After a fun Labor Day weekend, we were now rested and ready to get back into the swing of things Tuesday morning.

BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

I created a Bible Verse Tracing Pack for the next few weeks, because Parker was going to be memorizing Matthew 6:9-13.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Because of the 3-day weekend, Parker traced AND illustrated his Bible verse on the same day. He does this while listening to his Sing the Word track.

On Wednesday, I cut it apart and he glued it together in his Bible lapbook.  Thankfully, it wasn’t too long, so he was able to recite it from memory on Thursday.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Water Distillation:

We continued learning about countries in the Middle East.  One of our readings explained how some countries are distilling their salt water to irrigate land for farming.

I thought it might be fun to include a distillation experiment.  I gathered some supplies and called the boys to create some salt water.

We boiled tap water and poured it into a measuring cup.

Next, the boys added PLENTY of salt to the hot water.

They stirred it well to ensure the salt incorporated into the hot water.

They poured their salt water into empty glass jars and set them aside to cool.

Filtration:

First, we attempted to “filter” our salt water mixture using a coffee filter.

After filtering the water, Parker tasted it and it was still salty…yuck!  Filtering our salt water would not separate the mixture.

Distillation:

Big sister was learning about distillation in her chemistry lessons.

She created a distillation process using common house-hold items.  See the full post here.

After, she collected a good amount of the distilled water, she removed it from the stove.  She compared the before and after samples.  What a difference!  This was an easy and AMAZING experiment to show kids what distilling water can do!

Taking it Outside:

When I was a kid, I learned about distilling water by digging a hole, putting a collecting dish in the center, filling it with leaves, laying a tarp over the top and anchoring it down with rocks.  Lastly, you placed something in the center of the tarp to weight it down slightly, causing the condensation to gather and drip into your collection dish.

Jordan and I headed outside with a modified version in my head.  We poured our salt water into a plastic container with a collecting dish in the center. We covered it with a clean plastic garbage bag and anchored rocks around it, allowing the warm air to begin the water evaporation and condensation process.

We started with sunny weather, but the following days were pretty cloudy.  Finally, we had enough sunny days to heat up our salt water.

You can see the condensed water droplets at the top….SO exciting!

Finally, we had a little, and I do mean a little, bit of water in our collecting dish.  Jordan was SO excited to taste it….drumroll…..NO SALT!  Whahoo!  Kickin’ it oldschool with outdoor education worked!

Barley to Bread:

Since we were learning about some of the jobs that took place in the Viking longhouse, I thought it would be fun to cover wheat to bread.

I brought out our mortar and pestle as well as some wheat sheaves we purchased last fall.

The boys took turns beating the wheat to break apart the berries from the chaff.

Then we added our wheat berries to our mortar.

We talked about how the Vikings had to grind the barley by hand until it was fine like flour.

This was easier said than done.  The boys kept at it only to find whole berries still at the bottom…hmmm!  Those Vikings had to work hard for their bread!

We also brought out our Where Things Come From Wheat cards. (The Helpful Garden).

Jordan and I decided to make simple Viking bread with bread and water as illustrated in our Time Traveler book.  We used our imagination to think how the bread making process changed over time as people probably realized, by trial and error, adding things to the dough might make it taste better.

Herb Hunt:

I printed some Herb Cards from the Montessori Print Shop and headed outside for a fun Herb Hunt game.

We reviewed the Herb cards and the boys tried to find each one.

We brought in the samples they found.

Jordan molded his Viking bread into little loaves.  He then added various herbs to the dough before baking it.

After they baked, the kids did a taste test.  Honestly, salt and butter are the best you could add to this simple flour and water recipe.

Sheep to Yarn:

We also read about the process of sheering sheep, cleaning the wool, spinning the yarn, and weaving it with a loom.

I brought out samples of wool so the boys could see how time consuming it would be to spin by hand.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Grammar Grab Bag:

I created a grammar grab bag for this week.

You can purchase a copy here at our TPT Store.

Spelling:

This weeks spelling words were two syllable words divided between double consonants.

Parker cut out his spelling cards and used them to complete his worksheet.

Syllables:

I brought out our Apple Syllable activity (included in this week’s grab bag) and instructed Parker to cut each apple word where the syllable breaks.

I had Parker slice the apple word cards between the double consonants.

Afterwards, he used his dot paints and markers to complete the syllable worksheets.

Apple Adjectives:

After our morning walk, we sliced and apple and set it next to our Apple Adjective worksheet (included in this week’s grab bag).

Parker used his five senses to help think of some adjectives and jot them down.

Noun & Adjectives:

Next, we brought out our Apple Bushel Noun & Adjective activity (included in this week’s grab bag).

Parker matched up the apple adjective cards with the noun bushel cards.

Later in the week, he used his dot paints to complete the grammar apple tree (included in this week’s grab bag).

Spelling:

This weeks spelling words were two syllable words divided between double consonants.

Parker cut out his spelling cards and used them to complete his worksheet.

Sticks Across the Chimney:

I bought a wood farm painting kit at the craft store.

Parker painted the farm pieces while I read aloud.  Hopefully, we can add it to a Story Sensory Bin.

Danish Seed Buns:

I decided to make Danish seed buns like the ones Eric and Siri bought from the fair.

My poppy seeds were out of date, so I used sesame seeds instead.

The kids ate the buns with their eggs at breakfast.  It’s always fun to bake our way through the various cultures we read about.  It helps make literature come alive!

That’s all for this week, but we’re looking forward to week 4!