A Nest in the Rocks

Field Trip Friday – Play Ball!

July 18, 2014 by Amy

You can find a lesson in everything. Today, we found all sorts of lessons at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Durham Bulls are a AAA-affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, and a few times each season, they hold a special Education Day.

Now, financially speaking, this is a great deal. All teachers get in free – so for a home school group like ours, that meant that fully half of our group didn’t pay for a ticket. You have the option of buying a boxed lunch for only $3.50, and there’s also a baseball-related curriculum that’s available for download. Several kid-friendly booths were set up in the concourse area, with things like Smokey the Bear, Bobber the Water Dog, and the Durham Museum of Life and Science. The museum staff brought along snakes and other animals for the students to touch and check out.

Educationally speaking, the curriculum is great. It’s written for students in grades 2 through 8, and it’s written specifically using the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The plans are detailed and very applicable to real life, and although none of the kids who went with us today are ready to use those plans, it is very possible to alter them to our students’ levels.

Practically speaking, a day at the ball park is just plain FUN! If you have one in your area and you haven’t been, you should definitely check it out.

We go a few times each year, and my Little Man was quite excited to be back.

Of course, if your children don’t know the basic positions and rules of baseball, you could always talk about that. No matter what your focus, you must watch the game – you never when a pop fly will come heading your way!

Sometimes, even the players have to pow-wow!

Keeping score, track of batting averages, hits, runs, strikes, outs, and balls is all math. Complicate it a bit by tracking and graphing it before and/or after the game to get an idea of how your team is doing over a given period of time. Or, you could learn about other jobs related to baseball. For example, at the DBAP, the numbers on the scoreboard are changed manually.

One of the great things about this type of event is that it’s a real bonding experience. For our family, it’s something that we enjoy doing together several times each season. There’s just something about the roar of the crowds and cheering for your favorite players together that you can’t recreate in front of a TV!

With the cheering goes the eating. We personally prefer the refillable monster tubs of popcorn – we can munch through the whole game, and if our little hands spill a little, we can always request more! (And at ballpark prices, you can teach some great economics lessons right there.)

I somehow doubt that all of these people turned out just for the game, though. Watching the actual players was not exactly my favorite thing when we first started going, either. I preferred …

the giant sumo matches held between the innings.

My Little Man’s personal favorite is watching the team mascot, Wool E. Bull, race around the field in his little blue sports car.

Celebrating home runs and winning scores with the Bull is always fun!

If none of these float your boat, I suppose you could always get a haircut!

The Durham Bulls do an exceptional job of making a trip to their field fun for the whole family, and it really is educational, too.

Have you spent a day at the ballpark learning??

Field Work Friday – Dance

July 18, 2014 by Amy

Today we visited a Christi’s Dance Center to learn what dance is all about.

We started out by learning about the different types of dance that Christi teaches and the kinds of shoes worn for each one.

Christi, the studio owner, taught our class. She had everyone begin basic stretches …

of many different kinds.

The kids loved these!

After getting really warmed up, Christi taught the children about the basic positions of classical ballet. The children enjoyed trying to copy Christi’s feet and arms!

Christi also showed the children a variety of ways to move across the floor based on different styles of dance.

My son had never been exposed to formal dance or exercise before. He loved trying to follow the moves and did well until the need to run won out. We’ll definitely be doing more specific exercises around here, though, and if you’ve never checked out a dance studio … find one near you and check it out!

Do your kids take dance??

Field Work Friday – The Conservators’ Center

July 18, 2014 by Amy

Yesterday our group visited The Conservators’ Center, a non-profit rescue organization that helps animals in need. They are located in outside Mebane, North Carolina, and have an absolutely wonderful website.

Upon arrival, head animal keeper Janine began our tour.

First we saw servals. These cats are originally from the African grasslands and were fascinating to watch.

I must admit, I can’t remember the name of this cat. She just kept pacing and pacing throughout part of her cage as we stood, watching, and learning about her. I felt so bad for making her nervous that I missed hearing anything else!

I’ve never heard of a binturong before. These Asian animals are banana crazy and imperative for keeping the rainforest alive and well. This one in particular showed off for us by climbing all over his habitat, including showing us how to climb down a tree head first!

Everyone seemed fascinated with the wolves, and this arctic-timber wolf in particular stayed right near us for quite some time.

We didn’t faze this tiger. He just hung out in the corner of his pen and watched us all. He was one cool cucumber!

Some of the lions and tigers were born around the same time and have been raised together. There was something awesome about watching these two species of cats play together.

They rested atop this towering play structure in their area, too. I’d love to know what they’re thinking!

