CURRICULUM ~ Honourable Mention Authors (With Birthdays in January) ~ Remember Me Pockets



LEWIS CARROLL
JACK LONDON
PHYLLIS NAYLOR

While we were constructing our "bookshelves" last weekend, we also made these "Honourable Mention Author Tags" to remember six more writers.  This is another method of getting students familiar with the vast array of literature available for their reading pleasure.

We printed the tags and grapics on card stock and cut them out.  Then we glued the proper graphics on each tag.  The finishing touch was to add a little bit of the gold ribbon that was left over from wrapping wedding cake (two years ago!)  They turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself!

The featured information on each author includes:  Name, Birth Date and Birthplace, Death Date (if appropriate), their Pseudonym(s) and a List of their Literary Works.

 

THORNTON BURGESS
EDGAR ALLEN POE
MICHAEL BOND



CURRICULUM - "Bookshelves" for Author's Pocket ~ Remember Me Pockets: JANUARY

Although it was Saturday evening, Alisdair and I decided to do a little bit of work on our Remember Me Pockets from January.  We hadn't download the free material until the month was almost over, so we are still finishing some of it up.  It was fun and didn't really feel like "work" ~ cutting out the book spines and then deciding which shelf they should be glued on.

We'd done the featured author's activities, (see three previous January posts), but we hadn't completed the three "bookshelves" yet.  The reasoning behind this project is to make students familiar with the various works by each writer.  If all twelve "Remember Me Pockets" are completed, the pupil will have a somewhat extensive knowledge of classical literature and can use the "bookshelves" for further reference.

There is an intital cover page for the featured authors of the month.  They are shown in numerical order by the the day of their birth.

COVER PAGE
Book of the Month Club
JANUARY

The first "bookshelf" is for J. R. R. Tolkien. 

A Selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's Works

Fairy tales we all, know and love, that are the work of Charles Perrault:

I've never heard of "Patient Griselda"
We will have to check that one out...

The final "shelf" for January contains our dear friend, "Winnie The Pooh" and other equally enchanting titles:

Books by A. A. Milne

CURRICULUM ~ MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ~ HOLIDAY POCKET ~ Remember Me Pockets: January

He was just a little black boy named Michael, after his father.  But, as a 5-year old, his parents changed his name to "Martin Luther" after the founder of the protestant religion.  His father, likewise, changed his name, and so the lad became known as Martin Luther King, Jr. or MLK. 

Although no one knew it then, MLK would be a force for change in the United States of America and he would be celebrated with a holiday every January.

Like the author pockets and activities, there is a "Biography" page for Martin Luther King, Jr.  There are also several activities to be placed in the "Holiday" Pocket.

Biography - Martin Luther King, Jr.

These include:

A "Tag of Time" for the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The "Tag of Time" gives specific significant events from Martin Luther King's life.  We cut them out and Alisdair had to paste them in the proper order and then decorate the tag.

"I have a dream speech" - Fill in the blanks

Alisdair "listened" to one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most famous speeches -- "I Have a Dream..." and then he was asked to pick the appropriate word to fill in each blank.

Finally, there was a "Wall of Time" activity for MLK:

Completed "Wall of Time"

Like the puzzle completed for the author, J. R. R. Tolkien, there were 16 questions and answers to match up.  These included:

* Where was Martin Luther King, Jr. born? Atlanta, Georgia
* Who did Martin marry? Coretta Scott
* How old was Martin when he entered college?  15 Years old
* What honourable prize did he receive?  The Nobel Peace Prize
* When do we celebrate the life of this man?  The third Monday in January

There were also other activities suggested for a "Mini-Unit Study," which we have not yet completed.  We have also borrowed two extra reading books on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the library and are reading through these and completing other additional lapbook activities.

Stay tuned for additional posts on the life and times of MLK.

CURRICULUM ~ Weekly Pocket ~ National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week ~ Remember Me Pockets: January

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week
January 17 to 23rd, 2011
(Dates on information sheet are for 2010)

 Did you know January 17th through 23rd was "National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week" in the United States?

To be honest, until going through this information with Alisdair, I hadn't really even considered the differences between ordinary juice and the freshly squeezed version.  In my mind, juice was juice!

