Science Club Prep: Beauvais Cathedral

The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters:
33 Thrilling Experiments Based on History's Greatest Blunders
by Sean Connolly

Beauvais Cathedral
1284 BCE

2021 notes:
The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters

Preparation:

experiment 7: Flying High

slippery wood floor

socks

Middle Ages Book Display

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
by David Macaulay

The Story of a Castle
by John S. Goodall

A Medieval Feast
by Aliki

The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry
by Danna Smith

I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat: History's Strangest Cures
by Carlyn Beccia

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz

also

Historian's Court: People of England Versus King John (Magna Carta)
FREE at TpT

The Signing of the Magna Carta
by Debbie Levy

Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World
by Polly Schoyer Brooks

Activities:

situate this disaster in time (1284)

ask children what they know about the Middle Ages

explain the Magna Carta (1215)

assign parts and act out the script for Historian's Court: People of England Versus King John

read "The Collapsing Cathedral" information
from The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters, pp. 41-45

do experiment #7 "Flying High"

Extensions:

look at pictures of Beauvais Cathedral today

read Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction by David Macaulay

decorate some pages from Colour Your Own Medieval Alphabet or Colour Your Own Medieval Animals (colored pencils, gold foil)

Articles & Links:

Beauvais Cathedral: The Ambition, Collapse and Legacy of Gothic Engineering
by Rubén Rodríguez Elizalde


if your child is really into medieval construction, I highly recommend Secrets of the Castle (medieval France, King Louis IX, 1230s & 40s)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guédelon_Castle

episode 1

episode 2

episode 3

episode 4

episode 5

Halloween Fun

A list of Halloween-related activities. Some we are doing this year; others we either have in the past, or I would like to remember them for the future!

Handwork

Spooky Stone Weaving
from Making Zen Sep 2026



Hand-Stitched Franken-Fabric
from Making Zen Sep 2026



Magical Embroidery: Abundance Toad
StitchWorts School of Magical Embroidery

Language Arts

Haunted House of Speech

"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe

The Landlady by Roald Dahl

The Feather Pillow by Horacio Quiroga

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

Mathematics

Ghostie Numbers

Cauldron Quest
even/odd

Would You Rather? version I / Would You Rather? version II
static addition / dynamic addition & subtraction

Goblin Goooolash
adding & subtracting mixed fractions with unlike denominators

Halloween Word Problems
decimals

Halloween Party Planning
fractions & decimals

Science

Chocolate Fake Blood Recipe

Blood Spatter Detectives Lab

Geography

Nightmare Land Contour Map

Art History

A Week at the Boo-seum

unknown artist
The Gayer-Anderson Cat, approx. 600 BCE

Hans Holbein the Younger
The Ambassadors, 1533

Caspar David Friedrich
The Tree of Crows, c. 1822

Edvard Munch
The Scream, 1893

Alexander Calder
Ghost, 1964

Louise Bourgeois
Maman, 1999

Art Club - Turnips / Onions / Acorns

It's Autumn Celebration time in Art Club!

Art Club for ages 5 & 6:

John Cage - Oh, How We Love You

Fri Oct 9

read "The Gigantic Turnip"

look at a variety of root vegetables with greens

use play silks, wooden figures, and a REAL turnip to retell the story

draw & paint portraits of turnips, radishes, and beets using Gelatos

play the Gardener's Match Memory Game

Fri Oct 16

read In a Nutshell by Joseph Anthony

look at bur oak acorns & caps

look at samples of wool roving dyed with acorns

remove the loose papery skins from yellow and red onions

dye wool yarn using our onion skins

Fri Oct 23

read A Log's Life by Wendy Pfeffer

take a nature walk to find an oak tree and collect some acorn caps

make wet felted acorns using our acorn-dyed yarn

learn to finger knit using our onion skin-dyed yarn

play Tree BINGO

Special Note: We are reading pretty factual books about how an oak tree grows and how it decays back to the soil. For a more Waldorf-y option, the "Brother Acorn" chapter in Sieglinde de Francesca's A Donsy of Gnomes: 7 Gentle Gnome Stories is a lovely choice. Her website is Teach Wonderment.

Literature Circle: Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia
by Katherine Paterson

Wed Oct 21

pre-reading activity:
drawing or written description of a place of refuge for you personally

discussion:
qualities of a friendship

Thu Oct 22

pass out books

reading assignment: chapters 1-2

Mon Oct 26

Venn diagram

chapter 1 vocabulary & language study

comprehension questions

reading assignment: chapters 3-4

Main resource:

Bridge to Terabithia: A Novel-Ties Study Guide
written by Joyce Friedland and Rikki Kessler
published by Learning Links Inc.

