In 2011 we learned a lot about Japan, the time has come for us to refresh some of the information and learn some more. So last week it was all about Japan in our house
Our activities:
We read and wrote some haiku.
We learned how to say some words in Japanese. Using
We played math game called Shiritori math game, which basically consists of making up new number sentences using the answer from the previous number sentence.
We made some oregami (yay! this year it was much easier that last), we listened to the music (great tracks from Orange Range: Hana, Kizuna, Silent Night , some excellent stuff by Joe Hisaishi , lullabies)
"The Butter Man" by Elizabeth Alalou tells about a boy's childhood in Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
Zorah's Magic Carpet by Stefan Czernecki is a fairy tale about one curious woman and her desire to see the world. My Father's Shop by Satomi Ichikawa tells a simple story about a boy playing in his father's carpet shop and playfully learning words from different languages from tourists.
We talked a little bit more about Morocco's culture, looked at photographs online and listened to the music. We also did a mosaic art project. The idea for the project can be found here.
D. drew a design of an archway and picked some colors for his mosaic. We did not have tiles so I just used paint chips from a home improvement store and cut them in small pieces. (Paint chips (as I discovered via pinterest) are awesome for children crafts- they are sturdier than construction paper and come in much wider variety of colors)
This time we learned all about Sahara desert and people and animals that inhibit it. We talked about Tuareg people and read One night by Christine Kessler. This lovely illustrated book talks about life of a Tuareg boy. The story is about deep connection within a family and with surrounding nature.
We also read The Storytellers by Ted Lewine to repeat all that we learned about Morocco last week.
D. drew a picture of a camel crossing desert. We ate some couscous that I made and drank mint tea just like people of the desert.
Second half of the first grade has started. A little bit slow too.
This month we are learning all about Morocco.
Today's lesson was a brief introduction to the country:
-we found it on the map and learned basic facts such as capital, official language and flag. We also learned some fun facts from Not for Parents Travel Book.
-we looked through Mirror by Jeannie Baker (I write more about this book in my new children books blog)
-D. made a Hamsa the Good Luck Charm art (inspired by a project found here).
D. has always been a huge fan of maps and all things that relate to travel and adventure. C. is growing to love it as well. We have a few countries to study every year and currently we talk a lot about great explorers.
Today I'd like to share a few books on the subject, that we love very much:
1. Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary by Jack Knowlton , Harriet Barton.
This book is extremely useful to us when a new word comes up. Definitions are brief simple to understand for children. Illustrations are lovely.
2. Not for Parents Travel Book It has information on all the countries of the world complete with basic facts, pictures and fun info.
3. National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012 is very popular with both of my kiddos, it's full of all sorts of interesting stuff from animals to planets. The pictures are great. Some stories are quite short and are great reading practice for the youngest readers.
4.The Once Upon a Time Map Book: Take a Tour of Six Enchanted Lands This book is awesome. Great introduction to map reading. We got this book when D. was almost five and it remains his favorite. It offers a trip through six fairy-tale lands- Neverland, Enchanted forest, Oz etc., treasure hunt included. Illustrations are lovely and very detailed- we can look at them for a long time.
This book is amazing. We are HUGE fans of Stephen Beisty's illustrations- incredibly detailed and accurate. This book talks about all the major discoveries by greatest explorers. The book is full of maps, detailed illustrations of the ships, itineraries. Even the dust jacket is a full sized poster of these incredible voyages. The information in this book may be directed more towards older children (according to the publisher it's 12 years and up), but I abridge a lot for D. and he enjoys this book immensely.
Few weeks ago we have finished our unit on Brazil. It was a very interesting experience learning about this country and I hope we will return to it once again someday. Part one of our studies was dedicated to geography and basic information about the country. We made a destination card, traced the map of Brazil instead of cutting one out of magazine. Description of our first lesson can be found here.
Part two was dedicated to the rich culture of the country and Carnival in particular. We did a drawing/collage of a carnival participant. Description of the lesson can be found here.
The third part was dedicated to the Amazon rainforest and its unique ecosystem. We read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry which is a great book to introduce a child to the biodiversity of and Amazon forest and explain the impact a man makes on the forest. We also looked through the rainforest page in Nature Cross-sections book by Richard Orr. We also watched video about Brazil's nature that we got from the library as well as How Children live in Brazil (which was not very interesting as it is focused on similarities of the lifestyle instead of interesting cultural moments). The art project of the day was the Rainforest Scene. The idea for this project is taken from a great book called My Art Book. First we painted a background of a forest complete with a river. Then, using different paper, we drew and cut out trees, flowers and animals (we used cardstock, construction paper, brightly colored post its and just painted animals with watercolors) adding interesting details with oil pastels and wax crayons (such as shades on leaves). Finally, we glued out animals and plants on the large paper with painted background.
We watched lots of videos on youtube, listened (and continue listening) to a lot of music. I picked up one of Jorge Amado's books that I was intending to read for ages and while I'm still in process of reading I thoroughly enjoy. D. is fascinated with capoeira and I'm looking for lessons for all of us in the future.
This time we learned about culture and traditions.
We watched "Families of Brazil" that we got from the library, which, I am sorry to say was not very informative. I think the goal of this film was to show that life of children in Brazil is not that different from that of American kids. We were however looking for differences and did not find much.
We talked about Carnavale and looked at some videos on youtube. We admired costumes and tried to do a little samba dance -it sure produced a lot of giggles :)) this video is not of carnival samba but is our favorite nonetheless.
Both D. and C. were fascinated with capoeira, and of course attempted to do it too :) This video shows some great skills that kids have. D. wants to take some classes so I'm looking for it now.
We talked about food, listened to some great music. National Geographic has a great music page with recommendations for artists. (Their photo page is also great) I will never stop loving Putumayo cds for great music. Some tracks from various albums can be heard here .
The art activity for the day was to draw a carnaval guy or girl and make him some exciting costumes using feathers, markers and sequins.:) Here is the result, I must say glitter panties is my favorite part :D
In September we learn about Brazil. Day 1:
We learned about geography of Brazil- neighboring countries, ocean, major rivers and cities. We talked about Brazil's economy (the colored pencils on our table are made in Brazil:))), what products come from it that we use every day (coffee, cocoa beans).
We listened to Brazilian Music (Putumayo's Brazilian playground is a great CD). D.'s favorite song is Tum tum tum by Roberta Sá.
We made a "Destination folder" card. I forgot to print a map and flag to color, but it turned out that tracing Brazil's outline from the map in a book and drawing the flag is much more interesting activity (I had to help D. with both of course). Aside from the map and flag we put names of major cities, important region (Amazon), language and money. National Geographic Kids-Brazil
We pasted couple of pictures from magazines (we didn't find many yet). We read "The Beginning of Armadillos" by Rudyard Kipling for a bedtime story.
Our days are pretty chaotic as we prepare for my parents to leave for the summer.
Nevertheless we managed to finish our Australian studies (for now :). I mean they could go on and on, the interesting country it is :)) Maybe more next year :)
Part 1 of our studies can be found here
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We read some wonderful books that taught us about this amazing country and the culture of aboriginal people:
We learned about amazing wildlife. This particular short movie was especially fascinating:
We did Australia inspired art:
We listened to the music:
We did a card for our "destination" box:
What I love most about homeschooling that it gives me an opportunity to discover more about the world. I read a great book Dreamkeepers:A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia by Harvey Arden I learned a lot and will definitely continue learning.
I watched some great australian movies and again, can't wait to see more, so un-hollywood they are.
The journey will definintely continue :)
