Black Biographies: Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington read aloud picture book

 

Black Biographies: Benjamin Banneker

 Tick Tock Benjamin’s Clock

Benjamin and just letter:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKnwyVR4P88

Surveying

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9sPwFu_fn5w

What questions do you have?

Black Biographies: Granville T. Woods

 We learned about Granville. T. Woods today and were so impressed by his many accomplishments, which led to us asking more questions about how things work.  

I always love starting with a picture book biography when we are learning about someone. We read The Amazing Mind of Granville Woods (Good and Beautiful) and really were inspired to learn more!

Some of the questions we had: 

How do you get a patent?

How does a Steam Engine Work?

We got out our The Way Things Work book.  Then watched a few videos:

How do Steam Locomotives Work?

How Car Engines Work?

What is it like to ride in a Steam Engine?

Birds--more about migration

 We are getting ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count and are learning about a few kinds of birds.

Today we read the first story in the Birds Nature Reader (Good and Beautiful) about the Barn Swallow.

We enjoyed watching this video showing how the swallows make their nest.

Groundhog (day) and hibernation + Vivaldi's "Winter"

 We have been studying the adaptations of animals for winter...which is perfect because it's Ground Day is right during our study this year!

This video about groundhogs was wonderful!  We got to see the baby groundhogs too!

So what is the prediction for 2023?

Watch to find out!

After the hearing the prediction we learned about Vivaldi and his...

"Winter" concerto composition that he wrote.  Go to 5:55 to hear "Winter."

We drew groundhog onto our note booking page and then wrote down what we wanted to remember about groundhogs on it too! We added a shadow to ours to reflect the prediction this year.

Winter adaptations--bugs and birds

We are looking at the science of winter this year.  Animals and their different adaptations are an interesting nature study for winter.  Much of our study was inspired by the "Great White North" Nature Study from FortheLoveofHomeschooling.com

One of our questions we wanted to dig into more is where do insects go in the winter?

Another question is: How do the birds know when it's time to migrate?

And how do they know where to go?

We researched the "flyways" that birds used and colored the 4 main flyways onto our bird migration map.

 This Song is a fun reminder of the different adaptations animals use to weather the winter.  

Where do Bugs go in Winter? Also mentions frogs and snakes.

Flyways of the great migration:

How do birds prepare for migration?

Why do animals migrate back when the weather warms up?

                                            

We are getting excited for the Great Backyard Bird Count happening February 17-20th.  I love that our study of birds is overlapping this event!

Rime Ice and Hoar Frost

 We have had some gorgeous winter days this year and we wanted to know more about what caused them. That led us to look into Rime Ice and Hoar Frost and what causes them.