Search

Kind Sponsors

Fat Quarter Shop Catholic Daily PlannerJoy in The OrdinarySimplicities of Life Give Jewelry Catholic Embroidery Catholic Child St. Bryce Foundation Loreto Rosaries St Luke's Brush Rose Creek Cottage Memoria Arts
peek in the window Along the Alphabet Path Alphabet Path Art Lovely Language Lessons Monday Night Football Geography Seasons Table Serendipity Tea Time

FULL DISCLOSURE

  • If you click through an Amazon link on this blog and subsequently make a purchase, I will receive a small credit from Amazon. I will be very grateful for this credit and will use it purchase still more books and such to share with you. An eternal circle of Amazon life, you might say:-)

Comments or Questions?

  • Write Cindy cindy.serendipity@gmail.com
  • Write Colleen ccmitch.serendipity@gmail.com
  • Write Elizabeth elizabeth.serendipity@gmail.com
  • Write Katherine at evlogiablog@gmail.com
  • Write Marisa at marisa.serendipity@gmail.com

Science Baskets Abounding

Advent and Christmas Reading

Continents and Cultures

March 23, 2010

Continents and Cultures: Eastern Asia

Continent Box Contents:

  • spine book
  • puzzle map of Asia
  • outline map of Asia
  • Montessori for Everyone Asia downloads
  • animals of Asia figures
  • fabric squares
  • spices
  • coins
  • craft from that continent

Focus on China (2 weeks):

Spine Books:

  • DK Eyewitness China
  • D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet

Chinese Folk Tales:

  • Five Chinese Brothers
  • Tikki-Tikki Tembo
  • Lon Po-Po
  • Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
  • The Real Story of Stone Soup

Chinese Cultural Stories:

  • Good Morning China
  • The Legend of the Kite: A Story of China
  • The Dancing Dragon
  • Ruby's Wish
  • The Empty Pot
  • The Story About Ping
  • Yeh-Shen
  • Daisy Comes Home

Chinese History:

  • Made in China: Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China
  • Stories of the Silk Road
  • The Adventures of Marco Polo
  • Marco Polo (Demi)
  • Marco Polo for Kids

Focus on Japan (2 weeks)

Spine Books:

  • A to Zen: A Book of Japanese Culture
  • I Live in Tokyo
Japanese Folk Tales:
  • Under the Cherry Blossom Tree: An Old Japanese Tale
  • The Crane Wife
  • Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan
  • Issunboshi

Japanese Cultural Stories:

  • Wabi Sabi
  • One Leaf Rides the Wind
  • Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho
  • Cool Melons-Turn to Frogs
  • Kamishibai Man
  • Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog
  • Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain

Focus on Korea and Vietnam (2 weeks):

Spine Books:

  • The Land of Morning Calm: Korean Culture Then and Now
  • A Look at Vietnam
  • DK Eyewitness Vietnam War

Folk Tales:

  • The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea
  • The Green Frog: A Koren Folk Tale
  • The Korean Cinderella
  • How the Tiger Got His Stripes: A Folktale from Vietnam
  • Toad is the Uncle of Heaven: A Vietnamese Folktale
Cultural Stories:
  • The Fire-Keeper's Son
  • The Kite Fighters
  • Sori's Harvest Moon Day: A Story of Korea
  • Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam
  • The Land I Lost
  • Ten Mice for Tet
  • Grandfather's Dream

Focus on Cambodia and Thailand (2 weeks):

Spine Books:

  • Cambodia (Countries of the World)
  • Thailand (Countries of the World)

Folk Tales:
  • A Tale of Two Rice Birds: A Folk Tale from Thailand
  • The Girl Who Wore Too Much
  • The Man Who Caught Fish
  • Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella
  • Brother Rabbit: A Cambodian Tale

Cultural Stories:
  • An Elephant in the Backyard
  • Hush! A Thai Lullaby
  • Peek! A Thai Hide-and-Seek
  • The Umbrella Queen
  • Little Sap and Monsieur Rodin
  • Silent  Lotus
  • Running Shoes

Chapter Books for Reading Aloud or Assigning to Older Readers:

  • The Big Wave (Pearl Buck) (China)
  • Homesick (Jean Fritz) (China)
  • Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Japan)
  • The Samurai's Tale (Japan)
  • Tales of a Korean Grandmother (Korea)

