Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge {FI♥AR}

Nov. 28th ~ Dec. 2nd

"Built in 1880 of cast iron and steel, the 'fat and red and jolly' little lighthouse sits on the bank of the Hudson River in New York City. When the great, gray, and powerful George Washington Bridge is built overhead, the little lighthouse feels very, very small. But he soon comes t understand that he is still needed to guide boats through the dark and stormy weather."The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.
Social Studies & Science: New York, Hudson River Valley History,  Rivers, Bridges, Lighthouses, Types of Boats

River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River, by Hudson Talbott proved to be a wonderful introduction to the economic and cultural significance of the Hudson River, as well as an introduction to the history of New York.





We read the book in one sitting, but Malachi was fading towards the end. 

Topics we covered from this book:
  • early American explorers and American history
  • New York City's beginning as a Dutch outpost to growing to the business capital of the world
  • types of boats that were seen on the river ~ sloop (workhorse of the Hudson River), bark, schooner, and Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont (1807)
  • building of the Erie Canal
  • Wall Street
  • ice harvesting and ice boating
  • industrial revolution
  • the first bridge on the Hudson at Poughkeepsie for trains built in 1888
  • Statue of Liberty (1886) / Ellis Island / Immigrants to America
  • The importance of the Hudson River as America's first superhighway, the inspiration for the first American art movement, and the birthplace of environmental activism. 
  • fish of the river (shad, striped bass, Atlantic sturgeon) and the environmental changes that saved them.
Luke started reading Munford Meets Robert Fulton (history of steam boats and steam power) to tie into this row and the next.

We also watched a video on YouTube on The Little Red Lighthouse.

Since it is the little red lighthouse, we made miniature versions of this lighthouse craft for some memory making fun. 


They wanted them to look like TLRL, so they didn't want to decorate them.  I saw Elli's on the ladder to her bunk bed, leading her safely to bed. =)


Language Arts: Compound Words, Personification

Compound Words



Personification

We used our Pick and Draw game and some lighthouse die cuts that I found at the Dollar Tree for this lesson. . . and of course, the manual and the book! 






Art: Contrast in Size

We talked about how the Little Red Lighthouse is small compared to the Great Grey Bridge, but if we were to stand next to it, we would be little and the Little Red Lighthouse would be big! Then we did the lesson in the manual on page 137.

Math:

We didn't do a hands on math.  Malachi worked in his Singapore 1A book because I couldn't find his Fred on this day. He did 14 pages (7 lessons) in one day - I think it was too easy for him, but he enjoyed the independence of his lessons.

Recipe: Recipes from New York City ~ an Italian dinner: 'NYC Baked Lasagna' and Focaccia Bread

Our dinner was inspired by the Five in a Row Cookbook. "For many people, the Italian food in New York City rivals that of Italy."

Inspired by this Classic Lasagna I made a vegetarian lasagna with lentils, but I didn't care for the lentils in the lasagna. Next time, I will make my regular meatless lasagna and add more cheese to the focaccia, which was inspired by the Red Onion and Garlic Focaccia.  We ended up adding pizza sauce and mozzarella to make a pizza with the leftovers. 

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 2.


In other homeschool news, Malachi is plugging along in Beginning Geography. When we came to  "Where in the World Do You Live?" - a lesson on page 94 and I thought this would be a perfect time to do this Me on the Map activity from Finally in First.





I personalized it by adding Malachi's photo on top and used the labels (Earth, North America, United States, Wyoming, etc.) inside as a chance to work on handwriting.

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}

1 comment

  1. We are rowing this book now but I can't seem to access the download for the compound words at First Grade Parade :0/

    ReplyDelete