Maps & Explorers

HSIE Term 3, 2014

Exploring Map Skills

"Reading" Photographs and Maps

Read pages 2-5 of the Oxford Atlas Project 2. Do the activities in the top right corner of pages 3 & 5.
Watch the first episode of The Map Makers DVD
Use the Cat-in-the-hat map making tool to create a map of a room in our house or draw a map free-hand of our house or yard.

Using a Key & Different kinds of maps

Read pages 6-9 of the OAP. Do the activities in the top right corner of pages 7 & 9.
Watch the second episode of The Map Makers  DVD.
Add a Key to the map you drew last week.

Using Direction & Grids, Latitude & Longitude

Read pages 10-13 of the OAP. Do the activities in the top right vorner pf pages 11 & 13.
Add a north point to your map. Also add a grid and co-ordinates if you wish. 
Play the compass game 
Watch the last episode of The Map Makers DVD.

Great Explorers

Indigenous people and Explorers of Australia

Read pages 70-73 of the OAP. 

Read "A Southern Continent?" in Great Explorers, Journeys into the unknown by land, sea and air by Stuart Ross (page 40). Do you remember going on the replica of the Endeavour?

Look on the globe to see where Captain Cook travelled.

What do you think was the most interesting thing about Captain Cook's journey?

Novels to read this week:
The First Voyage by Arthur Baillie
Stowaway by Karen Hesse
Captain Cook and the Endeavor by Mike Lefroy
The True Adventures of John Nicol by Julian Bruere

Leif Eriksson Viking Explorer

Read "The Mystery of Vinland" in Great Explorers (page 14).  Look on the globe to follow Leif's journey.

Do you remember the Viking ship we saw at the Maritime Museum?

Leif's adventures were recorded as stories called Sagas. Write your own tale about an imagined or real journey.

Novels to read this week:
They came on Viking Ships  by Jackie French

Marco Polo and the Silk Road

Read "Riding the Silk Road" in Great Explorers (page 20).
What was The Silk Road? Look on the globe to see where the Silk Road went.  
What was so special about silk?
Watch the video.

Books to read this week:
Following the trail of Marco Polo, Geronimo Stilton
Marco Polo by Robert Strathloch
Marco Polo for kids by Janis Herbert
Marco Polo: the boy who travelled the Medieval World by Nick McCarty
Marco Polo by Zachary Kent

Christopher Columbus

Read "Right around the world" in Great Explorers (page 32).

What "new" technology did Columbus have in his ship? Look on the globe to see where Columbus travelled. Why were spices important?

Watch the video

Play the Walk the Plank quiz game 

Books to read this week:
Christopher Columbus, explorer of the New World by Peter Crisp
Christopher Columbus: the voyage that changed the world by Emma Carlson
 
Man on the Moon

Read "Man on the Moon" in Great Explorers (page 76).  How would you feel being the first people to land on the moon?

Watch the video of the moon landing and first steps on the moon.
 
Play the explore Mars game
Do the jig-saw puzzle here

Deep Sea and High Sky exploration

Read "Above and Below" in  Great Explorers (page 60).

Watch this news footage of the Balloon expedition from 1932.

Watch the video about the dive to the Mariana Trench.

Play the Deep Sea Treasure game

Which explorer's journey do you think was the most interesting? Are there any you wish you could do?
 

Vege patch lovin'

I'm loving all the produce coming out of our vege patch at the moment, although I am having trouble keeping up with preserving those tomatoes! This is todays harvest, as well as yesterdays preserves.

We've been harvesting tomatoes, beans, beetroot, capsicum, silverbeet, rocket, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, the odd apple, a few lemons and chillis.

 The vege patch is the only green area of the whole place- it is so dry and we really need rain to green our pastures.

I'm so pleased because we also have local raw honey, local lamb and beef, and our own chicken which we dispatched recently.  This week the co-op order is coming which will stock us up with organic grains, flours, nuts and dried fruit. No supermarket required for me for a while :)

Maritime Museum

We ventured into Sydney to the National Maritime Museum, to see the Viking Exhibition in particular.  We looked around the Navy destroyer...

