Mail from...Home? (Iowa)

You would think that teaching about the place you are from would be an easy piece of cake.  I found out last week that that is definitely wrong.

In 6 years my kids have been to Iowa more than a dozen times.  They love it winter their when they get to stay in a cabin with all their cousins.  They love summer there because it means fresh sweet corn and swimming.  I wanted to try to stay away from teaching them generic stereo-typical things about my home state, but in the end, it's what they already knew and we decided instead to just dig a little deeper.

For some reason, learning about the Iowa state bird is a vivid memory from my childhood.
I guess my boys are turning out like me after all...

The rest of our lesson focused on farming and what crops/livestock are so important in Iowa.  My parents were not farmers, but we were always surrounded by the neat rows of corn and soybeans and that's what my kids see when we go there.  I found a great interactive video/game that teaches about corn specifically.  Check it out here:

The Great Corn Adventure

And then we made barn and grain bin spinning wheels to show what types of items you might see and use in both.  The printables for that plus other activities are here:

Farm Life Spinning Wheel

And even though we didn't use it this time, I was very excited to come across the Iowa DNR website, which has a great resource page for teaching all kinds of science and nature related topics...

Springbrook Conservation Education Center

A lot of times I think Iowa gets a bum wrap as just another one of those flat midwestern states.  I always joke that anyone who has driven through Nebraska would never call Iowa flat.  It's beautiful with rolling hills and green, green, green.  I loved growing up there and I love taking my boys back there.  It was fun helping them understand a little more deeply the things which they've already seen!

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...New Mexico

Here is a state that our family knows A LOT about.  And we absolutely love it.  Every October we make the 9+ hour drive to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  And while we're there we cram in as many amazing sites and attractions as possible!  Some of our favorites are, of course, the Balloon Fiesta itself...

but also White Sands National Monument...

and Tent Rocks National Monument...

In New Mexico it's impossible to ignore the history of the Native American people, so for our lesson we looked at examples of Native American artwork. We looked at the patterns in Navajo rugs, the different shades of turquoise, and horsehair pottery (my favorite, crafted by burning horse hairs onto the finished piece).

We attempted making Indian hieroglyphics and learned a valuable lesson to scrunch the paper before you do the drawing.  By the time Beck got done scrunching his drawing 20 times it had all but disappeared (which did drive home the point of erosion and aging, but made him pretty mad).  

 And, of course, Beck got excited learning about New Mexico's state bird, the road runner.  Raise your hand if you had no idea that the road runner was more than just an over-intelligent animated character.  I certainly didn't.  But here's a random fact for you:  The commuter train between Albuquerque and Santa Fe is called the Road Runner after their unique feathered friend.

Sadly, my kids had never seen a Road Runner cartoon, so we watched a few of those, too.  In case you've deprived your children, like I had mine, here's a little taste to whet their whistle...

Can you tell we really, really love New Mexico?  

Mail from...New York

Now this (the eastern blue bird) is a beautiful state bird!

New York state is such a diverse place!  We could have studied about the Catskills, or Niagara Falls, or a somewhat famous underground rodent that made an appearance earlier this week.  In desperate need of some hands-on creativity, we decided, instead, to recreate New York City...

 Using every block set we own, the boys and their dad worked on building skyscrapers, a zoo, a farm (okay, maybe not exactly from NYC), bridges and other landmarks.  

I especially love that my husband told them all about King Kong climbing the Empire State building and so that had to become part of their skyline.  Do you see him in the photo above?

Beck was adamant about leaving road space for his trucks to drive through when they finished.  His dad has driven a motorcoach in NYC and HIGHLY advised Beck against ever driving there, but he had his mind set!

Bonus for Mom after all the building was complete?  So easy to separate all those blocks into their own bins and put them away.  It's the cleanest I've seen their bedroom in weeks!

