Teaching the Turrell Tribe: October 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Week 5 Videos

Here are week 5 videos. Kenzie gets her own video now too.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

We found a local dairy farm to visit while we were studying farm animals. We got a hayless ride out to the pasture to see the cows up close and personal. Dave, the dairy owner, explained how cows eat, what they eat, their cycle of eating and sleeping, the different ages of the milking cows and the various calves, and he told us the names and stories of the special named cows. We got to see a brand new calf. Dave estimated that the calf was 15 minutes old. It still had the embilical cord hanging from both the mother and the baby. A fun note - Dave told us they have to go take the newborn calf from its mother within 1 hour of birth because after one hour they can run like a deer and their natural instincts tell them to run from preditors (humans).

After our time in the pasture and watching Dave chase an escaping cow, we returned to the milking barn to see how they milk the cows. The kids got to put their thumb in a milker to feel the pressure and suction. We did not see an actual cow milked so the little ones were a little confused later about how we get milk from the cows. We wrapped up the trip by visiting with the calves. They new, new ones that were still being bottle feed were in the barn still and the older ones were out in yard in pens. There was manure to dodge but other than that the calf visiting was lovely.

Ready for our ride

Enjoying the ride

Loving the tractor too

Listening to Dave

Dave and the cows

Watching the cows

"What are you looking at?"

The new calf and her mommy

Look at all those cows

The escapee

The ride back was cold

I'd not cold really

Explaining how to milk cows

Feeling the suction on the sucker

Visiting with the new calves

"Oooh you don't smell like food"

"You look cute too"

Petting the cow

"Ahh, the cow tried to lick me"

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Farm Week

Week 4 became farm week when the neighbor was taking out crops in the fields. It was an exciting start to a cold Monday morning. It was the first cold snap and we spent the whole morning outside enjoying tractor rides, tractor driving, combine sitting, and even some tree climbing. Alex and Josh got to drive the tractor and Keirstyn and Kenzie got to go for a ride. The rest of us watched the fun and enjoyed the crisp morning. Later in the week we went on a field trip to a local dairy and the little ones wrapped up their farm animal unit by making personalized books.

Josh waited all year for this ride

Mark is his hero right now

Alex driving the tractor

The girls watching the harvest

Keirstyn gets to ride too

Kenzie enjoying the ride

Rides are done

Sitting on the combine

Wow that was cool

Sitting on the combine

I loved it all too

Sitting on the combine

So sad it had to end

Farm Animal Unit

For 4 weeks the littles studied farm animals. Each day they would learn about a farm animal or two and make a craft. With each animal the littles got to try a new art technique. They cut and glued, did handprint painting, watercolor pencils, tissue paper gluing, oil pastel coloring, colored pencils, and puff painting. We then put the animals on a farm mural. During Week 4 they finished the unit and the littles got to make a personal book based on the song "Old MacDonald had a Farm". We changed the opening line to "Mister Joshua", "Mister Alex", "Mistress Natalie", "Mistress Kenzie", and "Mistress Genesis" had a farm. Enjoy the pictures. Sorry there are no pictures of the book. The photographer forgot to shoot that shot.