Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Beyond Co-op - George Washington Carver #1

We had the best week-end - and I'll post more on that tomorrow.  It was filled with laughter, games, joy and just so much fun!  I look forward to sharing.  Since I need to upload some pictures - and also get some sleep, I'm going to share some pictures that are already on the computer.  :-)

New semester and a new book to go along with our Beyond Five in a Row studies.  For the first half of the semester, we will be studying George Washington Carver.  So many interesting topics to explore in the first four chapters of the book including a brief look at the Civil War.

 A discussion on the history of African-American choirs was very interesting, especially the personal family stories that were shared.
 Listening to - and trying to sing - "Lift Every Voice and Sing".
 Some of the books used as a reference for our studies.
 Doesn't this spread look delicious!  You can tell that our hostess has the gift of hospitality, can't you?!  Sweet potato chips, popcorn, edamame, crackers with peanut butter and the food right out of the book ... "corn dodgers".  Have you ever heard of these?  It was a food that GWC ate when he was a young boy traveling from one town to a another.  You start with cornbread.
 Then split it open to put in a piece of bacon or sausage.  These were yummy and well-received!
 Next was a botany lesson.  Lots of information to be digested!
 Learning about the parts of a cell.
 Comparing monocots and dicots.  Looking at a peanut to see if you could tell which category it falls into.
 Next learning about the parts of a flower.
 And then dissecting the flower into its individual parts.
 A form that can be used for placing each part of the flower as you disect it.
 We also learned about photosynthesis and how it works.
 To help illustrate the concept, the children each received an item that could be used to demonstrate one part of the process.  They had to figure out what each item represented and then get in order to show the process of photosynthesis.  Here is a song explaining  the process.
 The last component of the day was an art project.   Yes, this was a very full morning of learning!  George Washington Carver painted on rocks and other things he found in nature using paints he made from things found in nature.  The kids had the opportunity to paint rocks or pieces of wood with whatever they would like.  Some chose to paint flowers or other things from nature like George did.
 And others chose to paint things from Batman.  *grin*
 As always, I love seeing the creativity and the uniqueness of each project.
 This beautiful piece was made by adding paint to model magic.  She then formed the model magic into the flower and the hummingbird!  I love it!
As always, we spent a delightful morning learning, playing, laughing and creating with our friends!

Blessings
Leslie