Mail from...Tennessee

I wasn't feeling too inspired the day Beck pulled Tennessee out of his postcard pile.  My last experience with the Volunteer state is that of my husband being stuck in the Memphis airport while our twins were being born.  Adding to my lack of enthusiasm, the Tennessee state bird is the mockingbird, which we've already studied.

Luckily, the nice child who sent this postcard included a long list of songs related to Tennessee.  They included:

"My Homeland, Tennessee"

"The Tennessee Waltz"

"Rocky Top"

While we were listening to these and a few others Beck informed me he did not want to live in Tennessee because it was not peaceful.  I was reminded that he does not like to have a lot of music playing.  He doesn't like the radio in the background for sure.  Since we were listening to Tennessee songs he thought that must be what living in Tennessee is like.

All in all, this lesson was a wash, but Beck did really enjoy this video...

Tell me, what is Y-9D?

Mail from...Massachusetts (Happy Thanksgiving)

My first job away from home was on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, south of Boston.  While there I fell in love with New England.  Fortunately I still have all my photos from then because we haven't received our Massachusetts postcard.  It was fun this week looking through them with Beck.  And, of course he wanted to know if I saw a Black-Headed Chickadee (the Massachusetts State Bird) while I was there.  I can't say that I remember specifically that I did...

Sorry I'm not posting my own photos here,
 my scanner is being temperamental

Plymouth Rock
Have you been there?
 It's one of the most disappointing landmarks I've been to,
but still a cool part of history.

Since the 1st Thanksgiving took place in this great New England state, I decided to go ahead and study it without a postcard to go along with it.  Somehow I am always too slow to get the fun popular seasonal books at the library, but this time it worked out okay.  Instead of silly picture books, we ended up with three non-fiction books that tell the real story of Thanksgiving.  Beck & Peyton have been so quiet and patient while we look through them, and I've caught them pretending to be Indians that help the Pilgrims find fish and food and arguing over whether there was turkey at the 1st Thanksgiving.  This time being to slow at the library has worked out for me.

To go along with our stories, I printed out some Thanksgiving printable crafts at artistshelpingchildren.org.  I've provided the links to each one below...

Pilgrim Boy Foldable Paper Craft

(They also had a pilgrim girl)

Indian Boy (and Girl)

Turkey

(This one was not worth the stress, 

and now I can't find the link, so I think it must be a sign)

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mail from...North Dakota & Kansas

My family does a lot of traveling.  It's a blessing we have and something I'm grateful for.  My kids love pulling out our photo albums and looking at the places they've been.  So, last week when we pulled out the postcards for North Dakota and Kansas, it seemed like a great time to remind them of some of the fun things we've done in those states.  In addition, we were learning last week about the Grand Canyon, which Beck can remember hiking around not so long ago.  All together, these three places made for a fun week of learning!

North Dakota
Years ago on a drive from Utah to Iowa via Yellowstone, we made a stop in Medora, ND.  It's the location of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and one of the coolest lodging accomodations we've ever stayed in...

Custer's Cottage & Wooly Wagon

That's right, we stayed in a real covered wagon!

Kansas

My boys love Kansas, I didn't need to remind them of that.  Every year we go to a 4-day flea market in Sparks, KS with their cousins.  It's hot and smelly camping in a field and it's the most fun ever!  

The Grand Canyon

On a spur-of-the-moment decision two years ago, we met family in Arizona for 3 days of hiking.  Beck and Peyton did amazing!

Where are the places your children love to go?

Side-note:  I had no idea North Dakota and Kansas were so the same,

 but they share the same state bird (the western meadowlark),

 and while Kansas is the Sunflower State, 

North Dakota is the nation's largest producer of agricultural sunflowers. 

 Interesting.  

Mail from...North Carolina (Part 2: Flying Machines)

See that cardinal in there?
 Apparently 7 states claim the cardinal as their state bird.
Did you know only the males are bright red?

We haven't received a postcard from the official postcard swap participant living in North Carolina, so it was perfect timing for Beck's friend to mail us this one as soon as he arrived there.  We used it to spend two days studying Orville and Wilbur Wright and their flying machines.

