Mail from...Oklahoma

I've talked a lot about creating lessons from the random things my kids sometimes happen to be interested in.  (see motorcycle sidecar racing and underwater worlds for examples).  This week we put a little twist on that theme-this time it was something random that I happened to be interested in.

It started while I was reading  Into the West: The Story of It's People.  The book's not that great, but it did talk a little bit about the Oklahoma Land Grab and that piqued my interest.

I found some great information on the Oklahoma Historical Society website and this clip from the movie "Far and Away."  (I ended up checking this movie out at our library-not for the kids, of course-and really enjoyed watching it.)

Source: youtube.com via Michelle on Pinterest

After talking about the Native Americans in Oklahoma, and a little bit about homesteading, I helped my boys participate in their own land grab.  They had to decide what to take with them...

Clothes, toys, books, and snacks.

I wanted them to think carefully about what they'd need in the wilderness, but when I turned around they'd emptied their entire dressers into their sleds and filled their shoes with nuts.  It was a good time to just smile and let them be.

Next they had to think about their mode of transportation...one sled has a string on it, so that worked perfectly.  We had to transfer supplies from the second sled into something a little more manageable...

I put 6 land "markers" in the yard...

...and then it was a race to see who could collect the most "land"...

My teenage neighbor came out at about the time as this video and looked at us very strangely.  It's like he's never seen kids running around with sleds and coolers full of clothes and snacks before...

My kids loved the running around part of this lesson, 

and it was so rewarding to share with them something that was intriguing to me.  

What was the last spontaneous lesson

 you and your kids shared?

You thought I forgot, didn't you?

The Oklahoma state bird is the Scissor-tailed Fly Catcher.

I'll bet you've never seen one of those!

Mail from...Arizona

The "Mail from..." series was part of our participation in a a postcard swap hosted by Beth at Living Life Intentionally.  The idea was to send out 50 postcards of your state-one to every state in the Union-and then receive back the same.  Being a travel junkie, I thought it was an exciting way to add a little geography into this year's kindergarten lessons.  Besides, what kid doesn't LOVE to get mail?

Well, the postcards have started to trickle in.  While most of them have included fairly generic tidbits of information, my kids seem to be most fascinated with learning each state's official bird.  They get confused with senders who didn't understand that was vital information.  And because that's what they're intrigued with, I've started printing out the official state birds and attaching them to the map as we study each new postcard.

The Arizona Cactus Wren

To get us started, let's take a look at Arizona...

The postcard we received showed an enormous Saguaro Cactus.  

I adapted this cute cactus craft from one I saw at Creative Jewish Mom.

To make:

~Cut apart the square parts of a cardboard egg container 

(This part was unexpectedly messy and probably should be done by mom)

~Paint the squares.

~Send your kids outside to collect pebbles and rocks while the paint dries.

~Glue the squares into whatever shape your child thinks a cactus looks like.

~Glue the rocks onto the cardboard  (we used the side of a cereal box) 
so your landscape looks like a desert.

~Crumple tissue paper and glue to your cactus for "blossoms" 

What fun tidbits can you share with us about Arizona?

Interesting Kids Through Story

One of the best ways to intrigue a child is by reading them a story.  Each turn of a book page draws them further into a world of make believe (or reality) and wraps them in interest to see how it will end.  Here are a few of my children's favorites:

The Pout-Pout Fish

The Runaway Bunny

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

The Little Bear Series

The Jungle Book

Charlotte's Web

What stories are your kids loving?