Finally Summer!

Finally, it is summer-ish! We have had a few 80+ degree weather days. We have been spending most of our time outdoor. We even went to the pool on Saturday, May 31-the earliest EVER!

Our Bulgarian friends are planning to move to Indiana in August, so we are spending as much time with them as possible. The kids are. They really play well together. Especially, after this crazy winter which had us all pinned inside for SO LONG!



Ballet girl went on a field trip to the zoo with her class. I chaperoned which was very enjoyable! However, be warned that a bus full of kindergartners is much closer to one's understanding of a zoo than the actual zoo. As I put it -I went with the zoo to the zoo! I have to add that my observations revealed that there are some very creative kids out there and I implore parents far and wide not to stop their kids from killing the boredom of a school bus ride with creativity. These three very energetic boys who sat in front of me invented a fishing game-they used their school ids which were tied to a string as a fishing rod which they passed through the opening separating the seat from the back of the seat. Clever and Fun!  Sunlight boy also went on a field trip. His class visied a wild life preserve in Joliet. Both trips were fantastic experiences for the kids. Thank you to the school district for sending all elementary classes on a field trip this year.

School will be officially over next week. Dance will be over too-the recital is on June 14. The piano recital is on June 15. So, summer is really knocking on the door! The activities that we have planned are: Lego class in mid-June, swimming classes-2 weeks in June and 2 weeks in July.

 First, and foremost, we plan on following closely the World Cup. Especially com Brasil em mente e no coracao. Vai selecao! A gente ja tem o fuleco em casa, graca a nossa amiga Fatima do Recife. A gente ja tem uma bola brazuca, a bola mais cientifica das todas as copas mundial! Vai ser uma festa mundial no Brasil. Eu gostaria muito de ficar mas nao planejou bem, entao a gente so vai assistir.

Yes, we loved Poppy so much, her adventures with Mr. Ocax were so well enjoyed that we went on to read the adventures of Ragweed, technically the prequel to Poppy. When we finished Poppy, we spent one evening reviewing the book. We talked about our favorite parts-Sunlight boy loved the fights and the part when Poppy gets into Ereth's bathroom; for Ballet girl-the thrill was the daring journey to the New House. We also talked about how the characters change during the story-how Poppy changes from a scared, timid mouse to a daring, questioning one; how Mr. Ocax changes from a villain to a very intimidated by a rival owl, the clear sign of a bully; how Lungwort changes from a leader, to a fearful messenger, to a lost, hopeless loser, to a bragging told-you-so unnervingly boasting attitude. The amount of information the kids remembered was astounding, and the book was a good starting point for deeper discussions. We started with Ragweed, and right off the bet, we started comparing and contrasting the two books-how Ragweed parts with her family versus how Poppy parts with her family; how Ragweed feels starting on his journey versus how Poppy feels emerging onto hers; what Ragweed fears versus what Poppy fears; how Clutch is different than Ereth; how Silversides is different than Mr. Ocax. How the boy in the book about Poppy plays a different role than the girl in the book of Ragweed. I love these books. They get me to have good discussions with my kids and to lead them to think not only at what is literally in front of them but also to think in the context of what they have already encountered and experienced. The books in this series will be required reading in either fourth or fifth grade along with a book report and a creative activity attached.
Aside from discussing the characters as they are, we have also talked about survival in nature. Yes, Mr. Ocax terrifies the mice but in order for him to survive he has to eat. Yes, the mice have to survive so they have to find food, and have to migrate towards where there is abundance of food. What happens if there is not enough food? The mice split or die. We discussed this dynamics in the context of Evolution-how the changing environment, in this case lack of food, shapes the choices the population has. We discussed why there is one owl and many mice, the food chain, and how the number of each animal is controlled. As I said, I love this series of books and I highly recommend them to educators and parents.

We did not talk much about plants as I had hoped. The last two months have been occupied with ad-hoc activities which had taken a good chunk of our reading time. This book however is great. One page per topic with very good illustrations. We are reading one page per night, and after we are through, we will re-read but also demonstrate or observe during nature walks what this book indicates. I am excited.

Portuguese is going very very well. We read Macaco Danado, Abraco, Familias Divertidas, Se voce grita no zoologico, Choco encontra uma mae. These books went well with the zoo theme at school and with mother's day which took place in May. The kids remembered a lot of the vocabulary. They can both answer simple yes, no questions-they understand the questions that are asked and answer them. They also occasionally offer in their response the correct word. Since we have been reading a lot about mice, most of the portuguese books we will be reading will include mice as protagonists. We already read O rato do campo e o rato da cidade, O Rato Roeu a Ropa do Rei de Roma. There is the Rato e o morango maduro and some others. I have also started reading some Contos da fada. I received the book pictured here from Brasil. It is a first grade-learn to read and write portuguese book. It is great but we will mostly use it to learn to speak starting now, and in second grade we will use it to learn to read. The progress I have seen in my kids in the last few weeks has been very encouraging. Com a copa mundial eu tenho ainda mais esperanca, e como a communidade brasileira organiza uma festa juninha sera ainda mais especial. Este ano e o ano da Lingua Portuguesa na minha casa. So da sorte!