There are a couple things I had no idea about when I started preparing for this lesson.  First, the Wright brothers did not live in North Carolina.  They grew up and lived in Ohio.  They had their bicycle shop there and that's where they created their flying machines.  So how did they end up on the beaches of Kitty Hawk?  Three reasons:  

 

1. They needed wind and Kitty Hawk was the sixth windiest place they could find
2. They wanted to be away from the public until they knew what they were doing
3. The sand made for a little bit softer way to land

It makes me wonder if Ohioans hold a grudge about all the recognition North Carolina gets when 5+ years of the work was done up north and 12 seconds of flying happened when they travelled down south.

Wright Glider  Source

Notice above that I said "flying machines"? That's the other thing I didn't know.  There wasn't just one airplane that miraculously took flight.  Coming up with one rendition a year for 5 years, the brothers tested different body styles, power options, and turning mechanisms.  The first machine was merely a kite that they controlled from ropes on the ground. 

There is an undending amount of information online to put together a lesson on the Wright Brothers, the history of flight, and the evolution of aviation.  These are the resources I drew from to intrigue my kindergartner and keep it interesting.  Click the images to be taken directly to the credited website.

U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission Sights and Sounds
8 short videos explaining each year/machine and the progress that was made

Downloadable Power Point directed towards 1st graders.  Great!!

My favorite!
Link is to a PDF of worksheets that accompanied the video series.
We chose out 6 that were on Beck's level, could easily be used for a range of grade levels.

The end of the Power Point listed above leads your child to create their own flying machine.  Here's a look at the new way Beck has for Santa to deliver his toys...

New to Eating the Nibbly Bibs? 

 Check out the story behind "Mail from..." here

A few other links I liked but didn't use in my lesson:

Instructions for making 10 different paper airplanes

Original Video of Wright Brothers Flights

Random interesting facts about the Wright Brothers

Mail from...North Carolina (Part 1-Friendship & Moving)

Recently my boys' best friends moved with their family to North Carolina to be closer to their grandparents.  It was a sad day for us all.  Driving home from their house the night before they would leave Beck and my husband had a tender conversation about how life changes from time to time.  It was one of those parenting moments when we wanted to wrap our arms around our little ones and protect them from all things sad that happen in the world.

The truth is, it was sad for me to.  You see, I am supposed to be the one who moves away.  I do the leaving.  Working in the seasonal hospitality industry, it was routine to move somewhere, make 2-3 close friends, and then wave good-bye as our contracts ended and we went on our merry way.  There are a few people I've kept in contact with over the years, but the reality of distance and time usually take their toll.  Thinking back on the wonderful people I've been blessed to know makes me smile and hold back tears simultaneously, but it's the life I had become accustomed to.

So when I tell you my boys' best friends moved away, I must also say that one of my good friends has moved away as well.  And it's a very new feeling to be the person left behind.  Not because there aren't other people to hang around with, and not because I needed that relationship to validate me, but because it represents everything new and changing in my life as mom of 4 settled down in American suburbia.

Beck, Peyton, and I of course have other friends.  Those old friends came into our lives when we joined their Joy School (which is where I first embraced Teaching Your Children Joy).  And now we've joined a new homeschool play group where we're getting to know a brand new group of people.  Our lives will go on, just not be quite the same.

How have you helped your children deal with a close friend leaving?    

Come back tomorrow to see our study

 of North Carolina and the history of flight!

Mail from...New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a beautiful state!  Who could argue that when this is their state bird...

Purple Finch

I visited there in a long ago October when the granite mountains were on fire with changing autumn colors.  On that trip, I got to see the Old Man of the Mountain.  I'm so glad I did, because in 2003 the profile collapsed and changed the face of the mountain forever.

