Mommio: Got 'Em!

Avery: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Guess what today is! HALLOWEEN!!!!! :D

Mommio: Have You Seen Them?

Daddio: My Halloween Blog of the Day

When buying your stuff

and they offer you some stamps,

just say "No, thank you."

It happened so quickly, I didn't realize what I was doing until the mailman was already dead.  I didn't even know he was a mailman when I suffocated him at the check out line.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It all started when I was at Walmart buying new $13 sneakers to replace my worn out $13 sneakers that I'd bought four weeks before.  The wrinkled old lady with wrist braces picked up the shoes and deftly scanned them and threw them into a plastic bag, winking at me with her one good eye. I was vaguely aware that there was an impatient man standing behind me as I fumbled my debit card out of my wallet.  The cashier asked in a creaky voice, "Do you need any ice, stamps or Toblerone chocolate today, young man?"

I pushed the button on the credit card machine indicating that, in fact, I did not want any cash back on my transaction.  Chuckling, I said to her, "Sure, give me a 10 pound bag of ice and a bar of your finest Toblerone.  But hold the stamps.  Stamps are for suckers.  I do everything by online billpay."

I heard the man behind me give an irritated "harrumph" and I glanced back at him.  He was in a dirty "Gig 'Em" shirt and a ratty pair of sweat pants that strained to stay up on his considerable waist line. He was scratching at something at his neck.  Ignoring him, the cashier said, "Okay, but I didn't have that on your first transaction, son.  So you'll need to swipe your card again."  I smiled an grabbed at my back pocket again for my wallet.

As I opened my wallet, I looked up at the cashier and commented playfully, "Oh, you sure know how to ply my money from my bank account, you sly minx."

She smiled and winked at me again, but apparently the man behind me was impatient.  In a gravelly, too-quiet whisper he said harshly, "Get on with it, jerk!  We've got places to go!" He grabbed at my wallet and pulled my card out.

"Hey," I shouted and shuffled back a small step.  But something had possessed the guy.  His face was a torn expression of rage and fury.  He was determined to swipe my card and finish my transaction for me.  I pushed him back and grabbed for my card with my other hand.  As my left hand found his throat, I felt something hard and plastic there.  But in the confusion, I didn't think anything about it.  I snatched my card from him and shoved him back hard by the throat.  I quickly put my wallet and card into the bag with my shoes and said to the cashier, "Forget the candy and ice."  Turning to the guy on the ground, I said, "I don't know what your problem is, guy.  But you need to simmer down.  Just simmer down now."  Feeling like I'd gotten off a good one liner, I grabbed my bag, turned and marched out of the store.

Mommio and I were woken up at 12:45 that night to sirens and police lights outside the front of the house.  Someone was banging on the door shouting, "This is the police!  You need to open the door right now!"  Neither of us had any clue what was going on.  Before we could get to the door, the policy broke it in, snapping the lock and chain.  Four cops tackled me, knocking the wind out of me and cuffing my hands behind my back.

My trial was short.  It turns out the man behind me was a mailman.  He must have been upset about my comments about stamps being "for suckers."  He had a tracheotomy and breathed through a hole in his throat.  The evidence at trial showed that, when I shoved him back, I plugged his breathing hole with debris and gunk from his dirty shirt.  He suffocated shortly after I left the store.  He was dead before the ambulance arrived.  Worse yet, the cashier was his sister.  She told the jury that I was taunting the man, making fun of his tracheotomy.  Through crocodile tears, she lied and said that I intentionally poked my finger into his breathing hole and laughed at him as he struggled for air.  She denied that he ever tried to grab my wallet.  After the trial, my lawyer discovered that she was the sole heir of her brother's fortune, who had millions of dollars buried in pickle jars his back yard.

Could she have goaded me on purpose?  Do they even still offer stamps at the check out line?  I'll never know the answer because I'll never have my freedom to go shopping at Walmart again.  I was convicted of second degree murder and given life in prison.

Phineas and Ferb: Rollercoaster

We all LOVE watching a Disney show called Phineas and Ferb- it's about two brothers who fill the days of their summer vacation with incredible inventions and amazing adventures- like giant remote control cars, a four foot bowling ball, their own game show and an elevator to space. 

 It has inspired us so much that we've decided to base our science/technology lessons on the show for a while.  Some of these lessons will last for several weeks (like the first one) and some will just be a one day thing.  All of the kids were excited to get started!  Today was Episode 1: Rollercoaster.  But we actually watched the later remade episode of the show Rollercoaster: The Musical!, just because it is always more fun with silly songs.  In this episode they build The Coolest Coaster Ever...

