This Week at School

This week at the Super Awesome School of Super Awesomeness we...

Continued working on our Animal Kingdom notebook. We visited the local pet store to choose fish for our lab. We noted the price of the fish, food, and habitat (aquarium.) Supersim chose a pretty redcap goldfish; Dudeman chose a larger moor with a fancy tail. We also got a cute little yellow snail and a live plant.

After we set up the aquarium for "Chewey" and "Rocky," we talked about how fish need oxygen just like mammals, but they get it in a different way. We observed how they pulled water through their gills, and talked about why the live plant is beneficial. We talked about the difference between ectothermic and endothermic animals. We took the temperature of the water and hypothesized about the fish's body temperature. We also noted the room temperature and took our own temperatures to calculate the difference.

We did some research online and found some interesting pictures of different types of fish scales. Did you know that on some fish, you can guess their age by the patterns on their scales? We also found photos of really strange fish, including the Pacific Barrelhead, which has a transparent head! We found pictures of our favorite fish (not our favorites to eat, but the ones we find the most interesting!) This included lionfish, sharks, and fugu. Wikipedia has a long, informative entry on fugu with lots of pictures. As Dudeman wisely said, "What flavor is worth that risk?"

I had planned a 30-minute piano lesson for Dudeman early in the week, because he has expressed interest in playing. I hadn't counted on his enthusiasm--he ended up playing all morning that day and learned two beginner songs. I'm pretty sure we are going to need a real piano teacher (way better than me) and a real piano, too, because he is very excited about learning to play. The rest of the week, he went back to the keyboard several times a day to practice his songs, and he couldn't wait to show off when he went to a friend's house.

We made up a very silly story problem about cats. A girl cat named Goldie, nicknamed "Goo," met a boy cat named Pudgy, nicknamed "Poo." Goo and Poo had four kittens: Bloo, Choo, Koo, and Twoo. If Goo went to the store and got 3 cheese-flavored kitty treats for each kitten, how many did she buy? If Poo went to the store and got 4 sardines for each kitten, how many did he buy? And so on. This is where Dudeman takes over the storyline, in case you can't tell...

Then, Bloo went on a game show and won $5000. He generously decides to share with his family. Which leads to all sorts of purchases, including toys, groceries, cell phones, and scented pine cones (where did THAT come from?). When Goo decides to make her world famous cheesecake, the ingredients cost $50, but she already has milk at home so she doesn't need to buy a $5 carton of milk. To complicate matters even more, some of the kittens decide to pool their money so they can make bigger purchases. Also, the scented pine cones were on clearance, 10 for $5. Can Bloo divide them evenly between his family members?

All I can say is...Why NOT make math silly? And what the heck is in a $50 cheesecake?

We played Scrambled States of America, Domination, Apples to Apples, and Stack. We spent an awesome day at the creek, and had another great playdate with good friends.

We read LOTS of good books, and I'm going to post about them soon. It was a good week, and we're taking tomorrow off to clean the house!