ECC Weeks 12-17 Norway, France & Germany - A Recap of Our 2010-2011 School Year in Pictures

EUROPE (Norway, France & Germany)


WEEKS 12-13 - Norway

The craft projects for Norway were Rosemaling and Lapland felt squares.

The directions in the Global Art book didn't always fit our family.  One was the Rosemaling project.   So I modified it.

The kids did their Rosemaling projects with thin wood boxes, stencils and markers instead of cardboard chests and paint.

 The lapland project was pretty simple.  Just blue felt, scraps of red and yellow felt and different trims such as rickrack and ribbon.  I helped Roo cut out her triangles but Beau wanted to cut his triangles out himself.  This was another project they both enjoyed.

Instead of doing an entire lapbook for Norway I came up with the idea to just do a lapbook page.

For part of our science we did a tree lapbook.

  

WEEKS 14-15 - France

For France our TM called for making your own Eiffel Tower out of the medium of your choice such as cardboard, craft sticks, legos, etc.  I found a 3D Eiffel Tower puzzle at Michael's so we used that.  This was again, another enjoyable activity.

Here is a picture of our France lapbook page. 

  
Since the science was sort of general for Europe, we completed an animal classification lapbook and many of the pages from the back of our Complete Book of Animals workbooks.  (The ones with the Orca on the front.)  I also read the animal classification section from our DK Encyclopedia of Animals.  (It's the one with the big white polar bear on the front.)  These coincided very well and I think we all really enjoyed this study.

I think we worked on this lapbook through Germany as well.



WEEKS 16-17 - Germany

For some reason I didn't take a lot of pictures during Germany.  We did play with the Modeling Beeswax.  I don't think Beau really cared for the beeswax because it took a little patience and the warmth of your hands to mold it.  Roo really enjoyed it, though.  I think we also did all the experiments listed in the TM for these two weeks but no pictures other than the Germany lapbook page.

Africa is next.

ECC Weeks 9-11 Brazil - A Recap of Our 2010-2011 School Year in Pictures

SOUTH AMERICA (Brazil)


WEEKS 9 to 11 - Brazil

When we began Brazil we began reading about Nate Saint.  I blogged about that in another post so I won't repeat here.  It's listed in May 2011 under 'Kingdom Tales and Christian Bios'.
 
While reading about Nate Saint we assembled an MAF paper airplane included in the student sheets.  This was a neat addition since Nate's yellow airplane was a big part of his story.

The directions for the headdresses we made were in the book The Rainforest Indians by Ruth Thomson.

  
We also made Fiesta Masks and Costumes for Carnival.  We used foam stamps and paint to decorate the costume (shirt) made from felt.  (I placed a piece of cardboard between the layers to keep the paint from soaking through.)  I had the felt so that's what we used.  I probably would have chosen to buy cheap t-shirts if I didn't have the felt.  I purchased paper mache' masks and the kids decorated them by painting them and then embellishing them with feathers and jewels.

The kids also made lapbooks for Brazil and the rainforest.
  

We made a rainforest terrarium but I never got around to taking a picture of it.  The kids really enjoyed that project as well.  They especially enjoyed going to Lowes and shopping for the plants.  What kid (and man) doesn't love to shop there.

Next up:  Europe

ECC Weeks 5-8 Mexico & Canada - A Recap of Our 2010-2011 School Year in Pictures

NORTH AMERICA CONTINUED (Mexico & Canada)

WEEKS 5 & 6 - Mexico

One of our art projects for Mexico included my version of yarn art.  The kids used a generic brand of Bendaroos.  They both made a picture on paper and on the cabinet.  I don't remember who's idea it was to stick it to the cabinet.  Most likely Beau's.

Beau's elephant

Something alien related, I'm sure

Roo's cat

A pumpkin and ???  Maybe herself??

