Timeline Song

For those new to Comm. Central this year, here's a video to help you sing the timeline song that begins with Jamestown.

Atom Video

Here is a link to a juvenile atom video from CALS (Central Arkansas Library System). And here's a link to watch on-line.

Good information along with some silliness to keep your youngster engaged.

-Alicia

Ice and Salt Free Play

With record temperatures today (113*) playing with ice is a great way to stay cool.  I like this activity because it is:

1. cheap
2. easy
3. all materials on hand
4. easy clean up, can even be done outside.

First sprinkle salt on a big-o-block-o ice.  Then squirt colored water on top.

Watch the ice and salt do its magic.

Sister played in Mt. Laundry.

If I had a better camera, you could see the intricate details of this ice sculpture.

When we do this project again, we'll have a block of ice without salt and compare the melting rates.

But for today, it was very fun.  And easy.

The below picture is taken from the top; the salt melted a hole through to the bottom.

And what's not to love about undies as a necklace?!  :)

-Julie

HT: The Artful Parent

Flash Cards for Memory Work

I made the following flash cards for memory work and laminated them so that my second grader could work independently.  Kristen Burdette introduced me to the fancy clips last year.  I bought a pack of 12 at Mardel for $2.  I'm sure they're cheaper elsewhere but I was there and didn't want to stop again.

Bible verses for the year

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (one sheet not flash cards but still laminated it)

Henry speech, Declaration of Ind., Preamble to Constitution (one sheet)

My goal is to also make flash cards for the greek/latin words...someday.  :)

DIY Reusable Worksheets

Comm. Central mom Jennifer Sathianathan (a name that rivals Breitenstein in complexity, we have agreed) tipped me off to an easy way to reuse worksheets: Stick them in a page protector and use a Vis-a-Vis marker. How easy is that?!

Song: Memory verse for this week and next

Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Purpose has a downloadable mp3, Life and Breath, for $.99 on Amazon that covers this week and next week's memory verse verbatim.

Atoms for kids

This page has a ton of links to quizzes, videos, and even jigsaw puzzles on atoms. Here's a groovy video from PBS' Nova on atoms, too.

Jamestown for kids

Our family will be singing this week's history fact to the tune of Dinah:

In 1607 King James of England
sent explorers to North America.
They established the first successful settlement
in Jamestown, Virginia!

(Sorry, had to eliminate "the first" to make it fit!)

You'll want to check out this virtual Jamestown and an entire page of Jamestown links and another here, including interactive "Would you survive?" activities from http://www.jamestown1607.org/, and The Jamestown Online Adventure. This page also had a number of links for older students, including finds from archaelogical digs at Jamestown.

Here are a few videos from the History Channel's The Story of Us on life in Jamestown (2:45), a general overview of the topic (4:06; note that there is a painting depicting a topless native American woman around 2:00; also speaks of a man being shot with arrows and his body eaten by wolves)--as well as a solely illustrated video on death in Jamestown and its harsh realities (1:07). They also have a couple of videos for kids on archaelogical digs at Jamestown, climate clues to what happened there, and even a replica of the Jamestown ship built in Maine! National Geographic also has a game for kids, "On the Trail of Captain John Smith."

[Note about videos: As a general rule from my experience, videos from the History Channel are wonderful for history depiction and helping my children enter into historical moments! However, thought they may have a level of violence or description that shows no blood, it may imply violence. For example, in the latter History Channel video above, there is a brief mention of people eating each other, and though it is illustrated, there is a brief depiction of an illustrated figure being hanged. Please watch all videos to determine whether they're appropriate for your children.]

If you're looking for more hands-on ways to interact with this week's lesson, you might talk about what your family would pack in your two 4' x 3' x 3' trunks on the ship to the New World, look up what they might have eaten, or even make some of the provisions to try yourselves.

As a recommended resource, I found this Social Studies Activity Book on Life in the Colonies on clearance, and it's got some wonderful reproducibles that initiate activities like making butter, making a waterproof vessel, stitching a sampler, making a game that colonist children played, and other multi-disciplinary colony activities with your kids. I'm pretty excited to try these activities out and bring history into our kitchen!

A note about your curriculum manual

For you moms out there new to Comm. Central--or just to this year's curriculum--look in your appendix for helpful tunes to aid memorization (e.g. the timeline songs, as well as the states and their capitals), as well as the accents for our science memory work.

Memory Work Puzzles

Last year, I  listed the lines of Hamlet's soliloquy on different-colored strips of construction paper, along with some pictures to make the words more memory-grabbing. I then asked my son to put them in the right order as a puzzle. We added the new lyrics each week, and it helped cement the poem in his mind. It's great for visual learners! We did it with our Scripture memory, too.

So with that in mind, here are the words to our American Heritage memory work. Instead of writing them onto construction paper, you can just paste them in a Word document in a large font size and cut them into strips of memory work-sized chunks. Add each strip to your envelope week after week, as they're added to the memory work. As you progress and the first part of the memory work gets easier through review, you can cut the phrases into smaller chunks.

There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

You can also copy the lyrics to "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" here.