 Science Books:

  • Animals Marco Polo Saw
  • Animals of Asia Series:
  • Camels
  • Elephants
  • Tigers
  • Orangutans
  • Komodo Dragons

Mary Around the World Lesson Book Pages:

  • Our Lady of Lalang (Vietnam)
  • Our Lady of Akita (Japan)
  • Our Lady of China (China)

Missionary Main Lesson Book Page:

Map Work:

  • Mark the places visited by St. Francis Xavier
  • Mark the home of St. Paul Miki
  • Mark the home of St. Andrew Kim
  • Mark the place of St. Andrew Dung Lac's martyrdom

Missionary Stories to Read and Narrate:

  • St. Francis and the Seven Seas
  • Mission to Cathay
Encourage students to find a priest of Asian heritage in your area to interview. They should seek to find out about his family and culture, the Catholic faith in his culture, and how that influenced his vocation.
    
Many missionaries to Asia have become saints by being martyred for their faith.  Have students create a page for their books by copying the definition of martyrdom from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2473) onto a page and drawing or pasting images of these saints around it. Have the students remember the liturgical color that symbolizes martyrdom and use that color to create a border design for their page.
    
There are many areas of Asia where even today missionaries encounter hostility, laws prohibiting their work, and the possibility of martyrdom.  Students should research and find at least one Asian country of which this is true. They should then compose a prayer for all Christians and missionaries in this area to include in their learning journals.
   
Students should research the Catholic explanations of the Church in China.  They should then compose a written narration of their understanding of the subject. They could also compose a letter to the Chinese government expressing their opinion about this policy.

 Many, many orphanages exist across Asia. Many missionaries work in these facilities. Have students write a reflection on how this work is imitating Christ.  Relevant Scripture passages should be included.

Animals and Their Habitats Learning Journal:

Students can use this list or generate their own from books or web sites.  They should illustrate the animal and on the facing page, record any information they've been able to gather including the animal's common name, species classification, habitat, food, shelter, and predators or any other unique facts they'd like to record.

Archeology Illustrated Learning Journal Pages:

Students can do a bit of book or internet research on each of the following topics and then create an illustrated learning journal page that includes an artistic representation as well as a written narration of what they've discovered.

  • China: Terra Cotta Warriors
  •  China: The Silk Road
  •  China: The Travels of Marco Polo
  •  China: This site gives students the opportunity to research top archaeological finds of recent years in China.
  •  Japan: Taga Castle Ruins
  •  Japan: Imperial Castle
  •  Japan: Ancient Capitol of Nara

Folk Tales Learning Journal Pages:

Little ones should narrate the stories while mom keyboards.  Printed narrations can be pasted into the illustrated learning journal and the facing page illustrated.  These narrations make great reading practice for beginning readers.

Other Fun Asia Links and Ideas:

All the books are available in the aStore. Click here to browse.

To Download a PDF of this plan to print:

Download Continents_and_Cultures_Asia

DSC_0053

Studies of Asian countries are ripe with possibilities for rabbit trails. We suggest you take your time with this unit and follow your kids' interests. The Fosses once completed a beautiful family lap book as they studied China together. Here is a step by step description with photos.  If you click on each thumbnail in the album, you will find detailed descriptions of what is represented. There are great ideas for studying Asian art in the B is for Brush post of our art series.  Take some time to study haiku as you stop off in Japan.  Perhaps an older student would enjoy a Marco Polo rabbit trail or an intensive look at the Vietnam War. With this unit particularly, plan to take your time, take it in, and take off an exciting side trips.  We wish you wondrous adventures in your learning.

