They're BAAAAAACK!

It's time for Delk Summer School to resume for the summer of 2012! I know you're excited!

First we started with a search of Pinterest to find some inspiration. Then we took a trip to the Dollar Store and to Walmart. For the most part, it promises to be a colorful summer. Lots of food coloring. Let's get started!

Science- making solutions/ color creating
Skill- patterns/ sorting/ hand-eye coordination
Pinterest link- {HERE}
Title- Coloring pasta made easy!
What we used:

Pasta (1 cup per bag)

rubbing alcohol (2 tbs per bag)

food coloring (3-4 drops per bag)

sandwich bags (1 bag per color)

measuring cup/ spoon

cookie sheet to dry pasta

At the Dollar Store I found these precious aprons for the kiddos. 

 I also grabbed a cheap plastic tablecloth. After this activity, I will be investing in a $3.88 one from Walmart. My kids need things to be sturdy. 

 All ready to go! Andy had to be convinced that this was going to be fun. We had to pry him away from all of his cars. 

Step 1: Mix 2tbs rubbing alcohol and 3-4 drops food coloring into baggies.

 Abby chose pink.

Isaac chose blue.

Andy chose yellow.

Step 2: Add 1 cup of pasta into the baggies and shake baggies to coat all the pasta.

 Abby's did turn pink, but Isaac's blue was more green. Isaac told me, "Mommy the noodles are yellow and yellow and blue is green." Well, I'm glad he wasn't depressed!

Step 3: Spread the pasta out on a cookie sheet for it to dry. I might have confiscated some of Joe's gardening trays for this. But I covered them in aluminum foil so he'll never know!

Step 4- Let them dry! The blog I used said it can dry in an hour, but she left hers overnight. I let it dry while we played some more then ate lunch.

 We aren't going to use these today, but tomorrow we will look at patterns. This can also be used for coloring rice. That would be lots of fun... for another day!

What were we doing while the pasta was drying? Making a mess! I talked to Aunt Jenny before starting this activity and she mentioned letting her kids color some pasta she had and creating some fancy jewelry. Great idea!

I had some pasta left over from the school year. My students created some jewelry for our Kwanza celebration. Basically, I've had a box of extra pasta sitting in my trunk since before Christmas.

 Hard at work! Isaac's counting his first. 

 Pipe cleaners. Bought last year and left untouched until today!

 Isaac took turns putting noodles on one side then the other. Andy made a 'train' out of his noodles.

Finished products! Isaac stopped at making a necklace. Abby and Andy wanted bracelets as well.

Notice how Abby only used pinks for her bracelet.

That would be marker above her lip.

The best part about the necklaces and bracelets- they gave my kids superpowers that turned them into dancing machines! Click {HERE} or watch it below. That's Veggie Tales in the background.

After this was lunch, then NAP! Check back again soon- we're sure to be up to something!

Homeschool Day 1

I refused to let the kids turn on the tv when we got home today. I expected more complaining than I actually received. No one cared! Hmmmm... I'll have to remember that.
Isaac did try to escape upstairs, where he knows how to get past the child-proof door knobs, to get into my bedroom to watch tv, but he came back down when I called.

I didn't want to overwhelm Isaac on his first day. Today we simply introduced the memory verse for "A", and practiced tracing it. I could tell he works on his letters at school. He kept telling me that the letter 'a' has a belly- which I have never told him. His form while holding a pencil is getting better too!



While Ike was hard at work, the twins were working with their puffballs again. This time, we made patterns.



Andy's



Abby's

They got tired of that soon enough, and Andy wanted his puzzle (from Aunt Beth's quiet bag) and Abby wanted the picture cards. Whatever.



So, Isaac traced his memory verse while we worked on the song that goes with it. (we got it from the 1+1+1=1 website)

Here is Isaac!!



We sang that song the whole time he was writing! Abby and Andy did a little too. Getting Ike to say "soft answer" was difficult. He kept slurring his words. But, you can see he is tracking his print as he reads!

Here is the song again as he shows you his work.



Tomorrow we are going to cut and paste the verse in order. I have some cut and paste pages for Andy and Abby too. They will be working on graphing while Ike works on fluency.

* you know what I like most about this post? The fact that I KNOW that as soon as Uncle JD reads it he is going to 1. share it with his co-workers, and 2. call as soon as he gets off work to see if Isaac will sing his verse to him. Now we'll see how long it takes JD to check the blog and read it! :)