Before I get into what we did this week, I have to tell you about this site I found. It is called Homeschoolshare. I spent hours wandering around this site and used up all of the ink left in the printer copying off loads of great activities to go with more than a dozen books sitting on my shelves. They have a huge amount of unit studies and a whole section on FIAR books. One of the great ideas I got off of this site was to use Draw Write Now books with FIAR books. We happened to have book one, and the kids loved drawing ducks and swans out of it. THIS is a great series to teach kids and their Mommies how to draw. I sat down and did art with them and enjoyed drawing for the first time since I was a child.
For science we learned about conservation and the effects of an oil spill on ducks. We cut ducks out of waxpaper and put them in a large bowl of water. They floated around just fine. Then we added dish soap and they sunk to the bottom. They sunk even faster when we used veggie oil. The kids understood the importance of taking care of birds during an oil spill, and I had almost no clean up. (I didn't get a picture, however.) One science project is never enough for Tom Sawyer, so we did one that he wanted to do (it had nothing to do with our book study). We used a bowl of boiling water and added a sealed bottle of cold water and watched the pressure make a fountain. It was more impressive in the picture in the book, but here is what we got.
The tip where you see the yellow is where the water is "erupting" from the straw.
The kids are also enjoying their vocabulary cards. I found these on homeschoolshare.com and printed off all the ones from the books we have done this year.
To finish off our book this week, we are going to make Boston Brown Bread and Boston Baked Beans tomorrow. Yummy! I haven't been baking with the kids much lately, and they are really looking forward to it. I am looking forward to staying home for a few days.
Blessings, Dawn
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like soooooooo much FUN at your house. [0=
I always leave thinking I want to do more with the kids.
Blessings and ((hugs)) my SSiC<><
I love that book!
ReplyDeleteWe love Make Way For Ducklings~Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack!
ReplyDeleteLetitia
"Make Way for Ducklings' has always been one of my favorites. It was the first book I had my daughter read when we began homeschooling. We've use the Draw Write Now books here also. Now that they are older we use notebooking pages using the same concept. Love the fountain. Our experiments don't usually come out like the pictures either. LOL
ReplyDeleteI (of course) LOVE that book! I also agree with the above commenter that I always leave your blog inspired to go do more with my kiddos:)
ReplyDelete....and thanks for the link I'm off to go check it out!
~Laura
You are doing a fabulous job teaching your kids.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy hearing what you have done each week.
I love homeschool share. That is a wonderful site. I use up most of my ink in the printer there too. I would have loved to see the picture of the duck--oil spill experiment.
ReplyDeletePam
Looks like you've been having great fun! That website is amazing...I see many hours of my night being eaten up.
ReplyDeleteWe loved this book!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Laurie
We love that book... You had a great time!!! and I love the experiment with the boiling water!!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!!!
We love Make Way For Ducklings! It looks like you all had a great time with the book. You make me long for FIAR days again.
ReplyDelete