 
   



 

Posted at 02:29 PM in Continents and Cultures | | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

| | Pin It! | |

July 17, 2009

Continents and Cultures: India and the Middle East


After spending six weeks immersed in the geography and culture of Africa, we'll head east and set our sights on learning more about the culture and geography of the Middle East and the collection of sites Christians refer to as the Holy Land.  Using Volume 2 of A Child's Geography, we'll immerse ourselves thoroughly in this study for about ten weeks, then shift our focus to a special Advent unit we are preparing.  After the Christmas season, we'll resume this block, focusing on Arabia and India for another 4 week block.  We are posting the study in its entirety here for those of you who may choose not to take the break with us during Advent and would like to use those four weeks to complete this section of your continental tour.  We'll continue our study of the continent of Asia with a separate block on the countries in Eastern Asia after the new year.  As you prepare your map work and continent box contents, keep in mind that these tools will be used throughout both of these blocks.  You may want to assemble contents for both areas of Asia all at once or choose to focus the work on the Middle East and India first, and switch the focus for the Eastern Asia block.  In addition, for most of blocks in our Continents and Cultures tour, our book lists will hold pride of place.  However, for this particular block on the Middle East, we are planning to soak in as many of the beautiful learning opportunities Ann Voskamp has provided in the second volume of A Child's Geography as we can.  The reading, narrating, and notebooking ideas she provides will be our focus as we learn about the homeland of Christianity.  There are also rich and worthy ideas outlined in each of the main lesson book categories below.  We have, therefore, provided a suggested book list and organized titles to the best of our ability.  Please understand there is much more there than you can probably cover if you are using the full program outlined in A Child's Geography.  Therefore, we have not suggested a timeline or weekly guideline for how to cover these books.  Our suggestion would be to choose those titles that are available or appeal the most to your family in each category and read them aloud over lunch or tea throughout the weeks of your study.  We have included a link to an adjusted weekly schedule so you can have an idea of how this particular block will look in our homes.  If you choose not to use A Child's Geography, this list is extensive enough to form a full study all its own.  We have tried to be sensitive to religious and cultural differences in our choices of books as well as to current events without delving too far into any of these issues further than is necessary for young children.  Still, we recommend each family determine what is appropriate for its own children.  If you are using the book list for your primary curriculum, just make your way through the list, narrating and creating a family notebook as you go.  Immerse yourselves in the stories by sculpting characters and settings using sweet-smelling beeswax, or craft some wee felt Middle Eastern children to narrate with.  Use play silks and lengths of fabric to recreate the dress styles illustrated in the books and dramatize the stories.  Add photographs of your work to your family's Asia notebook as you go along.  On other days, written narrations and illustrations can round out your study time.  For those of you following along in A Child's Geography with us, we'll go back to this focus on the book list when we make our way to India at the end of this study block.  So get your passports out again and prepare to be inspired as we travel the lands where our faith originated and get to know the people that inhabit them.
 
Continent Box Contents:
Spine Books:
  • Turkey (3 weeks)
  • Israel (3 weeks)
  • Iraq (2 weeks)
  • Jordan (2 weeks)
  • BREAK
  • Saudi Arabia (2 weeks)
  • India (2 weeks) (Vol. 1, Ch. 4 and 5)
 
Poetry and Art:
 
The Middle East: 
 
Books for Historical Background:
 
Read Alouds:
 
 
Folk Tales for Everyone to Enjoy:
 
Picture Books to Good to Limit to Little Ones: 
 
Chapter Books:
 
Arabia:
 
Everyone Will Enjoy:


Chapter Book:

Ali and the Golden Eagle


Read Aloud:
 
India:
 
Everyone Will Enjoy:
 
Picture Books Too Good to Limit to Little Ones:

Once a Mouse...

Finders Keepers?

The Road to Mumbai

The Drum: A Folktale from India

Tea Leaves (Sri Lanka)

 
Chapter Book:

Read Aloud:
Science Books:
***Most of the desert books available are focused on the Sonora desert of Southwest America.  If you choose, it could make an interesting study to compare the animal life that is found in that desert to the animals of the deserts of the Middle East.  If you are interested in this idea, One Small Square: Desert is a great way to investigate the American desert.
Marian Main Lesson Book: 
Our Lady of Madhu (Sri Lanka)

Our Lady of Arabia (Kuwait)
Our Lady of Vailankanni (India)

Copywork: Prayer to Our Lady of Vailankanni from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Prayer
O Most Holy Virgin!
You were chosen
by the most adorable Trinity
from all eternity
to be the most pure Mother of Jesus.
O Tender Mother of the afflicted,
grant me under my present necessities
a special protection.
Relying upon the infinite mercies
of your Divine Son,
and penetrated with confidence
in your powerful prayers,
I humbly entreat you to intercede for me.
I beg you to obtain for me
the favors which I petition.

