History Tidbit: Feudalism

It took almost two months for Till Year's Good End by W. Nikola-Lisa to become available at my local library. It was worth the wait. There are so many books about knights and castles. There's nothing wrong with those. At the moment I'd say we have a stack of books on those subjects at least a foot high. It's much harder to find books about the lower classes of society. This book is something entirely different from the average medieval picture book which is devoted to glittering armor and formidable defenses. It depicts the class whose labor and servitude made feudalism possible.

The text follows the lives of medieval peasants month by month through a full year. Each month is depicted on a two page spread which begins with four lines of verse that are followed by a paragraph in prose describing the chores and feudal obligations associated with that particular month. The majority of each spread is devoted to a full color illustration by Christopher Manson. His work melds strong definitive strokes with nuanced color. The scenes beautifully depict the various tasks and activities described by the text. You'll be able to point out objects and practices for which your child might not have a mental image. Both art and text are engaging and informative. You won't find extra blurbs or captions. Unlike many nonfiction picture books, text, art, and information are woven together and presented seamlessly. If you're studying the Middle Ages, this is one book you definitely don't want to miss.

Science Tidbit: Natural Cycles

Occasionally  a lot of the time I find awesome things after I put up a post, things that are just too good to hang onto for two or three years until we study the same subject again, which is why I'm going to start posting tidbits. Tidbits are great books, activities, or resources that I want to share with you but either they didn't make it into a post because I hadn't discovered them yet or I simply don't have time to compile an entire book list or unit on that particular subject.

Here's your first tidbit:

There are plenty of picture books about the water cycle, but if you've been looking for a picture book about the carbon/oxygen or nitrogen cycle, you know those are harder to come by. Look no further than Why Do Elephants Need the Sun?  by Robert E. Wells. Using an animal with terrific kid appeal, the African elephant, Wells explores not only the water cycle but the carbon/oxygen cycle as well. He doesn't explicitly address the nitrogen cycle but it would be easy to explain using the illustrations in the book.

Why Do Elephants Need the Sun? would be a great book to introduce during week eight of Classical Conversations cycle 2 when the parts of the sun are introduced because not only does Wells discuss the parts of the sun and how they work but also how the sun drives the water and carbon/oxygen cycles. Astronomy and ecology often remain very separate subjects for young children, all of those distant objects and lights out in space versus the bugs, leaves, and worms it is possible to touch, gather, and collect. Wells does a great job of showing how interconnected the two subjects really are. The text also touches on the planets (week 9) and states of matter (week 13) making it an all around great book to use with your classical kid for reinforcement and review.

Ancient Rome for Little People: a booklist

Created to accompany  the Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages, Chapter 1
Here is an alternative reading list to the one found in the companion activity book to the Story of the World Volume 2: the Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer. SugarPlum is in Kindergarten so it's geared toward early elementary students.

	100 Things You Should Know About Ancient Rome by Fiona Macdonald Engaging illustrations and easy to understand prose. Facts are organized by category. Moves along at a clip which keeps little people engaged but still remains highly informative.
	You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Soldier!: Barbarians You'd Rather Not Meet by John Malam We haven’t read this particular book. I have used multiple titles from this series in SugarPlum’s pre-k and kindergarten curriculum. The humorous approach and cartoon drawings make some of the less pleasant aspects of history accessible to young readers.
	You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Gladiator! by John Malam Told in the second person. Follows the gladiatorial career of a captured Gaul from his enslavement to his untimely and unfortunate end in the arena. Humor and cartoon illustrations enable kids to engage with a tough subject without being overwhelmed.
	Roman Town by Hazel Mary Martell Cutaway and bird’s eye views illustrate the order, beauty, and everyday life of a Roman Town. Look at the map on pages 10 and 11, then allow your child to choose which part of town they want to explore first.
	Ancient Romans by Daisy Kerr Short and concise. Lots of illustrations. This series is a favorite at our house.
	Ancient Rome by Peter Chrisp Even if this book is a bit much to read in it’s entirety, you can still enjoy the fabulous see-through pages and photographs of ruins and artifacts. It does contain an illustration of people fleeing Pompei. So take a peek at it first before you share with very young children.

Most books are available through the Roanoke Valley Library system.

