Yummy, bugs!

After attending a class about insects and arachinds at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, we decided to study more about these creatures. Tonight, we had a bug for desert! Actually, it's made of ice cream. It has 3 body parts (head, thorax & abdomen) made of ice cream, 6 legs made of pretzles, eyes made of M&M's, a mandible made of a broken M&M, and then we added a chocolate "shell" for the exoskeleton. Yummy, bugs!!! Tommorow night, we think we'll try the same thing, but make a spider instead! Yum, yum! (This was adapted from a Core Knowledge lesson plan)
Non-fiction book:

• On Beyond Bugs: All About Insects by Tish Rabe (added to list March 2006) - great Cat in the Hat book - it's funny, it rhymes, and it teaches, all at the same time!
• Insects That Work Together: A Bobbie Kalman Book by Aloian & Kalman - wonderful book with great facts & photos! (added Oct 2006)

Egypt

We are just getting started on Egypt, but wanted to write down some of our favorite resources so far (since I have to take them back to the library tomorrow)...

• "Mummies Unwrapped! Alien Adventures in Ancient Egypt" - a National Geogrphic Kids Video that is funny (in a childish way - but we enjoyed it), yet informational
• "Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs" by James Rumford- wonderful book - it also teaches about perseverence and that even kids can dream big & fulfill their dreams
• "Adventures in Ancient Egypt" by Linda Bailey - funny, but very informational book - it's about twins (brother/sister) & their little sister who travel back in time (reminds me of The Magic Tree House books) - lots of pictures - we highly recommend it
• "The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle: Solving a Mystery of Ancient Egypt" by Claudia Logan
• "The Crafts and Culture of the Ancient Egyptians" by Jovinelly (added May 2006) - we've been reading some more about Egypt lately & came across this great craft book - we made a headdress & will post the picture soon - we planned on making the cat mummy, but haven't made the time
• "Look What Came from Egypt"

Above is a step pyramid we built out of sugar cubes.

Penguins

We went and saw "The March of the Penguins" movie at the theater last week (but, Alex fell asleep after about 20 minutes). After that, we borrowed a very cute movie from the library called "Antartic Antics." It is based on a poetry book by the same name, but in the movie they sing them as songs and they are very cute! Also, we borrowed a book called "Penguin Chick" by Betty Tatham. It goes wonderfully with "The March of the Penguins."