O Mother of God,
accept my salutations
in union with the respect
with which the angel Gabriel
first hailed you "full of grace."

I beseech you,
O comfortress of the afflicted,
to obtain for me the favors and graces,
which I have now implored
through your powerful intercession.
For this end I offer you
the good works I do and sufferings I endure.
I humbly entreat you
for the love of the amiable heart of Jesus
with which yours
was ever so inflamed
to hear our prayers
and obtain our requests.
Amen.

Missionary Main Lesson Book:
Map Work:  Trace or paste an outline map of the Middle East and India, with countries labeled into MLB.  Throughout the course of the study, complete the following tasks and create a coded guide:
  • Shade in what we refer to as the Holy Land.
  • Mark Babylon, the Red Sea, Jericho, Israel
  • Mark Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Galilee and the Jordan River.
  • Shade in Mesopotamia.
  • Using Acts of the Apostles as a reference, mark at least three places we know St. Paul visited.
  • Mark the site of St. Paul's shipwreck in Acts.
  • Using Acts to gather information, mark at least three mission territories of other Apostles.
  • Mark St. Nicholas' home.
  • Mark the location of St. Charbel's monatery.
  • Mark at least three locations evangelized by St. Francis Xavier.
  • Mark the city that is the center of the work of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity.

Students should include at least two written narrations of the lives of the saints studied in the geography work and at least two narrations of stories from Acts of the Apostles that highlight the early church's missionary history. 
Have students research itineraries for tours of the Holy Land.  Then have them plan their own itinerary for taking a group of young people from their church to the Holy Land for ten days.  Students should mark the sites they'll visit and travel route on a map and paste it into their main lesson books.  On the facing page, have them write a summary of the sites to be seen and the significance of each for each stop on their trip.  Students should include a Scripture reference in each explanation.
Students are also encouraged to find a priest currently serving in their diocese who is from India to interview about his home, his childhood, his call to religious life and his experience as a missionary.  A written summary of the interview should be included in their main lesson book.
Have students research the work of the Missionaries of Charity in India and around the world.  Have them create a page for their main lesson books that summarizes their Rule of Life and the main apostolates of the religious fathers, sisters, and laity of the organization.  In addition, the students shoud choose the apostolate that most appeals to them and write a short prayer for the succes of that apostolate.  This should be copied into the main lesson book and decorated.  Encourage the student to pray that prayer daily.
 
We'll be offering some guest posts by young Catholic missionaries who have recently visited and shared the Gospel in India.  Students could include a response to these testimonies in their notebooks.
 
Cultural Considerations Assignment: You are a missionary and have just been assigned to spend the month teaching and working with children in a refugee camp in a Middle Eastern nation. Brainstorm a list of at least ten ways you would share the love of Christ with them as their teacher.
Folk Tale Main Lesson Book:
Little ones should narrate the stories while mom keyboards.  Printed narrations can be pasted into the main lesson book and the facing page illustrated.  These narrations make great reading practice for beginning readers.
 
Animal Main Lesson Book:
Habitats: Arabian Desert and India's Mountains
Great desert website with lots of animal info: Living Desert
Lots of info about animals in India: India Wildlife
Students can use this list or generate their own from books or web sites.  They should illustrate the animal and on the facing page, record any information they've been able to gather including the animal's common name, species classification, habitat, food, shelter, and predators or any other unique facts they'd like to record.
  • Arabian Camel
  • Arabian Wildcat and Turkish Van Kedi
  • the Arabian Horse
  • Bengal Tiger/White Tiger
  • Asian Elephant
  • Leopard/Snow Leopard
  • Indian Rhinoceros
  • Caracal
  • Peacock
  • Cobra
Archaeology Main Lesson Book:
Students can do a bit of book or internet research on each of the following topics and then create a main lesson book page that includes an artistic representation as well as a written narration of what they've discovered. 
Great website for important bible sites: Bible Places
Nice history of Taj Mahal: Taj Mahal
  • the Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Code of Hammurabi
  • Royal City of Ur
  • Babylon
  • Ninevah
  • Jerusalem
  • Taj Mahal
 

Posted at 02:53 PM in Continents and Cultures | | Comments (5)

| | Pin It! | |

May 17, 2009

Continents and Cultures: Africa

Mapandflags  
A CHILD'S GEOGRAPHY :
We have provided suggestions for many, many resources with this study. Most families will not need or want everything here. Indeed, the bounty here is a reflection of the fact that we have large families that span all age groups and we are writing together, so you see the collaborative list of resources. The two books that will be "must haves" are the two volumes of A Child's Geography. These are living books that we consider great gifts to our children.

