Mosaics-Byzatine Empire

 

Another shout to K12's history/art curriculum.  By the way, MVCA is taking applications for 2013-2014 school year.  :-)  Here's the link. http://www.k12.com/mvca.  This is for Michigan's online public school using the K12 curriculum.  Many states have this online schooling option available.  You can check your state at www.k12.com.

 

The 2nd graders have spent quite a bit of time learning about the Roman Empire in history.  They learned that Rome started about 2700 years ago with a small group of villages.  Then it grew into  a huge empire. Then they learned about what caused the empire to split into the Eastern and Western Empires and they learned that the new more modern term "Byzantine Empire" represented the Eastern Roman Empire.   Also, that the Emperor Justinian who caused the Eastern Empire to grow was a Christian, which brought us to some of the art work within the churches.  :-)

 

Of course, there were many more details throughout those lessons.  But what's really neat with the K12 curriculum is that often art and history are connected somehow.  Not all the time, but often. And I love how they go back and make connections to past lessons because that's how children really learn...repetition! So in Art they are revisiting Ancient Rome.  They are being reminded of all the beautiful architectural work, temples that were built to worship their gods/goddesses and all the amazing artwork and marble sculptures.  They were reminded about the city of Pompeii which was buried over the course of 2-3 days when Mt. Vesuvius erupted.  And they were shown a picture of a Roman bedroom that was preserved.  The lesson title was called "No Window? No Problem!"  :-D 

www.studyblue.com

The walls were frescoes (paintings directly on the plaster of the walls) and the floor was a marble mosaic.  (I couldn't find the same picture as in the lesson.  :-( They showed more of the floor.)  The walls were painted with windows and scenes outside windows and from what I gather from the lesson, there wasn't an actual window in this room.  All of them were painted! So the 2nd grade lesson was to paint a window and a scene outdoors. 

They started with making a window sill and frame. The one on the left is very typical for that child, very detailed and the one on the right ... yep, that's typical too! He did a fictional scene. Seems to think that drawing realistic scenes are harder. :-D So he made a CandyLand scene out the window. Ha!

 

In a 3rd grade lesson, back in November, the children painted on plaster squares my husband made for them.  That lesson was touching on frescoes also.  Not exactly the same as painting on wet plaster but fun anyway!  

 

Anyway, they moved onto some of the mosaics after talking about the floor of that room was a marble mosaic!  That marble mosaic floor was 2000 years old.  So we had a good conversation on whether carpet would last 2000 years.  :-D

 

The mosaic below was one of the pictures also shared with the students.  Remember that Emperor Justinian was Christian, he had many of the bible stories created in mosaics on the walls of churches. They did a good job and helping the children understand just how much marble would be needed and how much work it would be do create a mosaic like these.

 

Emperor Justinian and his Attendants

www.studyblue.com

 

So after discussing mosaics for awhile all the students created a paper mosaic.  They turned out well!

Yes, time consuming, but definitely neat outcomes.  I see now in the picture that he should have used hot glue to glue his seaweed down.  Seems that liquid glue didn't hold it down.  We'll have to fix that.  And no, that isn't part of a typical mosaic but I try to allow the children to follow their creative whims.  So if the project turns out a little different than I expected, 'tis okay.  :-)

1st grader really wasn't "into" this project as you can tell.  :-)  That's his sun.  2nd grader's umbrella, notice the little tiny piece of handle coming back up at the bottom of the page.  Interesting!  And he added darker blue for rain.

2nd grader's carrots.

 

 

Preschooler's sun on the left and 3rd grader's heart on the right. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, the simple things like....Word Documents

Having issues with blogger again.  Seems like it happens when I actually have time to type up a post.  :-)  (Either blogger or my own SD card reader.  This time it wasn't allowing me to upload pictures.   Finally googled the issue and in case someone else is having the same issue...it is a known issue that the "choose files" icon appears and disappears not allowing you to upload pictures.  They are working on trying to find a solution to Internet Explorer browsers and their suggestion at this time is to use a different browser.  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, I know that there are people out there that are probably already doing this but sometimes I have a tendency to make more work for myself then I need to.  But...I'm learning.  One of the things I'm learning is that there are a lot of resources at the tips of my fingers that I have completely "forgotten" about...one of them being Word. 

