Kinda Thinking & Planning for the Fall....

Well, today, you get two posts for Monday...

Have been working on planning for the fall and have been toying with how we are going to do things this year and also because tomorrow, I have another blog post ready (am going to announce some award winners, so please be sure to check back tomorrow)...
We have play dates scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, and have to get some errands done on Thursday, so if I didn't give you a two for one day today, I would have had to have held off and posted this post over the weekend...

Well, if you read this and have any input / ideas / suggestions, would just love to hear from you!
Well, to get things kick started for the fall, I asked the boys to tell me what they would like to learn about, as well as any questions, ideas, or themes they would like to explore...
they are used to doing this, as it is something we have done since the very beginning...I actively involve them in the process of what we could / should study...sometimes, we do the good ole' standby, KW L...

What I Know, What I Want to Know, and then, What I Learned...

For the purposes of trying to flesh out what we could do starting in the fall, I had them focus primarily on what they Want to know...

Big Bro:
Have been working on putting things together for Big Bro..he wants to learn about the following:

"Chemistry...I like to do experiments with liquids."

"The Presidents...about the ones who were in when we have had wars and what they decided to do about them."

"The future...about robots and if we will use them and how things will work with more machines"

"Inventions...about all of them, actually...but we need to come up with one that works to clean up the oil spill. I want to come up with one..."

"Machines...from little ones to big ones...what is the smallest machine that can do the biggest job"?

"Native Americans...their homes, their weapons, and where they lived and how they got there...and what life is like on a reservation now versus way back, when they first went to one...and what life was like before reservations."

"Animal homes...how they build them and which ones are predators and which ones are prey."
"The Rainforest...who lives there...what grows there...how long ago did they start making poison darts from poison dart frogs..."

"Italian, Chinese, French, and Spanish...how to say some things in these languages and more about the countries and why other countries have people who also speak these languages."

Little Bro:
Little Bro wants to learn about all kinds of things, too...luckily, some of his interests cross over with Big Bro's interests...

"Frogs"

"Snow cones"

"Polar Bears"

"Penguins"

"How you make toys"

"Stuff in the sea"

"Shells"

"Dogs and the ones that help people"

"What's inside your brain"

"How you make glass and Legos"

"What's inside a wheel and how it works"

"How you make chocolate"

"How you get hot and sweaty from the sun"

"How you make a rainbow"

"How do you find gold"?

"What is inside a turtle"?

"Who lives in a barn"?"

"How does poop work...how does food know to turn into poop...how does it know to go through your body and end up that way..."

"How does your body know which tube things should go in...how does the air go in the right place and what you eat or drink go in the right place and how does your body use the food and the drinks and how does your body use air"?

Now, the poop thing threw me at first, but then, the more he talked, the more I realized that he wants to really learn more about the digestive system...
We will cover the systems of the body and will start with digestion when we do systems.

He is also curious about blood, and this is because he has Von Willebrand's.
Little Bro will have to undergo some additional blood tests soon, so we will discuss how blood flows through the body and a little more about the details of his blood disorder.

Have been working on putting things together to kind of tie in with all of their interests, where possible, as well as what our region has to offer, as far as field trips and other sorts of experiential learning opportunities that would tie in with these concepts...

Am most likely going to do:

Fall / Harvest / Farm
 
Body Systems

Polar Animals - will do both poles, but am going to separate them out, as doing them together makes it confusing for kids...

Will discuss Inuit / Eskimo, dog sledding while we do the Arctic Circle...will tie in French and Inuit language for Big Bro for this...

Rainforest - will tie in chocolate and frogs to this...will tie in Spanish, mostly for Big Bro, with this...will also tie in the future of the Rainforest...we had started this earlier this summer, but have not really done it in depth, as we have had lots of company and have taken off some time to have a more laid back sort of summer schedule...

Sea Life - will tie in beach glass, the future of the Gulf, machines to clean up the oil spill, how sea animals are being treated for Big Bro when we do sea life....

Will tie in snow cones and how toys are made with inventions and simple machines...

Will tie in working dogs ( Sheep Dogs, Border Collies) with Farm

Space - Neither one mentioned space when we were discussing this coming school year, which was almost a shocker, as they both LOVE learning about space...but I will ask them at some point in the future if they don't mention it anytime soon...am sure that we will be doing something about space, but just not sure when or what we will be doing for sure...

