Protect the Earth, Kill a Farting Cockroach

Saturday we went to the Springs Preserve again.  Here is what the kids brought into the Nature Exchange...

Isabel brought in the leaves that she pressed and laminated, Luke brought in the nest and little shell and Sylvia brought in "Patrick, the starfish."  Afterward, Luke and Joey went to the Insect Pinning class there while the girls goofed around.

Here are their practice paper pinned insects.

After the class the boys shared some very interesting facts that they learned from the class, such as, did you know that...

"Insect flatulence may account for one-fifth of all the methane emissions on this planet. (Termites are also prodigious farters; indeed, dogs trained to sniff out termites are actually following their farts.) Cockroaches are among the biggest contributors to global warming, since they break wind every fifteen minutes. Furthermore, they continue to release methane gas for eighteen hours after they die."

I thought for sure Joey and Luke were just being gross boys, but no, I found the same info here on Cockroaches, Gross Facts and Information. (And if you find something on the internet then it must be true right? hehehe.)

Ashing

This first picture I had to take so that I will never forget how stylin' Isabel has to be when we go to the pool. That is her pool outfit. The sundress, shawl, glasses, kerchief, towel/backpack and snorkel. Sheesh. Wednesday we had our art history class. As you can see I am getting lazy with the hand out, but they are still learning a lot. They have learned about nine artists and can tell the difference between their styles.

Pablo Picasso -his full name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso -1881 to 1973 -Spain -abstract and cubism -Guernica inspired by Spanish Civil War

Afterward they worked on a picture mimicking Picasso's "blue period" by using blue (of course) and making it look sad. Luke's is a sad alien and Isabel's a sad girl. Today I took Luke to a desert insect class at the Springs Preserve. It was great, he asked a lot of questions and I learned more about insects than I ever wanted to know. Have you ever thought about how insects breathe? Pretty interesting. Luke got to watch as the zoologist let a grasshopper go.

Lately Sylvia will make up a word and then ask me what it means.  Today Sylvia asked me what "ashing" means.  I said I don't know.  She said, "Well, maybe it means you want to take a shower and your family bees mean to you."  Me: "oh."  (what do I say to that?)

Lemonade for Sale...I mean, Cicada Shells for Sale!

Yesterday we visited the Nature Exchange at the Springs Preserve.  Luke had a dragon fly that our cat had caught.  I encouraged Luke to write a report about dragonflies, to get extra points, but he didn't want to and I wasn't about to force him...especially while we are on "summer break."  He did get extra points for answering all of the questions she asked him about dragonflies, compound eyes, exoskeletons, etc.  Once again the Nature Exchange was a great experience.  She even suggested some insect classes for Luke that are coming up.  He will love it.  Luke traded in the dragonfly for a grasshopper "shell" (I guess they shed their skin/shells?)  and a cicada shell.  The cicada shells were only five points each so we asked her if they are very easy to find.  She said that they are all over the trees.  Sure enough, right when we walked out of the Nature Exchange, we found that not only do the cicadas make that lovely buzzing sound in the trees, but they also leave behind their shells all over the trees as well. Luke now wants to collect hundreds of cicada shells, set up a bench in our front yard and have a sign, "Cicada shells, $1 each!"  Uh, some kids sell lemonade, not my boy.  I really didn't know if I should encourage this idea or help lead him to a new idea with his cicada shells.  I couldn't think of anything else to suggest, so I told him that he could sell them if he is the one to figure it all out and do all of it.  Here he is looking for cicada shells.

Isabel didn't want to bring anything to the Nature Exchange so while we were there I looked at a book with her about desert flowers and tried to encourage her to press more flowers and then maybe she could arrange them on a piece of paper and we could laminate them.  I really think that is just the kind of pretty craft she would like.