A. is in 4th grade and he has a lot of writing in almost every subject with the K12 curriculum so I'm trying to cut it down a bit and come up with variations of activities.  I'm finding out that he enjoys technology quite a bit so I'm going to try to spend some more time helping him explore some simple programs.  One of the activities he was to do for today was to create a book.  Well, we just created a book in science and that was like pulling teeth...it required "writing".  Ha!  So I was flipping through the diagrams, charts, etc in Word and came across one that hollered "Louis Pasteur Book!" to me.  So this is what we came up with....scrapped the book and made a diagram.  He was quite pleased...now if only we can somehow figure out how to fit in "typing" into his day.  He took forever on the first portion and so I typed and had him dictate the rest of it.  But I think we're onto something!  Any typing program suggestions?

Oh, for those of you not aware of who Louis Pasteur is...he is the individual who experimented with a cure for rabies.  :-)

Volcano

This was a project from quite awhile ago that I never posted.  It was an "extra" for one of my 2nd graders who is a bit more "artsy" than the other and he was here for the morning but the other had an appointment and I really didn't want to go to much further ahead.  Life is much easier when they are both on the same lessons.  :-)

Throughout Literature2 and History2 they were learning about the Roman myth and the Hawiian Legend of the volcano.  So I printed up a picture and the "story" for both of those for either side of the mountain.  In the plume at the top is a little pocket where we placed his "How a Volcano Erupts" booklet. You can find this booklet "coloring page" at Crayola.

 

By the time he finished with the inside of the volcano, he really didn't want to do much with the outside or the plume of smoke.  It was more of a "for fun" activity so that was just fine.  :-)  This was made out of 2 pieces of brown 12x18 construction paper and a gray sheet for the smoke.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around that same time we explored with baking soda and vinegar reactions (they had all done clay volcanoes using this concoction before so we just played around with colored vinegar and baking soda on a tray).

 

We also explored with that more "realistic" volcano eruption that was going around on Pinterest.  :-)

I used a candle warmer to melt wax on the bottom of a mug (dollar store had candle "cubes"...worked perfectly) and covered with sand.  (By the way, we are still using the mug...it was unharmed.)  We did try to do this experiment on the candle warmer but it didn't work.  So then we put the mug in a frying pan right on the stovetop.  It took a lot longer than I thought it would but it was kind of neat to watch as the wax started melting and started making streaks through the sand and eventurally one came to the surface..then another, then another!  :-)  Fun stuff!

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Pompeii-notebooking page

The children were learning about Mt. Vesuvius and how it erupted and buried the city of Pompeii, Italy.  A sad/tragic story but very interesting and a great history lesson that brings in many components.  One component we were able to review the importance of archaeologists.  Another was about how science has changed and how scientists are on the watch out for things that might cause natural disasters and many times can forewarn communities. 

 

The children have really enjoyed learning the meaning behind some of our English words.  Volcano actually came from the name of a Roman god named Vulcan.  They believed that Vulcan was a blacksmith god who was busy deep in the ground at his fiery forge creating weapons and other items for the other gods and goddesses and every once in awhile the heat, smoke, and flames would break through the surface of the Earth.  This was their way of explaining what we know today as volcanoes.

 

A simple but well-enjoyed notebooking page today for History2. 

