Unit 7- Bigger Hearts

Bigger Unit 7

*IMPORTANT NOTE* 
Starting this week, I have decided to separate my posts.  I have been putting both Bigger and Creation to Christ together each week, but I feel that's making for really long posts, so from now on, they will each have their own post. 
   
      I felt like the focus this week shifted a lot.  In science, we covered the basic parts of a flower, then the formation of fossils, and also the order of the planets.  In history, we started by reading about the wigwams that housed Native Americans, then moved on to the trading of goods and services among the colonists, and ended with a geography lesson about islands, isthmuses, and bays.  Because of all this fluctuating, I will say Bean was not as focused on school this week and it was my least favorite week to teach so far.  But still, good information was presented and she did take some things away from our studies.

Bean worked diligently on building a clay wigwam.  We did make the clay with flour, salt and water, however, it does not dry well if you don't thin it out enough.  The bowl was to help keep the shape as she pushed on the "covering."

Cinnamon Toast Crunch acted as our hides to cover the outside of the wigwam.  I don't have a finished product picture because it all kind of fell apart when we tried to take it off the bowl.  My suggestions: roll the dough out to a thinner piece and keep it on a bowl until COMPLETELY dry.

Bean made a list of things that are goods vs. services.  That one on the bottom of the "goods" side is an egg. :)

Here's the diagram of the different parts of a flower.  I think she did a great job of copying this picture out of the book.  Ok, ok, I'll admit, I MAY have helped with the outline of the left side of the flower, but Bean is such a perfectionist that sever frustration develops if she doesn't think it looks "right."  The point of the lesson is not artistic ability, it's learning the flower parts, so I help when I can.

I forgot to take a picture of the experiment part of this science lesson.  We used store bought clay and different toys with feet to make a "fossil."  The drawing represents the foot of Woody (Toy Story), Barbie, and a Polly Pocket.

      We skipped the activity that was part of the geography lesson for day four.  The lesson called for the student to use a bowl and sand with rocks to make a landscape, then pour water over it a little at a time.  The goal was to observe peninsulas with isthmuses or bays or islands forming.  We were crunched on time that day and I didn't want to consume those supplies when I felt the concept could be completely taught on paper, so we instead used the internet to look up examples of each different concept on maps.

Notebooking covered some of the first things colonists became adept at growing in America.  Rice and indigo were popular crops in the South Carolina region.

Here's a look at Bean's timeline in progress.  This week she added John Winthrop.  She also added Nathaniel Bacon, who was the man that burned Jamestown to the ground, but he's in another column, so no picture this time. :)

      Finally, there was a science exploration that included placing index cards on the floor with the planet's names on them.  They were to be spaced apart using centimeters to represent their respective distance from the sun.  Neptune was to be placed 450 cm away from where you started.  That's 14.75 feet, folks!  We definitely ran out of room and I couldn't fit the whole thing in a picture.  Still, Bean understood the concept...it's really far away from the sun!

     I have to say, I thought the question for the planet project was a little funny.  "What is the order of the planets from nearest to farthest from the sun?"  Um, Bean didn't even know the NAMES of all the planets.  How was she suppose to guess at their order?  Oh well.  I just gave a little more time to the lesson so we could cover "My Very Elderly Mother Just Sent Us Nine P..." wait.... that doesn't work anymore! LOL  I just turned "nine" into "nickles."