Tried to get a decent photo of the kids and I, but Nathan did not help...

 Went in the Submarine, but I only got as far as the first section where the torpedoes were...

 Then I got completely claustrophobic and had to rush out. I was shaky and panicky and felt like I was going to cry! I don't know how the crew members live on a submarine.  The others went through the whole sub while I waited.

 The girls had their faces painted beautifully...

  Then on to see The Endeavor, a replica of Captain Cook's boat.  This was my favourite. Such a beautifully crafted timber vessel.

 

Onto the Viking ship next...

 

 

 Finally, the James Craig...

Not to mention all the indoor exhibits, including the Vikings exhibit. A great day out.

Waterhole

 

Homeschool Term 4 2013

Here's the run down on what we've been up to during Term 4...

English

Amy (Early Stage 1/Stage 1)
Reading Eggs
Learning Language Arts Through Literature- Blue level
Targeting Handwriting -1
RIC Publications Spelling - Book A
Downunder Literature Copywork

Lili (Stage 1)

Reading Eggs
Learning Language Arts Through Literature- Red level
Targeting Handwriting -2
RIC Publications Spelling - Book B
Downunder Literature Copywork

Nathan (Stage 3)
Basic Skills Creative Writing Years 3-8 workbook
Time for Better English 6
Nathan has read the entire series of The Rangers Apprentice, among many other books.


Plus loads of reading- the librarian told me that between us we had borrowed over 1000 books so far this year!

Maths

Amy- Math-U-See Alpha
Lili- Math-U-See Beta
Nathan- Math-U-See Zeta

Both the girls will be finishing their books very soon, while Nathan may have a few pages left until next year. Because we went back to cover some gaps in his learning when he first came home from school, he has been doing a double workload of Maths to catch up.


HSIE

Aboriginal Studies using:

Australians All by Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle.  Australians All is Australian History told through stories about children and adolescents.  We found it's format very accessible.

We read about Aboriginal life around Lake Mungo in Australians All, which formed a springboard for learning more about Mungo Man and Mungo Woman, as well as a re-cap on what we have learned previously about Australian Mega Fauna.  

The children did a visual response to the story in Australians All...

and watched these videos:
Archival footage from 1968 following the discovery of Mungo Man
ABC Catalyst report on Mega Fauna archaeological dig

and explored this website
http://www.visitmungo.com.au/mungo-different
 
Watching parts of the SBS Series First Australians

Plus the Medieval Re-enactment day in October, where we got to see armour, swords and knights....

 

 

  Clothing, utensils and customs of the time....

 Lili was chosen to pick an item that was from medieval times.

My favourite part was the mounted archery, jousting etc.

Science and Technology

Watching episodes of The Surfing Scientist and Scope
Nathan has been learning about the Scientific Method, and all the children have been doing experiements with the Thames and Kronos Physics Kit.

Nathan- CSIRO Helix club 2 day workshop
Nathan- Minecraft challenges at DIY.org

Sport & Health

Amy & Lili- Horseriding, including a day at Pony Club to try it out.  We have a new pony, Mini. She is a gorgeous Welsh Mountain Pony.

We have been enjoying Indoor Rock Climbing...

Nathan- Archery

We watched pro-BMX riders, as well as scooter riders and skateboarders at Newton's Nation- an extreme sports event at Newcastle Harbour.

 Creative Arts

Amy & Lili- Art lessons at local gallery
Nathan- Urban Art 

Nathan was inspired by the work of Marco Luccio, after seeing his exhibition Cities, Stories and Landscapes at the local Art Gallery.

We saw and enjoyed Roald Dahls The BFG  performance by Hunter Region Drama School.

Other

Various websites on the girl's weebly site 
and Nathan's weebly site

Making a scarecrow (Mr Hayman) to keep the crows from stealing our eggs.