A Look Inside Our Eye

For the last few days we have been working on the Human Eye. We like to do all of the Hands-On Activties first, then add some written work and research to complete each section ofthe project.

So far we have made a large Layer Diagram of the Eye:


A Picture of all 3 boys' work.....


A Close-Up of Ratchet's Diagram....The Outer Eye


The Cornea


The Iris


The Pupil


The Lens and Retina

Adding the clear plastic to the Cornea really helped the boys visualize what was inside their eye without poking each other in the eye..... always looking for ways to enhance the learning experience while keeping it safe.

The next day we did a mini slide diagram of the Human Eye...


All 3 boys did one of their own.... still not sure where I am going to add it in their binders so it is in a clear page protector for now.


Close-Up of Halo's Diagram... showing the Iris and Pupil


.... the Retina

Today we did some 3D Models of the Human Eye....




Daxter's


Ratchet's


Halo's


Side View... sort of



Views of each side

The above projects came from Dinah Zike, Pocket Science - The Human Body & Scholastic's Easy Make and Learn Human Body.

I resort to late-night blogging.......

Well, Daxter (and the other boys) are asleep so now is my time to relax..... and what do I do? I blog :)

I have been meaning to get some pics of our "school room" on here, so now is my chance.

I still do not have a full room shot because , well, it was a mess.... I also did not take a picture of Daxter's desk, or the wonderful bulletin board above it because I had just taken down all of our winter decor and I am still in the midst of putting up some more seasonally pertinent things. Those pictures will come later on.

So here it is....... where it all happens...... ok, not always.... sometimes we end up in the kitchen, other times we end up at my desk, or dad's..... and so on. When there is a moment to learn, we grab it.... doesn't matter where we are.



The bookshelf... or should I say wall? Would you believe I still do not have enough room for all of our books?



The Creation Station - full of all sorts of craft supplies.... paper (of all sorts), stickers, stamps, stencils, fancy scissors and more! Keeps the kids occupied for hours.



The Manipulative Corner..... in here you will find puzzles, tangrams, math counters, science tools (human heart 3D puzzle, 3D skeleton puzzle etc.), lifecycle characters (butterfly, frog, ladybug, ant), dominoes, dice, musical instruments and more!
On the top shelf are some teacher resource books to use with some of the manipulatives, science kits and a few games.



Our Felt Board. Right now it is a map board as you can see... ...very versatile. The shelf on top holds some story books that I have made felt stories for and the baskets hold more than school stuff - trust me.... from the kitty's harness and leash, suntan lotion and the latest... bug spray... they are a catch all and I like it that way :)


Hope these give you some ideas, and if you can come up with any new ones.... please pass them on to me... I am always looking for ways to organize all of our schooly stuff because it seems to multiply like crazy!

Too Busy To Blog.......

Well, I have had no time to upload any of my pics or write anything on my blog but I 've shown Daxter the ropes on his blog... aren't I nice?

I let him use my computer today to update his blog.... for security reasons I will not allow him access to his blog on his computer until I see that he knows what he is doing.... not perfectly, but enough to stay out of trouble.
I have ALL websites blocked on the kids' computers until I enter a password to allow them access. May seem harsh, but it works and my kids are safe.

So Daxter was on my computer this afternoon uploading and editting pics and adding text to his blog.......copying and pasting html..... he got the hang of it all pretty darn quick and I still haven't decided if that is a good thing or not :)
He is, after all, quite adept at math and science...... I have visions of my 8 year old turning into a computer hacker extraordinaire....... ok, not likely to happen but I am after all his mother and it is my job to worry right?

Daxter is all gung ho about his blog so I am sure my blog time will be limited for the next little while.... I hope to have some pics uploaded tomorrow sometime .... unless Daxter beats me to it.
Did I happen to mention that Ratchet wants a blog too????? Let's break the news to Hubby (aka Master Chief) that I need another computer for my desk..... how well do you think that will go over LOL?

Thank you to all who have gone to Daxter's Blog and left a comment.... he is so excited about blogging.... and to think it's educational too! Shhhhhh don't tell Daxter!

Daxter's New Blog!

Daxter has his own blog..... you can get there by veiwing my complete profile or just go here: www.insidedaxtersbrain.blogspot.com

Daxter will be using his blog to learn new things on the computer and try out some of the things he already knows.

As he gets more familiar with it all I will give him more and more control over what goes on his blog.

Enjoy and check back often!

The Chocolate that Halo Ate........

This is the chocolate......


This is the chocolate that Halo ate.......


well, he actually opened it, started picking at it and licking it..... in the store..... without asking for it......or paying for it...... you get the idea.

I was at the cash with my other two monkeys and Halo is there, at the candy rack snacking away. So of course I bought it. Halo asks "Are you buying it for me Mommy?"
I say "No, I 'm buying it for me!"

This is the toy that I got inside my chocolate......

