ECC Weeks 27-28 - Japan

We learned a lot of fun things in our Japanese study and we did a lot of fun projects.

My kids made Japanese carp kites.  They had a lot of fun with them when they were complete.

Beau's Carp Kite

Roo's Carp Kite

We learned about and made our own Haiku poems.  I explained to the kids that a Haiku is a poem with three lines.  The first line has 5 syllables.  The second line has 7.  The third has 5.  I then read a couple of fun books (listed below).  We finished the study by making our own 'What am I?" Haikus.

The following is a sample poem of what a Haiku is:

I am first with five
Then seven in the middle --
Five again to end

Beau's Haiku:

I am nocturnal
I like to fly in the dark
I eat fruit and bugs

What am I?  A bat!

Roo's Haiku:

I squawk and I peck
I have colorful feathers
I am a show off

What am I?  A peacock!

My local library had the book If Not for the Cat Haiku by Jack Prelutsky. It was a very cute book with colorful paintings by Ted Rand. My kids loved trying to guess what animal was being described and then enjoyed looking at the pictures.

Another Haiku book we enjoyed was Least Things - Poems About Small Natures by Jane Yolen with Photographs by Jason Stemple. This one was more difficult to guess the animals being described. But with the two page full color picture and a short informational paragraph about the animal in each Haiku, this book was a good choice as well

Our science for Japan was a study of the ocean.  One of the projects called for us to make our own sand.  That was work! The kids enjoyed getting to hammer until their hearts were content, though. Our rocks and shells are not completely crushed but they enjoyed it all the same.

Our sand

That wraps up the highlighs for our Japan study.

We are heading to Russia next week.  We plan to make our own Matryoshka Dolls (out of paper) and jeweled eggs (out of clay).  We are looking forward to another new adventure.