Rocking Robots Unit Study

I am going to start this post by saying that I learned a lot doing this unit study!! It was really interesting and with our schedule it took us about 2 weeks to do it all instead of the 5 days. Here is what we started with:

Robot School
Click on the photo to see album

We downloaded this unit study from the Amanda Bennett site. This is the same place that we bought the “Sunny Seashells” unit. To see that post, go here. This unit had so many awesome videos that Nadia loved. She would crack up laughing at some of the stuff the robots could do. The cow milking robot grossed her out becuase “those udders look messy.” She was fascinated by the underwater robot Jason who has a 6 mile tether. It suggested that you drive 6 miles to give the kids an idea of how long that was. So the next morning when we drove to the gym I told her to pay attention because that is how long Jason’s tether is. She has talked about Jason a lot since then. There were quite a few areas we didn’t delve into because she can’t read yet and I think older kids would get more out of it. That is the great thing about these unit studies, you can do a lot or a little based on your child.

Here is the breakdown of the days:

Day 1: What Is a Robot?
Day 2: The History of Robots
Day 3: People and Places of Robots
Day 4: Science Secrets of Robots
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Robots

Robot School

Silly Nadia and her robot dot-to-dot.

Robot School

How is a robot like a person? (notice Sparks from Toy Story 3 is watching her do school)

Robot School

We learned about CiD – an ice cream serving robot. Can I get one for our house?

Robot School

Nadia with her completed lapbook and her robot craft. If you look in the bottom left of the lapbook you will see her “water clock.” This was the first robot ever invented and it was revolutionary because you didn’t need the sun to tell the time. She has brought up the water clock a lot since we talked about how thousands of years ago people didn’t have electricity or batteries and all the technology we enjoy now.

Robot School

Nadia and Wall-E. After taking this photo we celebrated the end of Robot School by watching Wall-E.

Double Baby Shower

At Mike’s office they had a baby shower for 2 families who are having their first babies in a few weeks. One boy and one girl and it was a sweet little time. I took the girls with me and we had lunch with everyone.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

Everything was pink and blue split down the middle.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

Here are the 2 couples.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

The girls being silly after lunch!

Steps to a baby shower cake

This is a cake I did for a double baby shower this week. One family having a girl and one having a boy so I was able to use pink and blue!

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

Start with the following (made from scratch): 2 batches marshmallow fondant, 21 cups cake batter, 12 cups white icing, fondant buttons in pink and raspberry filling. After baking the cakes you start to assemble.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

The bottom portion of the cake was white almond sour cream. Topped with a layer of icing and fondant. The top layer was double fudge chocolate with a raspberry filling.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

Blue fondant ribbons going on.

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

Baby Shower 9.21.2011

8 hours later this was the finished product! So yummy!