I Read the Purple Book By Myself

Today I started by reading BOB Book number 4 Mac by myself. I got all the words and sentences correct. I was so excited that I asked to read book number 5, Dot and Mit by myself too. I did pretty good job with all the words. Next I did something new, I worked with flash cards that had words on them. There were many cards and when I saw the words down, cat, and dad, I knew them already because I am learning to read.

I practiced writing the letter S today in lower case and upper case. Ss are easy to write. I took my time and did very well on writing words that have the letter s in them. Then I completed my math work. I practiced my numbers 1 - 30 and I did addition equations. I like counting and adding numbers.

I did another new thing today too. It is called a Venn Diagram and it is used to talk about things that might be the same and things that might be different. Today I thought about how a car and a bicycle are the same and how they are different. First I started by just thinking about the two things and then I went outside and looked at my bike and my dad's car and came up with more ideas.

Before I went to the garden I went outside and read today's library book. We read "Tippy - Tippy - Tippy, Hide!" by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas. It was a story about three bunnies that keep breaking into an old man's house to stay warm for the winter. 

Finally, I went to check on the garden. I was worried that the plants may have died because there has been so much rain. The garden was fine. All the plants are growing bigger. I even picked string beans. There are many tomatoes coming in and there are corn cobs growing.

I did it! I read the books Mac and Dot and Mit!

Here I am practicing my handwriting.

Click on the arrow to watch me read the directions.

Time to do math work.

I like adding numbers together.

I thought of things that are the same and different with my bike and my dad's car. 

Today's library book was "Tippy - Tippy - Tippy, Hide!"
by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas.

I gave a summary of the book and drew a picture.

My garden is big!

String Beans

I picked string beans today.

We're going to eat these string beans for dinner.

I found a cob of corn growing today.

The tomatoes are still green but they are growing bigger.

I Like To Work

Today I woke up not wanting to get out of bed. I knew I would have to face that BOB Book number 4, Mac again. Even though I have read it a few times, Mac still makes me nervous. I waited until the very last of my morning lessons to read my BOB Books. Can you guess how it went? I will tell you more further down.

I began my school work today by naming things that I find the refrigerator. The funny thing is, I just put my milk, grapes, and noodles away so there were three things on my list. I added water, watermelon, lemonade, carrots, and lettuce.

Next I practiced my handwriting with the letter Q in uppercase and lower case. One of my favorite words has the letter q in it, equal. I like equal because it is a math word. 

Then I did some math work. I practiced my numbers 11 - 30 and completed some addition problems. While I was practicing my numbers my brain got the hiccups and I thought the number 14 was 44 even though I knew it wasn't. 

The library book we read today was titled, "Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase", written by Cynthia Rylant. It was a funny book about a boy who goes to a farm with his dog, mother, and father. He and his dog find a goose who honks at them and chases them.

Finally, it was time to read my BOB Books. We added BOB Book number 5 today, titled Dot and Mit. I didn't have to read it because it is new. Instead it was read to me. Afterward though, it was time for me to read Mac again. I reviewed the hard word "had" again and off I went. I didn't do too bad at all. I try to keep remembering that at one point the BOB Books Dot, Sam, and Mat were all too hard for me too. As long as I keep trying, I will become a better reader.

Oh, and of course I checked on the garden. The corn is so much taller than me. Actually, it is even taller than my dad. My pumpkin is growing bigger and there were many banana peppers for me to pick.

I wanted to go to the library to return all the books I have read this week. It was so hot today that the library was closed.

I am headed to my mom's house for the week. I will see you back here on Monday, July 29th. Be certain to check on my garden for me while I am away by visiting the Garden Cam.

Here I am practicing my handwriting.

Click on the arrow to watch me practice my handwriting.

Math is my favorite subject.

I love adding numbers together.

I love to do addition equations.

The five BOB Books I have been reading. 

Today we read, "Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase"
by Cynthia Rylant

My garden is growing out of control!

Today I found a potato plant that we started
by planting a potato that had a sprout growing out of it.

See those tassles? That means an ear of corn is going to grow there.

Do you remember when the corn wasn't even up to my knees?
You can tell me your answer in the comments section below.

My first pumpkin grows bigger and bigger every day.

More tomatoes are on their way.

I picked so many more peppers than this today.
I had to carry them in my shirt.

Super Hot Days Are Good For The Garden

Today I started by filling out my goal sheet with the day of the week, the month, date, and year. I know how to spell July without looking at it to copy. Next I named things that live in the ocean, like fish, jellyfish, and sharks.

