The Aqualibrium Challenge

Many thanks to the two SIU faculty, Dr. Prabir Kolay and Dr. Sangmin Shin, who came in today to teach the children about Civil Engineering!

Besides the classic spaghetti-and-marshmallow-tower challenge, they also led the Aqualibrium Challenge. This one was new to me! It was really cool.

Basically the idea is that a reservoir of water is placed at a height above a "city" and three plastic containers are arranged to represent different buildings in the city. There are measurements on the sides of the containers.

YouTube video - How to Run the Aqualibrium Challenge

Given different lengths of plastic tubing (two different diameters are permitted, blue and red) and various connectors, can the children work together to set up a system so that when they turn on the valve from the "water tower," water flows at the same rate to each of the "buildings" and the containers each fill up with water to the same level at the same time?

this group used blocks of different heights to adjust the flow of the water through the pipes!

Both teams were successful in the end, and they had a GREAT time!

Tall Tales - week 1

Here is the overview of our Tall Tales & U.S. Geography Summer Camp:

Week One

Febold Feboldson

Paul Bunyan

Finn McCool

Pecos Bill

Week Two

Stormalong

Mose

John Henry

Johnny Appleseed

Week Three

Swamp Angel

Mike Fink

Davy Crockett

Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind

Notes for

Mon - Febold Feboldson

snack - read "Febold Feboldson"
from American Tall Tales

by Mary Pope Osborne, p.63


activity - make rainstorm music with frog rasps and giant rainstick

pass out blank U.S. state maps; can you find Nebraska?

find and label states in the Midwest region
10 states (MN, IA, MO, KS, NE, SD, ND, MT, WY, ID)

useful Montessori resources:
United States Puzzle Map
United States Location Color Set




lunch - read "The Sad Story of Febold Feboldson and His Enormous Load of Sand: A Popular Tale of Nebraska"
from Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller, p.226


add to MLB


pop popcorn and make Old Fashioned Popcorn Balls with Molasses

Molasses Popcorn Balls - video

How to Test Candy in Cold Water - photos

Tue - Paul Bunyan

snack - read "Paul Bunyan"
from American Tall Tales

by Mary Pope Osborne, p.97


activity - make ox finger puppets with blue wool felt



find and label states in the Northwest region
3 states (CA, OR, WA)


lunch - read "Big Paul Bunyan and His Blue Ox, Babe: A Tall Tale of the Forests of Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota as told by Loggers in the Lumber Camps"
from Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller, p.200


add to MLB


read "Paul Bunyan Goes West: A Tall Tale of North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington"
from Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller, p.314

Wed - Finn McCool

snack - read Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill

by Tomie dePaola


activity - look at pictures of the Giant's Causeway

find and label states in the Southwest region
7 states (TX, OK, CO, NM, AZ, UT, NV)

visit from our Civil Engineering Special Guests


lunch - read "Finn MacCool, the Greatest of Civil Engineers: A Tale of the Grand Canyon of Arizona as Told by Irish Work Gangs and Civil Engineers"
from Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller, p.283


add to MLB


look at pictures of the Grand Canyon

by Jason Chin

Thu - Pecos Bill

snack - read "Pecos Bill"
from American Tall Tales

by Mary Pope Osborne, p.73


activity - listen to Roy Rogers sing Git Along Little Dogies (1940)

cook some traditional cowboy pinto beans over a campfire and/or make Foil Packet Baked Apples


lunch - read "Pecos Bill, the Cowboy: A Tall Tale of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado as Told by American Cowboys"
from Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller, p.259


add to MLB

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Tall Tales Booklist

Really looking forward to our Summer Theme! Here are some of my favorite resources for U.S. Tall Tales. Do you have a book title that is not on this list?

Pro tip: Always check your local library! The call number for Folklore is 398.

Main Text

Heroes, Outlaws & Funny Fellows of American Popular Tales
by Olive Beaupre Miller

list of all the stories that are included

Supplemental Resources for

Midwest Region
10 states (MN, IA, MO, KS, NE, SD, ND, MT, WY, ID)

States & Capitals List
Minnesota - St. Paul
Iowa - Des Moines
Missouri - Jefferson City
Kansas - Topeka
Nebraska - Lincoln
South Dakota - Pierre
North Dakota - Bismarck
Montana - Helena
Wyoming - Cheyenne
Idaho - Boise


"The Sad Story of Febold Feboldson and His Enormous Load of Sand"


