Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is a 20 inch by 230 foot-long embroidered cloth depicting the events of the Norman Invasion of 1066 including those events leading up to the invasion starting in 1064.  The Museum of Reading has an excellent website with scene by scene photos of the tapestry and descriptions of what is happening in each scene.  Although there seem to be several theories as to who commissioned the work, the two most popular sources are Bishop Odo, William the Conqueror's half brother or William's wife Queen Matilda and her ladies-in-waiting.

This will probably be my last post about the Middle Ages for a while.  My eldest daughter has finished this section of HOW II and has moved on to China but I wanted to share a little about this particular project before moving on.  And although some of my students groaned a bit when we began the project, they all worked to complete them and I think they are the better for it.  The assignment in the HOW book was to make an embroidery copy of one section of the tapestry.  Since none of the kids in my class wanted to learn to embroider and frankly we didn't have the time to devote to learning this handicraft, we opted for a simpler route of copywork.  Each student was to choose one section of the tapestry and make a full-scale drawing using the grid method.  Color was added as closely as possible with colored pencils. We couldn't get exact color matches but I allowed some leeway as long as they stayed within the color scheme.

Plant Crafts

Today was a rainy day so instead going outside to hunt for plants to identify we decided to get crafty with our plant specimens that were collected last Friday at co-op.

My son made a moss garden in a shallow dish.  It came out beautiful and adorns our kitchen table as a centerpiece.  The bottom has a layer of gravel sized rocks then he put in a layer of dirt over that.  He broke off a piece of old log to lay in there and added a good sized rock so the moss will have something to climb on. 

Finally he put about five different types of moss down over the dirt.  I'm terrible at identifying rocks, and plants even though I am trying to teach my children how to do this.  We have a tree/shrub in the front yard that when planted was supposed to be a rose of Sharon but I've seen rose of Sharon and this ain't one.  It's been there about 8 years.  But I digress.  I think one of his moss samples is juniper moss.  The rest I can't figure out.  One is soft, short and compact, another has longish bits that are more separated and my kids call it coral moss but I don't think it is, and still another has very light tips growing out from darker stems and kind of looks like bitty worms, oh and I think there is still yet another kind of moss growing out in the midst of that one that looks like tiny palm trees with shiny leaves.   Hmm, the more I look at this arrangement the more types of moss I find.   I'm up to seven types now so I'm going to stop trying to describe them.  Apparently there are about 12,000 species of moss so this blog post could go on forever.

We hope it will last a while if we keep it moist.  But we've never done this before so who knows!

My daughter made a bird feeder by coating a pine cone with peanut butter then coating it in bird seed and bread crumbs.  We'll wait for the rain to stop before we put it outside so the seeds don't get all washed off.  I'm hoping this really does bring the birds in and I plan to hang it somewhere we can see it from our schoolroom windows.  Next week we begin our study on birds so this project tied the two sub-units together very nicely.

Plant Classification - Tree Identification

This week we have begun our focus on plants.  This morning I went over leaf shape with the kids and we mainly looked at trees but I also allowed some shrub and flower leaves to be selected so they could see a variety of samples.  We don't have palm trees here in Massachusetts and my lilies were the best place to find an example of parallel veins.

Between pinning websites that have nice identification tools and pulling books from my own shelves, I've compiled a list that I thought might be helpful to you in studying and identifying trees.

Identification Websites

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                  Source: oplin.org via Cheryl on Pinterest

OPLIN - This is an Ohio based tree identification site that allows you to identify by leaf, fruit or name.  I like the child-friendliness of this site and the pictures that help them narrow down the choices.

From Virginia Tech's Forestry Outreach Site

        

                                                                              Source: dendro.cnre.vt.edu via Cheryl on Pinterest

This leaf key is a small portion of what you will find at Virginia Tech's online Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation website.  Both of the above links are from Virginia Tech's Forestry Outreach Site, a wonderful place to visit if you are studying trees.   The first picture of these two will take you to the page that directs your identification according to leaf, bark, twig or form.The picture just below it will take you to the page where you can begin identifying by leaf.

                                                                    Source: rogerstreesandshrubs.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

I would be remiss if I did not include just one more identification site.  Rogers Trees and Shrubs offers a very nice pictorial index for identifying both trees and shrubs which I found very helpful this morning.  You can narrow down your search by clicking on a series of images which will finally take you to a page with specific information about your tree including type of tree or shrub, size, foliage, leaf type, types of fruit, flowering period, leaf color and growing conditions.

Activities and Games with Some Hands-On

Education.com has worksheets for kids of all ages including this cute tree labeling activity for preschoolers, a second grade apple tree growth chart and this word search for fourth graders.

Tree Leaf Card Game - Dayna from Fo-ne-tic-lee Speaking put together this really nice card set that you can print and use for free!

KONOS Volume I - Orderliness offers several good activities involving identification, charting plant groups, leaf sorting activities as well as arts and crafts projects.

The Mystery Challenge was created by the Arbor Day Foundation for schools.  With some prep work, you can use this for homeschool and it provides a clear way to get your kids identifying trees by leaf.  Although this is designed as an indoor activity, you might get the kids outside to collect bunches of different leaves on a nature walk in advance of the activity.  Then use those leaves as your mystery leaves.  You will need to be on the nature walk as well to make sure you get enough different samples as described in the activity directions.

Homeschool Share offers a free lapbook for tree study.

Now for some not-so-very-sciencey-but-certainly-educational-in-an-artsy-way activities:

                                                                           Source: alphamom.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

We painted cherry blossom trees when spring first came to our cold neck of the woods albeit, a little bit early this year but no less welcome.  I got the idea from the pin above.

                                                                         Source: crafts.kaboose.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

There are tons of Christmas and fall tree crafts available online so I tried to steer away from them but this fall tree (and one other I am going to mention in a moment) can easily be made into a summer, spring or fruit tree and I love its simplicity.

                                                                                   Source: ikatbag.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

This one seems a bit more complicated to me. I admit, I haven't tried it. The blogger shares her instructions with excellent photos. Go check it out and please let me know if you've tried it.

                                                                      Source: childmadetutorials.blogspot.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

GORGEOUS! I just love this tree and I have enough paper bags to give it a try. This is the other tree labeled a "fall tree" but I can see how, with a little paint on the paper rolls before slicing, it could easily be a spring or summer tree.

Books and Videos

The line of Fandexes (Fandi?  How do you pluralize Fandex?) from Workman Publishing is extensive.  We have a couple different ones and they are always fun to pull out.  The Tree Fandex is no exception.

My favorite little books, The Golden Guides are easy to use, filled with lots of pictures and small enough to fit into your pocket on your next nature hike.

I filled the Amazon Carousel with an assortment of books and videos.  Most are about trees but a few explore the purpose of seeds.  I like to use different types of resources that are both informative as well as some that are purely for enjoyment.  Combining pleasure reading that is still focused on your topic with your fact based books will help keep your kids more focused and allow them to enjoy variety.

Skit Guys - The Birdcage

Today's selection will mark the end of this short video series with a poignant message from one of my favorite comedy teams.  God bless you this day.

Chonda Pierce - Psychiatric Hospital Bit

This woman is not afraid to talk about funny stuff.  I just love her!

Mother's Day with The Skit Guys

Mother's Day is coming so make sure you show your mom how much you appreciate her.   I love you Mommy!

Have Your Taxes Done Rock n' Roll Style

I think I'm just doing a comedy series this week.  I keep watching hilarious videos and they make me laugh and you know laughter is good for you.  It says so in the Bible.  I guess that means you have to watch the videos I'm posting this week.