That is how far I have gotten...
Am sure that they will have other interests as the year goes on, but this is what they gave me for starters...the key is for me now to flesh out the "Essential Questions" that tie in with what they Want to know so that it ties in well with what they Need to know...for this, I use some materials by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the creators of the concept of Understanding by Design...here is a pdf that highlights their work.

The exciting news is that friends of ours are also interested in doing some hands-on learning projects with us...
We are going to get together to plan and to try to loosely map out some field trips and other enrichment opportunities...

Friends who live here and are part of our co-op, as well as dear family friends who live in Canada...with them, we will share via Skype, email, phone calls, and photos...so it should be neat to be able to share in different ways...

Am getting geared up to make some hands on materials to tie in with these concepts.
We are going to focus on utilizing a bigger light table this year, too, as the boys liked the very tiny and portable one we had, but a bigger one will give us much more of an opportunity...

Both boys love making shadow puppets.
Both love working with translucent and transparent objects. Both also love working with color, light, and texture, so we will be bringing these into our day to day even more this year.

We used an atilierista (artist / art teacher) this past year, not consistently but for some of the major themes. We will do the same again this year.

Miss Laurie is going to do a end of the summer camp for us, and plans to explore the books and the artwork of Eric Carle, so I anticipate that we will be doing many hands on projects involving collage...can't wait, as I love Eric Carle's books and his artwork!

Laurie is a talented artist in her own right, but thought that doing a themed camp would really pull children into the art...so that is the plan.

Both Big Bro and Little Bro love Eric Carle, so it is going to be fun learning for all!

Well, hope that you all had a happy Monday!

Again, if anyone has some suggestions to go with any of these concepts  / essential questions / themes, would love to hear from you!

Kinda Wacky Wednesday!

Well, our day started out pretty much as it always does every day...

The boys woke up, helped get out their breakfast, and started in doing their first morning work that they had selected for themselves last night.

They got busy, stayed focused, and did their Montessori work.

Then, they decided to make the most of Little Bro's bedroom that is still set up as an additional playroom, as we switched beds around when we had company over Independence Day and have yet to totally put Little Bro's room back to being a bedroom, floor bed and all...
The boys have decided that a plain mattress without any sheets and a few floor mats makes a great indoor version of a slip and slide.

Made me smile, as it reminded me of my brothers and my sister who did something similar (but their version was much more daring)...
When my parents were out of town and we were left with either my grandmother or else another babysitter, my brothers would take cot mattresses and use them to slide down our stairwell with them!
Crazy and unsafe, but it was so awesome...that is until someone occasionally would end up slamming into the wall...I have to admit that even on a few occasions, my sister and I got suckered into sliding down the stairs on a cot mattress. Scary but fun all rolled in one.

Very glad that we do not have stairs, as am sure that Big Bro and Little Bro would want to do the same sort of thing!
Well, the boys did their version of indoor slip and slide and had a ball...

Then, for some reason, they talked me into giving it a go!
What a sight, let me tell you! I have spared you from seeing photos of me doing this, as it would not be a pretty site to see me slipping and sliding...
I am not a skinny mini like when I was younger...and I am not a spring chicken, either, but for some reason, I decided to kind of go along with their idea and very gently "slid" on their indoor slip and slide!

They loved it!!!

They were almost in shock that I did it, and then, that I actually did it twice...

Wow!

Both boys really wanted me to do it again and again...but to that, I had to say, "No", as all of a sudden, I had visions of colliding with the wall, then, having to go to the ER and tell them what I had done.

So, reality check...

Two runs on their indoor slip and slide...just great!
Felt like a kid again!

Wacky fun!

We then tried to go out and about but the humidity and the heat index were making it feel even warmer than the 96 degrees F that was registering in my minivan. We love to spend time outdoors, and I was actually hoping to do a post about the outdoor challenge, as so many kids stay inside for much of their summer...and being outside is normally one of our favorite places to be! We all love playing outside, getting fresh air...but we like fresh air, not stifling...

So, we headed down the road, half hoping that we would get some burst of coolness but that obviously did not happen...

Well, what did happen was that we passed a sign that  a restaurant was having a Free Pie Wednesday! Yippie! Free Pie! The boys (and Mommy, too) love this restaurant's chocolate pie, so we were pumped. So, we headed in, got a bite to eat for lunch, and then, moved on to getting some homemade pie.

