The Salamander Room

I'm a little behind on blogging, but we recently rowed The Salamander Room.

We started our week with a nature walk around our yard. We used the checklist from the Fold & Learn, which we really enjoyed.

It's hard to see here, but we found a bird nest in the brick stacks.

Another one of our finds--not an uncommon sight out here.

We made our own salamanders...

...and painted them, too! (Idea from HSS.)

We made one for Alice and let her "paint" it with bathtub paint. She thought she was big stuff!

I also found a copy of the Reading Rainbow episode online and the kids watched it while their salamanders dried.

After the salamanders were finished, we made habitats for them--also an idea from HomeschoolShare.

We discussed parallel construction--not something I would probably have covered with a first grader, but with Ami's great idea, it became much easier to teach and understand.

To wrap up our study, we made a trip to the pet store to get the supplies for our new pet, a leopard gecko. We have the shelf and tank set up now and as soon as we get the lighting figured out, we will have a new family member!