Bronze Age Weaponry...well not quite

Last week we learned how weapons and tools were made during the Bronze Age and of course the boys wanted to try their hand at making weapons! First we looked up some ideas online and then they carved their design into clay.

We then mixed up some Plaster of Paris and poured it into the mold. I had never used it before but it was surprisingly easy and I can't wait to use it for something else!

I thought it would be fun for Emmy to make her hand.

It only took about 30 minutes for the plaster to dry and then we peeled away the clay and had spear and arrow heads. Pat helped the boys make handles and attach the "Bronze" shapes.

Here is Ethan and James with their "weapons" and their International Night display.

Making Kites

We decide to try a kite making project for our study on Ancient China since they are the ones who invented kites! I found lots of good sites about kite making but they all needed string and the only thin string I could think of in the house was fishing line which was too thin. So I looked a litte more and found a site with a really easy kite made from just one sheet of paper, a BBQ skewer, and marking tape for the tail. We would need string to fly it but since it is not kite flying season we could wait until I picked some up.




Here is Ethan working on the folds.

We then used clear packing tape to hold the folds in place.

Our new computer (an early Christmas gift, thanks Dad and Mom!!!) came in really handy when doing this because we could look at the directions right on the screen while working instead of having to print it all out or write it down.

If it looks weird our bubble screen saver had come on when I took this!

Ethan made a cool chinese dragon for his kite. We still need to put the tail on because Daddy was bringing us marking tape home from work when we made these. I think we will hang them from the ceiling in the school room for decoration untill a nice windy day!

Check out this cool site on making a really easy kite:
20 Kids, 20 Kites, 20 Minutes!

End of Unit Celebration

Here we are with the Jettes and the Cowlands at our end of unit celebration. The kids dressed as Isrealites and we had some traditional food. It was a real treat to blow the Shofar a horn made of a rams horn used in Jewish holiday ceremonies.

I snapped this candid shot of Elizabeth when she wasn't looking!

"Shabbat Shalom"

We celebrated the Sabbath while learning about the Jewish holidays. Here is our dinner that we prepared ahead of time in order to obey the laws. The kids had fun looking for the first stars in the sky to appear that signaled the begining and the end of the Sabbath. We also had fun using "Shabbat Shalom" which means "good sabbath" as a greeting to each other.

James made this covering for our challah bread.

Our Edible Tabernacle

After learning about the Tabernacle the Cowlands joined us in this fun activity of recreating it out of graham crackers and frosting.

Here Ethan is making one of the items that went inside (the bowl I think) out of starburst. They are great for molding into all sorts of things after just a few seconds in the microwave.

James, Ethan and Emmy could not keep their fingers out of the frosting!!!

Here are the boys with their finished project.

The Ten Comandments

Here are the boy's "models" of the Ten Comandments, yummy!!!

Emmy made a cookie "E" for her pre-school lesson!

Ziggurats

While learning about Mesopotamia this week we learned a new word "ziggurat" which is super fun to say! A ziggurat is a pyramid shaped temple made of mud bricks with stepped platforms. Stair cases went from platform to platform. The temple or shrine was located on the very top. The boys had fun creating them out of different size cardboard boxes.

Emmy just had to get in the pic!

Cylinder Seals

This week we are studying Ancient Mesopotamia and we learned how they would "sign" their belongings using cylinder seals which were made of stone or ivory. A design or picture was carved into the cylinder and then rolled over soft clay to reveal the design. The original ones were sometimes very intricate but ours were much simpler! The boys laid out their design on a small piece of construction paper using yarn and then we glued them around a TP tube. Here are our seals and the prints they made when we rolled them in paint and then onto paper.

Emmy made her name.

Ethan wanted to make a Ladder Truck, if you look closely you can see the "ladder" pointing up on the back of the truck.

James decided to make a house. He was very disappointed in how it came out and wanted to make another using clay...oops, maybe next time!

Dino Digging

These pictures are from the week we were studying creation and the boys were begging me to do Dinosaur stuff so we broke out the Dino excavation kit. They boys had a great time and found six little dinosaurs. It was super messy as you can see. The pink dust was all over everything (mostly Ethan) and even stained the carpet. My vacuum I don't think will ever be the same!!

Mud House

After being inspired by a mud house photo we saw in a book about Ancient Mesopotamia the boys went outside and build their own. Good job boys!

Ancient Egyptian Feast

Here is the whole crew looking pretty cool in their Egyptian duds! Emmy and Becka just had to get in the picture but weren't interested in dressing up. I am not sure why James and Ethan look so unhappy in this picture but they had lots of fun dressing as Egyptian Kings.






Here the boys are making mummies! We used dollar store barbie type dolls and went through the whole process (except the organ removal of course) of preserving the body and wrapping it.

James is drying the body using salt. We waited 4 minutes to represent the 40 days it really takes!

Here is Ethan using salt, they also rubbed herbs and spices on the body to keep it smelling nice.

The finished product!

We all enjoyed the Egyptian feast, James' favorite was the hummus and unleavened bread (ie. pita pockets).

Ethan wouldn't try much (surprise, surprise) but the grapes and the hummus were big on his list.

Emmy tried everything and really liked the pomegranate! Her and Becka shared food by switching seats and checking out the others plate every few minutes.

Walk like and Egyptian!

Egyptian Lego Houses

The kids built egyptian houses this week using Lego's. We learned about how they used a pattern of two short blocks and one long block to make the walls really strong.

Here are the houses:

Cookie Dough Maps

This week we were learning geography terms like bay, inlet, peninsula, and mesa to name a few. We decided to create our own country's out of cookie dough that included the land forms were were learning about.

James made a mountain range and a river shaped like a "4".

Ethan even made a cave in his.

Emmy joined in on the cookie dough fun, she ate most of her country though.