Co-op in Review: September 23, 2009

Happy Birthday, Abbi! Co-op this week, started with all of the kids singing Happy Birthday to sweet Abbi, whose third birthday was on September 23. And, co-op ended this week, with all of the kids enjoying delicious cupcakes brought in by Abbi to celebrate her special day. The two Tapestry classes studied the Titanic disaster. The kids in both classes made awesome, detailed, wooden models of the RMS Titanic. Downstairs, the FIAR boys (minus Ethan who was home sick) read the book "Daniel's Duck". It's a story about a boy who carves a duck out of wood. After reading the book, the boys had a great time making their own carvings out of soap! Evan made a house and Jadon made a heart. Great job, boys! The B4FIAR kids read "Ask Mr. Bear". It is a cute story of a boy, Danny, who is looking for the perfect gift for his mother's birthday. Mr. Bear gives him the best idea of all . . . a bear hug! The little ones then made a barn craft with farm animals.

Co-op in Review: September 16, 2009

The miracle of flight: that's what the two groups of older kids learned about this week! The Upper and Lower Tapestry groups both learned about the Wright Brothers and the first airplane. On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made history when they flew their motorized Wright Flier on a history-changing 12 second flight on the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Upper Tapestry kids reviewed their lessons and then headed outside with a tape measure to plot out the size of the Wright Flier. The Lower Tapestry boys made their own paper airplanes and then tested them out for distance and speed-some of them even flew for over 12 seconds! Both groups watched a computer generated re-enactment of the first four flights, did coloring sheets comparing the Wright Flier to a modern airplane and then best of all: they made edible Wright Fliers out of graham crackers, frosting and pretzels. Downstairs, the Five in a Row boys read "Andy and the Lion" and made adorable lion masks out of paper plates and construction paper. The little Before Five in a Row crew read "The Runaway Bunny" and painted pictures of bunnies with watercolor paints!

Co-op in Review: September 9, 2009

Everyone was back this week, healthy and ready to learn! The Upper Grammar kids compared two influential men, George Washington Carver and W.E.B Dubois. They had differing political views in relation to how blacks were treated in post-Civil War America. They also made a group collage of pictures showing what they learned this week. The Lower Grammar boys also discussed the life of George Washington Carver. They made a poster, with one side showing facts about his life and the other side showing the various products that he discovered could be made with peanuts, sweet potatoes and other agricultural products. After this, the Lower and Upper Grammar classes combined for a game of "Friendly Feud", with review questions from all of Unit 4. Finally, they played a guessing game where the kids had to guess when various items were invented, such as eyeglasses, pencils, batteries, Velcro, Popsicles, and Kool-aid. Downstairs, the younger kids were also having a great time. The Five in a Row boys read "The Duchess Bakes A Cake." It's a hilarious story of a Duchess who goes about baking a cake, without knowing at all what she is doing! She uses WAY too much yeast, and bakes a cake that rises and takes her high above the kingdom. The army and family come together to eat the cake and rescue the Duchess. Afterwards, they made a knight paper craft and then made their own "lovely, light, luscious, delectable cakes" (okay, cupcakes!) and shared them with all the other kids! The littlest group, Before Five in a Row, read "The Big Green Pocketbook." They filled Mrs. Nail's pocketbook up with toys. Then they colored and made their very own pocketbooks! It was a great day!

Co-op in Review: September 2, 2009

We missed many of our friends at co-op today! The Fenders were on vacation and the Canodes and Reynolds had sick kids in their families. But, the four families that were there had a great time! We started our study of a new artist, John Singer Sargent. We learned that he was a friendly, fun-loving portrait artist. As we looked at one of his famous paintings, "Portrait of a Boy," we discussed the artist's use of lighting, elements and formal style. The kids even practiced posing for a formal portrait! The older kids then went upstairs to learn more about a remarkable woman, Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf. The kids explored books in Braille, learned to sign the alphabet and numbers and then were challenged to complete basic tasks while blindfolded. The younger kids classes were combined this week. They read "Goodnight Moon." Then they said "goodnight" to each other and were tucked into bed to watch the movie based on this book. Afterwards, they made a bowl full of mush, which was really oatmeal. They all loved it! It was another great day at co-op!

Homeschool Night at the Ballpark!

Saturday, August 29 was Homeschool Night at Chase Field, and Tapestry of the Desert was there to cheer the Diamondbacks on to a huge 9-0 victory! We all had a great time together: watching the game, laughing, cheering and winning great prizes! It was a special night honoring Luis Gonzalez, who is returning to the Diamondbacks as the Special Assistant to the President. The kids especially enjoyed seeing Baxter, the Taco Bell characters and they loved the fountains in the pool that erupted when the Diamondbacks hit a home run! What a fun night!