I thought it would be fun to purchase sombreros and make ponchos.  I got the sombreros at a Halloween store and the kids picked out the fleece material they wanted to use for their ponchos.  I cut a neck hole in the fleece and we had instant ponchos.  All that was missing were mustaches.  ;) 

We also made a pinata out of a large paper bag and covered it in colored tissue paper and streamers.  I taped the top to strengthen it and punched holes for the rope.  That was the strongest pinata I think I have ever seen.  It took forever to break but that probably made it more fun for the kids.  Their cousin also joined in on the fun as well.
  

Roo taking a swing

Cousin K

Beau finally busted it!!

WEEKS 7 & 8 - Canada

 For our science we did a celery experiment to see how the xylem carries water up to the leaves of plants and trees.  The first picture shows day one.  The second picture shows day two.  You can really see how the food coloring was carried to the leaves.

We also made a Canada flag cake.  We used white frosting, red sugar and a cookie cutter leaf.

Our First (but not last) lapbook was of Canada.  The kids enjoyed it so much that I included them for many of the science and countries for the rest of the year.  I have included pictures below of our completed Canada lapbooks.

South America is coming soon.

ECC Weeks 1-4 Intro & U.S.A. - A Recap of Our 2010-2011 School Year in Pictures

We used My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures program for our 2010-2011 school year.

WEEKS 1 & 2 - Intro

The first two weeks of our year started with an introduction to maps and globes.

One of our first assignments was to show how difficult it is to make a round globe appear flat.  The activity called for drawing the continents on a mandarin orange.  Then cutting it and laying it flat.  We substituted the orange with an inexpensive rubber ball from Wal Mart.

Our science in the first week included the study of niches.  We created an earthworm's niche as you see below.  Our worms started doing their thing and burrowing through the dirt but they never made it past the sand layer.  I don't know if I made that layer too thick or what.  It was still quite interesting and kids love anything involving anything slimy and squishy.

 For our second week's science we studied oxygen and water cycles.  We demonstrated the water cycle by planting grass in a glass jar, closing the lid and placing the jar in a warm location.

We celebrated our conclusion of week 2 with our version of a world cake.  Not the prettiest ever but as you can tell by my children's mouths, one of the tastiest.  ;)

WEEKS 3 & 4 - United States

For weeks 3 and 4 we studied the United States.  Our art included my versions of and Early American Quilt and Navajo Sand Painting.

The quilts consisted of red and blue felt pieces with holes punched in each corner, white yarn cut in about 6" lengths for each corner and felt star stickers from Joanns.  All the kids had to do was tie the corners together with the pieces of yarn and decorate the front with felt stickers.

The sand art consisted of sticker paper and colored sand from Michael's.

Mexico and Canada are up next.

First Days of School - A Recap of Our 2010-2011 School Year in Pictures

Since I didn't start my blog until April 2011 and I have had a lot of response from people interested in our school year I thought I would start posting about some of our school happenings over the last year.  This first installment dates back to our first couple of days of school 2010.

For the past two years we have kicked off our school year with a field trip.  To Kick off our school year last August we visited a local Christian radio station, had a picnic at a small local zoo and ended the day with a visit to the Moving Viet Nam Wall.  The wall happened to be in our town that weekend and since this is a once in a lifetime event, we decided to take the kids and go to it as well.

For our official first day of school the kids each did an 'All About Me' poster to hang on our classroom wall and an 'All About Me' page to put in their notebooks as well.  I also gave them their school supplies with some extras included for fun.  The kids took turns taking pictures of each other with their teacher (AKA Mom).  Some of our first day activities are pictured below.

More coming soon . . .

Puppy Love and Heart Break

Earlier this year we decided to adopt a Cocker Spaniel puppy.  My mom and my 12 year old niece (of whom my mom is raising) decided to adopt one as well.  So early in April we brought home our new puppy sisters.  We named our's Lady and my niece named her's Mitzi.  They were both such a joy and so cute.   

This past Monday Mitzi was playing in their front yard and suddenly darted into the street.  She was hit by a car and did not survive.  We have all been greatly saddened by this loss.

Below are pictures taken shortly after we brought the puppies home.

Our Little Lady

Miss Mitzi

Sisters at play

We are all just heartsick.  :,(