Fall Fun and Science

We took a quick walk around the block the other day, collecting leaves specifically to do a few leaf rubbings.

I forget how simply gorgeous leaf rubbings really are.

It's SoCal so...not too many varieties or fall-ish colors in my hood but we used what we could find and it was good enough. 

We attempted to do the rubbings using oil pastels, like I read on another blog but it did not work well. Back to good ol' crayola it was and that was great. The crayon rubbing really highlighted the veins of the leaves. 

After the rubbings, we took a closer look with our microscope. It's so fun to get such a magnified view. It's a school microscope but it's better then our natural eye. It still looks amazing and completely fascinating. 

To add to our Fall nature study, we did a classic craft: pine cone bird feeder.

I used the birdseed that I had left over from our summer sensory bin. We had actually tossed all the bird seed into the garden...but it was still in a nice pile.

We took a pine cone outside and poured (all natural!) peanut butter all over it. Then we rolled the pine cone in the bird seed pile, which was quite convenient actually!

I thought the perfect place to hang our bird feeder would be right outside our kitchen window. It's hard to reach from outside, so I hoisted Kurtis onto my shoulders and stretched on my tip toes until he could reach and hang it on the hook. Haha!

We also read this awesome book, Autumn Leaves. The pictures are great.

I love Autumn!

Art Class

My kiddos have all taken art class for years now. My oldest started at this particular studio during highschool and is now an instructor there.

My youngest started taking art lessons last year and unfortunately, I just can't fit it into our schedule this year.

I feel bad about it but it is what it is. In the mean time, the middles are still taking classes. This is one of Bird's latest pieces.

I love everything about it! I think art is so important for children (well, for everyone really) no matter what form it's practiced.

I believe this is a mix of chalk pastel and water color. 

Learning Disability, testing, IEP results

His first round of testing: cognitive.

I finally decided to have my middle son, Sam tested for a learning disability. It was brought to my attention years ago, when a sweet friend of mine, who had previously worked as a special ed teacher, told me she suspected he had dyslexia. 

From that point on, she voluntarily began to tutor him intensely. He could barely read when she started. She helped him learn to read effectively, build up his learning endurance and learn how to concentrate despite environmental distractions.

Every year, I would have the same debate with myself, should I get him officially tested? Every year I would conclude, no. Though, I was always left unsure of what the testing results would really do for him. How would it benefit him?

After his immense struggle last year for ninth grade, barely passing his classes, I could see that we needed more help or at least some answers. By this point, my friend had been tutoring him for about 5 years now. His standardized test results have pretty much always been below average.

I didn't know how or if having him tested would help. My friend also pointed out he may not qualify for any services because he may not test low enough anymore. She's such a great tutor and she was completely correct on that aspect: academically he tested average on most aspects. That is absolutely amazing for him!

However, the cognitive testing did, in fact, conclude that he does have a learning disability, a processing disorder and therefore qualifies for services. Hearing the conclusions alone was so validating in and of itself. The services he will now receive are basically an hour of tutoring a week, not on homework or assignments but on specific skills that he lacks, his areas of weakness.

The academic tester was SO encouraging too. She shared a lot of helpful information about services and resources he can use when he goes to college. That will also be part his support, is to prepare him for college, help him set goals etc.

I am so excited. The testing also explained why he reacts the way he does sometimes. He is not only affected academically but emotionally and socially. If a person has trouble processing and communicating their thoughts, well of course it's going to over flow into normal every day life, interactions, discussions and disagreements.

I regret waiting so long to have this done. I am so happy now thought for what this extra support can mean for him. He now has an official 'IEP' that outlines the goals set for him and services provided to help meet those goals.

I had no idea what to expect. I am more than happy so far. The future looks bright. This alleviates some of my worry, as most moms have anyway, for him. It's hard to watch your child struggle and not know exactly how to help them or understand what they are thinking when they make choices or responses that don't make sense.

Now, I can understand him better over all. 

Second round of testing: academic.

Owl Art

I'm sorry, I just can't stop! There are so many great ideas out there and he needs to do art too, right?

This project used water color, tempra and acrylic paints. He also used various tools to accomplish the painting. 

The truth is, every.single. paintbrush we have ever owned is lost. Magically disappeared!

