• Nov. 7, 2007
Unit Study- Gifts Week 2 (or how to catch up on science class)
Just a simple overview of the Unit Study that we do weekly with our friends (a family of four who homeschool as well). Each week we go to a different country as listed in the book Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart and illustrated by Barabara Reid. (These are plasticine drawings and the pictures have a bit of a 3-D look to them)
Tara arrives with her clan and announces that she almost made it through eveyr subject before they arrived except for science today and then takes off with the youngest for a doctor's appointment.
We're off to Australia. After reading the book, we visit the pages where the Grandma visits Australia. We take a moment to highlight the art work and study the different things that the illustrator has included in this page.
There is an Aborigine playing a didgeridoo,two children playing with a boomerang and the grandmother is recording the sounds of the National Bird-the Laughing Kookaburra while walking through some billabong goo.
The kids are enthusiastic as the point out Australia and ooh and ahh as they learn that it is the only country that is a continent. And then I tempt them with the knowledge that today's food treat is billabong goo--chocolate pudding.
Craft time--we make didgeridoos courtesy of crayola.com. And to make it uber-educational, the kids are to paint the didgeridoo following traditional Aborigine painting styles. They love it and come up with some pretty stellar art work.
Next I put on some didgeridoo music and we all join in. By the second song, Josiah asks us to shut off the buzzing noise. Everyone else begs for one more song and Josiah relents.
Next we sing "Kookaburra sits in the old Gum Tree" and everybody loves the part about how the bird eats the gumdrops from the tree. New dilemma: Everyone wants to play an imagined Kookaburra game and is on the lookout for gumdrops. Diversion: let's make billabong goo!
We define the word billabong and talk about where we've seen an "elbow in the river" before. Then, the gong show begins. I take out the chocolate pudding and realize that I have bought the stove top boil version of the pudding. No problem. Everybody gets involved in math(measuring) and pouring in the milk. I set it to go.
Five minutes later, milk has burned itself to the bottom of the pot and the chocolate billabong goo is horrendously gross.
No worries-ingenuity and creativity to the rescue. "Anyone want to try some science experiments?"
"Nah." "No." "Not really." "What kind?"
"Messy ones!" I answer.
Game on. We divide the chocolate puddings into ten different containers. We raid the fridge and pull out the maplesyrup, the ketchup the mustard and the soya sauce. We dive into the pantry and pull out the olive oil, the honey and the flour. We start bly asking, " What will happen to the pudding if we add..."
Messy, ooey, gooey fun transpires as we compare consistency, colour,texture and oooh, gross-slideability (is that a word?) Chocolate pudding mixed with oil is runny in a consistency that sets every kid laughing--"It looks like poo!"
Tara comes back to find the kitchen a lovely chocolate disaster and all of us grinning and saying, "Guess what we did Mom--science!"
Comments
• Nov. 12, 2007
You've been tagged!
Posted by icecastle
If you wish to participate, the rules are listed on my blog.
It sounds like you all had fun!
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