Olympic Shrinky Dink Swag

This past week,

the kiddos and I

(and some friends)

have begun getting ourselves in the

Olympic-spirit.

I hope to share several of these activities

over the next week,

so you too can get in an

"Olympic-kind-of-mood"...

***

After using the Russia PowerPoint

found HERE,

I read the kiddos

The Littlest Matryoshka

by

Corinne Demas Bliss.

We discussed how Sochi is located in Russia,

and how their culture will be a big influence

on the 2014 Winter Olympics.

I then discussed the trading pins

(aka "swag")

that people acquire at events of this nature.

My challenge for the kiddos was to

create their own swag

based upon images that will be used

during this Olympics.

Personally,

I would have created a 

Matryoshka Doll

with an Olympic emblem on it...

...but the kiddos were drawn to the other images

I had found on  line and printed off

for them to look at.

(You can find several of these images,

such as the Sochi mascots and the pictograms

over on my Olympic Pinterest Board.)

The kiddos used colored pencils to trace

them onto Shinky Dink plastic sheets.

Then decorate their images using the colored pencils

and black permanent marker.

(Some of the kiddos created their own original images...)

 We baked the sheet saccording to the package directions.

When they cooled down,

we used E6000 to glue pin backs on the images.

After they dried a bit...

...they kiddos now have their own

swag to wear...

...while watching the Olympics!

***

Linking up

with

History and Geography

and the

Olympic Activities and Crafts Linky Party

Presidential Lessons

 A couple weeks ago,

we spent an entire week learning

about the position of the

President of the United States of America,

with a focus on our first prez,

George Washington.

On the actual Monday morning of President's Day,

we began our day by eating some...

...Presidential Pancakes.

After all of our regular school lessons were completed,
we dedicated the afternoon
(and a couple of other afternoons)
to learning more about the Presidents.

After watching...

...THIS DVD about the American Revolution,

in which George Washington

played an important part,

we looked through...

...this book I have had since my childhood
about the different Presidents.

Sure...

...the last president in the book is Gerald Ford,

but the kiddos really liked all the full page

portraits and photos of the presidents.

(I did discuss with them the presidents that

have come into to office

AFTER Gerald Ford...)  :0)

Next,

I wanted the kiddos to have a basic understanding

of what a President does,

so we looked at...

...a few of the pages found in this book.

The Mini-Pages did a really good job at showing
all the different...

..."hats" a President wears.

(Yes, this book is also out of date,
but it does such a nice job at presenting
what a President does,
I didn't mind showing Bill Clinton to the kiddos...)  ;0)

After taking in all this information,
the kiddos started to work on...

...THIS President's Day Lapbook.

I already had the book completely put together...

...the kiddos just needed to fill in the appropriate information.

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The rest of the afternoons

the week of President's Day

were spent completing the lapbook,

as well as the following activities:

1.  Listening to and discussing the book

George Washington's Breakfast

by 

Jean Fritz

What a fun book!

The kiddos and I learned a lot about 

President Washington's background from this book,

and since it was presented in such a creative format,

it was an enjoyable read aloud. 

2. Listening to and discussing

chapter 2 of

The President Who Pardoned a Turkey

and Other Wacky Tales of American History

by

Allen Zullo 

This chapter contained fun facts about

little known facts about a variety of Presidents.

One of our favorite stories was about 
President John Quincy Adams.

Apparently,
he enjoyed a good morning...

...skinny-dip!

Woo-hoo!

3.  Reviewed Washington's life 

with the use of 

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational's

paint stick timeline activity

4.  Learned more about the Presidents

by playing

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational's

Presidential 4-in-a-Row Board Game

5.  Created portraits of George Washington
with the use of
Pink and Green Mama's tutorial

We sure had fun hangin' with ya, George!

***************************************

Linking up

with

History and Geography at All Things Beautiful...

Timberdoodle Review: A Kid's Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the United States

Do you have a little artist in your family?
Are you looking for a way to engage this kiddo
in history,
using his/her talent and passion for art?

Then HURRY over to Timberdoodle and check out...

...A Kid's Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA
series.

With the use of 42 books,
American History is covered through all of the Presidents,
from George Washington to George W. Bush.

***********************************************

We received
How to Draw the Life and Times of Andrew Johnson
to review,
which is wonderful,
since he is a President from our native
Tennessee.Each section contains well-written, historical information...

...and a well-illustrated drawing lesson
on something that related to the history lesson.

**********************************************

Now, my Jungle Girl is a recent 3rd grade "graduate"
and a MAJOR horse fanatic,
so she chose to focus...

...on learning to draw Andrew Johnson......as a Brigadier General.

***********************************************

With the use of the easy
step-by-step instructions....

...she was able to create her own version...

...of the Brigadier General.

************************************************

These books can be adapted for several ages,
though the drawings really seem suited for
3rd graders and up.

HOWEVER...

...my Preschooler...

...and my 1st grader both wanted to
get in on the fun,
just like their older sister did,
making these books a great resource
for family learning.

****************************************

Now, these books are no longer going to be published,
so Timberdoodle is offering a
FANTASTIC deal on the entire set right now.

Normally,
all 42, library bound, colorfully illustrated books,
would sell for $1, 060.50.

They are now on sale for
ONLY $195.00!!!!!

(That's a savings of $865.50!!!)

However,
once the books are gone,
they are GONE,
so make sure to check out this fantastic deal
by clicking HERE.

*******************************************

Also, be sure to
investigate more about Timberdoodle's
other wealth of homeschooling resources
by clicking on the following links:

History Resources

Art Resources

Homeschooling Curriculum Packages

Free Homeschool Catalog

***************************************

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Timberdoodle
in exchange for my open and honest review.
I was not compensated in any other way.

Geography/History: Happy Harvest Feast

Last week I read...

...The First Thanksgiving
by
Jean Craighead George.

It is a pretty good telling of the Pilgrims'
venture to America.
It is rather lengthy for a picture book,
so I had the kiddos color
Pilgrim and Indian puppets for a
Math lesson.

*************************************************

Since we already had the puppet stage out,
I thought the kiddos would enjoy preforming...

..."Happy Harvest Feast: A Thanksgiving Play."

(I found it HERE amongst the EXCELLENT
Thanksgiving resources put out by
Scholastic.)

I really am THANKFUL for such great free resources
that make History fun!

**************************************************

For more fun with History,
head on over to the
Geography/History link-up...

Geography/History: Estaban's Crosses

Currently, we are going through...

...The Story of the U.S.A.
Book 1:
Explorers and Settlers
by
Franklin Escher, Jr.

We learned about an interesting Spanish explorer
named Estaban,
who was actually a black slave.
The Spanish trusted him to enough to essentially lead
an exploration expedition through the Southwest
and part of California.

During his last exhibition,
he was instructed to send back messages to
Father Marcus
(the ACTUAL leader of the exhibition)
by using different sizes of crosses.

So we decorated crosses to remember Estaban
and his contribution to the exploration of America.

I gave each one the kiddos a cross printed out
on cardstock...

...some glitter glue...

...and some buttons,
and let them decorate as they pleased!

Can you tell which one is my 4 year old's cross? :0)

*************************************************

For other fun geography and history ideas,
head on over to the
Geography/History link-up...