When we first set about to plan our travels, we were very intentional. This geography study was to be all about caring. It was our hearts' desire to infuse our children with a knowledge of the world God created. More importantly, we wanted them to come away from our study with a heart for its people. Many of you are familiar with Ann Voskamp's poetic voice at A Holy Experience. She brings that voice to these volumes, but she also brings a keen understanding and respect for young learners . These books bring the world into our living rooms and then inspire our children to want to go out and make believers of all nations.

 To begin your African geography studies, use A Child's Geography Volume 1 . Do the first three chapters, one a week, over three weeks. Follow the suggested presentation guidelines in the book. This book and its companion are critical to our studies. Here, you will find copywork, earth science, projects, resources, and some of the best "living books" geography overview in the world. These volumes will inspire your children to care about the people and places we study.

After the first three weeks, shift your focus to Egypt and use A Child's Geography Volume 2,
You will study the Egypt chapters only, taking three weeks. Then, we will move on to the Middle East for the rest of the semester (those resources will be posted in a separate post).


INSIDE THE AFRICA CONTINENTS BOX:
~Map for cover of box (choose one from Montessori downloads or print one you like)
~African animals (wooden set/or Toob)
~Montessori for Everyone-- Africa downloads:
   
  • Africa Flags - 50 in all
  • Africa Maps - 4 in all
  • Africa Animals - 16 in all
  • Africa Plants - 12 in all
  • Africa Places - 8 in all
  • Africa Fact Sheet
  • Africa Arrows - for each country & ocean
  • Instructions for making & using this kit
  • Flags, Animals, Plants, and Places include a picture card, label, and control card for making 3-part cards.
 
~General Overview book (any of the spine books suggested below)

~Wooden Africa map

~Toothpick flags and stands and/or felt for flag making
~Cultural fabric and instructions for creating head coverings or costumes (There are some easy instructions here that seem printer and kid friendly) 

~Handcrafted item from that continent

~Smelling or sensorial activity with spices, nuts, etc... from that continent (There is a nice list as well as many recipes at this site.)
 
~Ancient Egypt Toob

Scheduling:
We suggest devoting two days a week to the work in A Child's Geography and three days to the other lesson blocks. Alternatively, schedule two separate A Child's Geography blocks on the same day.
Schedule Sample here: Download Calendar_2009-05-10_2009-05-17(2)
 

African savana
GENERAL OVERVIEW BOOKS ON AFRICA: (Take two weeks with each, or choose two and stretch them over three weeks each.)
*Modern Saints Vol 1 and Vol 2

Please, please note: what follows are book suggestions for many different aspects of this geography study. Often, one well-chosen book in each category will be enough. The idea here is not to read everything we suggest. The idea is to take the list to the library, preview books and choose wisely. Few libraries will have all these choices available, so we wanted to give you options. We've put an asterix by the books we will work particularly hard to provide in our homes.
 
FINE ARTS:
Hands-On Africa: Art Activities for Young Children(Choose one project for each week of study)
 
 
CD of African music to play during main lesson book work
Draw Write Now Books 7 and 8
 
SCIENCE: (Read one a week or do a week long science block) (All of these titles are appropriate for younger students but could be used as a science focus with upper elementary students as well).

African Critters 

We All Went on Safari

Here is the African Savanna 


Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa

 
ANCIENT EGYPT: (two weeks of block)

Read Aloud:


Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:

Mummies Made in Egypt

 
 
AFRICAN HISTORY: (1 week of block)

Read Aloud:

Everyone will Enjoy:

African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women
Mansa Musa


Chapter Books:

Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:
 
 
CULTURAL STORIES: (3 weeks of block)

Read Alouds:
 
Chapter Books:
 
Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:
from South Africa:
from West Africa:
Pretty Salma (Ghana)
 Chidi Only Likes Blue (Nigeria)
 *Kente Colors  (Ghana)
 
from East Africa:
Masai and I (East Africa)
Mama Panya's Pancakes (Kenya)

FOLK TALES: (Read one each week) (The picture books can be read-aloud by mom to everyone, and the collections of stories for older kids can be read a few at a time independently or aloud to younger siblings.)


