Educational | The Angel Forever

Category Archives Educational

Up Close and Personal With Hippos

Posted on August 11, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Back in March, I was able to participate in the Wild African Trek at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As one of the lucky people that signed up quickly enough, I was part of a small group of bloggers during out time. When I left off, we had started out tour and had just arrived at the Hippo area. Alex stopped to tell us all about hippos. We learned about their blood sweat, how they communicate with wheeze honking, and more.

Then, it was time to head over to the viewing area. This is where our harnesses would be hooked for the first official time on our trek. Yes, those gorgeous black straps seen in back were going up and over us for some prime viewing of the hippos.

It is against my better judgment to share this photo, but here I am looking out at the hippos. You can see my harness stretching back onto the apparatus that allowed us to move around the area (forgot to take a photo of that).

Here’s another view of others in our group around the platform.

You can see that we are across the water from where the vehicles on the Kilimanjaro Safari go during their tours that visitors can take in the park. Here is a group. I must say often times they were more curious about us on the ledge, and not the two giant hippos feeding down below.

Our timing was amazing, we got there with some of the hippo research scientists who were going to feed the animals below us. The two gentleman were so nice explaining what they were doing and answering questions. Of course, they were skeptical when we asked them to do a wheeze honk demonstrations – perhaps it was the cameras and videos that stopped them.

They explained that feeding time is also when they are able to check the dental care of the hippos and make sure they have no injuries in their mouths. This gave me a new appreciation for the game Hungry Hungry Hippos.

These two particular hippos were father and son and they were near us. All of the girls were at the other end of the water area. Here are a few more photos of the boys from our view on the ledge:

Soon, it was time to head to the next part of our adventure. We thanked the researchers for all of the learning and continued on. When we saw the next item on the trail, we knew there was no turning back.

Finally, it was time for some of us to face our fears. Yes – we would soon be meeting both of these

The days of joking about this were over. Now it was time for Shannan and I to meet the bridges. To be continued!

So what do you think so far? Would you have gone on this amazing adventure within the wonderful world of Disney? Please share any behind the scenes tours that you have experienced.

Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan, it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends Disney DisneySMMoms Educational fun interesting looking back me moments photos

Tuesday Tales – DC Super Heroes Books

Posted on August 9, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Tuesday Tales

As the mother of two little boys, I have written about my need for a tutor in Super Heroes 101. I do believe I may have found something that will help my need to learn more about the characters that my boys love, but also keep my oldest reading.

While at the library with TechyDad one rainy Saturday, the boys were looking at the chapter book section together. At this point, we had just gotten NHL reading the A to Z Mysteries and he realized that chapter books were not as scary as he thought they were. Suddenly, they noticed some Batman and Superman Series from Capstone Publishers. Yes, there they were pulling my son under their spell. He asked to take one home to try. That book was finished rather quickly. On our next trip to the library, he picked up these three Super DC Heroes Superman books.

As a reading teacher, I have learned that I will rarely turn my nose up at any book that a child will read. Thankfully, these days there are a lot more books out there for reluctant readers, especially on topics that boys will be attracted to. These books range from 3-4 grade reading level and have an M in Guided Reading Level.

NHL seems to really like these books. He will sit and devour them and then after tell us all about them. As a parent, I like that they keep his interest and are giving him more than a simple story. How do they do that? Well, let’s look inside one of the Superman books. Yes, they have pictures within, but they are also filled with dialogue among the characters, show paragraph formation, and more for early reader/writers.

Saturday night, NHL finished one of the books. TechyDad opened up the book and that is when the two of us realized how much more was inside. At the end of each book, there is a summary from Clark Kent on Daily Planet letter head. Within this, he summaries who the arch nemesis of the book is and highlights and explains crucial parts.

Then, there is a biography page. This is perfect for people like me who are still learning about all of the people. On the opposite side is a glossary of terms. Check out the vocabulary, not too shabby for a chapter book. The teacher in me was impressed and happy that children were being challenged while reading these books.

Then, I heard TechyDad asking NHL questions. You guessed it, there were some discussion questions at the end of the book. Not only did they make NHL think about what he read, but called on prior knowledge to make connections. Each built on things and really made the reader explain why they answered one way or another. In addition to this, there were some fantastic writing prompts. One asked you to write your favorite part of the book from a different character’s perspective.

What you may also notice is that the last page points you to a website for the kids. The publishers have a spot where you can go and catch up with characters from all of their different series, including the DC Super Heroes. Thanks to this, I now know there are 16 in the Superman series and can reference the characters and things with NHL in a safe, child friendly setting.

