We studied a bit about Christopher Columbus this week. Now, I don't buy into the whole "Columbus discovered America" bit by any means. But, I do think his voyages were important and are worthy of learning about. We certainly didn't spend a lot of time on this study but we had fun. We used this for history as well as Enchanted Learning.
We started off by going over important dates:
- year of birth
- year of death
- year of first voyage
- years of several voyages
- year new passage idea presented to India and to Spain
- date he left Spain
- date he returned to Portugal
After we had the dates down, the picklets did the math and recorded Columbus's age at each of these "milestones".
Did math problem from here.
We went over Cinquain poetry and each picklet wrote two cinquains about Columbus.
We read IN 1492.
Went over the parts of a ship.
Filled out Columbus map activity.
Colored the flag of Spain and filled out worksheet.
Wrote two paragraphs:
- paragraph about what a ship was like: what they looked like (inside and out), who was on it, what equipment and food was on it, how big, how many people
- paragraph about Columbus: where born, what he did, goals, dreams, what he might have looked like
Sweet colored a Columbus ships math sheet.
Antiqued a map that shows Columbus route to the Bahamas and Cuba and back using this map.
Talked about and made a meal like what would have been eaten on the ship and dined by candle lite. Talked about the risk of fire on a ship using candles. The picklets thought it was great because utensils were not allowed and I permitted them to put their elbows on the table, chew with their mouths open (ewwwww) and belch...lol.
Our menu consisted of: beef jerky, carrots (old world food), potato wedges and hard tack. Since the picklets are not old enough to drink a good ale, A&W was put in it's place as the drink of choice.
OK, so we know potatoes (especially Jojo Potatoes) are a new world food but don't make me walk the plank. I was looking at mutiny if I didn't feed the picklets something that would fill them up. By the time I came up with the idea of eating this kind of menu, it was too late to make dried beans or rice.
All in all a fun time and we have several notebook pages to show for it.
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2 comments:
I love theme learning like this! I'm enjoying reading the rest of your blog, too. :o)
Thanks for the apple sauce advice. I have this strange feeling that I'll make at least one more attempt - NEXT year! LOL
It sounds like a terrific mini unit! Any endeavor that involves creative writing AND food is a winner in my book.
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