After watching the show together we came up with a list of what the kids would put on a rollercoaster if there were no limits. They named the coaster the 2G2R Coaster (Too Great Too Ride Coaster) and 

came up with this crazy list.

 After all that craziness we got to the educational part and talked a bit about why most of their ideas couldn't happen on a real rollercoaster.  There were some new vocabulary words to learn: energy, force, inertia, acceleration, velocity and centripetal force.  We also talked about Isaac Newton, what physics is and his 1st Law of Motion.  They were all a bit surprised at the amount of "school" that it takes to build a coaster.

Then the kids took their list and drew their concept coaster as a team.  It turned out pretty amazing!

 Next time we will focus on more of the "school" stuff and use this Physics of Roller Coasters lesson plan- starting off with making marble ramps.  At the end of our rollercoaster study we will put together out Kinex Rollercoaster set and turn it into our very own 2G2R Coaster.

Kiki: Blog Of The Day

One day I was in a museum.  I wanted to steal pictures of a king and a monster.  I got the pictures.  I ran out of the room and forgot the pictures and I ran back in the room and got the  pictures. I ran out of museum and the guard saw me.  That is how I got caught.

Mason: Blog Of The Day

My name is Mason 

I am a prisoner now 

Do you want to know?

What I did was kill Jack Black and I stole his identity. I almost got away with it until someone called the cops.  Now I have to walk to house to house and get candy to pay off what I did. 

Avery: Word Challenge

The evil scientist had a diabolical plan to trap Perry the Platypus.

The evil scientist used a lot of diatribe when he told Perry the Platypus his diabolical plan.

It turned out that while the evil scientist was using a lot of diatribe, Perry the Platypus found a diminutive way to escape the trap and ruin the diabolical plan that the evil scientist had.

Connor: Blog Of The Day

I am telling you,

I was framed for stealing gold

I can't believe it.

The cops entered late.

None of them saw the true thief.

All they saw was me.

He had split and left

me with the gold, drat.

At least he got caught.

I was involved in a heist and wouldn't have gotten caught if my partner hadn't ditched me to get the T.V and the couch.  Then he mouthed off to the guy with the bat and I moved up behind him.  I knocked the man out with the gold.  The guy's wife had called the cops and they hurried over.  I made only one hair-brained mistake, I should have made my partner carry the gold.

Avery: Blog Of The Day

I wanted to win

I had to beat my jail friends

May the best man win.

I went to the zoo

Let out all the animals

I win the challenge

The animals ran

I rode out on elephants

The big tigers followed me

I put on a mask

They found my identity

I was arrested.

Gabe: Blog of the Day

I am a prisoner.

I like my outfit a lot.

I am excited.

I robbed a really small house.  I stole the couch, the chairs and a HDTV  and 10 bucks.  There were 10 people in the house.  This guy came out and started threatening me with a stupid t-ball bat.  What did he think I was scared of that?  The guy had a beard and I thought it was not long enough.  

Mommio: Blog Of The Day

So they're all crazy.

But is it really a crime,

To love your children?

Two are murderers,

Two more are famous burglars.

And then there is more.

Identity theft,

Letting animals run free,

Thought I raised them well.

At least I did right

By my two brave youngest boys

Who arrested me.

I was just trying,

Trying hard to break them free

From a life in jail.

And now together

Some criminals and some cops,

We wander the night....

FOR CANDY!

Marney: Blog Of The Day

I love my outfit

I killed a guy called Johnny

It was really hard

  

I needed ketchup

Because it did not leave blood

I needed a toy

  

What it looked like was

it looked like he killed him slef

He needed some help

  

Some one got the cops

I got sent to jail poor me

I Needed some help

I got free from jail

and got some candy for me

it was so so sad

It least I got food

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I am so evil

Connor: Word Challenge

The diminutive gnome was out to protect his homeland.
Blackbeard was so diabolical that he left some of his men, who tried to mutiny, to rot on dead man's chest with bottles of rum.
The villain used a lot of diatribe when speaking to his minions.

Mommio: Art Class- Impressionists- Degas

Today we continued our study of Degas by using what we learned last week with the mannequin sketches to work on making some action drawings of people doing sports.  The idea came from the Art Lessons For Kids website.  First I showed the kids some examples of the finished art that other kids did so they could get an idea of what I was looking for.