They had some weird sort of rule as to the pies included in the free pie selections, so the boys could only get either a fruit pie or else Boston Cream pie as the free pie.

But then, after we had ordered and had decided that we would settle for free Boston Cream slices, a mom and her son, who was probably about eleven, came in and he was so disappointed, really pouting and angry that their chocolate pie was not included that  the mom was going to leave and take him to Wendy's. The waiter told the mom that if she were to order soup and salad, that her son could get the free pie of his choice, plus he would still give them each a free piece! So they got three free slices, one of which was the chocolate pie my kids were drooling over!
So, I guess pouting and threatening to leave pays, as that boy got what he wanted and then some, and my boys had to settle for something they did not want. But, I tried to use it as a teachable moment and tried to remind them that we needed to be thankful for all that we have and the fact that we were still going to get some free pie, even if it was not what we had originally hoped that we would be getting...

Well, then our waiter came over and told my sons that they could not have their pie unless they finished everything on their plates.
He also told them that they had to keep their feet firmly planted on the floor or else he would not give them any pie. He was trying to be funny, but said it in such a serious, firm tone that Big Bro and Little Bro almost looked scared.
Big Bro and Little Bro are in the 25th percentile in height (a.k.a. kinda short like their parents) and neither have feet that touch the floor when sitting in a booth.
The waiter thought that he was just so hilarious, but to me, he almost bordered on creepy...

Finally, the boys got their pie, but it just was not fun being there anymore, so we got the pie slices to go and ended up coming back home.

So then, the wait in the checkout line began...
Little Bro wanted to know who the email that I was reading was from as we were standing in line, waiting to pay for our meal. So I told him who it was from..."Mommy's Continents Swap Friend."
Then, Big Bro wanted to know what she had said and I told him that she had said that she was at the zoo with her child.

Big Bro and Little Bro both thought that a trip to the zoo sounded like a fabulous plan!

They liked the idea so much that when we got home, they got out our bins of zoo animals, along with our cute play mat that our friend, Jody, got for us, and then, some blocks and they went to it. They built a huge zoo that spanned much of the floor between our family room and kitchen.
Here are some scenes of their zoo...they had such a ball building it and playing with it all afternoon.

All in all, not your typical day, a little on the wacky side, but it all turned out to be a very nice day!

Some New Work & Some Classics

This week, Big Bro and Little Bro have selected a mix of familiar and new work...

New Work:
Little Bro tried out something new that I put together as an informal assessment tool to see how he is doing with sound / letter identification, number recognition, and beginning and ending sounds.
Made up a board with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 1-10, and his name.
Folded up the paper so that he would be able to clearly see the different spaces for each letter and number. We used decorative glass aquarium pieces as the markers for the various games...
Then, did a presentation about how to use the board and the different games he could could to play to go with the board.

Sound identification:
Gave him a word and he had to identify the beginning sound and place a glass piece on top of the corresponding letter...
Gave him a sound and he would say a word that starts with that sound...then, he would find that "letter that makes that sound" and cover it with a glass piece...
Gave him a word and he had to identify the ending sound and then, he had to cover the letter for the corresponding word...

Letter identification:
Did both in order and out of order...
 
Number / numeral identification and basic math skills:
He did number recognition and then, some simple addition and counting...
For the letters in his first name... he did how many letters in his first name, how many sounds in his first name, how to spell his first name, etc.


Classics:
He also revisited one of his favorite works, a really neat wooden puzzle. In addition to using the pieces within the puzzle frame, Little Bro then took the block puzzle pieces out and did some building with those.

What can I say but that the boys love building?

Speaking of building, Big Bro decided to revisit the constructive triangles.
Suspect that he decided to revisit them because he overheard me talking to a friend about the various extensions to go with these, as well as some helpful links I had found to go with the constructive triangles.
Yesterday, as I was talking to her and emailing her, it seemed to pique his interest...
Sure enough, last night when it was time for him to select his first work for this morning, he selected the constructive triangles.

