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Yesterday E had her piano lesson and then we went to the library for storytime. I let them have the rest of the day for free play and reading.

Today was Jackie Robinson's birthday, so I read Teammates by Peter Golenbock. T requested You Are My I Love You by Maryann K. Cusimano, which is such a sweet, profound book. Then another chapter of James Cross Giblin's The Mystery of the Mammoth Bones, and then Paul Goble's The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and Buffalo by Emilie U. Lepthien. Today's poetic form was the quatrain, which we read about in A Kick in the Head by Paul B. Janeczko. The example in the book was from William Blake:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

She traced it out on her handwriting worksheet. The only word she had to define was symmetry. Now she is doing her math, and then we're done.

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T picked out Your New Potty by Joanna Cole, which may be a hopeful sign. Then I read a chapter from James Cross Giblin's The Mystery of the Mammoth Bones, "Raven Brings Fresh Water" (From Sea to Shining Sea--Amy Cohn), and Houses of Wood by Bonnie Shemie. Then E did her math and everyone watched Peep. After lunch, we ran out to the pharmacy while E read It Could Still Be Water by Allan Fowler to T. Then when we got home, E copied out and memorized the 3rd verse of her poem, learning and writing definitions for "value", "venerate", and "salute". (The definition for salute had the word "acknowledge" in it, so she learned that too). Then we put together Dover's Northwest Coast Punch-Out Indian Village by A. G. Smith. (I confess I used scotch tape on the totem poles and the canoe--it doesn't look as nice as glue, but it kept me from swearing in front of the kids, so I think it's a good trade-off). E was able to assemble the longhouse all by herself.

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The Plan was, the PLAN was that I would read a chapter a day from James Cross Giblin's The Mystery of the Mammoth Bones, since it's a bit thick and wordy for a seven-year-old (so I thought), and that would lead into some fossil studying and so forth. But I guess I wasn't remembering how I devoured the whole dinosaur section of James Michener's Centennial when I was in first grade--anyhow E sat right down last night and plowed through 2 more chapters all by herself, so I guess I'll just have to pick up the story tomorrow at Chapter 4, and hope she can fill me in on what's going on...so much for plans!

This morning we went to E's piano lesson, then the library, and we went to Pizza Hut for lunch with one of her Book-It coupons (E: "Did I meet my reading goal, then, Mommy?" Me: "Yes, sweetie, if your reading goal was 'Read constantly', you certainly met it..."). When we got back E traced out and memorized the second verse of her poem, learning and writing definitions for "cotton to", "dote upon" and "stately". I read Clamshell Boy: A Makah Legend by Terri Cohlene and (in anticipation of the arrival of the microscope which I knew was on the porch already) Greg's Microscope by Millicent E. Selsam. She and T watched Peep while I got the microscope unpacked and then we looked at many many small and tiny things. Actually, the microscope we got is really cool; it's called a duoscope, and you can use it as a regular compound microscope, or as a stereo or dissecting microscope, for looking at small solid things, like bugs or rocks, without the use of slides. After that, I let her look through a neat book of mine called Then and Now, which has photos of ancient ruins paired with acetate overlays that show what they might have looked like when new. E's verdict: "I think the new looks much better than the ruins!"

Yesterday she was asking about holograms, because there is one on one of her bookmarks. I tried without success to find a suitable book at the library or a website that wasn't too confusing, but then, oh joy! I remembered that I had bought for them years ago a copy of David Macauley's The Way Things Work--and it has a section about holograms! Yay for the Ann Arbor friends of the library book sale all those years ago--they thought I was crazy buying all those books for my 6 month old! Who's laughing now?

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I couldn't post yesterday because my modem was down. I was getting pretty jittery without my internet fix! Yesterday we took an easy day since it was MLK Jr. Day. I read My Dream of Martin Luther King by Faith Ringgold. Then since last Sat. was Cezanne's birthday, I read Mike Venezia's biography, Paul Cezanne, and we looked at some pictures in a book I have about Cezanne. We made Bull Roarers (More Than Moccasins, Laurie Carlson) and played and sang "Song of Happiness" in From Sea to Shining Sea by Amy Cohn. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch and played Fast Track (Games for Math, Peggy Kaye).

Today T picked When the Sky is Like Lace by Elinor Lander Horowitz. (E read it to T last night too. Last night the sky really was like lace! And with the full moon, it was perfectly bimulous. But too cold to go outside barefoot in our nightgowns, though I did let them go out in their coats and shoes for a bit, after checking to make sure they weren't wearing any orange, not even underneath.) Then I read the first chapter of The Mystery of the Mammoth Bones by James Cross Giblin, and If You Lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma. E did her math, and T played with the Cuisenaire Rods. They both watched Peep. E started memorizing a new poem, "I Do Not Like the Rat!" from The New Kid on the Block: Poems by Jack Prelutsky:

I praise the hippopotamus,
I celebrate the bat,
I hold the bream in high esteem--
I DO NOT LIKE THE RAT!

I cotton to the octopus,
I tolerate the gnat,
I dote upon the stately swan--
I SHUDDER AT THE RAT!

I value the rhinoceros,
I venerate the cat,
I quite salute the simple newt--
I CANNOT STAND THE RAT!

I gave a suitably dramatic reading, then gave E a Handwriting Worksheet Wizard worksheet with the first verse on it, to copy over. I also asked her which words she didn't know (bream and esteem) and had her write them with their definitions on the back of the page.