Native American Architecture

F. is taking a series of classes at the Center for Architecture, dealing with the dwellings of Eastern Native Americans. They are learning about the various tribes that inhabited this area, how they lived, what materials they used to build their houses. Each class is almost 2 hours long, the 1st class they talked a about which tribes lived here, and 1 of the types of houses they built, a wigwam. Then the kids teamed up and started making their own wigwams using the same materials (as much as possible) as the Native Americans used to use. They started by making the shell of the wigwam from birch bark twigs, bent them accordingly, hot glued them to a cardboard base, and tied at the cross points with twist ties. Next class they will finish it by adding the grass mats and other finishing touches.
J will be starting the class next week as well since she is very interested in the whole thing. She was dying to answer the teacher's questions, and build her own wigwam. Her friend I. is also taking the class so it should be double the fun for her :). After the class some moms and I went to Washington square park and the kids played tag and other games for a little while. It was such a beautiful day.

Since the weather has been getting warmer we have been on play dates, hung out outside with friends and taken a few field trips to SI to the beach at Lemon Creek. There is so much to learn at the beach, we found clams, mussels, and saw swans and learned about the salt marsh habitats of some birds. We discussed the Lenape Indians who used to live in SI and how they lived off the land, what they ate etc..
There is also a purple martin bird colony that lives there in the only protected area in NYC.

The IXL math program is working really well for F. He is doing 5Th and 6Th grade math. J is also getting over her "I can't do math' thing and is understanding the concepts much better. She loves to translate numbers from the digit for into their written form and vice versa. She has been reading a lot lately as well, and is so proud of how much she has improved. She is reading at grade level, and trying to read anything that interest her now.. which includes dinosaurs and the Liberty bell as well as Native Americans. She also likes the Mr. Men and Little Miss series of books as well as the Rainbow Fairies books. The most important things for my kids' education is their love of reading. Every thing else will follow.