But it appears I've been mistaken all these years.  I told Alisdair about my friend from university days.  She decided to drink concentrated juice and went out and bought an expensive juicer machine.  She put large 5 pound bags of carrots through the juicer and drank the deep orange liquid for several days.  Then some of us, who were Donalda's roommates, noticed her skin was taking on a slightly orange tinge.  At that point, she decided perhaps some variety would be a good idea!

According to the material included in this pocket, "When you have the juice from a fresh piece of fruit or a vegetable, you have all the enzymes from it.  Enzymes are killed when heated, so store packaged juices lose this benefit.  Enzymes are very important to our bodies.  They trigger thousand of chemical reactions in our bodies, are important for digestion and absorption of nutrients, help our body tissue, and produce energy in the cells."

Fresh juice provide vitamins and minerals.  The minerals in fresh juices are:

Iron

Copper

Potassium

Sodium

Iodine and

Magnesium.

The activity also provides a worksheet with stickers of various vegetables that can be put through a juicer and used as a fresh drink.  These include:

Watermelon

Garlic

Carrot

Potato

Cabbage

Cucumber

Green Pepper

Spinach and

Beet.

Juicing also removes indigestible fiber.  If you eat the vegetables raw, some of the nutrients remain trapped in the fiber.  If you eat a carrot, for example, you only get 1% of the beta carotene from it.  If you "press and squeeze the carrot and get the juice from it, then throw away the fiber part, you have 100% of the beta carotene.  Fiber is very important and so are the nutrients in the plants.  Making sure we get both juice and raw veggies is a good way to be healthy and balanced."


Sticker Worksheet

CURRICULUM ~ Monthly Pocket ~ Hot Tea Month ~ Remember Me Pockets: January

"Polly put the kettle on ... and we'll all have tea!"

In addition to being "NATIONAL OATMEAL MONTH," January is also "HOT TEA MONTH."  Until working through this section of the Remember Me Pockets for January, I didn't realize there were so many interesting things to know about this beverage.

The first tea bags, originally made of silk, were created by Thomas Sullivan in 1904.  One cup of tea has 40 mg of caffeine ~ compared to 99 mg for a cup of coffee.  Apparently the Emperor of China was the first to drink tea.  The material states that Americans drink 50 billion cups of tea each year (with 40 billion of these served as cold tea!)  I'd hate to know the number of cups the British drink... it seems like, on Coronation Street at least, any time there is a crisis, the characters make a brew and suddenly the world is right side up again! 

Alisdair and I had just finished reading these tea facts and completing a "Tea Time Test" before I headed out to an Open House a lady from our church was hosting.  She is launching her own tea importation business, selling small quantities of various blends of loose leaf tea to local people.  Carol calls her enterprise the Sips Tea Company.  I wrote an article for the newspaper about her venture and it was published online, as well as in the Battlefords Regional Optimist.  For more information, click on the above link.



Tea ~ "What's your bag??"

In order to complete the "Tea Time Test," Alisdair was given facts about BLACK, WHITE, GREEN, OOLONG, ROOIBOS and PU'ERH tea.  They each have different properties.  Some are non oxidized, while others are fully oxidized.  Some teas aid digestion while others help skin irritations or treat colic!  Want restful sleep?  Drink some tea!  Oolong tea, for example, will aid your digestion, treat eczema and psoriasis, has floral fruit and chocolate tones and will also increase your metabolism. 

Alisdair often likes to drink some green tea (especially Tim Horton's brand) before beginning his studies in the morning.

Alisdair's tea party!

Now, go brew yourself a pot!  Then relax, just for a few moments, over a steaming cuppa... you'll be glad you did!

CURRICULUM ~ Monthly Pocket ~ National Oatmeal Month ~ Remember Me Pockets: January

JANUARY - National Oatmeal Month

Did you know that January has been designated as "National Oatmeal Month?"  This is primarily because the largest amount of  oatmeal is sold during the month.  According to the material in the "Remember Me Pockets," there are three reasons for the spike in oatmeal sales:

1) The cold months of Winter;

2) Affordability: and

3) The desire to be healthy at the start of a New Year.

As someone whole doesn't like eating porridge, I was surprised to learn the most popular use for oatmeal is in cookie recipes.  The second most popular use is in meatloaf ... now that's A LOT of meatloaf, folks!

