 Angels in the Dust
written by Margot Theis Raven
illustrated by Roger Essley
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Geography: We studied Oklahoma, making a minit book with a map and state symbols.
History: We read stories about people in the depression and the Dust Bowl. We discussed the various causes of the Dust Bowl and how the Dust Bowl changed the way we farm today.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We reviewed similes and found examples of them in the story.
SCIENCE:
Fire:My neices and nephew joined us for this lesson making it even more fun. We made two minit books on fire, a layered book of the elements of fire and an accordion book timeline with showing how quickly a room and stucture are engulfed in flames. My dh was a volunteer firefighter for 3 years and showed them how fire fighters enter burning buildings, gave them fire safety rules, and blindfolded them, but them in bed and had them practice getting out of the house. The first two both "died" in the "fire" (one stood up and the other paniced and ran out of time) but the others made it out safely.
Wind: We investigated air currents, why we have wind, and the role wind played in the Dust Bowl.
Irrigation: We discussed different forms of irrigation and had fun finding irrigation equipment in the farm fields in the area as we drove to town.
ART:
We made sky and fire pictures using oil pastels. This is the first experience with oil pastels for my dc and they enjoyed experimenting with the colors and blending them.
BIBLE:
"The Golden Rule" - We used Mt. 7:12 as our copywork for the day and discussed what the scripture meant. (A much needed reminder at this time)
Additional resources used:
Children of the Dust Bowl - Jerry Stanley
The Dust Bowl - Tricia Andryszewski
Grapes of Wrath - video
Fire -
The Nature and Science of Fire - Jane Burton and Kim Taylor
About.com's State Unit Study - Oklahoma
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Mush Across Alaska in the World's Longest Sled-Dog Race
written by Margot Theis Raven
illustrated by Roger Essley
The Iditarod Dog-Sled Race begins the first Saturday of March each year. We missed the race by one week. If I had done this unit at the beginning of the race we would have each picked a musher, graphed their daily progress, possibly written to or e-mailed our musher with encouragement and celebrated the end of the race.
Dogsled Model Craft (pdf)
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Geography: Alaska. We made a minit book with a map of Alaska, labelling Juneau, Iditarod, Anchorage, Nome, Yukon River, Pacific Ocean, Canada, Bering Sea, Alaska Range Mountains, and the Iditarod Race trail. I made a Geo-Safari game card with these places and the girls played it for review.
History: The girls each made a time line minit book on the history of the use of dog-sleds in Alaska. We also spent a couple of days on the Iditarod Dog-Sled race and learned about Balto and the famous 1925 dog-sled relay to Nome delivering an emergency supply of medication to stop a Diptheria outbreak.
SCIENCE:
Alaskan Birds, Fish, and Animals: My neices and nephew joined us for this lesson making it even more fun. We made two minit books on fire, a layered book of the elements of fire and an accordion book timeline with showing how quickly a room and stucture are engulfed in flames. My dh was a volunteer firefighter for 3 years and showed them how fire fighters enter burning buildings, gave them fire safety rules, and blindfolded them, but them in bed and had them practice getting out of the house. The first two both "died" in the "fire" (one stood up and the other paniced and ran out of time) but the others made it out safely.
Bears: We did a seperate layer book comparing and contrasting the three kinds of bears found in Alaska [Polar bear, brown bear and Black bear (Kodiak and Grizzly)]
ART:
Drawing: The girls each drew an Alakan husky sled-dog for the cover of their lapbook.
Craft Stick dog-sleds: Using an model plan sheet the girls had to a build model dog-sled from craft sticks.
APPLIED MATH:
The girls practiced adding distances between Iditarod Race checkpoints and did word problems concerning dog-sled race food /equipment requirements.
Additional resources used:
Hannah's Alaska- Joanne Reiser
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto - Natalie Standiford
Balto - video
Eyes on Nature - Donal Olson
Ulaq and the Northern Lights - Harriet Peck Taylor
Jason's Gold - Will Hobbs
Alaska's Three Bears - Shelley Gill
Alaska - Joyce Johnston
About.com's State Unit Study - Alaska
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