Chapter Books:
*Beat the Story Drum Pum-Pum  (East Africa)


Picture Books to Good to Limit to Little Ones:
*A Story, A Story (East Africa)
Zomo the Rabbit   (West Africa)
*Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Southern Africa)

AFRICAN FAITH STORIES:

St. Bakhita of Sudan (Encounter the Saints)

Modern Saints Vol 1 and Vol 2 (Not to miss: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, vol. 1 p. 86, Bl. Edel Quinn, vol. 2)


 
Lion

for your convenience, here are PDFs of Africa outline maps.
Half page: Download Half Page Africa Outline Map
Full page: Download Full Page Africa Outline Map
 
MARY AROUND THE WORLD LESSON BOOK: (Early Elementary)
For each title, child will watercolor the image on small watercolor paper and paste in MLB.
On facing page, child will record the title of the image, the name of the country it took place in, and the year.
A half-size continent map can be placed on the page, and the location marked.
The child can also compose a short prayer to include on the page.
 
FOR AFRICA:
Our Lady of Africa (details from Kathryn)
Our Lady of Keitun (details from Kathryn)
Our Lady of Kibeho (from Approved Apparitions)
 
For Copywork:
Prayer to Our Lady of Africa

Our Lady of Africa, Mother of us all,
be specially mindful of the peoples of Africa.
Gather together all those who follow Jesus Christ.
May they be one in the Church of your Son.
May all those who have not yet recognized Jesus
as the Son of the Father be drawn by his Light.
May all those who have been seized by Christ
proclaim the Good News by their whole life.
You who were present with the Apostles
at the beginning of the Church,
support the apostles of today
that they may boldly proclaim the Word of God.
(from White Fathers website)

 
MISSIONARY LESSON BOOK: (Upper Elementary)
Map Work:  Trace or paste an outline map of Africa, with countries labeled into MLB.  Throughout the course of the study, complete the following tasks and create a coded guide:
  • Mark St. Augustine's home country (patron saints index)
  • Mark St. Josephine Bakhita's home country (patron saints index)
  • Mark St. Tekla's home country ( see suggested faith stories)
  • Mark St. Frumentia's mission territory (patron saints index)
  • Mark Blessed Edel Quinn's mission territory (patron saints index)
  • Mark the home of Charles Lwanga and Companions (patron saints index)
  • Mark locations of modern missionaries discovered (Find a list of African missionary organizations here)
  • Shade in 5 countries where the primary religion is Christian. (Click on any country to learn more about it, including religious statistics) 
  • Shade in 5 countries where the primary religion is Islam.
  • Shade in 5 countries where indigenous beliefs or animism are still predominant.
  • Shade in at least five countries that are currently or have recently been in civil unrest.
 
Students should include at least two written narrations of the lives of the saints studied in the geography work. 
 
Students are also encouraged to find a priest currently serving in their diocese who is from an African nation to interview about his home, his childhood, his call to religious life and his experience as a missionary.  A written summary of the interview should be included in their main lesson book.
 
Students are encouraged to contact African missionary societies via e-mail and ask to "interview" or ask questions of a current missionary working in Africa.
 
Create a list of cultural considerations a missionary would have to think about when bringing the Catholic faith to this area of the world.  For Africa, since the variety of cultures is so diverse, you may want to let the student choose one country in Northern Africa, one Central, and one Southern African nation to research for this assignment.
 
Create a missionary-minded teaching or testimony:
Have student choose one of the following Scripture readings and create a short sharing on it that he/she would present if he were a missionary to an African nation.
  • Ephesians 2:1-10
  • John 6: 1-14
  • Psalm 121
The sharing should include some personal thoughts on the scripture that the audience could relate to as well as a message of hope, encouragement, or instruction.
 
