Blog 411

This blog was created for our friends and family who don't get to see us -- well, Jonathan and Elise, really -- as often as they'd like. I'm trying to keep you all updated on their milestones and their day-to-day activities. I also hope this will serve as sort of a journal for them as well, something for them to read when they are older that chronologues their lives and adventures. When I can, I'll post pictures and maybe even videos to help bridge the distance.

This blog is Part 2 of the Life of the Hardwicks. This edition will focus on our new lives in Atlanta, GA, that began in July 2013.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

2015_04_30 Thursday

From reading club: On Tuesday, X and I read bob books and he played on the kindle. X and I read bob books and he practiced his sight words. The girls and I each read And Here's To You! We also went over flash cards. They also played with clay and molded different things. On Wednesday, we read Poor Puppy by doing round robin reading. I played number zingo with X. They all played roll the dice sight word bingo with X. X worked in numbers 1-20. X and Elise spent time on the kindle.  On Thursday, we played bunny hop with CVC words except this time they had to come up with a sentence with the words they landed on. This was a fun challenge for them. We went over flash cards and we also took turns on the kindle.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

2015_04_29 Wednesday

From Elise's class: Happy Birthday to X! Today we had calendar time in the morning. We talked about plant
growth. We drew a life cycle of a Lima bean plant. We also drew what our plants look like from when we planted them up until now. I've sent some of the plants home because they need a bigger pot and are doing well!  They had French. We had indoor recess. We worked on writing our numbers 1-20 in our journals. They completed floor puzzles and played zingo with partners.

What does your family do to help the earth?
Elise- me and my brother try to clean up the park by picking up trash

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

2015_04_28 Tuesday

WHAT? my baby turns 5 today? how can that be?? We had so much fun at dinner at a hibachi place. She really liked miso soup (although not the mushrooms), Shirley Temples, and "shrimpies." A real fire in an onion volcano, how cool!

Jonathan did a great job letting E have her special day. He even told me what gifts to get for her, and he nailed them! We had cupcakes when we got home too.
Elise's school: Happy birthday to Elise!!  Thank you guys soo much for my lovely goodies today! Y'all are so sweet! Conferences are next week! sign up if you haven't already! Monday is still available ;) thanks Mark your calendars: graduation and spring pageant will be Friday, May 22nd!
Today we had a visitor from the Oak hurst garden come in. She read a kids book about a worm friend and then we got to use magnifying glasses to look and feel real worms! They had Spanish. We reviewed numbers and sounds and sight words. 

What did you learn from the visitor today? 

Elise- I learned that worms eat things that come from the earth. 

Sunday, April 26, 2015

2015_04_26 Sunday

Happy Birthday Auntie!!!

We had our first ever professional family photo session today. It was a good hour away, but we won it at one of the kids' auctions, so we thought it would be fun to do. We all wore white shirts, but someone decided only to tolerate that for so long.

Friday, April 24, 2015

2015_04_24 Friday

Elise's school: Good afternoon! Today we talked about climate change, tornadoes, and global warming. We did a tornado- in a-jar experiment with dish soap. We also attempted a water cycle experiment with shaving. Cream and food color ;) We played sight word bingo. We played sight word bug splat. They had German. 
Tell me something about tornadoes or global warming: 
Elise- I learned that tornados are so strong that it can tear down a tree
NOTE: Opa had some choice words for the "global warming" part of the lesson plan.

Conferences are May 4th- May 8th Tuesday is booked 
Reading club: On Monday we worked on -in, -og , -en, -at families. We came up with real and nonsense words. X and I started reading the fat cat sat on the mat. X and I started that one too. X worked on color words blue and black. On Tuesday, X and X worked on reading CVC words. I also read a book with X . X finished the Fat Cat book. Elise played a phonics app on the Kindle practicing sight words. X and I went over sight words flash cards. X and I went over color words cards. X  and X played with popcorn sight words. On Wednesday, I worked with X on letter sounds and Sight words with X. X and I read BOB books. The girls put addition and subtraction cards together. X and X worked on CVC words. We all worked on flash cards. They also played number zingo.  On Thursday X, X and X worked on the -an family booklet. They also played dig for sight word carrots. Elise read Loose Tooth! to me. She spent time learning sight words on the kindle. We all played bingo. Elise and I and X and I started reading And Here's To You! 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

2015_04_22 Wednesday

Elise's school: Good afternoon, We had a lot of fun at the Gardens yesterday. We learned about different plants and what they need to grow. We visited the edible garden and had a chance to play in the Children's garden area. Today we talked all about the planet Earth for Earth Day. We talked about what conservation is. We talked about ways we can save energy around our house, at school, and protecting the environment. We painted Earth. We made random things with recyclable things. We talked about reuse, reduce, and recycle. We read Earth Day, Birthday and The Earth Book. We also celebrated X and X's birthdays! We made some cool crowns!

Why do you want to help take care of earth? I want to help take care of the earth...
Elise - because I want the flowers to live so I can look at them in my garden

Monday, April 20, 2015

2015_04_20 Monday

Elise's school: Field trip tomorrow. I will need to leave the gardens at 12:45 to be back to school for reading club. And Earth day is Wednesday. If you would like to bring anything that relates to earth day to share with the class please do! 
Today we talked about the water cycle and terms such as evaporation and water vapor. We made a water cycle cloud craft. We checked on our plants and we saw some roots and even little sprouts in some cups! We sorted picture cards of people wasting or saving water. They had Mandarin today. We also practiced writing the letter Yy. We came up with words that start with letter y. 

What is a way we can conserve water? 
Elise-you can conserve water by turning off your bathtub water when you are done using it