Baby in a Basket - Day 1

We read Baby in a Basket today which is based on a true story of events that happened in 1917. It wasn't necessarily Christmas- themed but is related to cold, snowy weather. We'll spend 2 days on it doing various activities based on the book suggested on this website.

Since the story takes place in the state of Alaska, we spent some time reading/looking at the state in our atlas book (another good bargain a few months ago). :o) D was intrigued that if we took the state and laid it over top of the contiguous 48 states it would reach from Miami to Los Angeles! He learned the words: peninsula and contiguous. I'm sure I'll be hearing them in conversation soon. He also reviewed how to use a map legend when he was curious about the various icons displayed on the Alaska map. He was amazed at the 800 mile pipeline, too.

D and I also read about Benny Benson on the web who was 13 years old when he created Alaska's flag. Since we saw the night sky star show at the museum a few weeks ago - D was familiar with the North Star and Big Dipper that is on the Alaskan flag. It's fun to see him make the connections between two things! :o)

I printed out the Polar Animals Wheel which D assembled and then read about all the polar (Artic & Antarctic) animals using this website.

Did you know God created...
...polar bears with rough pads on their paws so they don't slip on the ice?
...the Artic fox to have two layers of fur - a dense undercoat to keep them warm?
...walruses with lots of blubber on their bodies to keep them warm in the icy waters and strong tusks to help them poke air holes in the ice to breath while under water?
...the puffin can hold up to 62 fish in its mouth at one time? D loves the Puffin. It was actually an animal we learned about during the co-op animals class that I taught. I think it's the cutest bird!

We also spent time talking about why we bundle up to go outside...besides just staying warm. We looked at pictures of frostbite on people's hands (some white, blue & black - nothing too graphic for him though) and we discussed hypothermia. It was a great day to talk about this as our temperatures haven't gone about 30F at all the past few days. Brrrr!