ARTIFACTS AND ARCHAEOLOGY LESSON BOOK: (Upper Elementary)
Research can be done in DK Eyewitness book, online, or with extra readers picked up at the library.  The page topics will be assigned, but the decision of how to represent the topic with be entirely student-led.
  • Egyptian pyramids
  • King Tut
  • African Masks (Choose at least three cultures to represent)
  • Woven baskets (Choose at least three styles to represent)
  • Images of gods/goddesses (at least two)
The idea would be for the student to create a page that provides an idea of how, when, and where African artifacts in the various categories have been discovered and what they reveal about the culture from which they originated.
 
ANIMALS AND HABITATS LESSON BOOK: (Kindergarten/Lower Elementary)
Habitat: African Savana
Create an illustration of the Savana, label what aspects of the habitat provide food, water, and shelter for the animals that live there.
 
Animal pages: 
Create an illustration of the animal.  On the facing page, record the following:
  • common name
  • classification information
  • physical characteristics
  • habits
  • food
  • predators
 African Animals: (Click on any animal listed in the sidebar here to confirm information.) 
  • Lion
  • Zebra
  • African Elephant
  • Giraffe
  • Hyena
  • Badger/Honeyguide
  • Hippopotamus
  • Warthog
  • Gorilla
  • Others as time and interest allow
 
FOLK TALES LESSON BOOK: (Kindergarten)
Have the child create an illustration for each folk tale read.  On the facing page, include a half-size map where he/she can color in the country of the stories' origin and a typed narration can be pasted in.
 
In addition, we will create family continent notebooks, one for each continent, to hold other narrations, art work, recipes, ideas and photos from our study.
Narration mediums can rotate weekly.  Some ideas are:
  • illustrations using watercolors, lyra pencils, or beeswax crayons
  • modeling story scenes from beeswax
  • using wooden figures to recreate the story
  • dramatizing the story using play silks
MAP WORK:
Three Period Lesson
How to present the continent work to young children.
More on push pin map work
A further refinement of this work for older children involves using the puzzle pieces to trace each country onto a blank piece of paper, thereby re-creating a given continent. The countries are then individually colored in and labeled. The first picture in this post provides an example of this style of map work.
Punch pin pad and stylus
 
FLAG WORK:
Kids can recreate the country flags from craft felt and display them on a felt board. We are using the less expensive felt (not the wool felt) for this activity since the colors are truer. Sharp scissors aid the cutting--consider pre-cutting necessary shapes and letting the children assemble if you have no children old enough to handle sharp scissors.  The flags can be added to lesson books or continent notebooks in the form of a photograph with a narration about the country they represent included.
 
MORE RESOURCES FOR BRINGING YOUR AFRICA UNIT ALIVE:
 
 
 
 

Posted at 01:50 PM in Continents and Cultures | | Comments (23)

| | Pin It! | |

May 01, 2009

World Tour: Care to Come Along?

Mapandflags  

Continents and Cultures Study: Overview
 
We have successfully arrived at the end of our American History trail, and find ourselves quite satisfied with the results our collaborative efforts have yielded in our homes.  The joy of Serendipity for all of us is that it really is a virtual co-op, where we share both the fun conversations and the chores of planning, the inspirations and creativity that bring gentleness and beauty to our homes' learning rooms, and the end results of students happily engaged in the joy of learning.  Since two of us welcomed babies a little earlier than anticipated this year and three of us will welcome new little ones before summer's end, we kicked into planning mode a bit early.  It is a great joy for our moms who are just hitting their stride again to start fresh with a new perspective, and a great relief for those of us knowing we'll spend our summers focused on caring for newborns to have a vision, a plan, and a direction already mapped out.
 
The focus of our learning will be a tour of continents and cultures.  We'll take all our elementary-aged students globe-trotting, with a focus on geography, cultures, and missionary activity.  There will be some science, history, and fine arts involved in each study as well.  We have gathered the best of our combined ideas and experience to fill each continent's study with a hands-on Montessori component, lists of living books Charlotte Mason herself would have loved and narration strategies to keep the learning room abuzz, plus ideas for creating main lesson books and using the loveliest of supplies to create, beautify, and enhance the children's experience.  We are looking forward to a inspiring learning with our families and hope you, too, will find some inspiration in the ideas we share.
 
