It's been a long time....

It's been a long time since I have actually put out a Collection Biggie. They just take me too long.  This time around I was able to get all of these done in about a week. It was insane! I love it when inspirations hits like that and I can pump something out in the few moments I have throughout the week. Plus this one was just too much fun!

Just click on the products to go directly to their page in the store. You can also get all of them in this value pack for a killer price, especially with the 27.7% sale going on in the boutique right now too! (Up till Oct. 24)

A Little Fishy

Our current science unit is the different classes of animals.  This specific lesson was on fish.  After doing an online lesson about fish and what makes them different from reptiles, amphibians and mammals, we got to do the hands on fun.  One thing I love about teaching, is the various ways you can learn about a subject. I enjoy doing those little extra things that really make learning enjoyable.

For this unit, even though we have live small goldfish, I was wanting to get a real fish to look at for the anatomy part of the unit. Unfortunately I didn't plan early enough to take everyone on a family out fishing to catch their own. We resorted to the frozen fish at the local supermarket. I was really hoping they still had their insides. Oh well. Next time we're home grandpa you'll have to do a live gutting demo after a fishing trip with the grandkids.

This lesson also reminded me of my own Great Brain project in fifth grade on fish.  We went to a fish farm where we did a video on how to catch a fish, and then later came home while they took a video of me teaching how to gut a fish.  I can even add that to my list of employment opportunities. A whole summer of gutting fish for the local city folks who had come to catch their own fish.  My hands were raw by the end of it. I've never been a greater lover of bag balm and gloves a night.

But on to our lesson.



We pulled our real fish for some hands on action.... which no one wanted to do at first.  They weren't going to touch it.  So Beau had to man up and start explaining where the gills were at, the different types of fins and their scales.



  We finally got some takers on touching it.  Then they even started having fun playing with it.



After inspecting the fish from every direction we assembled a paper fish while labeling the different parts of it's anatomy.



We then incorporated some art into it. (Of course! What else do you expect from an art teacher.)  So we started off with making prints of the fish.  Painting a good coating of black paint on it, we then laid a paper over top, rubbed it and pulled off our own realistic fish prints. I thought they turned out great.



The best part of this whole unit, was the amazing aroma we enjoyed throughout the whole house.  By the time we were finished my stomach wouldn't even think of letting me cook it up. Which would have a been another fun unit of trying a new fish dish, or some sushi.



We then pulled out the clay and built our own fish. This was a art unit I did while student teaching with my elementary teacher. She did it every year with her fifth graders when they studied fish in science. She called them taco fish.  I loved the unit. It was so fun to see the creative side come out of the kids.  I just remembered it when I was looking at this unit, and was excited that I could do it again, even though I no longer teach.

You start with a ball of clay. Roll it out like a tortilla, fill the middle with some newspaper and then fold it up like a taco around the edges leaving the front open for the mouth. You also cut out a triangle from the top back to separate the top fin from the bottom fin.

It's a great unit to talk about texture, slipping, scoring and slabs with real clay and three dimensional sculptures.

I used model magic for these since I don't have access to a real kiln.  Hmmm, could I fit that into the homeschool budget? :)  It worked great, but if you do use model magic, when you get a bucket make sure you use your 40 or 50 percent off coupon at Joanns. It's not cheap stuff. We've been able to make it last for 4 different art units. When it was rolled out flat I had the kids add texture to the clay for the scales and then flipped it over so the texture would be on the outside when it was folded like the taco.

Here is Savannah's fish she is in the middle of making. She wanted to have a worm hanging out of it's mouth.

 Mirian wanted to do a blow fish, which I thought turned out awesome!

Here is Isaac's fish, tongue and all.  He did a really great job for a 4  year old.

Even Caitlyn made a great looking fish. I just helped her pinch the top together and cut the back triangle out.

When they are all finished and dry, they look really great painted up with silver acrylic paint.  If you add a bit of watercolors to it, then you can get various colored metallic paints which can create some very shiny, festive fish. I forgot to get a picture of our final products, which only got half painted because of General Conference and distractions.  We had a great time with this lesson and can't wait to show you our others as well. Mirian had been looking forward to it all day, and has now decided that Science is her favorite class.

Answering your questions

I just wanted to thank all of you that have commented on my posts. I'm not the best at responding to them, but I really do appreciate all you have to say. You have asked me some questions I thought I would answer here.

How do I create the papers I used for our scripture stories?

I actually use a program that I purchased this last summer called StartWrite. I knew I would use it quite a bit to do custom writing pages, so to me it was worth the money investment. If you aren't sure that you would use it that often, and would only be doing it for the scripture stories a cheaper option would be just using a font.  Print Clearly Dashed Font is free to download and would work great. You wouldn't have the writing guidelines or any of the fancy stuff, but it would be free and you could just type out the chapter, verses and synopsis for them to still trace.

If you have older children I ran across these great ideas for studying scriptures and keeping a scripture journal at Noggins and Nonsense.  I love this idea and love how it helps them learn how to ask their own questions, ponder what they're reading and getting in the great habit of writing down what they learn. She also had some great resources that I've been using lately in my own gospel study. They are exactly the way I think and has helped me quite a bit in improving my scripture study lately and getting excited about it again.  The Scripture Journal Ideas and the Scripture Journal Pages.  She also talks a lot about the Red Headed Hostess which is another blog I've come to love. She is a seminary teacher and shares a lot of great things about the scriptures, themes to study and ideas she uses with her seminary students.

