July 12th

P and Jeff finished reading the biography of John F. Kennedy. P then asked to look at the Kennedy home in Hyannis Port, the White House, and Dallas.

P and K practiced handwriting by tracing over their names.

Backyard Nature Journal

• Gold & black garden spider
  
• Fuzzy yellow caterpillar
  
• Black cat (Midnight)
• Brownish grasshopper (the spider's meal)
  
• Brown gopher tortoise
  
• Tiny black wasp (?)
• Blackish yellow bee
• Itty bitty house spider
• Little black (?) butterfly
• Small orange with black tipped butterfly
• Little tiny fruit fly
• Black beetle fighting ants
• Red and black Cow Killer
• Big brown grasshopper

July 10th

P drew a tree after observing another child drawing the same subject.

WALL-e drawing

K has mastered drawing WALL-e! We only saw it once, and she's got it down. It is one of her favorite things to draw now.

Butterfly Rainforest

This afternoon, we visited the Butterfly Rainforest exhibit at the Natural History Museum, and were fortunate to see many different types of butterflies and talked about some special features they have.

We talked about the symmetry of butterfly colors and wing patterns, while looking at examples.

We also examined butterflies as they were feeding of flower nectar with their proboscis, and noticed their antennae and how different they are from moths.

P mentioned that some of the butterflies blended in with the flowers, which was like camoflage.

Both P and K saw this butterfly, which mimics a bee in its coloration.

Finally, K -- who had a hard time not finding anything that she could hold -- found a ladybug, and since it hadn't been expressly prohibited, happily carried it through the second half of the exhibit!

July 3rd

Looked at Hawaii, salt flats of Bolivia and Chile, discussed volcanoes, heat, and the way lava flows and plants reclaim territory.

P displayed understanding of sun's role in illuminating atmosphere.

July 2nd

Blueberry Farming

Discussion of space station concepts, (L5). Spanish for butterfly (mariposa).