My most favorite animal, however, was Arthur, the white tiger. He may be part snow tiger, or his coloring may be due to the abuse he suffered as a baby; but either way, his stripes are very faint and are most prominent on his tail.

We didn’t seem to bother Arthur, either, and were able to catch him playing hide-and-seek with his friend …

and then, amazingly, he went seeking while we were still there! I’ve only seen these types of animals in the zoo, before, when the most action you can hope for is a lazy tail flick as they sleep. To see such strong and mighty animals roughhousing only a few feet away was incredible.

The kids took their own kiddie cameras along and took hundreds of pictures – literally – so we’ll be editing those tomorrow. They were both fascinated with the animals, but also with the new friends that they’ve made today. Isn’t it funny how experiencing something amazing with someone else draws you together?

After a picnic lunch in the Conservators’ Center’s new pavilion, we headed home, full of stories of lions and tigers and … bobcats and lemurs and wolves and all sorts of wonderful animals.

If you’ve never been to The Conservators’ Center and you live in the area, be sure to check it out. It’s definitely worth a visit. If you live far away, be sure to check out what kind of animal resources are in your backyard. You won’t be sorry.

Field Work Friday – Visiting a Civil War Camp

July 18, 2014 by Amy

While we were visiting my hometown in Pennsylvania a few months ago, we heard about a Civil War camp and re-enactment happening in a local park. We knew the kids would want to check it out.

It was a warm afternoon in early May, but although we missed a gun battle, we caught a few stations still set up – like a field hospital and mess tent.

As we watched, the stations ended and the re-enactors went about their normal lives. This man settled into his tent for a good read.

These men immediately retreated to a tent to clean their weapons. When we approached, they explained what they were doing and showed us their tools.

My Big Helper was playing journalist with her camera and wanted to know more about what their tents contained. This nice man walked the few feet away to his tent and showed her the items the soldiers would’ve had access to – a simple cot, blanket, etc. He also pointed out his largest weapon and showed how it functioned. Both kids loved this, and my Big Helper even had a chance to feel its heft! Weighing in at nine pounds, this was both heavy and awkward for her, especially in such a tiny space.

We were excited to see these actors stirring a kettle of chicken corn soup. This is a staple where I come from, and it was fun to see that it was eaten even back then.

The best part of the affair for us girls was the ball. That night the camp held an old-fashioned ball in a pavilion, and many of the re-enactors came in full regalia. My Big Helper especially liked this gown, one of the fanciest there.

She was brave enough to ask her for pictures, and we were then surprised by a kind offer from the actress: she asked my daughter to dance with her!

This kind girl assumed the role of the man so that she could guide my Big Helper around the dance floor. See her there in the back? She was having a … well, a ball! This meant a lot to her, and she talked about it for days.

Both kids are now super excited to study the Civil War. We don’t have any plans to add in a unit for that in the near future, but we might venture out to more Civil War re-enactments.

You’ll never know what you might find.

Do you like living history? What’s your favorite era?

Field Work Friday – Cinco de Mayo

July 18, 2014 by Amy

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we visited a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. Many of the people who were there are from Mexico, and the manager agreed to speak to us about the significance of the holiday.

We ate at Torero’s, a local place with bright decor, flat-screens mounted near the ceilings throughout, and a very yummy menu. (Well, the food is good, not the menu itself, but you know what I mean.)

This is my chair. See what I mean? The whole place is like this – tables, chairs, wall hangings, etc. It’s very bright, but there’s lots to look at, and my kids love to go there – because they can eat chips while they wait for their meals, and so they can talk about all the things carved into our table. It’s just fun.

First, we ate, with my kids really getting into the Mexican theme. My Little Man with his ‘matoes, nuggets, and rice …

and My Big Helper with her cheeseburger. Oh, well! (Most of the rest of us did actually eat Mexican food – but I must admit, they do have good burgers!)

While we finished our meal, the fabulous manager David brought over one of his staff members to tell us about the history of Cinco de Mayo. Basically, we learned that the holiday is a celebration of a Mexican defeat over Spain back in the 1800s, and that the holiday carries with it no special foods or traditional means of celebration. Whatever the case, we certainly celebrated with an abundance of chips, salsa, and chicken nuggets!

David and his staff were very kind in sharing a bit of their heritage with us. Are there any restaurants near you where you could visit and learn a bit of another culture?

Field Work Friday – Christmas Is A-Comin’

July 18, 2014 by Amy

Christmas is a-comin’
And the goose is gettin’ fat!
Please to put a penny in an old man’s hat.
If you haven’t got a penny then a ha’penny would do,
If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!