 The kids each chose a sport they wanted to draw, picked a color for their background, set up the mannequin in a pose that represented their athlete, and lightly sketched the outline of the body on

their paper in pencil.

 Then they erased the pencil lines they didn't need and added in the details for their athlete 

and the background.

 Finally they added the color to their drawing with chalk pastels.

 Here are the bodies in motion that they created.  We had a baseball player, soccer player, gymnast, ballerina, pole vaulter and a football player.

 We have to wait a few weeks to visit the ballet class, so next time in art we will take these athletes and create sculptures of them.  When we do our ballerina study it will be a similiar process: first making many in-class sketches, then choosing the best one to turn into full color chalk drawings, and finally choosing one to 

turn into a sculpture.

Daddio: 10/27/11 Blog of the Day

Halloween is near,
and you will be prisoners
in your own costumes.

For blog of the day,
write a story that describes
how you broke the law.

Did you kill someone?
Or steal money from a bank?
Were you an outlaw?

Write a crazy post,
with all the gory details,
and how you got caught.

But start your story
with haiku, so remember
it's five-seven-five.

The rest of it, though,
Can just be free form fiction.
Have fun and enjoy.

Mommio: Word Challenge

Write a sentence for each word.  

Anyone who can come up with a complete sentence that makes sense for each word gets a dollar!

diabolical- (adjective) fiendish, wicked
Sherlock Holmes's archenemy is the diabolical Professor Moriarty.
diatribe- (noun) bitter verbal attack

During the CEO's lengthy diatribe, the board members managed to remain calm and self-controlled.

diminutive- (adjective) small

Napoleon made up for his diminutive stature with his aggressive personality, terrifying his courtiers.

*all words, definitions and sentences are from the Kaplan SAT Vocabulary Prep Level 1

Avery: Taylor Swift Concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Monday I spent the night at my friend, Kalli's, house.  We stupidly stayed up till 11:30 and woke up really early.  Then I helped Kalli pack and get ready for the TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT.  We drove to San Antonio and drove around for a long time.  We got Chili's for lunch (i had a corn dog) and then spent almost 30 minutes looking for a hotel to stay at.  We made some extra posters and then headed to the concert.  When we got there, there wasn't many people waiting, so we got in line to have our makeup done by stylists that work for Cover Girl (Taylor Swift models their makeup for them).  We listened to some other people before Taylor Swift went on.  When she went on everyone was screaming, including me and Kalli.  She sang every song from her newest album Speak Now.  Near the end she sang old songs and used fireworks for 3 of them.  My favorite song she sang was 15, because everyone there was singing and you could hear them perfectly.  For the last song she stood on this platform that had gates around it and it took her above the people and around the stadium.  When the concert was over we picked up some food from Taco Cabana.  Then we got to our hotel, ate the food and then went to bed.  It was the best thing that has every happened to me in my life!

Mason: Tae Kwon Do

I have be doing Tae Kwon Do for three months.  I am a Yellow Belt.   The belt I am tryng to get is the Yellow Black belt. To get the belt I have to practice my kicks and my form, it is called Tae Guek Ee Jang and it means joyfulness and it has 18 steps.  I have be practicing my form and my kicks a lot so I think I am ready for my belt test. My belt test is on next Wednesday.  I am having a lot of fun at Tae Kwon Do.

Marney: Blog Of The Day

On Friday me and Kennedy went to Sea World with Micah and had a sleep over at her house.   It was so much fun we did a lot of things with her.  First we did a bunch of rides and they were all fun rides.  We went on all the rides in the bay of play were the sprinklers were.  We all wanted to stay at Sea World the whole night.  But if you think about it we would not really want to because it gets so scary at night when it is Halloween.  So then we went to eat lunch we had sandwichs.  We had a fun time eating because we got to talk even more and we talked about what we were going to do that night.  Then we went to a show it was so cool the whales splashed people and it was funny.  It was called One Ocean and it was really fun everyone loved it.  Then it was time to go on the steal eel I went on the steal eel with Issac it was so so much fun.  Then we saw the sharks and the seals and the dulfines.  Then we went home and had pizza.  I had so much fun on my sleep over.

Connor: Blog Of The Day

What Scares People And Why

By Connor M. Jones

       People tend to like being scared for whatever reason.  I think they enjoy it because it provides a thrill.  Although there are somethings people hate because they're scared of it.  This type of thrill when used for enjoyment is called adrenaline.  The type of thrill you get when in a non-enjoyable situation is called fear.  Fears or phobias are a very common type of thrill that only happens in situations where you are truly scared of things you should or shouldn't fear.  Adrenaline is a good type of thrill and fear is the polar opposite.