I read my BOB Book number 4 Mac by myself. I got all the "had" words correct.

Then it was time for me to practice my handwriting. Today I practiced writing the letter U in lowercase and uppercase. I also practiced my numbers 11-30. I did addition problems. Math is very easy for me.

Next I read the book, "Oliver's Milk Shake" by Vivian French. Oliver went to farm with his sister Lily and his Aunt Jen to buy fresh fruit and milk to make milk shakes. 

I went to check on the garden and there were many banana peppers to pick. There were also some string beans ready to eat. I am still waiting for the bell peppers to change color. I pulled up some carrots put they were still very tiny. 

It was very hot outside, so I came back in the house and did a 26 piece alphabet puzzle. It was hard, but I was happy when I finished it.

Time for math.

I wanted to read the directions myself.

I love doing addition problems.

Today we read the book, "Oliver's Milk Shake" by Vivian French.

The pumpkin is growing larger.

Look how small these carrots are.
I put them back in the ground to let them grow more. 

The tomatoes are getting bigger but they aren't ripe yet.

The peppers are big but they still have to change color.

The bell peppers have to grow some more and change color.

There were a bunch of string beans ready to be picked.

These string beans are long, but they're not ready to be picked.
Once they are greener they will be ready. 

These are all the vegetables we picked today.

A basket of fresh picked banana peppers and string beans.

Click on the arrow to watch me put a puzzle together.

This is the twenty-six piece alphabet puzzle I completed.

A Great Sunshine Filled Day in the Garden

Today I had a rough start with my BOB Book number 4, Mac. I kept saying the word has for the word had. We set the BOB Books aside for awhile and went on to other things. First I practiced my handwriting. Today I wrote only sentences. It was much more fun then just practicing letters. I did really well. My handwriting was very nice.

Next, I practiced my math. I wrote the numbers 1-30 and completed some addition problems. Math is still my favorite.

Then, I tried to go back to my problem with the words has and had. I read sentences that used one or the other in it and circled the word has and underlined the word had. I still had a difficult time figuring out which was which even though I know they are spelled differently. 

Next, we went out into the garden to read today's book, "Two Old Potatoes and Me" by John Coy. It was a funny book about a little girl who goes to her dad's house and they plant a potato garden. It reminded me of me and my dad planting a garden. Once we were done reading I summarized the book by making a video. You can watch the video below. While we were out there I checked on the garden. The pumpkins are getting bigger and the dogs could definitely smell the rabbit, but we did not see it.

Next I came inside and went to the educational website The Potato Story. There I reviewed the parts of the plant and what each part does to help the fruits and vegetables grow. It was a neat website with funny characters.

Finally, I tried BOB Book number 4 Mac. It was easier this time and I read the other BOB Books too. 

I practiced my handwriting with a whole page of sentences. 

Here I am practicing my numbers,

and more numbers.

Click on the arrow to watch me practice adding.

Click on the arrow to watch me do some more of my favorite thing, Math.

Today we read the book, "Two Old Potatoes and Me" by John Coy.

Click on the arrow to watch Part 1 of my book summary.

Click on the arrow to watch Part 2 of my book summary.
Side Note: The dog did not eat the baby bunny.
The baby bunny survived and now lives in the garden.

Welcome to my garden, here is your garden weather.
Click on the arrow to play.

Many Things To Do On a Hot Hot Day

Today I started off my naming fruits and vegetables. I named watermelon, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkin, strawberry, zucchini, corn, and peppers. Next, I read the BOB Book number 4, Mac by myself. I didn't do too bad. I only messed up on a few of the words. Then I read the other three BOB Books; Dot, Sam, and Mat.

When it was time to practice writing, I got a surprise. Today I got to practice writing only words for the first time. It was fun writing words and not just letters. Two of the words were actually names of people. The first word was Eiffel as in Gustave Eiffel. He was an engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France and the Statue of Liberty in New York.

The next words were Galileo Galilei. He live over 500 years ago. He was a very important mathematician and scientist.

Midway through the morning I went to the library to return books and pick-up some more books. I also checked out a DVD. I had to go to the library as soon as it opened because it is very hot today. When it gets to be over 92 degrees outside the library closes early because the building is very old and does not have air conditioning.

Then I did some math work. I practiced the numbers 20 - 30 and completed some addition equations. I really like adding numbers together to make bigger numbers.