We used to play the ‘Bonanza’ Christmas album that features that song over and over at Christmastime when I was a kid. I don’t hear it often anymore, but it does hint around at the real spirit of Christmas.

Last week for playgroup we tried to focus on the real reason for the season. We met at a local church, where the pastor read the children a story by Ruth Graham that talked about the very first Christmas.

After that, he assigned each child a part in the Christmas story, and they dressed up using simple costumes that the church had on hand. (I think it would be really fun to make some costumes like this sometime ….) The pastor then read the Christmas story from the book of Luke and directed each ‘actor’ when his part was read. The angel was very excited about his wings!

After that, it was time to break loose for a bit. Everyone brought craft supplies, and the kids made cards for our next field trip, when we’ll visit with the residents at an assisted living center. Some were especially excited about fancy scissors, while others were more interested in decorating shapes and gluing them onto their cards..

Soon we’ll visit the center and sing to the residents and pass out the cards we’ve made. What better way for little ones to spread some Christmas cheer than with crayons and song?

Field Work Friday – Behind the Scenes at the Movie Theater

July 18, 2014 by Amy

When I was a kid, I remember sitting in a movie theater at the start of a show, watching the flickering lights, and turning around to see where it was coming from. I always wondered what was behind the small window high in the wall, and somehow I pictured a white-haired man in a black suit, perched on a stool beside an ancient projector.

That’s not what you’ll find in our local movie theater.

This week our playgroup headed out to Palace Pointe for a behind-the-scenes tour of how movies are shown.

The theater manager, Andy, has worked in theaters for 16 years now. After meeting us in the lobby, he escorted us into the elevator and through the hallways to the projection room.

Expecting a small, dark space, imagine my amazement when we found ourselves in a large, bright, white-tiled room! Super clean and very bright, Andy said that dust is the enemy of any theater because it will show up as spots and splotches onscreen. Film machines actually have to be cleaned after each showing to keep everything operating smoothly.

Andy explained that when film is sent to the theater, it arrives on these small reels – each of which holds about 20 minutes of film.

In days of old, someone did have to perch beside the machine and change the reels as they finished – but no more. Now they use this machine, a splicer, to attach the film end-to-end and make one really long reel. They use a special kind of super-thin tape to secure it.

When they’re done, they have one huge real that rests on these round wheels called platters. From here, the film winds through this machine, through the projector next to it, and then is wound onto another platter either above or below it. This returns it to the proper form so that it’s ready to be shown again.

Andy explained that each square in the film represented 1/24th of a second. Wow!

Then he showed us the ‘commercials,’ the ads for other movies that play prior to the start of the feature presentation.

Much smaller and tightly bound, he even let our children pass around one. They had never really seen film before, so this was a big deal! Funny how things change, isn’t it?

All of this will soon be completely obsolete, however, because new requirements make it impossible to show film past December of this year.

By December theaters will be required to have a digital projector like this one.

This machine is basically a large computer attached to a projector. The movies arrive on a hard drive that is then inserted into the machine. The film companies send key codes so that each movie can only be shown on a particular machine and within certain dates. The theater then shows the movies by operating the touch-screen computer – or by pushing buttons on a phone.

Each one of these machines cost about $100,000. Can you imagine??

Andy also explained that most movies are not sent per certain amount of money, but the theaters are charged a percentage of their sales – and that it’s usually 97& – 98% total! He told us that they make very little money from actually showing the movies, and that that’s why theaters charge so much for popcorn and snacks. That’s how they make the money that pays for staff wages, the light bill, etc.

So there you have it. No little old man in a black suit – just a lot of big, black machines and small cartridges.

Who knew??

Field Work Friday – Behind the Scenes with the Durham Bulls

July 18, 2014 by Amy

Last week we traveled to the Durham Bulls’ Athletic Park for a complete tour of the stadium. We were all excited to return to the stadium, but especially to see into the areas where visitors don’t usually go!

My camera decided to be funky when we arrived, so these pictures were all taken by my friend Jennifer and kindly shared. Thanks, Jennifer!

Our tour began in the luxury box at the top of the stadium. This box belongs to the owner, and it quite lives up to its name. This is the view from the box. It sits just to the left of the press box, which is directly behind home plate, where the announcers have the best view.

The luxury box consists of a large room with several different areas. Of course, there are cushy chairs in front of a granite countertop by large windows that overlook the field; but there’s also a table in the center with a kitchen area behind it.

At one end of the kitchen , just behind the table, is the barber shop. Outside the luxury box, just beside the window, is an old-fashioned barber pole.

The kitchen was very pretty. It must be fun to serve game foods there.

