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.  :,(

ECC Weeks 33-34 - Antarctica and Penguins

We started off our studies in this unit the way we have with every unit by my having the kids bring their passports to the 'border' and having them stamped.  This time they decided to dress for the Antarctic weather.  They donned their winter coats and snow boots and 'flew' in to have their passports stamped.  I took a picture and was planning to include it here but then I realized they had their passports opened revealing their personal information so I had to crop the picture.  Now it mainly only reveals their eyes.  It's still cute. 

The kids watched another portion of the Nat Geo Deep Sea Dive DVD.  Chapter 6 is about Antarctica and Chapter 7 is about whales.

I realized that there is another portion of this video, in the bonus features, that includes animals of Asia.  We could have watched that during our Asia studies.  (Mental note:  Next time around with Roo watch bonus features.  ;)  )

We did the experiment in the Properties of Ecosystems book and learned how 90% of an iceberg is below the surface of the water which explains why they have caused so many accidents involving ships.

We also did an experiment involving ice water (from the experiment above) plastic bags and Crisco.  The kids put a plastic bag 'glove' on one hand.  Then they each stuck their other hand in a seperate bag filled with Crisco.  They covered their bagged hand with the Crisco to make it sort of like a mitten.  They stuck both their covered and uncovered hand in the ice cold water.  The purpose of this experiment was to show how a penguin's layer of fat keeps them warm in the icy cold waters.  They were both surprised at how well the 'fat' kept their covered hands warm.

 I found a couple of books about penguins we really enjoyed.

During our reading we used toy penguins I purchased  in one of those 'Toobs' you find at Michael's and the two books pictured above to see if we could identify the different penguins that came in the Toob.  The kids really enjoyed this activity.  (I did leave out the page in the Gail Gibbins book about evolution during my reading.)  I didn't read the text in the picture book so I can't comment on the content but the pictures were beautiful. 

Gail Gibbons book is pictured with Toob Penguins

We also enjoyed some other books about Antarctica and penguins.  I only read the last two chapters of the book 'Magic Tree House Research Guide:  Penguins and Antarctica'.  They were Famous Antarctic Explorers and Antarctica Today.

  

This unit they made ice sculptures with sugar cubes and white frosting.  Beau said he couldn't make an igloo because there are no igloos in Antarctica so he dubbed his an outpost.  They both added the Toob penguin toys to their sculptures and their sculptures became penguin outposts.
  

I purchased wooden penguins they painted.  They love to 'play' in the paint so they enjoy these types of activities.

 We did the glacier experiment listed in the World Geography book, twice.  I froze some of our 'sand' from a previous experiment and water in a Taco Bell cup since I didn't have a small milk carton and we made a mound of dirt for our 'mountain' in an unfinished corner of our back yard.  Our first glacier was, well, knocked off our 'mountain'.  I found puppy prints on the 'mountain' and the glacier lying nearby.  I think our new Cocker Spaniel pup got thirsty.  The second attempt went better and resulted in a debris field of broken shells and rock.  I thought it would have dug more of a path but it was still more successful than our first attempt. 
  

  

During lunch and into the afternoon one day we listened to and reviewed the Wee Sing around the world CD.  We remembered and enjoyed some of our favorite songs including the Omaha Indian (U.S.) song 'The Crooked Path', 'Tingalayo' from the West Indies and "Kookaburra' from Australia to name a few.
  

We also listened to 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' on CD.  The kids enjoyed it immensely.  I found out that a movie has been made about this book and is scheduled to be released in theaters in June but I was disappointed to find out the lead actor is Jim Carrey so I'm not sure it's one I'd want my kids to see.  :(  I'll be checking with Focus on the Family's pluggedin.com for their reviews on this one for sure. 

Our lapbooks were focused on penguins this time.  I created the cover with clip art and a scrapbook program.  

Antarctica does not have a flag so my kids did the 'design your own flag' activity.  We included these in their lapbooks also.

Beaus's is on the left and Roo's is on the right

We did the end of year review to see how many countries we remember on the map.  Roo only knew 2 at the beginning of the year and now knows 11.  Beau knew 15 and can now recall 26.  I think he knew more but was so excited that he remembered any at all that I couldn't seem to keep him on task.  If we would have been more faithful to the geography game included in our curriculum they would have known more for sure.  They were still both pleased and felt they learned a lot.  :)

I can't believe our year is now over.  I am already in planning mode for next year.

This summer we plan to do a mini study and lapbook on Independence day.  I think it will be a lot of fun.