Today's Doings

Well, we did a bunch of stuff this morning.... but alas, no photos to speak of. The boys did a lot of coloring and labeling etc. They also started a few new things so I didn't want to bore anyone with page after page of coloring and unfinished projects. I will take photos of the completed work this week.

Daxter nearly finished all of his Teeth work that I had planned for him.....he only has one more page to color but his fingers were sore and I figure he can color it when we review the whole project at the end. Way to go Daxter! In the past getting Daxter to complete anything was a battle..... since I started this new format of more hands on activities he's been a joy to work with (99% of the time at least!)

Ratchet finished three Pen Pal letters today! Ratchet is my reluctant writer so this was a big accomplishment for him. I actually did take pictures of the cool puzzle we found to send to our Pen Pals. We also printed out an Ontario Color By Number from www.crayola.com.




UPDATE ON PENPAL PACKAGES: We went to the post office and guess how much it cost to mail out six pen pal packages???? $28.53......yikes! Guess I will be sure to find something much SMALLER to add to their letters from now on LOL!

Ratchet also finished almost all of his Teeth projects.....he did a neat crossword puzzle and some coloring and labeling.......

Halo worked on his Letter Cc mini books and printing pages... I let him go nuts with a bunch of stickers that start with the letter Cc... cars, cows, cherries, clown, cats etc. He had a blast. I took the time to cut out all the little stickers for him and well, what a mess of tiny little sticker papers to pick up after lol... not much time saved in the end.

The boys were happy to have finished all of their work before lunch (doesn't normally happen) so they are all playing happily in the playroom until I call them to help make lunch.

On a side note: We did not get to the Crocodile stuff I had printed..... but we did go through all of our books to see what we had before we went to the library.

After lunch we are heading to the post office to mail our Pen Pal letters..... all 6 of them.....and to the library.

ABC Notebook - Letter Bb

Well, I had some one on one time with Halo today ( a rarity, trust me) so we worked on the last of his letter Bb page. He was so excited!



completed page



contents of pocket



printing practice on the back of the page

Hope to get the letter Cc started tomorrow......depends if the cat walks by or not :)

What's Inside a Tooth?

Well if you asked my four year old before today he would have said "sugar bugs". That's what the Dentist tells the kids. There are sugar bugs inside your mouth and you need to brush your teeth to get them out.

Today we learned that your mouth is full of bacteria. When the bacteria sticks to your teeth it forms a film called plaque - usually near the gum line or between the teeth. The bacteria feeds off the sugar in your mouth and multiplies. As bacteria multiplies it gives off acids that eat the enamel and forms holes called cavities.

We made mini layer diagrams (boy do I love these!) and a tooth movie..... the boys also colored a mini maze identifying the different types of teeth.



all three boys' layer diagrams of a tooth






some close-ups of the layer diagram..... layer 1. enamel, layer 2. pulp, layer 3. dentin, layer 4. gum and bone




Tooth maze and a close-up. Each boy did one of their own. Located the molars, premolars, canine and incisers.



This is how we put them in the binder.... a little bit of double sided tape, some card stock (I got 1,000 sheets of this hidious lime green card stock at an auction for $1 so you'll see a lot of it!)

We will be doing some more work on teeth tomorrow and possbily the next day too lol! I always plan a whole bunch of things to cram into our time and well, not all of it seems to get done in between water breaks, then the inevitibile washroom break, then of course they need to pet the kitty on the way by and oh wait she needs a treat...... and so our day goes.

Off to brush my teeth!

The Project Continues.......

Today was a rather uneventful day..... so I had some time to upload pics of our project to date. I will try to keep up with it as I go along from now on..... please bear with me :)



Cover... all three boys have the same - just with their name on it.... not too creative am I?



Daxter's Regions of the Brain Coloring - his brothers colored their own but their creative tendencies shone through and the lines were alas not stayed within.




I absolutely love these diagrams! They are layered to show each section of the skull and brain..... we didn't color this one first like we were supposed to.... oops.




This is the Systems of the Body Diagram that Daxter colored.... I colored one for Ratchet too but I like Daxter's better :) The layered diagrams are awesome learning tools.... I need to find more!



This is a diagram of a Neuron that Daxter drew...... he labelled it and copied the definition below.



This is Halo's dot-to-dot of the brain :) Not too techinical.



This is Ratchet's Systems of The Body Labelling..... he praticed cutting skills and gluing. Gluing is a VERY important skill to learn - otherwise it gets VERY messy!





Nerve Necklace - each boy made one and wore it for all of 3 seconds... they are hanging on our bulletin board now.




Brain Origami.... formerly known as a "cootie catcher" (by me anyway!)





Parts of the Brain Cards - inside and outside the brain... the cut-out cards are placed over the brain to highlight specific areas... the senses etc.






All sorts of flashcards.......for the younger two.... laminated for durability (I would laminate twice if I could) - organs, body parts, large organ cards, cells

Well, that's it so far.... hope it gives you some ideas.