More resources / ideas:

this book, along with Missing May, is accompanying our Philosophy study of Death

in looking back through the blog, I did a literature circle of this book in 2017 mainly using this resource from Teachers Pay Teachers

Literature Circle: Missing May

Missing May
by Cynthia Rylant

Thu Oct 22

pass out books

reading assignment: chapter 1

Mon Oct 26

chapter 1 vocabulary & questions

literary element: characterization

reading assignment: chapters 2-3

Main resource:

Missing May: A Novel-Ties Study Guide
written by Garrett Christopher
published by Learning Links Inc.

More resources / ideas:

this book, along with Bridge to Terabithia, is accompanying our Philosophy study of Death

Science Club Prep: The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters:
33 Thrilling Experiments Based on History's Greatest Blunders
by Sean Connolly

The Leaning Tower of Pisa
1173 CE

2021 notes:
The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters

2022 notes & photos:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Preparation:

experiment 5: Will It Tip?

empty 12 oz soda can

water

experiment 6: It's Sinking In

10 sheets of scrap paper

large dictionary

10 hardback books

2 empty egg cartons

Galileo Book Display

Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
by Peter Sís

Mathematicians Are People, Too: volume 1
by Luetta and Wilmer Reimer

also

supplies for Four Components of Productive Soil



four brown paper bags

Sharpie

$1.00 bill and 20 nickels from The Allowance Game

living houseplant

rock

dish of water

organic material

clear box


supplies for law of falling bodies

plastic Easter eggs

small wooden weights

stool or chair


supplies for law of pendulums

length of string

S-hook

metal washers

stopwatch


Timeline: Science and Discoveries card game

Activities:

situate this disaster in time (The Colossus of Rhodes was Ancient Greece; Fidenae Stadium was Ancient Rome; what was 1173 CE?)

read "The Leaning Tower of Pisa" information
from The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters, pp. 29-33

do experiment #5 "Will It Tip?"

do experiment #6 "It's Sinking In"



discuss:
is there an amount of weight that we could put on the living room floor where it would bend or shift? yes, if a huge amount of weight was put on top of the space between the floor joists!

walk barefoot along the upstairs hallway and feel the place where the floor noticably curves underfoot; go into the crawlspace to see the floor joists below the living room floor


explain the Four Components of Productive Soil

note that on a build site, before the foundation is poured, construction equipment will very carefully remove the topsoil in order to get down to the subsoil (the loose fluffy soil that farmers want is the exact opposite of the tightly compacted soil that builders want!)

Extensions:

read "Seeing Isn't Believing" chapter about Galileo Galilei from Mathematicians Are People, Too: volume 1, pp. 45-49

do experiments for Law of Falling Bodies

do experiments for Law of Pendulums

play Timeline: Science and Discoveries

Science Club Prep: Fidenae Stadium

The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters:
33 Thrilling Experiments Based on History's Greatest Blunders
by Sean Connolly

Fidenae Stadium
27 CE

2021 notes:
The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters

2022 notes & photos:
Fidenae Stadium

Preparation:

experiment 3: From the Ground Up

3 bamboo skewers

3 white balls from Zometool set

large pot filled with potting soil

6 paperback books

experiment 4: Weighing the Possibilities

for each team (set up three):

6 sheets of computer paper

tape dispenser

bamboo skewer from previous activity

Styrofoam coffee cup

small ball of string

pair of scissors

ruler

2 large paper clips

2 identical card table chairs

several handfuls of glass gems (instead of pennies)

Ancient Rome Book Display

What Life Was Like When Rome Ruled the World: The Roman Empire, 100 BC - AD 200
Time-Life Books

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction
by David Macaulay

A Roman Fort (Inside Story)
by Fiona Macdonald

The Technology of Ancient Rome (Ancient Innovations)
by Naomi V. McCullough

also

Nienhuis Montessori Roman Arch

Updated Notes:

We finally mastered Experiment 3!

In my notes from last time, you can see how much we struggled with the setup of this experiment. This time we used bamboo skewers and the little balls from a Zometool set. For the Tuesday group, I had us put the white balls into the soil. But we weren't able to get more than one book to stay.

The skewers twist dramatically when they fall, which helps the children to see why the stadium collapsed both outward and inward as it fell down.

Then a student in the Wednesday group finally figured out the secret!

The flat end of the skewer goes into the potting soil, and the pointed end (with the Zome ball) sticks up! The balls spread out the force from the pile of books. And she really stuck with it, determined to balance all the books...

Hooray!