ECC

I set up our magnets on the whiteboard last night, and then went to bed to catch the weather on the news. I had noticed that our Nature Walk would land on Friday, but it was suppose to be cold and wet on Friday. So, I discussed with my husband taking the kids over to Cherry Creek State Park for lunch and Nature Walk. He thought it was a good idea. So, I used it as a motivator for Rabbit. I told her if she worked hard this morning, and we got most of our work done, we would swap today's science for tomorrow's Nature Walk.

Rabbit got everything done except for her handwriting page and book basket. We didn't take a recess this morning, but I figured a long walk at the park would be good enough. Rabbit is still having attitude issues with English (that's the Primary Language Lessons book). She says it is the writing, but we don't do that much writing for it. Personally, I think it is the black-and-white nature of the book. But, she is learning from it, whether she knows it or not.

We even did our art project this morning. We did "sand paintings." I bought some sticky-backed designs from Michael's and some sand, and we did a design for each kid. Rabbit did a "Princess," Tigger a "Dinosaur," and Pooh a "Fish." That took us almost 45 minutes to do. But, they loved it, and the boys love their sand paintings.

I packed up a lunch and we went over to Cherry Creek. We ate while I read in our Cameron Townsend book. Then, we walked along the shore. We saw gulls, either storks or herons, a pelican, and some black bird with white markings on it's chest. Rabbit found several shells in the sand, so they must be importing sand from some coastal area. Next time we do this, I need to remember to bring towels so if the kids want to wade I have something to dry off their feet.

When we got back, Rabbit worked on her Nature Notebook page. We had a "Crinkleroot" book of birds, so she copied a swan out of it, even though we didn't see one. Then, she finished her handwriting, and did book basket. She found another book with lots of pictures of wildlife, so she did a few more sketches of that after book basket was over. I made her put them in her own notebook.

It was great to have the picnic and Nature Walk to motivate Rabbit. We have hardly any tears at all for school this year, and we're enjoying it.