Next I completed a visual assessment. I named the letters of the alphabet from flashcards. They were all backwards, but I got every letter correct. Then I named the numbers 1-50 in a shuffled deck of flashcards. This was a hard one because the numbers were out of order. I identified 30 out of the 50 correctly the first time and when I went back through the 20 numbers I got wrong I identified 8 correctly. 

Finally, before going out to the garden we read the book "I Have a Garden" by Bob Barner. This book was about a dog who had a flower garden with lots of other animals living in it.

The garden looks beautiful today. It is very green and everything is growing tall. We saw the rabbit again in the garden. First the rabbit was around the carrots and beets, then it hopped to the tomatoes before going to the neighbor's yard.

Another big bag of books to return to the library.

Off with another big bag of books checked out from the library.

Click on the arrow to watch me write words and sing a song!

Here I am practicing how to write words. 

Now it's time for math.

Click on the arrow to watch me connect the dots to make a Jack-n-the-Box.

Today we read, "I Have a Garden" by Bob Barner.

I dictated a summary of what we read and then I drew a picture.
The picture is of the dog in his garden on a sunny day.

Here is the front of the garden.

Here is the back of the garden. Look how tall the corn has grown.

Saturday in the Summertime

I know it isn't Monday yet, but I have to share all the different things I've been doing since yesterday.

Yesterday when I arrived back at my dad's house I headed straight for the garden where I found the most gigantic zucchini. There were also more banana peppers to pick and a watermelon. The corn is as tall as I am, the string beans are reaching for the sky, there are tomatoes and bell peppers coming in and it might be time to pull up the carrots. 

Click on the arrow to see the huge zucchini that grew in the garden.

Look how big this zucchini grew.

The corn is finally as tall as I am. 

A full basket of fruit and vegetables from the garden. 

We saw a tiny rabbit run from the garden while we were picking.

Today I started out by making birdseed wreaths for all the birds that visit the garden. Sometimes I see robins, blue jays, and even cardinals. I have a new piece of equipment for when I do kitchen science (that's fancy for cook). I got a really cool apron. At first I liked it, then I didn't want to wear it but my kitchen science partner says she knows of some hockey playing chefs like me and they always wear their aprons in the kitchen.

First I poured some cool water in a bowl.

Then I stirred in some gelatin and boiling water.

Next I tossed in birdseed.

I stirred in a cup at a time.

I stirred... 

Click on the arrow to watch me stir some more!

I grabbed some mix, rolled it in a ball and placed it on wax paper.

Then I flattened the balls and poked a hole in it.

When the wreaths are dry we will string them and hang them outside.

UPDATE

I now believe that hockey players can be chefs and chefs can be hockey players. Thanks Chuck Hughes!

Click on the photograph to follow Chuck Hughes on Twitter.

Next I went down to the soccer stadium and took part in The Great American Water Balloon Fight. It was all to help raise money for Team Tassy which helps people in a country called  Haiti. I like helping people. It was so much fun. First we filled tiny balloons full of water and placed them in our buckets. Next we waited until the horn was sounded and then we threw all our water balloons at the other teams. I have never done anything like this before. It was a fun game.

I've got my bucket and I'm headed to fill up my balloons.

Look at how tiny the balloons are now.

The balloons get bigger when I fill them with water. 

I found Iceburgh from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We have our water balloons ready.

Just before the start of The Great American Water Balloon Fight.

Click on the arrow to watch me go in!

Throwing it long. 

Click on the arrow to see the water balloons everywhere.

What else is there to do on a hot Saturday afternoon?

Click on the arrow to watch more of The Great American Water Balloon Fight.

I'm looking for just the right target.

Time to clean up the field.

I had a really fun time.

The yellow balloons have caught me.

Did I mention I had a great time?

Finally, I took a nap after the water balloon fight so that I could enjoy a fun surprise tonight and stay up past my bedtime. We went to the Grandview Overlook Park for the Saturday night movie. Tonight's movie was The Goonies. I have never heard of this movie before and I really liked it. It was very funny. We packed a picnic basket full of snacks and took our chairs. It was very relaxing. We could also see the fireworks from PNC Park.

I'm going to a surprise movie.

Not only was I surprised that the movie was outside,
but in the picnic basket I found my favorite candy.
It is my favorite because I eat it when I go see Cirque du Soleil.

The Grandview Park Overlook has a very nice view of Pittsburgh.

We played one of my favorite games, UNO while waiting for the movie to begin.

The movie The Goonies played tonight.

I couldn't take my eyes off The Goonies.

Click on the arrow to watch a funny part in the movie The Goonies.

This is when Sloth and Chunk meet.

FIREWORKS!

MORE FIREWORKS!