Febold Feboldson
by Ariane Dewey


Febold Feboldson: Tall Tales from the Great Plains
compiled by Paul Beath


"Big Paul Bunyan and His Blue Ox, Babe"


Paul Bunyan
retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg

Northwest Region
3 states (CA, OR, WA)

States & Capitals List
California - Sacramento
Oregon - Salem
Washington - Olympia


"Paul Bunyan Goes West"


The Bunyans
written by Audrey Wood, illustrated by David Shannon

Southwest Region
7 states (TX, OK, CO, NM, AZ, UT, NV)

States & Capitals List
Texas - Austin
Oklahoma - Oklahoma City
Colorado - Denver
New Mexico - Santa Fe
Arizona - Phoenix
Utah - Salt Lake City
Nevada - Carson City


"Finn MacCool, the Greatest of Civil Engineers"


Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill
retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola


Finn McCool and the Great Fish
retold by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Zachary Pullen


"Pecos Bill, the Cowboy"


Pecos Bill
retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg


Pecos Bill and Lightning
retold by Leigh Peck, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
available for FREE at Internet Archive

Northeast Region (New England and the Mid-Atlantic)
13 states (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, VA)

States & Capitals List
Maine - Augusta
New Hampshire - Concord
Vermont - Montpelier
Massachusetts - Boston
Rhode Island - Providence
Connecticut - Hartford
New York - Albany
New Jersey - Trenton
Pennsylvania - Harrisburg
Delaware - Dover
Maryland - Annapolis
West Virginia - Charleston
Virginia - Richmond


"Old Stormalong"


Stormalong: The Legendary Sea Captain
retold by Eric Metaxas, illustrated by Don Vanbderbeek


Mose


American Tall Tales
retold by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Michael McCurdy


"John Henry's Contest with the Big Steam Drill"


John Henry
retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney


"Old Johnny Appleseed"


The Story of Johnny Appleseed
retold and illustrated by Aliki


Johnny Appleseed
retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg

Southeast Region (Southeast and the Mississippi & Ohio Valleys)
15 states (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MI, LA, AR, TN, KY, OH, IN, MI, WI, IL)

States & Capitals List
North Carolina - Raleigh
South Carolina - Columbia
Georgia - Atlanta
Florida - Tallahassee
Alabama - Montgomery
Mississippi - Jackson
Louisiana - Baton Rouge
Arkansas - Little Rock
Tennessee - Nashville
Kentucky - Frankfort
Ohio - Columbus
Indiana - Indianapolis
Michigan - Lansing
Wisconsin - Madison
Illinois - Springfield


Swamp Angel


Swamp Angel
by Anne Isaacs, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky


"Mike Fink and the Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock"


Mike Fink
retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg


Davy Crockett


American Tall Tales
retold by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Michael McCurdy


Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind


Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett
retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

More Fun with Buttons

What could be more fun than the Button Game, you ask? Or sewing a fabulous Button Tree? Introducing the newest pattern from Trixi Symonds:


Tok

This alien is the cutest!!!

The children can't wait for summer camp to begin so we can dive into this adorable pattern.

Her email made me so happy when I got it this morning, and I instantly downloaded the FREE pattern. One of the things that makes Tok super-special is his fabulous belly button. I never thought about using buttons as a chance to practice decorative stitching and embroidery techniques with kids!

Trixi has made a whole YouTube video on Cute and Creative Ways to Sew on Buttons (for an ad free version of YouTube, did you know you can download Firefox as your browser and add AdBlock as an extension?), so check it out!

Zoology: Bison and Moose

Wrapping up Zoology II with two amazing animals native to North America: bison and moose.

Here is my booklist, with notes for these two ungulates (hooved mammals) in particular and ruminants (4 stomachs!) in general.

Ruminants

Horns and Antlers
by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
"Horns and Antlers" chapter

Bison

Biome Cards of North America - Grasslands

Creature Camouflage - Hidden Endangered Animals
(the Crayola skin tone crayons are perfect for this!)



The Buffalo Are Back
by Jean Craighead George



The Autumn Calf
by Jill Haukos



The Prairie Builders: Reconstruction America's Lost Grasslands (Scientists in the Field)
by Sneed B. Collard III




The Life of Prairies and Plains
by Durward Leon Allen (pp.161-165)

Moose

Horns and Antlers
by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
"Moose" chapter



Moose (Elementary Explorers)
by Victoria Blakemore





The Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton Burgess (copyright 1920)
available for FREE at Internet Archive

chapter XXXVI, Flathorns the Moose

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!