He did some of the extensions that Dr. Daniel Jutras had shared with us this past fall at the International Montessori Conference.
Then, he got into making his own extensions.
Big Bro is at the end of his 3-6 cycle, and seems to have a keen interest in doing extensions.
Have been fine with this, because I am completely confident that he has mastered the underlying skills that each classic Montessori work presents to a child... 
Big Bro will be moving on to 6-9 in the fall or late summer, depending on how quickly I can either make the materials or can purchase them for this new cycle...

Luckily, we are using the Waseca Biomes Curriculum, so this covers ages 3-8 and gives me some wiggle room insofar as the transition.

Am still not sure how it is going to work with doing both 3-6 and 6-9, but suspect that he might do a little bit of both at first...

In addition to the constructive triangles and the sound / letter games, we have also started in with reading about the world's rain forests.

We do not have work out on the shelves to go with this theme yet, but will soon have some three part cards of rain forest animals, parts of the frog, mas showing the rain forest biomes, and some materials about the indigenous peoples who live in tropical forest biomes throughout the world.


New Theme - Rain Forest:
Our introduction to rain forests is starting out well with some great books...

We have hopped into three so far...

We ordered several books from Amazon and each day, a new package has been delivered to our door.

We also have some that we found at our local consignments stores.

Was really excited to find this book, as it is in Spanish.

In addition to reading during our homeschool morning, we are also reading some rain forest themed books as bedtime books with the help of Daddy.
Dear Hubby is great about reading with the boys at night.
Initially, it was with some coaxing from me to get him to be the one reading the books.
Now, it has become part of our bedtime routine.
It is so nice to have him read the majority of our books at bedtime, because it kind of brings him into the fold of what we are doing within the scope of homeschooling...and it gives me a chance to relax and enjoy listening to someone else read.

At night time, I have also been researching various rain forest Webquests, as well as other interactive projects.
As Big Bro will be moving into 6-9, it seems that integrating technology into his daily routine is going to become more important.

As far as how we have ended up doing rain forests, from time to time, I will ask the boys what they would love to learn about next...Little Bro said, "frogs" and Big Bro said, "the future"...

Well, we have also been working on learning about the biomes of the world and so it worked well to tie things together by exploring rain forests.

I have plenty of resources for Little Bro on frogs of the rain forests, and plenty of resources on the uses of tropical plants in medicines, the conservation efforts that various groups are trying to promote in an effort to save the rain forests, etc. so hopefully,we are covering all of the bases...

One of the things I hope to do with this is to tie in practical life skills by doing some cooking projects using items grown and harvested from the rain forests, such as Brazil Nuts.

As I get some practical life work and recipes together, will post and share them with you, so be sure to check back...

Little Bro - Enjoying Being Four...Now No More Three!

Now that Little Bro is officially four years old, there are some changes around here...three is no longer his favorite number, now four is...he pretty much wants nothing to do with the number 3, as he has been there and done that...which works out well in most areas, except for math...
the number 3 should still be an integral part of the number line and of math work in general, but Little Bro does not see it this way.
While completing his math work, he was supposed to select a number from the basket, and then, place that many on the math mat. He chose the butterfly net mat, primarily because he couldn't wait to use the baby bow tie pasta that he had seen his daddy help color and that had been drying on the lanai the last few days.
Well, Little Bro did his work pretty much as it was presented to him, except that 3 was M.I.A. from the line up.
He kept doing 4...
He seems to like everything about four...how it sounds, how it looks on his fingers, and how it feels.
Little Bro is absolutely convinced that he is now taller and smarter now that he has turned four.
He keeps wanting to look in the mirror and wants to get on the scale, as he is so sure that being four has made all the difference.

Interesting that becoming four has given him some new found confidence.

Wish I could say that I feel so much smarter now that I am another year older...actually thinner...thinner would be nice.

I still feel the same as I did last week, so guess I will have to just try the old fashioned way and stay on top of reading and academia, in addition to being diet, exercise, and staying active to feel smarter and thinner:)

Photos - Halloween Week

We have had a busy week since returning from Pennsylvania...

Big Bro and Little Bro have done some neat Halloween / fall work:
Making candy ghosts, pounding nails into pumpkins, making Pumpkin Life Cycle books, creating fall themed poetry books, pumpkin carving and painting, making ghost PR & J sandwiches, lining up small pumpkins and gourds by size and then by weight, patterning activities and addition activities with Halloween themed mini erasers, creating Play Doh cut outs with Halloween themed cookie cutters, counting and sorting silk fall colored leaves, designing mosaic frames to go around our Halloween pictures, doing spider math, sorting, patterning, graphing, and weighing different types of candy, creating Halloween puppets, and coming up with a story for our Halloween village. Big Bro had such a good time working with the ceramic Halloween village that he decided to do an extension of this work by building his own block version of his Halloween village.





