April 2012

The last day of April is here and with just over 3 weeks of school left I wanted to make sure I completed my April reporting before beginning David's last month of Kindergarten! The 1st picture shows one of the library books we borrowed recently. It is from the list of 100 books to read in kindergarten which we have nearly completed. David enjoyed "Rhyming dust bunnies" so much that he has been reading it to himself! His reading ability is growing in leaps and bounds and we are so proud of him!

This month we continued in and completed our Kindergarten curriculum "On Track" from "Sing, Spell, Read & Write." There are two types of readers that go along with this curriculum. The first type (above) David colours the pictures and then reads the story. The second type (below) is a more lengthy reader (approximately 32 pages). Both types are accompanied by work sheets to develop reading comprehension and writing.
Now that we have completed this curriculum we are continuing to read readers from this curriculum, the library and from an online program as well. We will continue to read during summer vacation.

We have nearly completed David's Math curriculum and are right on track for finishing our last unit during the last week of school. This month we completed Unit 23 which introduced tally marks, Unit 24 which covered Addition: Making 10 (1+9, 6+4, 5+5 etc), and Unit 25 Skip Count to Find Area (skip counting by 2, 5, and 10). Below are some examples of his work from these units.

I also wanted to include a picture of David's growing plants. We are hoping to get some of them planted into the garden soon and start some seeds in the garden as well. David has been helping us prepare the garden and tackle the dandelions in the yard. We have also been doing some bug exploration as we dig through the dirt. David has a bug house that he uses to catch bugs in and then he can have a closer look. Lots of fun to be had outside in the spring!

March Science World Field Trip

 Here are our pictures from our March trip to Science World. (It took a while because they were "stuck" on my camera hard drive and we discovered after we found our camera cord that it doesn't connect with our new computer.)
We spent 4 hours there and the kids did not want to go home. There was so much to do and we all had a blast. We spent a good amount of time at the Dinosaur exhibit since it was about to become extinct. We also spent a lot of time at the Lego exhibit which was a favourite. We played at the water tables, dressed up, watched a show about gravity and much more! We are looking forward to going back again soon... thanks again Grandpa and Grammy for the Year Pass.

 Searching for fossils.

 Look how big I am!

 In the Lego Castle.

 Dressing up as a Knight.

David enjoyed controlling the robot dinosaurs.

Chuck E. Cheese

We were invited to a Birthday at Chuck E. Cheese today. It was our first time there and we ALL had a lot of fun. I took a ton of pictures but I just HAD to share a few. Samara even enjoyed the different rides and the kids won enough tickets for "lick and dips" (as we call them) which they enjoyed on the way home. David has already asked if he can have his birthday there (I have already said "No") but it sure was a lovely day. Thank you to the Birthday Boy for inviting us to celebrate with you.

Happy Easter?

 With everyone dressing up nicely for church on Easter Sunday I was hoping to get a new family picture of the 5 of us. Unfortunately this Easter turned out a little different that we had planned for. The best we did was the 3 kids, none of whom were cooperating. Nana came for a visit so we were very glad for that but our time together was interrupted with sick kids. There seems to be A LOT of bugs going around at the moment. We didn't make it to church because of our germs but we did get an Easter Egg hunt in and a nice Ham lunch (thank you Grandpa & Grammy). Maybe one of these Sundays we will try again for an updated family picture.

March 2012

 We began the 3rd term with Unit 29 in the "Math U See" curriculum which introduced skip counting by 10.

 Unit 20 covered addition of hundreds.

 David found Unit 21 very fun as he had to "find the mystery number." This was a basic introduction to algebra.

 Unit 22 was Skip counting by 5. This one he struggled with a bit more then skip counting by 2 or 10. We just finished introducing tally marks and his skip counting by 5 has improved after this lesson.

We are continuing to have lots of fun with the English Curriculum "Sing, Spell, Read, Write" and have nearly completed the "On Track" work book. Above are some examples of complete pages and readers that go along with the "On Track" book. We have also been borrowing readers from the library. David's reading is continuing to progress well. We read a lot! We are also continuing to read "100 Books to Read in Kindergarden." Jonathan is also reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" Series with David at bed time. They have completed "The Magician's Nephew" and have recently started "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

WE BOTH READ

WE BOTH READ is a series of books that parents can read with new readers. There is a page for the parent and then one of the new reader. The librarian at our local library recommended these to me when I was picking up some readers for David. WE LOVE THEM! As part of the Homeschool section of my blog I wanted to recommend these for anyone who's child is learning to read.
Check out the website: WE BOTH READ for a list of books (there are different levels to choose from) and then see if your library has them available.
Our favorite so far is "Too Many Cats" by Sindy McKay
Happy Reading!

20 Weeks - It's a GIRL!

 On Wednesday we had another ultrasound and discovered that we are having a Girl! Also we learned she is healthy... everything looks good with her heart and she is growing at the average rate. We normally choose not to find out Baby's gender during pregnancy but we (I) really wanted to know this time and I must say it has been fun finding out and celebrating.

Wednesday night we had some family over for dinner and to make our special announcement we filled cream puffs with pink whipping cream. I think it was a really fun and memorable way to share our news.

Thursday we celebrated again with an Open House to share the news with some friends. Thank you to everyone who was able to come out and celebrate with us!

 Introducing Baby Girl Neufeld... aka "Summer"

I know some people are probably going to get confused with this one. "Summer" is Baby's NICKNAME until she is born. Once she arrives we will give her a different name. While we were pregnant with Samara we called her "Sugar Plum" and Angeline was "Sweet Pea." We are working on our Baby Girl name list and you are welcome to give us some suggestions if you like.

It is nice to say "She is kicking" and things like that. I am glad we found out... something different this time around. It also helps as we continue to consider whether or not our family is complete.