Before and After 

Much to my surprise, this pile of crumbled rocks held very little appeal to my boys, so, thinking on my feet, I pulled out the paints to create our own representations of the New Hampshire autumn leaves.  We used Q-tips instead of brushes and I demonstrated how to carefully dot the paint onto the paper.  It did not make any sense to my kids today.  Surprising myself again, I didn't over-react and try to correct them.  I just let them be and worked on my own dotted painting...

So, New Hampshire did not bring about a super-memorable postcard lesson.  I'll have to put "visit New Hampshire" on our to-do list and see if that doesn't turn out to be more inspiring.

Mail from...Texas

I spent many, many summers working in Alaskan hotels, and so have heard my fair share of proud Texans try to incorrectly assert that they live in the largest state in the nation.  And, while, I've driven through Texas several times and would agree that it is a massive amount of open space, my alliances have to stick with my northern roots on this one...nonetheless, Texas is a great state and I was very excited to introduce it this week in kindergarten.  

Since the Texas state bird is the mockingbird, and we already studied it during Arkansas/Apple Week, I decided instead to focus on the Texas state mammal (how many other states have a designated state mammal?).  If, like me, you've done any driving in the Lone Star state, you know it's not just a stereotype that the same animal could also be designated the official state roadkill.  And as roadkill goes, I'm going to declare that the armadillo is absolutely the most disgusting!

For the lesson, we looked at armadillo pictures and learned that armadillos like to burrow into the ground and use their noses to hunt for bugs.  We learned about the many different types of armadillos and then more specifically about the nine-banded armadillo which is the only armadillo native to the United States.

Texas State Mammal: Nine-Banded Armadillo

Beck's favorite was the Pink Fairy Armadillo which appears to be green and pink-two of his favorite colors. It also happens to be the smallest of the armadillos.

Unfortunately I had no time to get to the library this week, but I did find this online story about an armadillo named Arturo.  It wouldn't have been my first choice, but Beck liked it and it did teach how armadillos defend themselves in scary situations.

Clara and the Armadillo

My new favorite website is learn create love because it's full of printable cut-out templates and this is the one we used today...

Armadillo Printable from learn create love 

I really do love Texas.  I'm really glad I didn't go the cowboy route with this week's postcard.  I'm really glad Beck had so much fun learning about this odd little creature.  And I'm REALLY glad I'm not going to have to look at any more photos of this creepy little mammal for a very long time!

Have you been to Texas? 

 What is your favorite thing there?

Apple Week (and Arkansas)

Last week we pulled out the postcard from Arkansas and discovered that 1) the state bird is the mockingbird, and 2) the state flower is the Apple Blossom.  I could have put it back in the bin until spring when, the apple trees would be blossoming, but decided to link it to the apple harvest of this time of year instead.

This was our week of apple learning...

First, we counted & sorted them by color & size. We also looked for patterns & more than/less than (i.e. stems v. no stems, red v. green, etc)

Then, we made a comparison chart. Beck colored each different apple across the top.  Our categories were: stems, red, not red, & spots/dots.  Does anyone know why apples have those tiny, tiny little dots?

We tried doing a taste test, but my kids didn't seem to think the apples tasted any differently.  After a few probing questions, I decided not to push their apparent lack of taste buds any further.

I found this superhero apple template on Pinterest and KNEW my kids would love it!

After printing, I glued the pieces to a cereal box cardboard, and cut the pieces apart in hopes of avoiding the frustration of tired hands.

Beck had a serious problem that his little brother wasn't putting  his apple together properly...

He forgot soon enough, though, unable to resist the lure of being a superhero!

 Our second craft activity of the week was an attempt at apple printing.  They didn't turn out the way I'd anticipated, but still the boys had a lot of fun.

 And the Apple Week Grand Finale was a field trip with cousin Claire to our local apple orchard!  The kids got to run up and down the planted rows in search of the perfect apple to eat right off the tree.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but these Galas were nearly as sweet as the doughnuts that were waiting at the end of the tour!

Do you have a favorite apple activity you'll be doing this year?