Sneak Peek: Classical Explorations Week 4

This week in Classical Explorations we will be learning about feudalism, Europe, the water cycle, and pronouns.

	The Europe Geo Puzzle is fairly complex. We have a small enough group that the kids should be able to work together to complete it. We’ll review country names and bodies of water.
	The Medieval Kingdom card game from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational is a great way to help kids visualize feudalism and the layers of medieval society. If the game rules seem too complex we’ll modify them.
	We were supposed to read I And You And Don't Forget Who: What Is a Pronoun? (Words Are Categorical) last week but we ran out of time. We’ll read it this week. There is an accompanying coloring page.
	All the Water in the World and Water Dance are two fun poetic picture books that describe the water cycle.
	Water: Up, Down, and All Around describes the water cycle in prose with plenty of great illustrations. We’ll be doing an experiment to show how water evaporates, condenses, and falls as precipitation. .
	The Coloring page of King John from Kings and Queens of England (Dover History Coloring Book) will probably be a take home project.

I’m planning some fun outdoor games related to our science and skip counting. We’ll also be adding some free play time so the kids can enjoy just getting to know each other and running around. I know a couple of kids are really looking forward to making a sword and helmet to go with their shield. Unfortunately, I accidentally returned the book with those projects to the library. So we’ll have to start those projects next week.

Sneak Peek: Classical Explorations Week 2

ART: Last week, the kids made a paper diorama of the savanna. This week we'll be populating it with standing paper animals and reinforcing our art concept of mirror images.

SCIENCE: Active games to get the kids thinking about the types of consumers and who eats what.

SNACK: Sticking with the animal theme of art and science, I’m serving up this little parade.

Savanna Snack

Photo from kraftrecipes.com

  

HISTORY
	We'll build a motte and bailey style castle and perhaps assault it  with marshmallow projectiles.
	Kids will receive coloring pages for both King Harold II and King William I.
	A search and find book with minimal text that follows life in a castle through a whole year.
	Pages six and seven contain a great image of an early castle like the ones built by the Normans shortly after they conquered the Saxons. Plus there are lots of images to find.
GRAMMAR:
	We'll be reading If you were a Pronoun by Nancy Loewen.

Backyard and Beyond: Hands on Exploration of the Ecosystem

Here are some books I'm using with SugarPlum (5) as we study our biome, the deciduous forest, and ecology right in our own backyard.

	IF YOU CAN ONLY PICK ONE: Janice VanCleave's Ecology for Every Kid: Easy Activities that Make Learning Science Fun is my core book for our ecology unit. It covers the basics and several biomes.
	BackyardA beautifully illustrated book which examines a single square foot in an average backyard. Great to get kids thinking about what they might actually find outside. Contains practical hints and experiments.
	The Young Naturalist (Hobby Guides (Usborne Paperback))One of my favorite books as a child. SugarPlum loves it too. Not as practical as some of the other books but definitely one to get kids dreaming big. Contains information which is helpful if you get inspired by One Small Square: Backyard and decide to cordon off part of your yard and examine the habitat and it's critters in depth.
	Backyard Pets: Activities for Exploring Wildlife Close to Home Don't add this book to your curriculum unless you are actually considering allowing your child to temporarily adopt a toad, turtle, worms, or other readily available backyard resident.
	Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard explains food webs and chains using a habitat that most kids who've had a garden will at least be able to relate to even if they haven't observed it in real life.
	Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard isn't a field guide. It is a hilarious cartoon style look at the what, when, where, how, and why of watching birds.
	Your Backyard (Discovering Nature) each two page spread focuses on one aspect of nature in the backyard: soil, seeds, plants, birds, creepy crawlies. It contains step-by-step instructions for experiments and projects that are easy to follow, doable, and not overly ambitious. It's not comprehensive by any means but provides a great hands-on introduction that gets little people excited and thinking about scientific concepts.
	I'm using Nature In Your Backyard to add to our list of nature based experiments. There is some overlap with Your Backyard from the discovering nature series.
	You could probably do a lot of the activities and experiments in Woods And Meadows (Discovering Nature) in a suburban backyard, but I think it's a great resource to use to talk about adventures you've had in local parks and forests.
	WoodsWalk: Peepers, Porcupines, and Exploding Puff Balls! Explores the forest and what you might find there season by season.
	TOP PICK: If you have an early reader, Forest Explorer: A Life-sized Field Guide is a book you simply must check out. Two page spreads contain a collage of life size images from the forest and are followed by two page spreads which contain information about the organism. The best part about this book is its picture index which allows pre-readers and children just beginning to read to look up animals on their own.
	I'm pretty sure that kids and brooks go together even better than peanut butter and jelly. The Brook Bookis a great text to accompany your kids' next excursion to their preferred summer habitat. It  isn't comprehensive, but it's a great introduction to the variety of life one can find in even the smallest streams.
	Addition In The Forest (Math All Around) isn't an ecology book per se, but it's a great way to tie in math to our study of our local biome, the deciduous forest.
	Don't let the simple kid-friendly illustrations of Pond Walk deceive you. This slender paperback contains far more than the story of a little bear's walk with his mom. It's a great book to get your kids excited about sketching nature.
	FOR THE LITTLEST PEOPLE: Trout Are Made of Trees is a picture book that tells the story of the life cycle of trout and how we fit into it. Proof that science isn't (and needn't be) inaccessible for even the youngest children.
	Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane - a Smithsonian's Backyard Book transforms the life of a chipmunk into an exciting story that I've read again and again. Check out all of the books in this series. They're wonderful.
	Woodchuck at Blackberry Road - a Smithsonian's Backyard Book is another great title in the series. Beautiful and accurately illustrated, this series turns each animal's life into a riveting story that your kids will want to read again and again.

