Posted by admin on Jan 6, 2009 in
Homeschooling Today I wanted to share a WONDERFUL unit study we did last winter. The Iditarod is a yearly sled dog race across Alaska. We learned about dog sled racing, math, geography and more– all in a 2 month unit.
Here is a list of what our unit study consisted of:
** We joined the Iditarod Project. The eIditarod Project is sponsored by Walter McKenzie, and is open to students in grades K-8. Using the Official Iditarod Website, classes (And homeschool families!) will study the trail and the mushers and select one team to follow online for the 2009 race. You will be asked to create a wall-sized map of the trail and track the progress of your team using race updates on the official site.The EIditarod Project has its open registration period through January 9, 2009!
** For the unit we read 2 books. There are more out there, but based on the ages of the students we picked “The Mystery on Alaska’s Iditarod Trail”, by Carole Marsh and “Akiak,” by Robert J. Blake.
** I created several notebooking pages to go along with the unit study. You can snag them HERE. We also collected pictures off the internet of packed sleds, race dogs, booties etc. and made notebook pages for them also.
** Hands of a Child has a Iditarod lapbook we used for information and some elements to place in our notebooks. They also sell a Sled Dogs lapbook that we used. (If you download the freebies from Currclick and Hands of a Child you might have it! I got it free at some point.)
** The Official Iditarod website has a teacher’s section with a lot of great activities. I did this lesson plan with a group of students. It was time consuming to make all the “mushers” but the graphing lesson was worth it. I didn’t have the blocks the lesson suggests, so, I made my own. You can snag them HERE. (Note: I had mostly younger students and we did bar graphs – here is the worksheet I made to use with them)
** Another thing we did was to subscribe to the “Insider.” We were able to stream short movies daily about the mushers, the dogs, the checkpoints etc. More information can be found at the Official Iditarod Website. It’s a well spent $20 is you are doing the unit and can afford it. I also purchased a dog bootie, a large map, and the official program last year for the store on the Iditarod site. (They have a CD of lesson plans for a reasonable price, but I never could determine if they were the same ones on the site for free)
** Plus, you can add science in and talk about SNOW! I have a lot of resources for this and will upload my links etc. at some point!
** One thing I got recently for free (and you might have it as well! 2 sites have offered it for free in the past few months- I just can’t remember who! Sorry…) is “Aunt Sarah’s Alaskan Cookbook.” If not, it’s only a few dollars at Currclick. It would make a great addition! One chapter is a children’s dog sled party complete with a menu and recipes!
** Currently, Currclick has a free download for “Free Alaskan Extension From January Book Bag, 2009″ It looks great for a variety of ages. There are some great resources on the Iditarod included. There are also some Montessori type 3 part cards and book suggestions for all ages. It also includes some activities for the preschool set.
Have fun! We did 
Tags: American History, geography, History, lapbooking, notebooking, unit studies
Posted by admin on Nov 10, 2008 in
Homeschooling 
Mikah finished her Election 2008 lapbook just in time for election day last week. I wanted to share it with everyone so that you can see how you can use a binder to make a lapbook a very flexible educational tool. We started off with 2 folders – one blue and one red. Each folder was folded in toward the center like the start of many traditional lapbooks. These folders were then folded in half. (hotdog fold) At this point there are now 2 skinny folders accordian folded. Using a strip of tape connect the red folder to the blue folder to form the back of the lapbook. (This can be tricky – I folded the extra to the side leaving the 2 flaps on the table – one red, and one blue) To make the lapbook sturdy or to add more surface you could add a folder to the back. Read more…
Tags: lapbooking, notebooking
Posted by admin on Oct 16, 2008 in
Homeschooling 
(Mikah preparing to grow Archaea.) This week we started a new unit study for science – Bacteria. We started by learning about the 3 domains of living organisms. (Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaraotes) This was all new information for me – so, I am learning right along with my 3rd grader! (I knew about the outdated system with 5 kingdoms. If you do any research you will find a maze of confusion in the way to classify living things. I talked to a graduate student in microbology and *think* I have a basic understanding.) Read more…
Tags: bacteria, biology, lapbooking, notebooking
Posted by admin on Oct 9, 2008 in
Homeschooling 
Today we finished our weather unit. I wanted to share Mikah’s Notebook with everyone so you could see how simple lapbooking / notebooking can be. It’s so much better than filling out a page of “multiple answers” or “fill in the blanks” because it engages the student in the thinking process. Mikah understands the atmosphere has layers because she cut out the layers and assembled them in a layered book. Then she labled the layers and the divisions. She kept data sheets on the daily weather and clouds. Below are some examples from her book. Read more…
Tags: lapbooking, notebooking, science, weather
Posted by admin on Sep 26, 2008 in
Homeschooling 
Mikah’s “Rain Cloud in a Jar”
(Shows how the water cycle works- evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection) Place about an inch of hot water in the bottom of a jar. On the top of the jar place a baggie filled with ice. The baggie acts like a rain cloud, the water at the bottom of the jar is a lake. Kidzone has some coloring sheets for younger kids about the water cycle. Heads up – The web page has some reference to evolution but the coloring sheets don’t.
This week we continued working on Weather in Mikah’s science curriculum. Today, we went back and reviewed cloud formation and types. I decided I want her to do a bit more in that area this upcoming week. Therefore, I searched online for materials about clouds. (We continue to enjoy our curriculum… I like the CM & notebooking approach, and am not a fan of worksheets. However, I want to add a little more structure than open end notebooking “What I learned today.” I also think it’s important to teach data collection at an early age.)
Read more…
Tags: freebies, Homeschooling, lapbooking, Montessori, notebooking, physical science, science, weather
Posted by admin on Sep 11, 2008 in
Homeschooling Recently, I made this data sheet so that Mikah could record the daily weather. The information it records can all be found easily online. So, if you can use this feel free to grab it!
WEATHER DATA SHEET
As I wrote in another post, we are using NOEO Biology I this year with Mikah. We are enjoying the curriculum. They start off the year teaching about weather because it effects the habitats of animals and plant life. It’s a little bit on the easy side for a 3rd grader who has had hands-on science since before she was old enough for pre-school. (That’s what happens when your brother who is older by 7 years loves science.) But since she is about on grade level with her reading we chose to wait for the Biology II and do it later. Anyhow, that’s why I made the data sheet. I needed to make the data collection a little more organized and harder for her. I also found a similar sheet (after I made mine!) that could be used with students from the Center of Atmospheric Research.
Read more…
Tags: biology, Homeschooling, notebooking, physical science, science, weather
Posted by admin on Sep 8, 2008 in
Homeschooling Last year Mikah studied Kaya and Felicity along with our history (Last year history was done mostly in our co-op. We did plan to use A New World of Adventure at home, but never seemed to have enough time to get everything in and did only a few weeks of it. I plan to re-visit that curriculum in the future- it’s the best literature-based full curriculum I have seen.) Our co-op mainly used materials from The Time Travelers History Series, another awesome hands-on curriculum.
As we studied the American Girls I had Mikah complete notebook pages. I wanted to share my pages in case anyone else might find them useful.
Read more…
Tags: American Girls, History, Homeschooling, Language Arts, notebooking
Posted by admin on May 8, 2008 in
Homeschooling Many homeschoolers already know about these great monthly freebies. I know sometimes I get busy and forget to snag them, however. Hopefully, by blogging about them I will remember to download them more often! And, for those of you who had no clue these were available – grab something to drink, sit back and enjoy the downloads! (Also, find something to keep the kids entertained! You are going to busy for a while.) Read more…
Tags: freebies, Homeschooling, lapbooking, notebooking
