Filled with Joy

Washington State

We are coming to the end of our Washington state unit study. 

 

On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state in the United States.

 

Notebook pages

 

With the instructions from How to Draw Washington's Sights and Symbols 

they were surprised how simple drawing even the state bird can be. 

 

 

Picture Books used:  Washington State/The Pacific Northwest

  

Not all of the books we used are pictured, however they are all listed below.

 

 E is for Evergreen:  A Washington Alphabet

W is for Washington

How to Draw Washington's Sight and Symbols

Searching for Sasquatch

Raven:  A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest

Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree?

123 Moose: A Pacific Norhtwest Counting Book

Northwest Animal Babies

O is For Orca

Eaglet's World

 

Picture Book Study:

E is for Evergreen STUDY GUIDE

  

  

The plan was to draw the well known symbols of Washington, then create notebook pages with them.

 

 

After discussions their drawings sparked, hands on activities were added.

 

Hands on Fun

  

First up, a salt dough map of Washington. 

 Not too shabby for the first time ever making one.

 

 

 

 Includes details of the Cascade and Olympic Mtn ranges, rivers, and the three volcanic mountains (Mt. Baker, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier).

 

 

Next, Mt. St. Helens

 

 

View of their Mt. St. Helens and "Spirit Lake" before the eruption.

 

 

 

 

  
 No measuring.  Just dump and watch the chemical reaction.

Mt. St. Helens did not have red lava pouring down the mountain. 

It was an Ash flow that devastated an area of 600 square miles!

What about adding various colors?

 We are done with our Washington state study, yet!

Stay tuned as we visit Bigfoot, the Native Americans of this area, Potlach Masks, and more.

Frog Lapbook

Nathan has always had a fascination with frogs.  He will sit on his bed searching through dozens of frog books for a new fact to learn about them.

Each visit to the zoo requires a stop to purchase a frog souvenir to add to his growing collection. I thought he would enjoy creating his very own frog book to look through and found a FREE frog lapbook at Homeschool Share.

 

Here is a partial list of books we read together in creating this lapbook:

From Tadpole to Frog:  Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science 1 by Wendy Pfeffer

Why Frogs are Wet:  Let's-Read-and-Find-out Science 2 by Judy Hawes

All About Frogsby Jim Arnosky

Poison Dart Frogs by Jennifer Dewey

Fun Facts About Frogs!by Carmen Bredeson

Frogs, Toads, and Turtles by Diane Burns

Flashy Fantastic Rain forest Frogs by Dorothy Patent

Red-eyed Tree Frogs by John Netherton

Animal Lives:  The Frog by Sally Tagholm

   

We will be focusing many our upcoming science lessons around the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out 2 series.

Here is another coloring Page -- Frogs Over The Land -- Exodus 8:1-15

2008 was declared the Year of the Frog by The Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

FROGS in the LOCAL NEWS --

Imperiled frogs get a fresh start at Fort Lewis  (1,000 baby frogs will be released each year until 2012 on a 50 acre lake on Fort Lewis.)

Operation Christmas Child & Boxes for Katje

My family is participating in Operation Christmas Child through our parish.  Each of my children asked for a shoe box to fill with gifts that will be delivered to a needy child. 

A thread was started on the FIAR asking if anyone incorrporated OCC with school. The answers inspired me to also add more meaning to collecting items for the shoe boxes.                  

                                                                                                      

We read the book Boxes for Katje.  This heartwarming story takes place in Holland just after WWII.  A girl named Katje receives a package from a girl and her family in the U.S.A which contained chocolate, a pair of socks, and soap.  Simple, yet precious items appreciated greatly by Katje.  Letters are exchanged and more packages arrive for Katje and the people of her town.

My chidren also created their own lapbook using Homeschool Share's FREE Boxes for Katje - lesson plans which include the lapbook templates.

It was a perfect book to help my children have a better understanding of how meaningful their gift can be.

HT: Candace

We've Been "Busy Bees"

Our learning usually takes a relaxed pace during the summer.    The learning never stops, of course, however the formal lessons are put aside to be able to enjoy the various rabbit trails we encounter.  Usually. 

We have several projects that we're working on right now that I hope to post about in the upcoming two or three weeks.

We're finishing up our "Busy Bees" lapbook.

....but, I've set it aside to finish the FREE Fourth of July Learn 'N Folder that Live and Learn has.  My kids have also asked to make one about dinosaurs because they're going to see Walking With Dinosaurs in two weeks.  Three lapbooks to complete in two weeks.  8-O  The great thing about learning through lapbooks is that they have a great time, they retain so much more information,  and they have their finished product to look at enjoy anytime they want.

• Painting -- We are still taking down wallpaper and painting.  Hopefully, Olivia's room will be finished this weekend and I'll post pics.

• Yard work!  If you know me, then you know I don't have a green thumb.  Life was much easier while living in Vegas.  Our yard was the typical "desert landscaping"and it suited me just fine. 

We're working on the front yard:

• 

There are some beautiful flowers hidden in the overgrowth.