My sister in law was also asking me about simple things she could do with her preschooler at home.  I ran across 2 Teaching Mommies a little bit ago and love their little preschool packets.  They are free and they have a good variety of themes that would work for the seasons or the personality of your preschooler.  I've printed out a couple for Isaac and Caitlyn to do and they have had fun with them.  Each kit has basic activities and games directed to helping them learn skills needed for Kindergarten. Skills such as letters, numbers and counting, pre-writing, patterns, size recognition, etc.

They recently had a great time playing Monster Mash from this kit practicing their letters.  Isaac also loves the game of rolling the dice and graphing how many of each monster he rolls.  You could do some extension activities to make these a great unit. Art projects, some cooking activities, etc.  They just released a pumpkin  and forest animal themed kits recently.

Another resource I LOVE is the book Playful Learning.

It is a great resource for learning how to turn your home into a great learning environment for your children.  With simple activities and physical areas that can be set up, you can help your kids have a love for learning. I love her ideas and have slowly started to implement some of them into our own home. I have loved watching them naturally just pick up something and start playing with them and learning, rather than just wanting to watch a movie.

I have honestly loved doing school with my kids, and finding ways to learn and explore together. There are so many great resources out there that you can use to fit to your own personal situation, but help your children grow, as well as spending quality time together.  I'd love to hear about anything you do with your own kids right now. Please share!

How Great Was Our Joy!

This last weekend was a wonderful time for our family. We were able to enjoy a weekend of General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  What a wonderful conference it was.  One of the main reasons this was such a special weekend for us was the announcement of the new Provo Temple that will replace the old historic Provo Tabernacle that burned down last winter.  It was such a tragic event and so sad to see the inside completely gutted with only the outside still standing.  We have been attending this building for our stake conferences since we moved to Provo 9 years ago.  

We were sooo excited to hear the announcement from President Thomas S. Monson that it had been decided to turn it into the 2nd temple in Provo.  So excited.  How blessed we are to already live so close to one, and yet now we have one only a few blocks from our home.  

The second reason we were so excited and had a hard time concentrating on the following speakers was the announcement for a temple to built in Star Valley Wyoming. Star Valley is the hometown of both Beau and I.  For years we've always wondered if we would ever see a day when a temple would be built there.  Just that morning before the session started I wondered what new temples would be announced and if we would ever hear one announced for Star Valley. What a blessing it could be to my family who still lived there.  When President Monson announced it, we all gasped wondering if we heard it right.  Was it a joke?  Is it for real?  It's so hard to describe the excitement and gratitude I felt.

There are so many people in the world that live so far from a temple and do not have the opportunity to get to one frequently or at all. I can only imagine the joy that overcomes them when they hear of one being built near them. I felt some of that, but have not been denied temple blessings because it was so far away as some of them have been. Why were we so blessed to get one in Star Valley and here?  All I can think of is "Where much is given, much is required."  We were equally excited to hear about the new patron fund that we can donate to in order to help those trying to get to a temple for their first time.  What an opportunity to give and help for something of such eternal importance to another person.

We are so excited to see the process of these two temples being built near us and our families, to be able to participate in the great work there when they are finished.  There is no place on earth that I would rather be than the inside of these beautiful structures where families can be sealed for eternity and where the presence of the Lord can be felt.  The peace and understanding I receive while I am there is worth so much to me. It is also such a blessing to participate in the work for those of my family who have passed beyond this mortal life.  How wonderful is our Father in Heaven to let us be a part of his amazing work.  How grateful I have been this last weekend to rejoice in his work moving forward in such a personal way to me.

Scripture Stories

A while back I was talking to a good friend of mine about trying to do family scripture study. I was trying to figure out a way to help our kids pay attention a little bit better and help them become more familiar with the scripture stories . She told me that when they were little they drew pictures about the scriptures they were reading. They had started it with their children and it seemed to help. When they were finished they had their own small scripture book. I thought it sounded like a great idea and started it with ours. We aren't always consistent with having these, sometimes we end up just reading, but it does help when I take the time to do this.




I wanted them to draw a picture, but I also wanted to have something on the page to indicate where the story was in the scriptures and a little synopsis. I could also have them practice handwriting and tracing over the letters for school time as well. I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the kids.




Here are some of Isaac's renditions of the the scripture stories.



















Here a few of Savannah's renditions.
















Here are some of Mirian's.











I love the way Mirian tells stories. Here the girl was angry and wouldn't share her jump rope. The other set of pictures is of them sharing and jump roping together.






This one from Mirian cracks me up. It's the scriptures about not committing adultery. I tried to explain in the terms of 3-8 year old understanding what adultery was. I asked them if it's ok for someone that is married to go on a date with some other guy, or kiss some other guy. I asked them how that would make their husband feel, and if that was right. Of course they said no.




She she told me she drew a picture of me on a date with someone else, and dad all sad. And then of course wrote NO! to me on the date. I'm not sure why I had to be the one not faithful.









So far it's been working out really good. They can look at their pictures they've drawn and explain to me what the scriptures were about. They might not remember the whole chapter of details, but if they can remember small parts throughout the whole book I think that's a great start. They're also collecting a good amount of pictures for their own finished book of scriptures stories.