Feild Trip: Mason Bees

Cocoa Green Market

Sept 27th 2013

 

We started off with a short educational video of different types of insects that help our gardens and wild plants.

The kids learned mainly about Bees and how they gather Pollen from plant to plant.  Kids also learned some main identifying traits of bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, stink bugs etc.

 

 

 

Next we went outside to explore the garden looking at all the different types of bugs in the garden.

 

While outside the kids and adults got to learn about native Florida plants and how to keep our Gardens full of life (Bug life).  As the kids found Insects our guide would come and collect it into a collector so the kids could see the insect up close but the insect was safe. Insect is only inspected for a minute or two and placed back where they were. 

 Found some caterpillars and a few cystitis, stink bugs, bees of different types, lady bugs to name a few.

After the garden we were shown a Mason Bee house and told how to build one.  Now we are in the search of a nice piece of wood to build a house with to put into our garden.

The neat thing is each hole can can fit at least 5 baby bees.  As the babies are ready they come out 1 at a time with the front being the first out (last one in) male bee.  The first egg laid will be the last bee out and the bee will the a SHE.

Did you know that 55% of all insects are female??  So next time your calling a bug a gender say SHE, your more likely to be right.

 

We ended our trip with exploring the farm and looking at the cows, goats, European Honey Bee hive, lots of Chickens  and some fresh Pumpkin Ice cream.

If your in the area this is a great farm to visit and try some yummy treats in the store

Back to School Bash -Coco Key

Back to School Bash

August 30th 2013

 

Last Day to be eight!

 

K had a blast at Coco Key!  Proud moment - K who is scared of most things until he rides something a few times marched up the stairs and rode lots of tube rides by himself and with friends.  He's matured so much in the last year.  So proud of his growth this last year and cant wait to see what the 3rd grade brings.

                                  Hope everyone is off to a great start of the year

Field Trip: Chocolate Kingdom 8/22/2013

Chocolate Kingdom

Orlando, Florida

 

How the Cacao bean turns into the chocolate that we have grown to LOVE

 

Join us with our photos

 

Here we are learning about the cacao bean and how it grows near the equator.  The Pod takes years to be ripe and its heavy when its ready to be picked off the tree.  

 

We got to sample the Cacao bean at its dry stage with a sugar coating.  Didn't get K's face when trying it out but he ended up liking it more than I did.  I have to admit I did spit mine out!  Bitter!

Here we are talking about the process of drying the beans and how they use to make the cacao powder.

Here we are learning about the history behind the Cacao. Cacao used to be used as money.  Umm, that was some yummy money.

Sampling an ancient recipe of hot Chocolate and learning how they use to make the Hot Chocolate to make it all frothy.  Glad we have gadgets that make the job so much easier today!

Chocolate river and a Marshmallow game.  K Love this!

This was my favorite area.  We got to see how the Cacao bean went through a machine to get the Nibs which is what you make the Chocolate with.

Here we are given samples of each type of Chocolate where we get to savor all the different flavors.

K ordered a Milk Chocolate bar with Marshmallows and M&M's, I got Milk Chocolate with Marshmallows and Carmel.  YUM!  Their Chocolate was GOOD!  I am a Chocolate snob liking European Chocolate so much that I am known to Order a good batch once a year for Christmas.  Just saying it's pretty darn good

The Cacao trees growing at Chocolate Kingdom

 

Great Info on Cacao

Chocolate Kingdom <--- check="" fl="" fun="" if="" in="" its="" out="" p="" place="" the="" this="" your="">

Field Trip: Gatorland 8/20/13

Gatorland

8/20/2013

 

Started the day off with a drive to Orlando to enjoy Alligators in a safe place.  A great place to learn about the creatures that live in our back yard (in lakes/canals)

 

Welcome to GATORLAND!

 

When you first walk in you get to enjoy all the young in's sun bathing.  This was by far my favorite pond to watch.  Just watching the cute little guys

                                                                  Gator wrestling!
Not as fun as I thought this was going to be.  However, we learned about how they protect their eye's in the wild from being injured.  Learned that an Gator can stay under water for 2 hours before coming up for air.  Gators top jaw is where they have strength where crocodiles its the bottom jaw.  Glad we started the day with this while the kids were excited to learn about gators.

                                                              An albino Gator!

Albino gators don't live long in the wild because they don't blend in with their surroundings and tend to fall pray to other gators.  When an Albino gator is found places like gatorland take them in so that we can protect them and learn more about them.

The feeding station.  Turkey dogs were on the menu for today! 
Looking at this Picture I have no idea why I wasn't thinking that these guys can propel themselves out of the water.  Guess they had enough hot dogs that they didn't feel like a hand and a camera ;o).  As you can see in the first picture there is a net

These two are the sweetest friends ever.  Just love their friendship! 