In addition to our work, we had a few visits to the doctor's office, as Mommy has been a bit sick since we have returned. Not the flu, just a sinus, eye, and double ear infection. Not fun being sick with trying to get caught up on homeschooling, laundry, and just day to day stuff though...

The boys have been troopers and so has Dear Hubby.

He has pitched in by making meals, and helping with reviewing the boys's work when he has gotten home from work.
Luckily, thanks to antibiotics, I am starting to feel better.

We actually went to Sea World last night, thinking that we were going to see some of the "Halloween Spooktacular" show they have been advertising, but what we didn't know was that the show is held on weekends only for the month of October. It ended up being a nice time, though, as there were hardly any visitors to the park so it was very easy to get from place to place. We just took a nice stroll around the park and only stopped at a couple of exhibits. The boys loved playing in the water park area while I got to relax and sit and just watch them playing.
As crazy as it may seem to some of you, going to Sea World is incredibly relaxing when you go off season. Seeing the animals and looking at the beautiful landscaping is a very peaceful experience.
A few times this year when life has been particularly busy, we have taken a break from our routines and have gone there just to hang out. Seeing belugas, manatees, dolphins, penguins, sharks, and killer whales is a great way to take your mind off of the daily grind.

Busy Busy Birthday Week

We have had a busy birthday week here in the Sunshine State!

Big Bro is now six years old!

Hard to believe that six years have already flown by...

For his birthday, we did some birthday work for a couple days this week.
He started by opening his birthday box...the box contained his birth announcement, some photos of him as a baby, some notes about his first through fifth birthday, two birthday books, a birthday banner, a birthday bear from dear family friends, a mini globe, an orange (to fill in as the sun), and a note from Mommy to Big Bro.

We read the note from Mommy, the birth announcement, and the books together.
We talked about his various birthdays and about our family's birthday traditions:
Getting your first haircut on your first birthday, singing the "Stand Up, Sit Down" song after singing the regular "Happy Birthday" song, and getting to choose your favorite meal for your birthday.
Big Bro held a mini globe and walked six times around the sun (actually an orange) , held by Little Bro.
We did some math work as we talked about how much he had weighed and his length at birth (7 pounds, 3 ounces and 19.5 inches long) and compared his length and weight to the length and weight of common household items.
We also discussed how Big Bro was supposed to have been born on September 18th, but that when Mommy went to the hospital, the doctor and the nurses came in and said that the hospital did not have enough back-up generator power to do the surgery, due to Hurricane Isabel, so Mommy would have to go home and come back on another day.
We also talked about how Hurricane Isabel struck our home and big trees crashed through our roof, so shortly after coming home from the hospital, Mommy, Daddy, and Big Bro had to stay at a hotel and the hotel was without power, too, but at least the hotel had a roof!
We talked about how he was born in Virginia and found Virginia on our map.

We wrapped up the birthday work by talking about how blessed we felt that Big Bro made it through all of the struggles and what a true blessing from God he is to us.
Little Bro then shared what he likes best about his Big Bro:
"He is the bestest brother I have."
Little Bro also was so excited when Big Bro opened his presents and thanked us for giving presents to his brother...think he kind of gets that when Big Bro gets a gift, he will get to play with it, too.

Both boys started into playing with the Lego birthday sets and had a great time together.

The birthday celebration continued...Big Bro celebrated with his t-ball teammates by having a pizza and mini cupcakes treat.
Every child on the team gets a team ball at some point in the season, so Head Coach Kevin decided that this game ball should go to Big Bro, the Birthday Boy...making it a very fun night and another thing to add to Big Bro's birthday box!

Then, when Dear Hubby and I asked Big Bro what he wanted to do on his actual birthday, he said that he wanted to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We went and had a great time!
As we were leaving the park, Big Bro caught a lizard.
He was almost as excited about the lizard as he was about spending the day at Disney.
Big Bro showed Little Bro how to hold it, so they took turns and then, we did a good hand scrubbing afterward.

