FIAR: Night of the Moonjellies

For our last Five In A Row co-op of the year, Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha was the book of choice.  Instead of our normal meeting place, we gathered in a home for our end-of-the-year session.  Unfortunately, the weather was less than May-like.  Cold and rainy and kiddos in long-sleeves and jackets.  Not the run and play outside conditions we were for which we were hoping, but Kathy adapted well.  We painted in the garage, played restaurant in the kitchen, and read/watched a video in the family room.  The kids couldn't tell that we had deviated from the original plans at all.

What kid doesn't love to paint?  (Insert Mommy guilt - I don't like the mess, so I'm not usually one to suggest this activity at home.  I need to work on this!)  My three were very excited to paint replicas of the book cover.  They worked hard to create a horizon line on which to paint their boats.  Their favorite part was using glow-in-the-dark paint to add moonjellies to their nautical scene.  Very cool!

Once most paint traces were no longer evident, we created some newspaper hats - perfect for the restaurant business to come.  We headed inside - did I mention that Ms. Kathy is a brave woman?  I mean really - who wants that many little yahoos in the house?  Following the reading of the story, we were off to the kitchen.  Due to a wee bit of organized chaos, I didn't snap any pictures of the restaurant operation.  Each child was assigned a specific job, and they serves the adults first.  I'm so proud of my lil' workers... Jeremiah placed individual cubes of ice in every cup - yes, he touched them all one-by-one.  (Thank goodness I supervised the prior hand-washing!)  Caleb cheerfully doled out fruit, and most of the time he remembered to use the serving spoon.  Rachel's duty was a bit more laborious.  She opened all the hotdog buns - unfortunately, not all them remained intact, but she did a great job.

After bellies big and small were sufficiently full, back inside to learn more about moonjellies.  The kiddos had time to play.   Just when we feared that the house might get trashed and demolished beyond repair by the Kool-aid, chocolate chip cookie hyped up kiddos, we moved outside to pose for our end of the year picture.  The kids have really enjoyed the FIAR activities and getting to know the other kids.  We look forward to September when our co-op resumes to complete Volume 1 and move into Volume 2.