HOD BLHFHG - Unit 21

A special Valentine's LoVe week here in school! 

We celebrated with sweet treats, fun activities, & showing love to others all throughout the week. 

In Unit 21 of Beyond, the verse was Philippians 4:8.  We talked about the importance for us to think about good & admirable things when we are afraid or worried.   The early pioneers such as the ones we talked about this week trusted in God and prayed about everything and it helped them thru many hard times.

The cursive keeps getting better and better with my ds!  One would never be able to guess that copy work was such a battle for us at the beginning of the year. We have stuck with it each week and it's definitely paid off.  No more delaying... he just gets it done beautifully.   

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In history, we read about the French pioneers as they settled near the Great Lakes in Fort Detroit.  One of the Frenchman was named Cadillac. We read about how the French discovered the Great Lakes and travelled down the Mississippi River in canoes. The Indians taught the French how to build canoes out of white birch tree bark that they peeled from the trees. The birch tree bark canoes were very light weight, very strong, and easy to carry from one river to the next. They would also sleep under them on the banks of the river for shelter. 

Our art project was to build a canoe! The kids made homemade air dry clay by measuring and kneading their salt, water & flour mixture.  

                 Pour it in & Mix it up! 

     "Ewwww...  Mommy, this is squishy!"

They mixed it all together and kneaded it making sure it wasn't to dry or to sticky!  

They rolled out the dough mixture and molded it into the shape of canoes! 

We had to let them dry for a few days and by the end of the week the kids painted them!

They both made designs on their canoes and made cute little dough people and paddles with the extra mixture that we didn't use for the canoe. 

They both enjoyed making their canoes! 

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We read a story about a little girl named Marie who floated in a canoe with her family and she had a special doll. She almost left her doll behind during the portage and others were carrying items to and from the canoes. When she ran to find her doll, she found there was a small hummingbird nearby that she watched. 

In Science, we read about different kinds of birds including hummingbirds and learned that God designed bird beaks differently on purpose so they could eat different things.  We talked about how hummingbirds have long and narrow beaks and suck the nectar from red flowers. Woodpeckers have tweezer like beaks and are good for getting insects. A sparrow has a beak like a clothespin and is best for cracking seeds. A pelican has a beak like a slotted spoon and is good for scooping creatures out of the water! 

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The French became good friends with the Indians and they traded goods often.  In our story, it was raining on the last part of their journey together to Detroit.  The sun came out as their canoe landed and a rainbow appeared in the sky. We talked about different types of clouds:
Cumulus, Cirrocumulus, Stratus, Sirrus

The kids folded a blue piece of construction paper into fourths and used white chalk on blue construction paper to draw the different types of clouds.

We added the French settling in Detroit to our timeline.  We talked about how America is great because many kinds of people came from different lands and discovered new beginnings. 

We located the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River on our state map.  We continued learning on our track through the states and talked about Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine & Maryland this week.

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We finished out the week baking & decorating Valentine cookies to give to our neighbors and friends. The kids had fun of course and the smiles on the faces of those we gave to were well worth it! 

And...

Our traditional valentine breakfast of Cupid Faced Peanut Butter Waffles!  The little one even decorated the table with red construction paper hearts and our special roses! 

Enjoy your little sweet hearts this weekend! Happy Valentine's Day! 

See you next week! 

Be blessed!