Sunday, May 20, 2012

FIAR ~ Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car in England

We just finished a week of studying England.  To go along with our studies, we read Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car.  What a fun story about a drive in the countryside of England!  There are very few words in this book, but the illustrations are wonderful.

For art we studied the illustrations and learned how to give a textured look by using checkered lines and circles.  We practiced different techniques on a coloring sheet of the tower of London.

For science we studied clouds and what clouds teach us about the weather.  I made laminated cards (found here) that we could keep in the car to study the clouds we see when we are out and about.  On the back of each photo card is the name of the type of cloud.  We also made clouds by placing Ivory soap in  a microwave and setting it for 2 minutes.  This is a fun and impressive project (see photo of puffy cloud)!


We had several English meals during the week.  I think the kids enjoyed Bangers and Mash the best.  They were pleasantly surprised to find out that Bangers and Mash was really sausage and mashed potatoes.  Another night we had Bubbles and Squeak (mashed potatoes with left over vegetables).  We finished off our English dining with a Fry Up (large English breakfast).  I was shocked to find that much of the food in England is fried.  We decided to make the Fry Up very small portions for health reasons.


Our puzzle of the week was a small village that reminded the kids of Black Beauty  (which we read last summer).

We enjoyed many books during our study of England.  We read books about castles, Mary Anning (a fossil hunter), stories of queens and of London.  The photo shows are our favorite books from the week.

Lastly, we enjoyed a cartoon version of Great Expectations and a travel show about England called Travel with Kids London and Travel with Kids the United Kingdom.  You can find much of the Travel with Kids series on You Tube.  We really enjoyed our week of studying England.

I am joining around the world in 12 dishes.  This is a fun group of families that is following the journey of Phileas Fogg from the book, Around the World in 80 Days, through 12 different ethnic dishes. 

Blessings,
Dawn

7 comments:

  1. It always reminds me of when people hear toads in the hole. :) As a life long England dweller I never understood peoples confusion.

    Just a heads up...it doesn't have any toads in it. :) lol It is sausages in batter basically. lol

    I think traditional British is often more roasts...like roast lamb, roast chicken, roast beef, roast pork, with vegetables and roasted potatoes, yorkshire puddings (batter) and lashings of gravy! As bubble and squeak is basically the left overs of a traditional British roast dinner. :)

    Although of course the British fry up is popular too but I always found it too greasy and preferred it oven cooked. lol Plus of course fish and chips...

    I know in Scotland they actually deep fry Mars bars, which seen as Mars bars are already unhealthy this seems a bit iffy to me. lol

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  2. I just wanted to check on you since I'd not "heard" from you in a while. Glad to see that life is good over here. I LOVED the cloud idea--you are so kinesthetically inclined, an area that I'm still working on. The oldest is studying meteorology this year, and loves it. She knows these clouds from memory, but it would be a great idea for us to make flash cards for the road. Some of my favorite blog visits are right here with you! Blessings!

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  3. What fun! I love the laminated cloud cards (LOVE it!) and the microwaved soap clouds. What fun!!! I thought it was shaving creme at first.

    I don't remember how I stumbled onto your blog yesterday, but I'm enjoying looking around!

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  4. We did a Great Britain unit study earlier in the year and I had plans to make a number of traditional meals, but I think we had more fun discussing the names than we would have had actually eating them! As a compromise, Nate ordered fish & chips when he and Nick went to Great Britain at Epcot. :)

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  5. Loved this post and am saving it for the fun ideas for when we row this book next.

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  6. I'm British, I love reading blogs about other people's perceptions of my home country. Good on you!
    The cloud flash cards idea is brilliant!
    ( a fry up can mostly be grilled and should contain mushrooms and tomatoes, but we all do it differently!)

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  7. Hello I'm Sandra (formerly Little Sprouts) I stopped by your blog on a search and was surprised to see you are using my cloud cards from our Homeschool Blog.

    I am glad to see that you are using my idea with your Five in a Row studies. We are using Five in a Row as well. Best of luck with you new homeschool year.

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