Social Studies is one area where we tend to study what comes up instead of following a set curriculum. Today’s lesson on Lewis and Clark was one of those random lessons that turned out pretty well.
We started by watching a Netflix documentary (National Geographic: Lewis & Clark , Great Journey West), pausing to follow the expedition’s journey on our US map and discussing how this journey relates to what they already knew.
After watching the movie the kids created postcards (various templates available at Teachers Pay Teachers) as if they were on the expedition writing to someone back home.
Carne picada is a budget friendly cut of beef, thinly sliced and a bit courser than ground beef. Being a gluten-free family, we don’t get as much in the way of iron-fortified breads or cereals so I’ve been trying to include beef in our diet at least once a week, along with other natural food sources. Carne Picada tacos are cheap, super easy, and very filling.
1 lb carne picada (more or less)
1 can diced tomato & chiles (I use the Rotel cilantro & lime version)
1 can black beans
Place the meat in the crock pot. Pour tomatoes over meat and cook until tender – 6-8 hours low, 3-4 hours high- stirring meat after about 1 hour and adding drained black beans about 1 hour before serving.
My kids are HUGE fans of Wild Kratts. I’m pretty sure they have seen every episode, most more than once. When I heard there would be four new episodes all about reptiles this week it seemed perfect for a reptile unit study. I had to work Monday and a bit on Tuesday, a public speaking assignment to prepare and present on Thursday, and a gluten free lasagna to cook and deliver for a volunteer lunch on Friday. It was a bit of a busy week but we managed to get a good deal of fun and learning done.
Monday – Work day for me. No school / free reading.
Draw a rattlesnake using a shape pattern on the skin
Library to pick up books
Wednesday
**”What is a reptile?” – non fiction reading & comprehension passage – updated KWL sheets
Snake trail addition and subtraction math game – Mark alternating spaces with + and – signs, shuffle a stack of playing cards with face cards removed. Each child receives a die, dry erase board and marker, and game marker. Student rolls the die and moves the appropriate number of spaces. They draw 2 cards from the pile and write the problem & solution on their board using the operation they landed on. Continue until board is full. Fast finishers can go back and reverse the operation for extra practice. – Note: The original printable from Scholastic is no longer available. A slightly blurry version is available at the link.
Wild Kratts episode “Gila Monster Under My House”
Spike the Mixed Up Monster by Susan Hood (fiction book – Spanish vocab)
Friday **”Alligator” and “Crocodile” – non fiction reading & comprehension passages
**Alligator and Crocodile Venn diagram (compare contrast)
Wild Kratts episode “Mom of a Croc”
Reptile exhibit at Knoxville Zoo
Zoo journals – sketches of snakes at zoo & writing prompt “If I worked at the zoo…”
The Wright Brothers by Andrew Santella
The Wright Brothers: Heroes of Flight by Carin T Ford (Famous Inventors series)
Stealing Air by Trent Reedy
You Wouldn’t Want to be on the First Flying Machine by Ian Graham
You Can Draw Planes
How Airplanes Work by Paul Ohmann
The Wright Brothers biographies were used for reading/comprehension of non-fiction text. Students were also asked to pick 5 events from the Wright Brothers lives and create a timeline from those events.
** Note – This post has been updated because so many of the original resources are no longer available.
It's the beginning of August (in a few more hours) and we're back from our crazy Florida vacation so it's time to start getting back to a somewhat regular school-ish schedule.
Our local zoo has just completed a new giraffe encounter area and zoo members (us!) can feed a giraffe for free through Sunday so I'm putting together a mini unit for Thursday, zoo visit on Friday, and art project for Monday.
*Note: Other websites previously listed no longer valid.
We'll use the websites above and internet searches to research the foldables on pages 8 (Baby Giraffe Facts) and 17 (other giraffe facts) of the lapbook at http://www.homeschoolshare.com/giraffes.php.
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