Book Basics: an Annotated List for CC Cycle 2 Week 1

Here's a look at the core books we're using for week one of Classical Conversations cycle two.

Science: Biomes
I know this looks sparse. It is. I actually have several posts on great books related to the ecology portion Classical Conversations' second cycle that I'll be posting soon. If you live in a different biome, check out the other books in the same series, Biomes of North America, by Rebecca L. Johnson.

I'm organizing our ecology study a little differently than CC does. First, we're doing a year long nature journal. The goal is to identify organisms in our own back yard and figure out how they fit into food webs, what happens as the seasons change, etc. So for the first month most of our books are geared toward getting that project underway and studying the biome in which we live, the deciduous forest. After that I'm focusing on a biome a week. It's not like you can teach this stuff in neat little isolated segments anyway. It's a big, bold, beautiful, crazily interconnected world. By the time we do our mini units on Rain Forests, Deserts, Grasslands, Tundra, Coniferous Forests, and Oceans Sugar Plum will have memorized a lot of the vocabulary to discuss the organisms that live within each biome and how they relate to each other.

History: Charlemage
If you've scoured your local library for books on Charlemagne, then you know how hard it is to find something at an early elementary level. I pulled out a couple of books for late elementary that we may skim over. The book I'm really excited about though is The Elephant from Baghdad by Mary Tavener Holmes. It's based on an actual historical document. I'm all for myths and legends and fairy tales, but I like something a little more substantial when I'm teaching about an actual historical figure, especially since SugarPlum still has trouble separating fact from fiction when it comes to history. Plus you can never go wrong with elephants.


Geography: Continents and Oceans

This is mostly review for SugarPlum. Since she can locate them on the map already, I've picked out some fun, fact-filled books so that she can learn more about major world areas in addition to being able to find them on a map or globe. The majority of geography focused books that I've been able to find at the library are geared toward late elementary or older. While I incorporate lots of books that are technically well above SugarPlum's level, I was super excited to find the Spotlight on the Continents series. It's geared toward younger readers and each book is filled with lots of pictures and concise text. Wild Animal Atlas: Earth's Astonishing Animals and Where they Live has been a favorite at our house for several years. It's probably how she originally memorized the continents.

Oceans Atlas by DK Publishing is a little over SugarPlum's head but she loves all of the diagrams and pictures and retains a surprising amount of the information. Science and geography are pretty inseparably intertwined at our house this week. I'll be posting a link to more great books on ocean biomes. Classical Conversations may have excluded the largest biome from their list but that doesn't mean we're skipping it.




We're not using the entire Activity Pack this week, just the jigsaw puzzle. I like this world map puzzle because the continents and oceans are clearly labeled and it shows the major biomes, so it can tie in with both science and geography.