Tigers

Since we have been reading The Magic Tree House books as our read-alouds this year, I try to incorporate some of what we read into  unit study, if we have time.  We seldom end up doing a lapbook.  But, while reading Tigers at Twilight, I decided it might be fun to study tigers and large cats - especially after coming off Andy and the Lion last week, our co-op book.  Since homeschoolshare had a lapbook on tigers, we checked books out from the library and went for it!  Here is the result:

Inside some of the books:

Above from Nicolas's book.  Below from Alex's book:

The boys got a magazine subscription to Ranger Rick from their aunt for Christmas.  We got our current issue on Thursday of our tiger week - and the cover story was on tigers!  The boys spent the afternoons after studying tigers, playing tigers.  They walked around on all fours growling and play fighting like big cats would do. 

It was sad to learn how endangered the animals are and seeing how few there are left in the wild.  Also, we saw a couple pictures of tigers that are now extinct.  How sad!

Maple Syrup field trip

At the end of our week-long unit study on maple syrup, we went to Minnetrista Center for a presentation on maple syrup.  After a puppet show talking about maple syrup, tapping and trees, we walked outside (brrr...) where they had a tap into a tree.  The sap wasn't flowing when we were there because it was too cold, but we could see the sap that had come from the tree previously, frozen in the jug.

They used PVC pipe and an old milk jug.

Each child got to try their hand at an auger (or hand powered drill) on a tree that was close to death.

Alex drilling above and Nicolas below.

Then we went to the fire where they were boiling the sap.  She explained how the Indians would heat up a rock and put it into the sap to evaporate it, because they used gourd bowls that would catch fire over an open flame. 

For craft time, each child made their own tree trunk out of construction paper, poked a hole for the spile (a piece of plastic straw), and hung their bucket from the spile.  The buckets were bottle caps with a wire for the handle.

They gave us a taste test to see if we could tell real maple syrup from the kind we usually buy at the stores.  Most kids did pretty good at guessing correctly.

Even though the day was pretty cold and very windy, we still had a good time.  The only 2 dissappointments were not seeing the sap actually flowing that day and not getting to taste the sap directly out the tree.

Maple Syrup Unit Study and Lapbook

'Tis that time of year when the sap begins to flow in the trees.  We studied maple syrup this week and had a great time as well as learned a lot.  (Unit study from homeschoolshare)  We decided to try something new and make just one lapbook.  It worked out well, and I felt like we did more learning and less "mom trying to help both boys at the same time cut, glue and write".

Starting inside the book, we looked at what a Maple tree looked like, the life cycle of a maple tree and the symmetry of different parts of the tree.

Nicolas's tree on the left and Alex's on the right.  We labeled the canopy of leaves, branches, trunk, roots, seed and leaf.

Alex did the sprout and seed, and Nicolas did the bud and leaf.  (He had a little help with the leaf, but the bud all by himself.)

We moved on then to what trees could be tapped.  We looked each tree up in the Audobon book of trees and learned just a little about each one.
Sycamore - one of largest hardwoods
Box Elder - also called the ash leaf maple
Buckeye - Ohio state tree
Sugar maple - colorful in the fall and used most for maple syrup
Red maple - Pioneers made ink from this tree
Silver maple - named because the backs of the leaves are silvery; very brittle tree

We looked at where maple syrup is produced and what tools are used for tapping.  When we talked about the actual process of making maple syrup and read some books from the library about it.  We also talked about what temperature it had to be outside for the sap to flow, then we charted the temperature.

We did the snow experiment, because we just happened to get some snow during the week.  On the left, Nicolas colored how many inches of snow we had in a canning jar, then the middle each boy guessed how much water it would be when the snow melted (Red is Alex's guess, blue Nicolas's).  Then on the far right, Alex colored in how much water we actually had when it was melted.

When we went grocery shopping, we bought real maple syrup and made pancakes the next day for lunch.  We tried to make Jack Wax - a candy made from hot maple syrup poured into the snow where it hardens like a taffy.  It didn't work for us, so I'm pretty sure we did something wrong!  Nicolas did a copywork of a poem (well, all he could fit on the paper.)

Mad Science

We went to a program called "Mad Science".  The purpose was to discuss and experiment with Newton's 3 laws. 

1. What starts in motion, tends to stay in motion.
2.  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. 
3. Force = Mass X Acceleration

It was a very active program keeping the kids very engaged.  When it came time for volunteers from the audience, it took the kids a while to warm up to the idea of being on stage in front of that many people (mostly middle school aged kids.)  I hope the kids learned something!

So, here is our group of "Mad Scientists"

And, "Mad Babies"

And, "Mad Moms" (Mad as in crazy, not angry)

Presidents' Day

We have learned so much this week about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and have read some good books about both presidents.  We even made a lapbook (I know, it's a shocker!)  We read George Did It!  A very good book about George Washington.  We read Abe Lincoln - The Boy Who Loved Books, Honest Abe, and A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln.    Here are pictures of our lapbooks:

The insides were about President's Day in general or minit books about both presidents. 

These are components Alex did, but Nicolas did not.  The top one lists some things America does to celebrate Presidents' Day and the bottom pocket contains a short report on what he would do if he were president. 

First he would stop the war in Iraq.  Then he would make part of Mexico the US and put N. and S. Dakotas together so that we wouldn't have to change the flag.  I'm not sure what prompted him to want part of Mexico the US except one comment he made "...so Texas wouldn't be lonely".  It's funny the things and 8 year old boys mind thinks up.

Some famous quotes by or about presidents.

We taped on a top flap that had information about  Lincoln on one side and Washington on the other.

We find George Washington's name in Washington state, Washington DC, the penny, the $1 bill, Mount Rushmore.  Also, we have Washington Street locally and Washington Elementary.

Lincoln's side:

Besides the obvious, $5 bill, Lincoln memorial, Mount Rushmore, we noticed some local mentions of Lincoln's name - like Lincoln Elementary just down the road from here, and Alex had heard us mention Lincoln Blvd at one time or another. 

I did mention to the boys that most cities will have a street named after these 2 president's and many others.

I would like to do a study of each president eventually, but may have to wait at least a year, until Nicolas gets a little more interested, unless I just do the study with Alex.  Hmmm..., should I make a lapbook of each president's life?  Something to think about and keep me busy for awhile!!

Groundhogs

Well, this week we talked about groundhogs in celebration of Groundhog's Day.  Unfortunately, he saw his shadow, so we get to enjoy the weather we are having today - very cold windchills, and frozen pipes!  How fun! 

We read Gregory's Shadow and Andrew McGroundhog and HIs Shady Shadow (interesting book) and Groundhog Gets a Say.  we also have the movie Goose which we will watch tomorrow.  Since groundhog day had already passed, we mainly studied the animal rather than the "holiday".

Here are pictures of the boys' lapbooks:

The inside of Nicolas' lapbook:

The inside of Alex's lapbook:

About Groundhog Day from Nicolas's book:

About Groundhog Day from Alex's book:

Groundhogs are rodents like these animals:

Groundhogs are also called (from Nicolas's book):

About Groundhog babies:

Groundhogs are found pretty much everywhere (from Alex's book):

What eats groundhogs?

We are taking a break this coming week.  We will not do a unit study, but read some Valentine's Day books and work on getting our valentines ready to hand out.  We are only doing reading, math, writing and spelling on Monday and Tuesday.  The rest of the week is a break for us.  Hopefully that will get us ready for a major study on the President's!  (Me, more than them.)  We will be doing another lapbook for that study.  They really enjoy the lapbooks and I enjoy seeing their creativity coming out in their learning.   But sometimes I need a break from the planning!