I remembered I had these gigantic pompoms and a co-worker used small pompoms to paint with when she didn't have a paintbrush either...so voila! I discovered that the large pompoms actually give him a lot more control over the paint. Plus he can cover more space with only a few moves.

Later, for the fine details he used a small brush (I ran out to Michael's to purchase a pack!). We did not have brown paint so I attempted to create it myself, mixing orange and green initially...that didn't go over very well. After adding too much black, a bit of white and more orange...we ended up with a color akin to a very grey-ish green, possibly brown if we're hopeful, sort of shade.

Monster Inspiration

Last week during Sam's cognitive testing, I took advantage of our time at the library to work with Kurtis uninterrupted or distracted by home life.

His initial assignment was to choose two monsters from a few coloring pages I had printed, color them and then write a story about his characters. With creative writing assignments I do not focus on spelling and offer very little help. The point is for him to create the sentences himself and write them down.

I had him cut the monsters out, while I cut the writing paper and glue them into his spiral note book. The notebooks are my latest attempt at staying organized. I print a lot of worksheets and various other items used in my teaching, off the internet. This creates a lot of loose leaf paper that can easily become misplaced.

Now, my new plan, is to either do the work activities and projects directly on the pages or to paste the worksheets on the pages themselves. When we go to our next LR meeting, all he has to bring is his notebook for each subject and we can choose a page from it directly and turn it in as a work sample.

I think this will also make a great portfolio/journal/record of his year. That is what I am imagining and hoping anyway. Haha. Loose leaf papers and even work books seem to disappear or get misplaced often. Yes, we have used three-ring binders but the challenge for my students is actually putting the work IN TO the binder. I thought it was simple but I guess not. haha.

This seems to be a potentially easy plan to keep and follow through on...at least for me. 

More Owl Fun

Continuing our owl theme, I found an owl craft...finger puppets!

I allowed Kurtis to use the glue gun. He was so careful because he was afraid to get burned. I reassured him that it's not as bad as it seems and once he gets burned it will be ok because then he will know.

Sure enough, he accidentally burned himself and he agreed that it wasn't so bad. That released him from the fear of being burned. 

I didn't have any googly eyes so I did a quick run to Dollar Tree! (I spend way too much time & money in that place--but SO worth it!!!) Of course they had them. I used felt I already had, which it only needed a few scrap pieces. I may or may not have had more fun than him but hey, at least we got something done together, right? I suppose I can count this as art? Will it still count as science, since it's an owl? I'm not sure. haha. Definitely fine motor skills!

I also did a test run of an owl writing project with a tutoring client. It went over well and I'm going to use it with him later...I'll share when I do. 

Autumn Inspiration

Isn't this adorable?

{*I was inspired by the online resources listed at the end of this post.}

I know my 1st grader definitely learns better with hands on activities, even though getting him to sit down for them is a moment by moment challenge.

We watched a simple but informative video about owls. It goes great with a few printable works sheets and graphic organizers I found and used from our fair field trip. We saw an owl there and had a great conversation with her handler.

Collecting objects like an Easter egg hunt! 

We started with a very short walk around the block to gather organic ephemera. We only collected what we found on the ground. We are experiencing another heat wave so being outside for only a few minutes was enough. We live in a nice suburban neighborhood where each block has a different set of trees planted. We headed straight for the pine tree block.

We collected pine cones, bark and from our lawn, acorns and acorn caps. We used those pieces to create our owl. Using hot glue, we attached the bits and pieces to a piece of bark to form an owl. Oh and a scrap of ribbon to hang it. 

What I love most is the unplanned excitement of learning new information. Each of my children, during their home educated childhood, has discovered the wonder of how these pine tree seeds fly. The seeds have light tails that cause them to twirl and spiral down through the air. This moment was no different. Kurtis squealed with glee and a smile that couldn't get any bigger. He couldn't wait to share his new found knowledge with his older brother. 

This keeps me going. You start out with some pine cones and an owl agenda...but learning is full of twists and turns, just like the flying seed. Our conversation moved along to the science of how seeds travel.
Owls to seeds. Nope, didn't see that coming. 

I am so grateful for free online resources. I have no problem NOT reinventing the wheel! I was first inspired by this owl unit study which led me to this simple craft. I definitely now subscribe to these educational videos too.