Geography/History: Origami Sunflowers

As we continued our journey through time
in our history books this week,
we read briefly about the Emperors...
...of China...
...and Japan.

To investigate China just a bit more,
I read the kiddos...

Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors
by
Roseanne Thong.

In the back of the book, it lists some
Chinese items,
such as firecrackers and jade,
which we discussed.

To bring a bit of Japanese culture
into our home,
I found a pretty simple piece of
origami for the girls to do...

An Easy Origami Sunflower

Baby Girl needed my assistance with the folds...

...but Jungle Girl was able to do the tutorial
pretty much independently.

They turned out rather pretty...

The girls SHOULD be proud!

To check out other adventures with
the world,
head on over to the Geography & History link-up
at
Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn...

Review- Download 'n Go: Expedition Australia

This is my FIRST EVER review,

so please bare with me...

This week, the kiddos and I tried out part of
Amanda Bennett's unit study
"Download 'n Go: Expedition Australia"...

I must say, part of this unit fit PERFECTLY into this week's "Earth Day" theme...

This unit is a complete week study on Australia,
which comes to you in an easy-to-down-load ebook.

Oh, and when I say this was a "complete"
unit, I do mean COMPLETE!

The lessons in this unit include any and everything about Australia,
such as vocabulary, animals, holidays,
geography, and games.

Since I did not have time to do the entire unit
with my kiddos, I chose to focus on a page about the
Great Barrier Reef.

After watching video clips and looking through web sites
about the Great Barrier Reef...
(All we had to do was click on the different links
provided in the ebook and we were at the appropriate web address-
SO EASY!)
...the kiddos worked together
(with my assistance)
to complete a scavenger hunt provided...
...through this website.

We learned some pretty interesting information,
like how grouper fish are being
overfished by humans...

(See- this fit in PERFECTLY with our Earth Day study!)

The kiddos then created pictures
(using a page provided in the unit)
of what they discovered in and around the
Great Barrier Reef...
Jungle Girl's picture...
Baby Girl's picture...Little Wild Man's picture...

My kiddos span the age range of 4-8,
and this unit was right up their ally,
as long as I was there to guide them.

I think older students could use this unit also
as an independent study.

I will probably never do a week long study on just Australia,
but I will DEFINITELY be using this ebook and its
activities as they "fit" into our regular curriculum.

This ebook is part of a series of
Download 'n Go units,
which range in price as follows:

$7.95 for one unit
$30.00 for four units
$119 for 11 units
$190 for 38 units

The learning takes place while creating a lapbook-
the only materials you need to provide are a file folder,
scissors, glue, brads, and crayons or markers-
all of the rest of the work is done for you!

If you are interested in checking out the
Download 'N Go type units,
click HERE.

Cheerio!

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of the product in exchange for my honest review.
I have not been compensated in any other way.