Here is a brief overview of how we'll travel through our studies:
 
Learning blocks: Each continent's study will be outlined as a learning block, usually around six weeks long.  We will provide suggestions for how and when to space out the recommended resources, but encourage each family to find the pace and organizing strategy that works best for them and adapt the resources to it.  By providing all the resources and ideas in one post, each of us can forge ahead, slow down, or pause to follow a child-led rabbit trail as we desire without feeling we are waiting on someone else to catch up, falling behind, or stuck on the path with no opportunity for side trips.  We encourage you to let each block take its own shape in your home and then enjoy the process.  And to leave a comment and share your thoughts, ideas, and questions.

Continent boxes: We'll incorporate a Montessori component to each continent block by creating continent boxes.  These boxes will be filled with engaging, self-directed learning tools that will keep little minds and hands working and learning outside of read-aloud and narration times.  We will provide specific materials suggestions for each box, but a general notion of each continent box's contents is:
 
Book lists and narration ideas: 
We'll stick to the CM-inspired reading lists and narration process that have worked so well for us for so many years.  For each continent block we'll provide book suggestions for the lower and upper elementary levels as well as family read-alouds and spine texts.  We'll do our best to organize these into unified groups that can be divided over the course of the block in some organized fashion.  We hope to produce a number of different types of narrations for each block.  Of course, written or keyboarded narrations will be included, but in addition, we suggest you gather the following supplies to enhance the narration process in your home:
 
Main Lesson Book Plans:
It is our hope that each of our students will produce one or more quality main lesson books that record in their own style and hand their efforts, discoveries, and ideas as they learn.  We will offer specific suggestions for main lesson book assignments in each continent block, but a beginning idea of each level's work includes:
  • Middle School and Junior High Students:  These students' main academic work will be recorded in a lesson book with a missionary-based geography focus.  Each block will include suggestions for map work, written narrations of the lives of saints and missionaries, discussions of cultural considerations necessary to be aware of when bringing the Good News to the peoples of that place, and a Scripture reflection.  These students will also work on creating a main lesson book that details archeological finds and artifacts from each continent and their pertinence to learning about the cultures of that region of the world.
  • Lower Elementary Students:  These students will do much of their academic work in the form of hands-on Montessori activities and family-style narrations as detailed above, but they will work throughout the year on two main lesson books.  One will focus on the animals and their habitats unique to each continent, and the other will entail learning more about the various titles of Our Lady that are specific to the cultures we study in each block, inspired by Kathryn's Marian posts. We will provide suggestions and links in each block for the map work, art work, and research that will comprise each of these books.
  • Kindergarteners:  Our youngest students will enjoy using beautiful art supplies to illustrate their own book of folk tales.  Each continent block will include a list of folk tales to be shared and enjoyed, and our youngest will illustrate and narrate those stories to create a compiled book of folk tales all their own.
 
Family Style Notebooking:
Many of you are familiar with the Book of Centuries concept we used to keep a record of our family's learning through the years.  Since the focus of these particular blocks is not really chronological history, we will instead compile a family notebook for each continent.  This binder will provide a place to file narrations that do not pertain to a specific main lesson book assignment, photos of narrations done in media other than the written form, copywork assignments, recipes, art projects, and other products of your family's learning experience.
 
Family Geography Work: 
Two additional components to our study will be the recreation of each continent's national flags out of wool felt and the creation of a large map of each continent.  The flags can be displayed on a felt board throughout the study and then photographed for inclusion in a student's main lesson book or the family notebook.  Students can create narrations about the countries the flags represent to include with the photos.  The large map project will begin with students tracing wooden continent puzzle pieces onto large paper to create an outline map of the continent.  Additional ideas for creating a family map worthy of display will accompany each block.
 
If you're excited to be heading off on our grand adventure with us, why not start packing now?  Fill your suitcase with these titles that will provide a great overview for the year and can be referred to again when we arrive at each of our destinations:

 
Now that we are all packed and ready to go, here's an idea of our travel itinerary:
  • Africa
  • Eastern Asia
  • India and the Middle East
  • Australia and Oceania
  • South America and the Caribbean
  • Antarctica
  • Eastern Europe
  • Western Europe
  • Mexico and Canada: Our North American Neighbors
  • America: The Great Melting Pot (with a focus on immigrant culture in the United States)
 
 

Posted at 08:13 PM in Continents and Cultures | | Comments (3)

| | Pin It! | |