Today (9-25), after doing our early morning schoolwork, we met up with friends from our homeschooling co-op for Field Trip Friday. We had a nice time at the zoo on our field trip.
Today, we checked out all of the Asian and Australian animals.
Both boys loved the monkeys, the python, and the koala.

Now, for the weekend, we are spending time hanging out with "the Grands" (Dear Hubby's parents, nicknamed "the Grands" by Big Bro). The Grands are visiting us from South Carolina.
It is always nice to have them come for a visit.
The Grands added to Big Bro's ever growing collection of books.
We can't wait to start reading the ones they gave him, as they all look so interesting!
We went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner and plan to go out and about for the weekend.

All in all, a great birthday week...

Happy sixth birthday, Big Bro! We love you!

We love you, too, Little Bro!
Thank you for being gracious and genuinely happy for your big brother.

You two really are, as you said, "the bestest brothers".

How About Doing P.E. and Science at the Park?

Well, we had a great day of school...back to a much more relaxed, wear what you want to wear kind of day.

We started our morning out at home and then, wrapped up our school day at the park.

For morning work, Little Bro wanted to "make his own work" by adding some puzzle pieces to the color tiles work. He was so proud of himself for coming up with the idea!
He took out the Montessori color tiles (Box 2) and matched them up with some colored puzzles that we have.
Of course, I had laid out the work a little differently, but he was very enthusiastic about trying it his way, so I decided to let him.
Although I fully acknowledge the importance of using materials (especially Montessori materials) properly, when using Montessori materials in the home, I feel that the environment lends itself to a little more open ended work.
As long as my children can demonstrate that they are capable of doing the work correctly, and as long as they use the materials respectfully, if they want to create their own work, I am fine with that.
The enthusiasm, creativity, and concentration they demonstrate outweighs the fact that they are doing something a little differently than the original work.

Big Bro chose to do some work with Bamboo tiles. He placed then in ascending and then, descending order, then, he made various patterns, and then, he used them to make masks and designs.

For Big Bro's second work, he and Little Bro both wanted to listen to some music and do some movement activities with it, so we played Breakfast with Mozart, one of the kids' favorites. Little Bro has so far chosen to get Beethoven's Moonlight, Breakfast with Mozart, and Pachebel.
Little Bro loves classical music! Big Bro prefers "Oldies but Goodies", which in his case means anything from when I was in high school:)
We play this game when we go to Target called "Find the Composer"...I give the boys the name of the composer and they select the corresponding CD. We stand and listen to the music selection.
It is a very fun game and they really seem to have learned a great deal from it...am thinking of making my own version of this for home, like a listening lotto game with different genres of music.
So, the boys danced and moved to the music, enjoying every second of it...then, Big Bro did his reading work while Little Bro had me read to him.
Little Bro was on a roll...he selected four picture books for me to read...
Big Bro also chose to work on a puzzle by Melissa and Doug that helps children to learn to tie their shoes. Big Bro got a kick out of it because when you remove the puzzle pieces, you can see the old socks in the shoes. Big Bro tried very hard to tie the shoelaces and did a pretty decent job with it. The puzzle is a little more challenging than the tying frame.

We then decided to head to the park for a combo. P.E. and science lesson...
Nothing better than nature studies in nature!
Now, originally, I had planned that we would go and collect various items around the park with different textures and make some prints with these...leaves, bark, acorns, twigs, even maybe some Spanish moss.

I want to make texture and color scavenger hunts something we do on a pretty regular basis.

Well, when we got to the park, plans changed, as there was a boy there who was with a summer camp program, as his school has not started yet... this 8 year old boy was absolutely amazing in his vast knowledge of lizards! He knew all about them, and better yet, he knew how to catch them! He must have caught at least sixteen lizards in the short time we were there at the park!!!
This kid worked at warp speed!
I have never seen anything like it...he then took Big Bro under his wing and showed him all that he knew about lizards...how to catch them, which ones bite the hardest, and as he said "how to tell a guy what kind of lizard it is."
He assisted Big Bro with catching four lizards. What a glorious day!
So, after dunking both of my kids with Purell and then, still rewashing hands in the bathroom, we left, as it started to thunder. We did grab some leaves, twigs, and bark and will do some rubbings soon though...