School Days: Ecosystems

This week was really the first week of a 2 week Earth Day theme. I introduced them to ecosystems. What better way than to make them! Well, little versions anyways. We made 3 terrariums.

So here's what we did:

Desert
Deserts can either be hot or cold but for the sake of simplicity, we only talked about hot ones. Deserts are hot, dry, have sand, cactus, camels, lizards and other plants and animals that like hot and dry climates.


The terrarium
First step is the rocks.


I got a little upset when the flower fell of the cactus when I was planting it.
Then I noticed the huge glob of hot glue.






Wetlands
Wetlands consist of swamps, marshes and bogs. The ground there is wet. There you can find cattails, Venus Fly Traps, Cypress, Spanish moss, beavers, ducks, dragonflies and more.


The terrarium




You can't have a Venus Fly Trap and not feed it!





The bug ended up getting out.
He's still in the terrarium so maybe he'll eventually get eaten.

Forrest
There are several kinds of forests but we narrowed it down to just temperate forests. Forests have lots of trees, grasses, moss, birds, squirrels, raccoons, deer and more. Forests have layers: canoy layer, understory layer, shrub layer, herb layer and soil layer.


The terrarium
This was actually the first one we did but it was my favorite. So, I saved the best for last!

Adding the rocks


Learning about the plants


The finished product:
In one of the books, Sean saw a bridge. He said our forest HAD to have one.


Books
For my research:
The Bonsai Specialist - David Squire
The New Terrarium - Tovah Martin

For the kids:
Temperate Forest - Elizabeth Kaplan
Our Living Forests - Allan Fowler
America's Wetlands - Marianne D. Wallace
Explore the Desert - Kay Jackson
Hot Deserts - Wendy Pfeffer

Kids' picks (2 trips to the library):
Bath Time! - Naomi Kleinberg
Madeline Loves Animals - Jogn Bemelmans Marciano
Sunshine Makes the Seasons - Franklyn M. Branley
Moo, Baa, LA LA LA! - Sandra Boynton
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault
Bugs! - David T. Greenberg
The Secret of Blackbeard's Treasure - Mary Maden
Two's Company - Shirley Greenway
A Lighthouse Adventure - Mary Maden
The Going to Bed Book - Sandra Boynton
Lemons and Lemonade - Nancy Loewen
Curious George Neighborhood Friends

Time for change

We have a 3 bedroom house. It was originally thought the kids would share a room (once Maddy moved out of our room), hubby and I have a room and the other room would be a playroom/homeschooling room. Homeschooling quickly got moved to the kitchen table and the playroom is a huge chaotic headache even after downsizing on the toys. I started thinking about changing things around and giving the kids their own rooms. Sean will get what's now the playroom and Maddy would get the room they were going to split. Sean has a trundle bed that takes up a good amount of room and the playroom is a little bigger. The other room is closer to our room so that'll be easier with her waking at night still.

I'll admit, I'm really looking forward to making the rooms the girl and boy rooms. I didn't want to push stereotypes on my children and have tried not to(remember, my son is in ballet lol) but it seems they have chosen some of them. All the toys have been in one room and the toys have really been both of their toys. Sean does have a baby doll and Maddy does play with cars and tools. However, Maddy is mostly seen carrying her baby around and wearing pocketbooks and Sean is always going to work to fix things or making cars out of anything and everything. Maddy's room is going to have more baby doll stuff than Sean's and Sean's room will have more tools than Maddy's. BUT that doesn't mean that Sean won't have his doll (he's getting a ring sling for Christmas) and Maddy won't have boy toys (you better believe those millions of cars will be spit up!).

The plan was to paint the playroom this week and move furniture this weekend. Like I said, that WAS the plan... We got paint samples last weekend and painted a little on the wall. Sean picked his color and we thought we were go to go. Then it became very obvious the old paint was peeling horribly. Dad thinks the walls weren't prepped right the last time it was painted. Now we get to scrap as much of the old paint off the walls as we can. Then sand down the edges of the old paint and wash the walls really well. Then we finally get to paint! Ugh! I'm just ready for it to be done! Our house is a chaotic mess. Half of the stuff from the playroom is in the kids' room, some are in the livingroom. Because of that, Sean's sleeping in our room.

The color Sean picked and the peeling...