A hot day of 97 degrees but a great time with friends made the temperatures bearable.  Already, looking forward to another trip to ride the zipline.

Field Trip: Publix 8/13/13

Publix Field Trip

8/13/13

 

Yeah we all had to wear hair nets!  I was blessed with having to wear 2!  Homeschool moms rock as they not once thought twice about helping me get my hair all covered!

 

 We started the tour in the bakery where we watched a decorator decorate a mini cake.  The kids where in aww watching how fast the cake went from plain to cute.  All the kids got to taste some frosting which they enjoyed at 10 AM ;o)

                                                                   Next off to the Deli

 Asking questions about their favorite sandwiches!  Every one sampling a slice of white American cheese.

                                                                      Produce

 The kids walked through the produce isles learning about how cold they keep the cold things like OJ (37 degrees)  These FL kids all thought that was cold!  They learned a little bit about apples and how many different types that the store has in stock.  They all listed their favorite potatoes, I heard French fries from one of the kids. K also learned that they get enough boxes every week to touch the ceiling of the store.  That's like 4 Pallets!
 We headed into the back where they kids got to see how they cut the pineapples for the cut fruit. Everyone got to sample some Pineapple.  YUMMY!  We also got to see how they store the produce in the back.  Not sure how they find anything it looked a little cramped but they just got a truck in.

                                                              In the Back

 Look at this Panty!  So much stuff.  The kids got to go into the fridge to feel how cold it was in there.  K came out laughing it was cold he said.  We than went into the freezer and burr that was cold.  I could feel it when they opened the door and I was a good 15 ft away from the freezer.  K walked into the middle and came right out.  He said it's too cold for him.  He thought it was awesome!  The kids got to see how they load the back shelf's when a truck comes in.  They also got to watch the cardboard compactor work.  Of course all children where kept a safe distance from all the working machines.

                                                                          Meat Dept.

This was K's favorite area.  He just really enjoyed watching how everything worked.  The kids where showed the machine that turns the meat into ground beef.  Next, they were showed a machine where they make the preformed hamburger patties.  Now comes the saw that slices the beef into steaks.  The kids also got to see how the meat was packaged down to wt. and wrapping.  I of course didn't get a photo of that.  Opps! 

One thing that was awesome to see is how each dept. showed all steps from washing hands to protecting their hands for safety.

Awesome job Publix!  My kid learned a lot

Welcome to our school room

Welcome to

Soleil Academy

 

 Teachers Desk.  Don't mind the pile of papers under the desk that are waiting to be filed away

Favorite photo of son and Hubs with my lotion, hand santi, lip balm  this years field trip planner
Laptop
Camera, pencil container, new planner, curriculum magazines, adoption fund pouch. Sharpies
Turn in box

Under desk
School Ipad, File (Student worksheets) Trash and our family and finance binders

                                                                       ~Our HUB~
                                Top to Bottom left to right
Teacher binders    Teacher books        Teacher helper books      Past year Binders    Current Binder
Student workbooks   EMPTY        His./Soc.S teacher helper books  Math/theme books  Classic books
Mon-Fri work boxes
Animals                   PlayMobil                LEGOS                   Lincoln Logs/Lego books      Puzzles
Play dough    Preschool learning games     LEGOS             Duplo Legos                         Games

                                                                   Music area.

                                                         Black shelf holds our manipulative
                                                            Art Area (For Now)
                                                     White book rack holds books that we are reading this week

 Our morning area.  This is where we do a few minutes of reviewing things and also where I do story  time.
Every morning we go over the date by writing it out.  I also will write a couple short sentences that son has to read and figure out.  Its normally a follow directions picture that he will do in his morning journal.  The Sentences are something that I have him do on his own.  Than have him show me what he got at the end.  Takes 10-15 min's for him to complete.
Clip board is on the floor but that will be hanging on the wall soon.  I use clipboards when son is in this area away from his desk.

Our bulletin board is just FUN!  For the spring I had son make the whole thing without knowing.  Just short lessons every day to the grand finale of the bulletin board.  He was super excited to see how I used his art work.  The Face was another lesson not part of building the bulletin board

Play table is just that a play table ;o)  There is another drawer but it's still in the garage

                                                          Our Library area. 
Had lots of books until I put them on the shelf and realized I didn't have as many as I thought.

                                                    from Left to right
Readers-2nd grade reading level      3rd-4th grade reading level    Holiday books <-- moving="" out="" p="" soon="">Fun hard back stories                         Random books                      Classics
SCIENCE (Space/Dinos)            Science (Animals, Bugs, plants)   Character building


Hope you enjoyed touring our school room.  We sure enjoy having our learning space

Last Day of Tennis

 

Chilling while the server gets another ball.                             K and his Tennis coach



Some of K's tennis pals             Awesome serve in action.  That's a hard feat at this distance at his size