Thursday, January 3, 2008

Alaska!

Today marks the day Alaska became the 49th State
in 1959. Princess has been interested in learning about Alaska
since we got hooked on Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel
last year. We ordered some information from the state and are looking at a book
called The Secret Language of Snow by Terry Tempest Williams and Ted Major.
It is a Sierra Club Book that explores the phenomenon of snow through the vocabulary of the Inuit people
of Alaska, who recognize well over a dozen different types of snow or snowy conditions.
I originally thought it would lead into some fun science experiments about and with snow, but we have barely
had flurries here in this part of the Garden State this year, so we will no doubt return to this subject later in the winter.We do have some nice coloring pages about Alaska and fun weather links for that area.
I will post pictures when we are done, and my camera batteries are fully charged...
If you are really in the mood for a taste of Alaska, head on over to the Bearing Sea Bad Boys site and
order some fresh Alaskan King Crab caught by some of the boats on the show.Keep in mind, this is not a children's site, there is definitely kid inappropriate talk etc on it.The crab however is very family friendly.

6 comments:

Jenny said...

Oh, we love Deadliest Catch! I haven't let CJ watch it just yet though. For now, she's learning about Alaska by reading Jan Brett's newest book about Snow Bears. Glad Princess is feeling better!

Cher Mere said...

You know you should write a book using your past Daily Themes and Activities. Seriously!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Cher!

For some reason Citcat was asking about the state of Alaska just this morning. She is learning all the states, by site from a puzzle. Her favorite state so far is Nevada where dh spent half of December. She doesn't quite understand the concept because she will ask me things like "are there bathrooms in Nevada." Just today she saw a patch of sunshine on the floor and she said, "that looks like Nevada." and I had to agree.

I don't know why she was asking about Alaska.

A book suggestion: Aurora: A Tale of the Northern Lights by Mindy Dwyer. It is beautiful! Check it out on Amazon, there are a whole bunch of Alaska related books.

BTW, Theresa of Lapaz Farm School wpent the summer in Alaska. She has great photos and probably some HS ideas on her blog.

Garden State Kate said...

Hi Jenny- P and I got hooked while she was on a refusing to sleep before
2am jag last year.
It was the only thing that calmed her enough to sleep.My DH says he gets seasick just watching-lol.

Cher- I'm sure there is already a better one published than I could write,lol.But thank you.

Nina- Thank you too.lol
I forgot about Theresa's summer..I bet she still has a link with all her great pics on it!
P's interest didn't last all that long anyway...she wanted to "cook"
all day and just did the coloring sheets and practiced some writing
and kept saying, "now can we cook?"
lol Some days are like that.
If I were really on the ball when I was planning, I would have planned on making a Baked Alaska for desert! ;-)

Angela said...

Alaska is a dream vacation for our family. Someday! Sorry Princess's interest didn't hold...

Garden State Kate said...

Hi Angela- mine too!
Princess still loves all things Alaska, but she was more interested in cooking Yesterday.
We made a roast for dinner with mashed potatoes (she loves mashing)
and green beans and that made her day.
I should have picked up on her mood and moved things around a bit more...my mistake. :-)

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My homeschool buddies and I are all posting pics of our "home schools" as part of our idea sharing.

Plato said...

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to discover the child's natural bent .