4th grader

Two pieces of paper.  The bottom paper has the word VOLCANO across the top and also a fill in the blank paragraph about what we learned.  (I knew we'd be spending time on our volcano drawings and so I arranged it so there was less writing involved this time around, I try my hardest to keep our group lessons at 30 minutes...though most times, like this morning, history ends up going 45-60 minutes).  They laid another piece of paper on top of their VOLCANO page and folded it down just so that it didn't cover the world VOLCANO.  They then drew an unerupted volcano on their page, going over the flap.  When they were done they opened the flap and created their erupted volcano.  We glued the volcano drawing page to the bottom of the summary page...like flap to cover the written summary.  Like I said, simple...but well enjoyed.  Actually, 2 children asked to take it further and draw the city around the base of the mountain later when they had a few minutes...I hope they do!  :-) 

 

 2nd grader

 

 

3rd grader

 2nd grader

 1st grader

 

ISBN  0-397-8866-99

This is the book that came along with the 2nd grade supplies for this particular lesson.  Check your local library...for only about $3.50 at places like Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

 

You can download our very simple notebooking page summary here.

Nile River Explorations

Well, I've thought I'd have at least Tuesday afternoons to make a post on the two blogs, but...hmmm...time is precious lately and blogging gets put at the bottom of the priority list. 

 

We are into our 4th week of school.  Update on statuses... the two school-agers that were on the waitlist for MVCA were accepted.  We just got the 3rd grade materials Monday evening and we are now waiting for the 4th grade materials.  I'm very excited for my 4th grader...for all the kids for that matter.  They are challenged, they cover a LOT of material and history, science and art is very exciting to them.  A lot different than their past experience at the brick and mortar school.  That being said...there is one downfall.  Yes, we are home and we are schooling but...we aren't technically homeschooling.  So something to consider along the way...if you are making a choice between an online school vs. homeschooling.  So because we have to follow the curriculum set for us...and yes, stay somewhat on the time frame---and we need to include time for MEAP practices and class connect sections...there isn't much time for side trips and let me tell you...there are a lot of opportunities for side trips.  However, we'll also keep in mind that I have a few more children than my own kids and if it was just my own children, perhaps we would have time take all those side trips.  So, right now, we'll keep as we are until I can get a good feel of just how much time we have. 

 

My boys have been LOVING sitting in on the first grade history lessons.  We have a bit more time to explore with that because we do first grade history in the afternoons that L. stays later.  This is lovely because they didn't learn any of this before so it gives a nice foundation to their own learning.  With L., 1st grade, they are starting with Nomads, the Fertile Crescent/Mesopotamia and now moving to the Egyptian Empire along the Nile River...which a portion of it is in Fertile Crescent.

 

Today we explored with this idea that in Ancient Egypt, the Nile River would overflow every year and this was a GOOD thing.  This allowed for them to have very fertile land for crops.  The flooding each year would cause the rich soil from the bottom of the river (silt) to overflow onto the areas on either side of the Nile. 

 

Hands-On History:  Nile River Overflows

(Never thought I'd hear that!  History was always blah and boring when I was in school.  :-0)

 

 Materials: 

Old cake pan (or dollar store aluminum pan)

sand

potting soil

water

 

We filled up the pans about half full with sand.  Then they added water so make it damp and moldable.  After they were satisfied, they created the river, also being encouraged to create a delta.  (Delta- Greek letter D, shaped like a triangle...that's how it got it's name.)  Then they filled their river with garden soil.  Then they started to gently pour water at one end until it "flooded". 

 

Then of course they played with the mixture for quite awhile after the fact.  LOL

 

FYI:  we used garden soil instead of potting soil and...well, it floated.  The water went under the soil and lifted it up.  They had to use a LOT of water to get it to actually flood.  We might try it again with different soil.  It's a neat concept.

 

And it just happened that I found a book at the library called...

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt

Very cool book...that covers a lot more than the Nile River...but we did learn that the Nile River does not flood every year now because they have built a dam.  :-)  It was neat to hear my kids telling L. about that.

 

In the 2nd grade history we are learning about Rome and the Romans and a section was about how the Romans borrowed many ideas from the Greek...one being gods.  Well it just happens that the Egyptians believed in gods also.  And in the next lesson they will learn that these Ancient Egyptians did not know why the river flooded every year.  They thought it was a god smiling down on them but in reality it was the rain hundreds of miles away causing water to flow down mountains and flood the river all the way to the Meditarraen Sea.  This has also been a good "in" to talk about gods vs. God. 

 

We are definitely enjoying our journey with schooling at home!