The Daily Dog Bone

Fascinating Progress of Robin Hatchlings

This is an amazing blog about a Robin's nest and it shows the daily progression from empty nest, to eggs, to babies, to empty nest again. It is well done and full of wonderful information. We learned so much we didn't know about these creatures we share our yard with and see every day. We often find egg shells, but have never been lucky enough to have a "bird's eye view" of the nest like this. Kids of all ages would find this interesting...grown ups too. Awesome!

Here's a video of a Robin family in the nest (this is a different nest than in the blog).

More info on American Robins. And, American Robin facts and worksheets for preschool and elementary students.
Enjoy!

Lesson Plans, Themes and Unit Studies, oh my!

In keeping with our geography lessons through post card exchanges, I have been looking for activities and info to enhance our experience. I found some neat stuff here on the 50 states, Presidents and The Star Spangled Banner and thought it might fit in with Memorial Day discussions as well. Pretty cool.

Also found tons more Mother's Day crafts...for last minute gifts! and links to lots of unit studies, if you are into those. Check out A to Z Theme Lessons for many resources.

Here's a site I found for making paper toys including vehicles, dinosaurs and lots of cool stuff. Some of these are complicated for early elementary ages and will definitely require mom or dad's help. But they are lots of fun...could be great for travel entertainment.

One more cool thing I discovered today...Lego lessons. We joined a Lego League group this year and Aiden has gone Lego-mad. He loves building Lego fire trucks and fire stations, rescue helicopters, etc. And plays with them every day. This site has lots of cool lessons using Legos. Some of these are a little advanced for Aiden, but would be great with older kids and could probably be adapted for the younger set. If you have a Lego-lover, you will have to bookmark this one!

The Daily Dog Bone

The Daily Dog Bone

Today was a beautiful day

What started out as a poopy (quite literally) and spilled cereal kind of a day turned out glorious. It was sunny, breezy and warm. A gentle play-outside kind of a day. We made Mother's Day cards, played soccer in the front yard, built an ice castle on the back deck, painted the sidewalk...and driveway...and basketball hoop, went to a new playground, visited the library, played with a neighborhood friend, washed the toy tractor and car, played Lego fire and rescue, blew bubbles, and baked brownies. Jackson worked on a new tooth. I'm totally worn out, but have a smile on my face. And the kids are grinning through their sticky chocolate lips.

PS...I just found out that PBS has a new educational site called PBS KIDS PLAY with games and activities geared toward math, science and literacy that feature PBS characters. It is a subscription site ($10/month or $80/year) but they offer a free 15 day trial-no credit card required. This site is built for preschool, kindergarten and first grade kids ages 3-6. It's worth checking out. The only drawback is that it is currently only Windows compatible...too bad for us Mac-lovers.