My mother took care of the yard work when I was growing up.  I'd BEG to clean the house and get dinner ready rather than do yard work. I finally understand one of the reasons she enjoys her garden so much.  Even though the weeds will need to be pulled again, compared to doing the dishes and having an empty sink....I'll be able to enjoy this finished work longer before having to do it again.  8-)

**Edited to Add:  I've decided that we'll start the Dino lapbook after going to the show.  That will give us time to finish the projects we've already started.  ;-)

Memorial Day Lapbook

cover

(click pictures to enlarge)

  shutterfold -- open

left file folder

• Blue Star Banner -
• Flags half-mast until noon
• Picture -- boots of fallen soldier
• Nicholas' "report"
• Nathan's copywork of 2 Timothy 4:7
• Learned about the symbolism Red Poppy
• Included poem, In Flanders Field
• Nathan's copywork of John 15:13

Left fold open --

• Studied medals  (pictures of Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Purple Heart)
• Mary Edwards Walker, the only women awarded the Medal of Honor
• Read The Wall by Eve Bunting
• Learned about war memorials. 
• Included pictures of WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War Memorials.

• Starting on the left
• Listed America's Wars - each fold has a war with the date, opens to see how many died in that war.
• Black banner --- FREEDOM IS NOT FREE
• Outline of Washington state.  Each Gold star represents a soldier killed in the Iraq war.  Ft Lewis had 113 casualties when we checked Sunday. 
• Learned about Taps (music), Taps (history)
• Olivia's copywork --Tap lyrics we are most familiar with
• Flags of our Armed forces  (flags were glued to toothpicks)
• Nicholas' acrostic poem on Freedom (I am a member of enchanted learning, but went w/ the small template because it fit.  ;-))

• under WA state map outline -- at the top is the US Fatality Map. 
• Fatalities for each state was written (we didn't want to just focus on WA -- they all were someone's child.   The number reflects home of record not where they were stationed.)
• The large Gold star has total fatalities since the start of the war until May 27 ---- 3,454 men and women
• Olivia's copywork - definition for Bugle

far right flap

Included some of the lyrics to Lee Greenwood's song, God Bless The U.S.A  -- (that link plays the entire song w/ lyrics)

This was definitely my favorite lapbook we've ever done.  (That's why I'm sharing it.  LOL) 

**Some of the links above were not the ones we used for our studies.  I've linked them here to give an idea of what we were learning. 

Once we finished our lapbook, we also took time to visit the Veterans section of the cemetery on Memorial Day.

All About Me

Ami*, "the Queen of Freebies" on the 4Real board, posted about several lapbooks that are available at Live and Learn Press for free.

Here is Olivia's All About Me Learn 'N Folder.  Nathan didn't have the patience to wait for me to assemble his sister's first.  So, Olivia's Learn 'N Folder is the only one complete right now.  After seeing his sister's, Nathan has asked me to finish his.  The folds are too complicated for my kids to do alone, but the detailed directions included in the unit are perfect for me.

                                 

This picture shows it open. 

All of the mini books, except the paper doll of herself, open up.

This picture is to show some of the mini books opened. 

For example, the hand on the bottom left, with three fingers up, asks What are 3 things people should know about you?

She answered:

#1.   I am a fast runner       #2. My Smile        #3.  I am a big helper.

All so true.  8-)

It was a lot of fun.  Please, let me know if you try one.

Make Way for ... Nature

Two weeks ago, while reviewing the upcoming week's lesson plan, I could feel myself becoming anxious.  It was a Sunday evening, a new week of school was upon me, however, the books I had requested from the library still hadn't come in.  On to Plan B. 

The problem was, I didn't actually have a Plan B tucked away for a time like this.  I'd need something quick, and hopefully, I wouldn't have to spend the rest of the night searching the WWW for ideas.  Thankfully, being a curriculum junkie proved beneficial, I didn't need to look further than my own bookshelves.

The Five in a Row manuals stood out to me.  I also remembered that FIAR had just released two Fold-and-Learns.   

The solution was very simple, we would "row", Make Way for Ducklings.

                           

The absolute best part of rowing this book is that it ignited an interest in nature for each of us! Everything fell into place to enjoy our first nature study. The weather was at it's warmest in months, our attitudes were positive, and we were ready to go.  With sketch books in hand, out the door we went to the lake.   

Before leaving, they took a moment to sketch flowers in our front yard.

The path around the lake is just under a mile long, but it took us TWO HOURS to get around it.  They spent time noticing their surroundings,  soaking in everything, instead of racing to see who could out run the other.

The very first sketch was of a western pond turtle sunning on a log, followed by a frog, various birds, squirrels, and even a large colony of half black/half red western thatch ants.  A few Sequoia and Redwood trees were added as well.

Each time we would stop to sketch something interesting would happen.  People would gather around to ask what we were doing.  They would also give my children positive comments about their nature journals.

Here are some pictures of our day. 

                                 

                             
                                The end to a great day.