We also learned that oatmeal is considered a "whole grain."  The information explained that "A whole grain has not had the parts of the plant removed which hold the vitamins and minerals.  These parts are called the bran and the germ.  Because oatmeal has lots of fiber, this food is very good for the digestive system of the body."

Worksheet - National Oatmeal Month

So maybe Mother was right when she encouraged us to eat up our porridge because it would "stick to our ribs all day!"

CURRICULUM ~ Remember Me Pockets: January ~ AUTHORS - Charles Perrault

I didn't know who Charles Perrault was ~ so I guess I learned something right off the bat!  For those of you, who like me, were unfamiliar with Perrault, he was a French author who is credited with writing the first fairy tales.  He was born on January 12, 1628 in Paris, France.  After studying law and working in the government, under King Louis XIV, he changed career paths and became a writer.  He was 62 years old when he decided to dedicate his efforts toward children's literature.  (So I guess there is hope for me yet to write that  "Great Canadian Novel," as I have a ways to go before reaching the grand age of 62!)

Perrault wrote Tales of Mother Goose, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Puss In Boots! Though I didn't know him by name, I did know the stories for which he is famous.

Biography Page - Charles Perrault

Worksheet - Sticker Study Format

Again we had an interesting activity to do.  This time the worksheet asked three questions and we cut out little "stickers" with the appropriate answers and glued them in place.  There was also a word list (taken from the biography sheet) with definitions and Alisdair had to fill-in the blanks.

We have some other "book" oriented activities to finish for our January "Remember Me Pockets" but this is the last of the specially highlighted authors.

CURRICULUM - Remember Me Pockets: January ~ AUTHORS: J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  His "claim to fame" is as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 

Tolkien was the second author that Alisdair and I completed for our Remember Me Pocket for January.  In order to complete the Tolkien activity puzzle, we printed three separate pages from the downloaded template on to cardstock.  One had the picture puzzle on one side of the various squares.  On the other side (we had to print back-to-back) were brief answers to, as yet unasked, questions about Tolkien's life.  The actual questions were printed, in full, on the third page of cardstock.

Some of the 16 questions were:

What did Ronald's father die from?  Rheumatic Fever
In World War I what did he serve as?  A signals officer
What type of illness did he get while serving in the War?  Typhoid Fever
When did Ronald begin his book writing?  While recuperating from Typhoid Fever
How old was J. R. R. Tolkien at the time of his death?  81 years old

Once Alisdair selected a question on the grid and found the corresponding puzzle piece with the answer on it, we could glue the question and answer side together.  This created a two-ply picture puzzle, which the creators at Fortunately For You Books call a "Mini Wall of Time."

Alisdair and I both learned a lot and it was also a good "taking off point" for some interesting conversations.  Since Alisdair did not know what rheumatic fever was, having never heard of it before, I suggested he call his Grandfather and ask him about his own experience with this illness many years ago.  After Grandpa was done telling Alisdair about his own sufferings with this illness, Grandma told Alisdair about her sister Charlotte having been bedridden during much of her teen years due to this ailment.

Now, after having learned a little about J. R. R. Tolkien, we will have to find the time to read some of his incredible literary works!

Biography Page - J. R. R. Tolkien

Completed "Wall of Time" puzzle

CURRICULUM ~ Remember Me Pockets: January ~ AUTHORS: A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was born January 18, 1882 in London, England.  He is, of course, the author of the beloved Winnie-the-Pooh stories, which he wrote in the mid to late 1920's.  The tales of Winnie stemmed from a poem, first published in Vanity Fair, called "Vespers."  The poem featured his son, Christopher Robin Milne.  The cute little bear who was very chubby eventually was expanded upon to create the delightful tales so many children have enjoyed.

Since A. A. Milne was born in January, he is included in the Remember Me Pocket for Authors for this month.  There is an "Author Biography" (photo below) and an activity puzzle to remember important information about him.  Little puzzle pieces were cut out and glued in the appropriate places to create "A Line of Time for A. A. Milne."  Alisdair enjoyed completing this, although he could guess which answer went where without even having to refer to the actual Biography.  However, the next activity (for author J. R. R. Tolkien) was much more challenging!

Biography Page - A. A. Milne

Timeline