We had a very relaxed time for our row of Very Last First Time. We explored the Inuit culture of Northern Canada, discovered the Arctic, studied mollusks, revisited warm and cool colors, had some fun with ice sculpting and made fry bread!
Social Studies: Canada, Inuit, Family Relationships, First Time Experiences
The story centers around Eva walking on the ocean floor alone for the very first time. The Inuit (Eskimos) dig a hole in the ice when the tide goes out and walk on the ocean floor to collect mussels. We watched a BBC video of natives collecting mussels under the ice and it is quite scary! You only have a short window while the tide is out and the video mentions stories of those who did not make it out in time. Throughout the story, there are shadows and pictures of people (Eva's imgaination) cast on the rock from the flame of the candle and it has a mysterious feel to it.
We read about the Inuit, traditions, snow houses and tent houses, modern arctic town (like Eva lived in), traveling in the Arctic, clothing, crafts, languages and games of the Inuit in First Peoples The Inuit of Canada.
We also talked about relationships and first time experiences and the kids were great at coming up with special memories that we have shared and many "firsts" in our lives.
Language Arts: Story Writing ~ Good Titles
"How can a first time be last? because there is only one first time. . ." ~ p. 83.We discussed the importance of writing a good title and agreed that "Very Last First Time" was a good title for this story. I've been thinking about good titles, too, for blog posts. :)
In our regular studies, Malachi did his lessons for All About Reading Level 1 and Eliana finished up Level Pre-1.
Science: Mollusks - Bivalves - Mussels, Levers, Clean/Unclean, Tides, Frozen Seas
In the story, Eva collects mussels on the bottom of the ocean when the tide goes out. We read in Swimming Creatures ~ Lesson 9: Mollusks that mussels use tough fibers called byssal threads to attach themselves to any suitable surface - they are like a natural super glue. In fact, "they are so powerfully attached to the surface they choose that they are nearly impossible to remove unless you use a tool." Malachi picked up right away that that must be why Eva used her knife as a lever, as she "tugged and pried and scraped to pull mussels off the rocks." During high tide, it uses these threads to pull itself along scraping miscroscopic creatures off rocks and other surfaces (cleaning them) and when the tide goes back out, it returns to its spot and closes it's shell.
We read about how bivalves (mussels are a type), are an "elaborate system created by God to clean the water for us." They take in bacteria and other unhealthy, unclean products removing them from the water. We know that this makes them unclean. We talked about how the Bible says they are unclean and how God gave us GOOD instructions in his Word to take care of us and keep us healthy. Which led to a discussion on what we would eat if we were Inuit - caribou or musk oxen (both are cloven hoofed and chew the cud).
We read about the Arctic landscape, Arctic vegetation, animals on land and sea, in First Peoples The Inuit of Canada and watched The Blue Planet Ocean World Frozen Seas.
We also read Arctic Son, by Jean Craighead George. I think she writes wonderful living books about nature and this one paints a warm picture of Inupiat Eskimo life in the icy Arctic.
Art: Colors ~ Full Palette {Warm and Cool Colors}, Pointillism
I reminded Mali and Elli of when we studied warm colors and cool colors. Then I put out a full palette of colored paint, had them identify which were warm and cool (they remembered!), and then we used spike balls to paint with! It was fun to paint just to paint, but hard for the little ones to paint a picture.
Math: Ordinal Numbers, Counting
I think we have these down pat by now. FIAR offers plenty of review. ;-)
Malachi finished his Singapore 1A book today. He is still working in his Life of Fred Butterflies (he's on chapter 15). He also passed the 1st grade level in Mathletics and started the 2nd grade level. Eliana is working on Lesson 9: Capacity in Earlybird A and will finish the book up soon.
Lap Journal:
Memory Making Fun:
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| Using salt to "stick" the ice blocks together. |
Recipe: Fry Bread
This was suggested in the FIAR Cookbook and I am so glad - I had no idea what to prepare for this row!
My whole family loves fry bread, so I used my favorite recipe:
2 cups flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat)
1 T baking powder
1 ts. salt
1 cup milk (I use non-instant milk adding the powder to the flour and using 1 cup of water instead)
I put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the milk/water to that and mix with the paddle (cuz it's quicker). If I triple the batch I use the dough hook. Yum!
We took our winter break last week and started our row of Another Celebrated Dancing Bear this week.
Delightful Links:
Very Last First Time resources at Homeschool Share
BBC video of natives collecting mussels under the ice {found this on the FIAR forum - a helpful resource!}