My lesson learned, I will not judge a book by it’s cover again. Just because it looks a bit comic book like, it can still pack an educational punch.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Categories:
books Educational interesting nhl photos TechyDad Tuesday Tales

Art Education Meets Disney – Catch Me There

Posted on August 7, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When you bring a child to an event where they need to be creative, you never know what may inspire them. Case in point was when the boys and I went to our local library for a Story Tower event run by the Tang Museum. I wrote about the actual program here on my blog in a post titled When Art Meets Library.

I hinted that NHL was inspired by Disney’s Animal Kingdom when it was his time to make a story tower. I expanded on this for my most recent Education post for The Disney Driven Life titled When Disney Collides with Art Education. NHL showed me that he learned a great deal during our trips to Disney. He knew about different animals, their habitats, and where they were within the types of vegetation. I loved how he mimicked this knowledge by creating his own animal kingdom complete with Fast Pass. To read more about this, please stop by and read the rest of the story.

Please stop by to say hello and check out the other magical posts from my Disney Drive Life friends. My other posts there can be found under NDM183 – that’s me!

Have your children ever used things from your travels at times you least expected? Please be sure to share in the comments below.

Categories:
Disney DisneyDrivenLife Educational EduMICKation local event My Other Projects nhl photos

Carnival and Chocolate

Posted on July 31, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday, I wrote all about our travels to Canada, Australia, India, Russia, France, Mexico, and China while staying home. Thanks to the Passport to Fun programs at Michaels, we had the adventure of our life at the local craft store. In the end, we went to eight of the eighteen countries. We missed two because the boys were still in school at the end of June. Then, I completely forgot about the Egypt day on June 25 and Bahamas on June 28. Luckily, I got our act together in time for Canada and beyond. I wish we had been able to make a few others, but they did not work with our schedules and two did not seem age appropriate for my kids.

On Saturday, the program ended with Brazil. What a way to end it making Rio Carnival masks. The boys had a blast working on these with all of the glitter, feathers, and sequins.

Brazil

Of course, while in Michaels we HAD to check out other items. TechyDad looked for a case to house his grandfather’s old telescope in. Both of the ones in stock were cracked, so we are waiting on that. Then, we looked around for ideas to use for NHL’s 8th birthday. NHL has said that he wants lions and other animals as the focus. We chatted about it while walking around and came up with a safari theme. Seems perfect since he loved the Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I know one day I would love to take him on the African Trek I went on.

While checking out the Wilton cupcake making supplies, we wandered over to their chocolate mold section. NHL fell in love with some things there. TechyDad thought they were really interesting and said we should use our coupons and pick them up. So we did. Don’t these look fun?

So we will be making the Oreo/Pretzel molds to go along with some kind of lion cupcake. Do not think there will be time to paint the chocolate and make it pretty, but it’s still fun and something the kids can help with. If you have any lion cupcake suggestions – I would love to know.

What have you been up to this weekend of July?

Categories:
arts and crafts baking birthday decisions Educational food glorious food fun jsl local event nhl photos summer TechyDad weekend yummy

Summer Full of Crafts Around the World

Posted on July 30, 2011 10:03 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

Over the last month, we have spent a lot of time at a very unlikely location. Michaels may be one of my favorite stores to go and get baking, yarn, and other fun crafting supplies. The two of you like to go there, but it was never a favorite. This summer, Michaels teams up with crafting sponsors to have their Passport to Fun program. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, they had items to make and take that went along with their passport filled with countries. Over the weeks, we not only went to Cananda, but several others.

We traveled to Australia where you made a Koala Bear pin and Aboriginal Art using chalk.

In India, you made elephant pins with different fun glitter glues and henna hands with markers.

For our time in Russia, nesting doll puppets and a bear pin were our adventure. Both of you were excited to make your own nesting dolls like the ones at Mimi’s house.

Oui, we went to France. While there, you made a cute Frenchman pin and then had an amazing time showing your Impressionist style using Crayola Twistables Slick Stix. I have a feeling we may be buying some of these for future fun.

Our trip to Mexico reminded us of the suns at the Mexican area of It’s a Small World. You used Crayola Model Magic to create your own suns and also made a tissue paper flower.

China was a little messy, but lots of fun. You were able to try some Tibetan sand paintings of your own.

Today is the last of the events for Brazil. I know that I am sad to see this part of our summer over. Luckily, I have a lot of crafting supplies home and we can try some of the other items that were located in the great passport from Michaels. Yes, it has been a fun summer filled with new crafts and learning about different locations in the world. I know both of you will remember much of this. I hope we can continue to explore these items for the rest of the summer.

Love,

Mommy

_______________________________________

If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.