All about sharks....

We just loved our coral reef unit!  Goober was interested in all the sharks we came across during our study so it was only natural to delve deeper.....

 Here is how we do it:

 1. Read a book or three

2. Complete one or two lapbook elements per day

3.  Watch some great videos and documentaries

4. Assemble the lapbook

5. Finish off with a great 'fun' movie night!

My favourite free lapbook website (Homeschool share) set us up with a perfect lapbook!

Shark-Lapbook

 

Here are the books we used:

 Magic School Bus Chapter book- Shark Escape.

 

 DK Eyewitness Books: Sharks

Usborne- Sharks

And this gem that I have been recently introduced to... 

make sure you check out all the science comics!!

Science Comics: Sharks: Nature's Perfect Hunter

And other great books you can find at your local library!!

We found some great videos....

The Shark Academy playlist on YouTube is fantastic!  

Why don't sharks have bones? - Scishow

Super Sharks- Scishow Kids

It's not a science unit without a Sir David Attenborough documentary.....

The Blue Planet: Seas of Life

 Here is a sample of the finished lapbook....  

and yes Goober wrote hangry on the diet minibook :)

We didn't actually watch a 'fun' movie for this unit... we were so enthralled with Blue Planet we ended up watching Blue Planet II for fun...:)

 Sharks are really cool!

More explorers and the fur trade...

On to explorers as we take a trip through Canadian history! 

There are so many great books and resources..

Here's what we did:

1. Read some books together.

2. Watched some short videos.

4. Some fun activities.

5. Sweet Pea included notebooking pages in her Canadian History notebook, Goober did some mini books for the explorers lapbook he is putting together.

The book I'm using as a spine is The Story of Canada.

 

As well as, The Kids Book of Canadian Exploration.

We read these books together;

The Red Sash by Jean Pendziwol

From the cover:

The Red Sash is the story of a young Metis boy who lives near the fur trading post of Fort William, on Lake Superior, nearly 200 years ago.

The Broken Blade by William Durbin

From the cover:

In 1800, 13-year-old Pierre La Page never imagined he'd be leaving Montreal to paddle 2,400 miles. It was something older men, like his father, did. But when Pierre's father has an accident, Pierre quits school to become a voyageur for the North West Company, so his family can survive the winter. It's hard for Pierre as the youngest in the brigade. From the treacherous waters and cruel teasing to his aching and bloodied hands, Pierre is miserable. Still he has no choice but to endure the trip to Grand Portage and back. 

There are lots of great youtube videos and Canadian Heritage Minutes for the individual explorers, so I won't list them all here ;)

Each kidlet also did a project on the beaver.

Goober did an animal study page from 123homeschool4me.com

He thinks his beaver drawing looks like a business man with a mustache...hahahaha!

Sweet pea wrote a beaver report, typed it up and presented it!

We watched a couple documentaries:

Leave it to Beavers- a PBS documentary 

Life of Mammals- BBC- Episode- Chisellers 

There is lots to learn here... we read through the Story of Canada (#1 The beginning), and I answered questions or clarified where necessary.  

We mostly read about New France and the various battles up to and including the War of 1812 without too many extra activities.  

The kidlets are anxious to learn about pioneers, so being true to child-led learning that's where we will be heading next :)

All about coral reefs.....

Goober announced the other day that he would like to go to the Great Barrier Reef!  

As much as I would love to fulfill this request... 

for my benefit as much as his.... it isn't happening anytime soon.

How about learning all about coral reefs?  

Would that satisfy your curiosity in the meantime?  

The answer was a disappointed yes... so I jumped all over that!

Luckily it doesn't hurt my feelings to put together another science unit... 

 Here is how we do it:

 1. Read a chapter or two of a related book

2. Complete one or two lapbook elements per day

3.  Watch some great videos and documentaries

4. Assemble the lapbook

5. Finish off with a great 'fun' movie night!

My favourite free lapbook website (Homeschool share) set us up with a perfect lapbook!

Coral Reef Animal Lapbook

Here are the books we used:

Magic School Bus Chapter Book- The Fishy Field Trip

 

Coral Reef: Around the Clock with the Animals of the Ocean

DK Eyewitness Books: Fish 

Usborne- First encyclopedia of seas and oceans

And any other great books you can find at your local library!

Here are some of the great videos we watched: 

Crash Course Kids- The Life Hydrologic

Scishow- White sand beaches

It's not a science unit without a Sir David Attenborough documentary.....

Great Barrier Reef

Here is a sample of the finished lapbook!

Movie night- Finding Nemo of course!

Enjoy discovering coral reefs!

Book Spine Poetry

April is National Poetry Month in Canada... did you know that? 

I did not.... but while I was raving about the cool poetry project I was thinking of doing with the kids I was schooled by our local librarian!

As you have probably figured out by now, I am not a language arts type of person... 

sure we read and write but beyond that, I'm kinda hopeless!!

Luckily there are great free resources out there... I rediscovered this website the other day.. a free site with tips and poetry lessons for kids?!?!  Fantastic!

Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4Kids

There was a great post about creating book spine poetry.... right up our alley! 

 So we gathered a ridiculous number of books from our unnatural book collection and went to work... 

The kidlets had a blast and came up with some neat poems... what a great perspective!!  

We loved this... I highly suggest you try it out!!  

The only downside was the massive clean up of books when we were done...lol ;)