Outside of the elevator that took us up and down on our tour sits Wool E. Bull on a bench. We were all excited to see him there and so had to stop for pictures.

I apologize for the blurriness of this picture, but it was pretty dark in here – we were inside the scoreboard located on the Blue Monster! I was surprised to learn that the scoreboard consisted of an elevated wooden platform in a narrow storage corridor between the stadium and the building next door. Large windows with latches hold the numbers, which are stacked on a shelf below where they are needed. A single metal chair sits in the space for the man in charge of the board, with an oscillating fan nearby. Our tour guide said that at one game last year the temperature reached 108 degrees inside the scoreboard. That’s hot!

As we moved out of this corridor, we visited the dugouts, the practice room, and the locker room. My Little Man loved visiting all of these official, players-only areas. It’s really neat to see what’s happening behind the scenes.

So if you’re ever looking for a fun, family outing and you’re in the Durham area, be sure to check out the Bulls’ stadium. It’s worth the trip!

Apple Day at the State Farmer’s Market

July 18, 2014 by Amy

This week we ventured to Raleigh to go to the State Farmer’s Market. This place is amazing – multiple huge shelters full of locally grown fruits and vegetables, plants, trees, meats, nuts, and crafty things like homemade soaps.

The place is enormous – this is only half of one shelter, and there are two others. With many farmers offering samples of watermelons, grapes, apples, and cantelope, we ate our way around the market.

Today was Apple Day, and free samples of apple products were advertised.

We were disappointed to learn that this apple crisp and some stickers was all they had – but the farmers more than made up for it.

This kind gentleman passed out samples of ice cold apple cider. It was fabulous!

Peaches were available, too, and we had to bring a few home.

There was an abundance of produce available, and we couldn’t decide exactly what to bring home. These tomatoes – with their funny sign – were on the list!

We couldn’t bring home nearly as much as we wanted to -but we met several nice people and had a nice picnic outside. We also found one farm willing to let us build our own box of apples – any varieties we wanted – and another who sold us two boxes of seconds at a great price.

Applesauce, here we come!

What are your favorite apple recipes??

Great Books for Kids’ Book Clubs

July 17, 2014 by Amy

So, you want to start a book club for your kids … and now you need books. Where do you start? Before anything else, you need to know your kid’s interest. If she’s a pirate fan, then don’t choose a book of poetry! However, if you’re looking for some general interest fiction for the 7-12 year old set, I’ve got some great suggestions.

The Adventures with Lily Lapp books by Suzanne Woods Fisher. The girls in my daughter’s book club chose these books as their very favorites. They LOVED them! They’re sweet and inspiring, full of wisdom and fun – perfect for this age group.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. These classic mysteries are easy to read but full of adventures by some very smart and independent children.
The American Girl Series – particularly Felicity, Kirsten, and Kit. The historical American Girls are great examples of what was happening in American at their particular time in history, and each set covers a full year, so you can see activities that might happen in each season. This provides lots of ideas for club meetings. The American Girl History Mysteries are a bit longer and more challenging, but also great for book clubs.
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures by Jeff Brown & Macky Pamintuan. The Flat Stanley books are cute and adventuresome, but they don’t hold a candle to the new ones! Stanley’s flat again and traveling the world, solving mysteries and exploring new territories. This series is a great way to learn about a new place in a fun way. The website also has fun activities listed for each book, so part of your planning is already done for you.
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Another classic, kids will love seeing how kids lived back on the prairie – and they’ll especially like trying Laura’s favorite activities.
The Mandie Books by Lois Gladdys Leppard. I loved these books when I was a kid and saved my money to buy them at our local bookstore. They’re not as easy to find now, but they are available in collections and digitally. My Big Helper is now flying through the series – she loves reading about this adventuresome girl from North Carolina!
The Cul-de-Sac Kids by Beverly Lewis. These simple chapter books are about a group of kids who are friends and neighbors and the problems they face. In each book that I’ve read, the kids have faced their problems and learned from them.
Adventures in Odyssey’s Imagination Station. These books are full of adventure but involve lots of history, too, and you can be sure that they’re family friendly.
Edison’s Gold by Geoff Watson. This book for tweens is packed full of action and adventure, science, history, math – and fun!
The Recipe for Adventure series by Giada de Laurentiis. These books are easy to read and full of foodie fun!

To see the books and some of the activities that we’ve done as part of our book club meetings, visit our Book Club page. You can still download the printables I use when planning our book club meetings for free here at my TpT Store. Some of these books feature girls as main characters, and others, boys; but all of them are great for book club adventures. What book would you choose for a book club adventure? Shared at I Can Teach My Child.