Louis Bleriot

This past week we read The Glorious Flight, a book about a french aviator/inventor named Louis Bleriot, who was the first to cross the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft. We also read about Amelia Earhart, The Wright Brothers, and Charles Goodyear, the inventor of rubber.  

I picked up some books on making paper airplanes and flying machines.  Daren just happened to have a box of coloured paper that I had forgotten about. We made the classic Dynamic Dart, The Tail Spin and The Straw Rocket.  The boys had a blast flying them.

Cutting a baguette; a long thin loaf of french bread.

Christmas Reading

Jesus' First Miracle

Water into wine, the story of Jesus' first miracle.

Receiving a crafting instruction.

Making a water barrel out of a toilet paper roll and construction paper.

Jesus turned water...

...into wine.  A visual reminder of the miracle.

Jesus' first miracle is in the New Testament, so we memorized the names of the first five books; the Gospels and Acts.  I thought of a tune and the boys had them memorized in a few minutes.

Learning From Leaves

We went on a field trip to our city's park conservatory. We learned how extreme climates change the growth and appearance of plants. We also discovered how plants have adapted with different leaf forms, functions and other peculiarities.  The program took us through hands-on activities, crafts, and exploration of the palm house jungle.

Cocoa tree pod.  Yum chocolate!

Micaiah, lover of animals.

Abishai sampling the fragrances.

A scavenger hunt through the conservatory. 

Looking at the fish pond.

Each child went home with a plant they planted themselves.  Lucky boy Micaiah got one too, even though the field trip was only for K-Gr.3.

Geoboard

I wanted a Geoboard for the boys so I asked my Architect friend Will to make us one.  Abishai and Micaiah had so much fun assembling it.  Thanks Will!

Foreman Abishai making sure every nail is even.  This kept them busy while I cleaned the house, did the laundry, and made supper.  I felt pretty confident that these 3 and 5 year olds could handle the job on their own... and I was right!

Snow Clearing Mighty Machines

Watching...

Japan

I should have suspected that Abishai would enjoy A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno; a story about a little Japanese girl's delight in a new pair of shoes. Abishai loves shoes!  And, I should have guessed that when the time came to play store (inspired by the book), he would make his a store of shoes.  

Organizing and pricing his merchandise.

Abishai manages while Micaiah plays the customer.

And now, it's Abishai's turn to browse.

Printable Canadian money––for learning coin recognition.

Supplementary activities: Colouring the Japanese Flag.

Watching a Youtube video on how to make Sushi.

Then preparing to make it.

We dined on Sushi and Miso soup.  

My neighbour Jill lent us Chopsticks and soup spoons for our Japanese meal. I brought out some of the origami cranes that my husband made 13 years ago for the night he proposed to me.  They made a great centre piece, fitting in with our theme.

In our book, the little Japanese girl and her friends play a weather-telling game with their clogs.  We recorded our city's weather prediction at the beginning of the week to see if it would be correct.  This is what turned up. 

Weather explanation books, full of questions and answers. The boys enjoyed these.

A Countries Around the World DVD. Japan was a hit with Abishai.  He asked to watch this every day for a week.

Art: tracing paper, stick figures, and matching.

 Overall, a fun week exploring Japan.

Manger Play

Abishai and Micaiah have always enjoyed playing with our Manger Scene. Now Asher's old enough to play too.

Life in the Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachians: a land of mist, mountain, coal, quilt and yes, dulcimers.

Abishai and I looked at pictures of the Appalachian Mountains on the internet.  I asked which was his favourite and this is what he pointed to: Coal creek trail. Why did he choose this one instead of a majestic mountain peak?

Feeling different kinds of fabric.  Thanks to my friend Jill for lending and labelling it for us. Abishai also enjoyed looking at pictures of the process of how yarn and fabric was made.  The tools and machines fascinated him.

Making "Joseph's Coat of Many Colours" a quilting pattern found in the story of The Rag Coat. We also read the story of Joseph's coat of many colours found in Genesis.  Here Abishai is doing his own thing.

Then I remembered that I had roll-up puzzle-felt.  I pulled it out and the boys continued to make designs.  As time goes on I'm curious to see if their play will evolve into real patterns.

Abishai left Micaiah to play cowboys.  When Abishai asked Micaiah to join him, Micaiah replied by saying, "I don't have time for that, Abishai." and he proceeded to work on arranging his triangles.

We spent some time listening to music played on a dulcimer: an Appalachian instrument. We looked at pictures of how one is made as well.