  Personally I hate being scared, because I fear heights and have no fear of anything else other than cacti.  I do however love horror movies because I enjoy them and get a thrill out of watching them.  I despise being  terrified by things.  I can't stand it when I am near tons of cacti or really high up.  I wouldn't look over the edge at the grand canyon and wold probably pass out if I went on a roller-coaster.  I like being shocked when someone tries to scare me because it's fun, but when someone tries to scare me with cacti or by tricking me into looking down from atop something high up, like the grand canyon, I can't stand it!

     The scariest thing I ever did for fun was watching horror movies.  I enjoy them, but I have never watched one I hated.  I love scary movies that have characters dying a lot.  Slasher movies are what really creep me out and yet I watch them.  I can't stand movies with tons of blood and guts, but if the amount of blood and guts is low I can enjoy the movie.  The movie I hated most was Piranha.  It had a lot of blood and was creepy.

Piranha was so creepy I didn't want to watch it ever again and I still don't.  What's even worse is the trip to the grand canyon.  I hated that trip, because I fear high places.  I don't intend to ever go back because I have no wish to be scared stiff.  I despise being high up.  When grandma and grandpa visted I didn't even like looking up at the glass elevator going up to the top of the tower.  Again I was reluctant to look out toward San Antonio because I was so high up.  Just like the grand canyon I don't intend to ever go back.

On another note Daddio fears spiders.  His fear is called Arachnophobia.  There are many names for fears.  The scientific name for fear is phobia meaning an irrational fear.  The fear of long words is Hippopotomonstrosesquppidaliophobia, a common misspelling of the word involves the letter p being used twice in quipid.  I have Acrophobia, the fear of high places.

Gabe: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 

Thanksgiving is fun.

We will camp on thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is cool.

Camping at inks lake.

Playing lots of games all day.

A big campfire.

I love Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is awesomeness.

We scavenger hunt.

We like to play sports.

We will leave soon to go home.

Now we are at home.

Kiki: Blog Of The Day

The Weirdest Halloween Ever

By Kiki

     One Halloween there was a kid and her name was Cindy.  She was going to be a cat for Halloween.  When she was trick or treating she saw people that looked like bats and witches.  She got a lot and a lot of candy. She was so, so, so, so, so, so happy she went home.

Mommio: NaNoWriMo Time!

 

Next Tuesday is officially the first day of NaNoWriMo  2011.  NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month challenge that happens every November.  Each participant is challenged to set a word count goal and write a complete novel during the month.  For adults the goal is 50,000 words- for kids that participate in the Young Writers Program the goals can be individually set.  Our kids did this last year, loved it and made a great book out of their combined novels- so we are doing it again this year.  The kids all spent the month of October filling out the really great (free!) writer's workbooks on the YWP website to get their novel ideas down on paper.  A week from today they will all start writing.  They have increased their word count goals from last year and I will report each week with Wordcount Wednesday on how they're doing.  Good luck kids! (And Daddio too who is working to get 50,000 words in his second novel done as his personal 

NaNoWriMo challenge in November.)

Connor- 11,500

Mason- 5, 500

Avery- 11,000

Gabe- 5, 500

Marney- 5, 500

Kiki- 1, 500

Max- 500

Jack- 100

Mommio: A Poem From Marney

Marney wrote me this very sweet poem yesterday and I wanted to share it with everyone.  

Thanks Marney- I love you too!

Mom

By Marney

Mother I love you

Mother I think your so great

I think you are nice

your are beautiful

I am going to be nice

I think you are cool

One day I saw you

walking and talking

I said hi mother

You walked me home to

then you tuke me in to bed

you keep me safe mom

Mason: Blog Of The Day

     People sometimes like to be scared and some do not.  Sometimes people love to be scared like when they're watching a horror movie.  Some people do not like to be scared, like when they're riding a roller coaster.  I think it seems fun to some people to be scared.
      I like to be scared when I am watching a horror movie, like when I watched Inception.  I like how it scares me because it is not actually real.  But I do not like to ride roller coasters because they are so high up.  I kind of like to be scared and sometimes I do not like to be scared.
     One of the scariest things I did for fun was when I went riding on the Steel Eel.  It was fun but I was too scared when it was over.  It was scary because it goes so high up.  It was very fast and made me feel like I was going to fly out of my seat.   Another time I did something scary for fun was the first time I went on the body slide at Sea World.  Another one was when we went to climb Enchanted Rock.  All the things that I am scared of involve heights.  Heights scare me because I feel like I am going to fall and get myself really hurt.
     There are some other things that scare me that are not about heights.  Like when we went to Joan's Academy for the first time.  That was scary because there were new people there.  Another thing that scared me was leaving our old home in Austin because I left all my old friends.  I think that trying new things can be very scary sometimes but it is worth it because you know you will make new friends.  My fear of heights is much more scary because I feel like I am better with my feet on the ground.                                                       

