O' Canada (Weeks 7 and 8)

Of all our book basket books, the favorite was The Way Home.










The days have been perfect for getting reading time on the trampoline.













For their science notebooks they chose to draw Canadian geese and used the instructions in Draw, Write, Now.

We've learned about the Canadian Flag, maple leaves, and the French fur traders.









For art, we chose to do the
soap carving to simulate
the carvings of the Inuit Indians in soapstone.
And yes, I let them use real knives with sharp edges.
I closed my eyes and tried not to look.


















In our second week of Canada, we detoured a bit and studied about the cold Arctic Ocean, polar bears, and seals. We watched the Magic School Bus In The Arctic and the boys enjoyed doing a coordinating science experiment called the Inspiration of Insulation from Scholastic's website. The idea was to use cotton balls in a zippy bag to replicate a polar bear's thick coat and then cover with another zippy bag filled with ice. We put a second ice bag on the uncovered hand so the boys could feel the temperature difference.

We also replicated a seal's blubber layer and made a "Walrus mitt" using 2 zippy bags- one turned inside out and slid into the other with Crisco in between the layers. Then they submerged their hands in a big bowl of ice water. For once, we had a success with an experiment. The boys loved it.



We follow the public school calendar so our day match up with the older boys. Tomorrow is a holiday for us. Yay! Today we wrapped up our study on Canada. Next week, we're headed south.