Kiki: Blog Of The Day

     I think that people like being scared because it is fun.  I sort of like to be scared.  I like it because it is fun.  I don't like it because I get scared.  The scariest thing I have ever done for fun was going on the Steel Eel at Sea World, it was pretty scary.  It was fun and scary.  It was scary because it went super fast and I felt like I was going to fall.  It also made me feel happy because it was fun.  I also like to watch horror movies.  The scariest one I saw was the Paranormal Activity movie because it was super scary.

Daddio: 10/25/11 Blog of the Day

Halloween is coming up.  Last weekend, Mommio and Ava went with Nana and Kalorie to Hall-o-SCREAM at Sea World where people tried to constantly scare them and make them think they were going to be murdered.They did this voluntarily, even though it scared the poop out of them.  All of you have done things you knew were going to be scary (like riding the big rides at Sea World or watching horror movies).

For today's blog of the day, I want you to write an essay about being scared. The first paragraph should be about why you think people like being scared. In the second paragraph, I want you to write about whether you do or don't like being scared yourself, and why.  Then I want you to write two paragraphs talking about the scariest thing you've ever done for fun.

Lakeside Academy (Oct. 24th): Zoo Animals

Last week our little group went to the Austin Zoo for a really nice morning field trip....here we are at the zoo.

Today at Lakeside Academy we talked all about the zoo animals we saw.  At circle time we did our usual morning song, followed by show-and-tell. The youngest ones were the stars of show-and-tell again- they have LOTS to say when it is their turn!

 For our storytime we read a selection of books by Eric Carle.  All about animals of course, and most of them interactive so the kids got really involved in the story telling this week.

 Our craft for today was a paper plate lion.  We thought it might be a challenge because it involved painting, cutting, gluing and coloring....but the kids had no problem at all making some really cute lions.

 We also spent a lot of time playing with Nana's new stamp sets today- a big hit with all of the kids.

 Next was lunch- again, no one really wants to eat at lunchtime but they sure have fun just sitting together and talking...then rushing out the door to play outside.

 We took a little walk after lunch down the street to visit the horses.  Lucky for us, when we arrived the biggest horse was already there waiting for us at the fence.  The kids named him "Birthday" and had a wonderful time petting him, feeding him grass and watching him swat at flies.  We might need to make this a weekly visit- Birthday and the kids all seemed to enjoy it.

 Cooking class with Nana was next, and today they made Monkey Bread (also called Pull Apart Bread- here's the recipe we used, we skipped the nuts).  It was a very simple version that the kids could do mostly by themselves.  First they cut biscuits into fourths. 

Then they measured sugar and cinnamon into a bag.

 They put their biscuit pieces into the bag and shook them up.  This required a little dancing.

 Next they put their biscuits pieces into a fluted tube pan and watched Nana pour the gooey butter/brown sugar over the top. 

 While it baked we had music and movement time.  We started by making a little yoga zoo- each one picked an animal and we did the yoga pose for it.  The kids are great at this.  Then we sang a few fun animal songs.  Ask the kids to sing Five Little Monkeys Swinging In A Tree- they LOVE that one!
Then it was musical instrument/dance party time. 

By the time that Nana and I could no longer handle the fun, the Monkey Bread was ready to come out of the oven.  The kids were very impressed with their creation.

 Later on we all ate snack while playing outside.

 We decided to do some group games with the kids outside this afternoon.  We played with the parachute- first bouncing a ball around and then letting each person have a turn under the parachute while we made a bubble over them.

 We also did a relay race that involved running a ball to a bucket and then took turns trying to throw the ball into the bucket.  The kids enjoyed this and they really liked playing out in the "big yard".

 It was a great day- seven happy kids and lots of fun.  Next week we'll have a bigger group (welcome back Kristin and Hannah!) and celebrate Halloween together.