Homeschool: Migration (Week 6)

We just completed our sixth week of homeschool. You can view our daily schedule (including which curriculum we use for math and reading) by clicking the link. Below you'll find the art and science activities we did this week - focusing on Migration. 



MONDAY:
  • Book: Going Home by Marianne Berkes & Bird, Butterfy, Eel by James Prosek
  • Activity: Journal - What is your favorite animal that migrates?
  • Supplies: Migration PDF (create a free login to down load) and crayons
  • Focus: Define migration. Which animals migrate and why. 
After reading and discussing our books, we drew a picture of our favorite animal that migrates (shown below). After we decided to trace the animals from the book and color them.



TUESDAY:  
  • Book: Monarch Butterly by Gail Gibbons & Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine O Flatharta
  • Activity: Oil Pastel Monarch
  • Supplies: Black Glue (or regular glue + black paint) and oil pastels
  • Focus: Monarch's migrate south to be warm in the winter time. 
After reading our books, we talked about how the wings of butterflies are symmetrical. We drew wings on one side of a paper (as shown below) with black glitter glue and folded the paper over. We gently rubbed where the glue was (if you push too hard, the glue will smear) and opened the paper back up to reveal a symmetrical butterfly. It dried overnight and we colored it the next morning with oil pastels. We've never used oil pastels before, so we learned if you push lightly the color is light and if you push hard, the color is darker. You can also blend colors together.






WEDNESDAY:
  • Book: Whales by Gail Gibbons, Little Whale by Jo Weaver & Following Papa's Song by Gianna Marino
  • Activity: Whale Blubber & Ocean Watercolor Whale
  • Supplies: Butter or Crisco, bowl, water and ice (science) coffee filter, water colors, paint brushes, whale silhouettes - found in Migration PDF (art). 
  • Focus: Whales migrate south in the Fall to have their babies in warmer water. They return north to the cooler water to eat in the Spring. 
We learned so much about whales from our whale books! Baby whales are born without blubber, and wouldn't survive in cool water. That's why the mother whales migrate south in the Fall, to give birth in warmer water. We did a blubber experiment to teach how the cold water would feel with and without blubber. Fill a bowl with water and ice. Cover one finger with butter or Crisco, representing blubber. Place the blubber finger in the water (like the adult whale) and a plain finger in the water (like a baby whale) at the same time. Discuss the difference.



Afterward, we did this beautiful Ocean Watercolor Whale. The colors go along really well with the book, Following Papa's Song. We used liquid watercolors to paint a coffee filter. It dried overnight and we glued on a silhouette of a mama and baby whale migrating together. You can print the black whale silhouettes from my Migration PDF.





THURSDAY:
  • Book: Sockeye's Journal Home by Barbara Gaines Winkelman & Salmon Stream by Carol Reed-Jones
  • Activity: Foil Salmon & Pacific Salmon Migration 
  • Supplies: Tinfoil, permanent markers, cheese grater, Migration PDF, glue, scissors, string, hole punch and crayons
  • Focus: Salmon migrate to lay eggs and have many challenges along the way.
Last week, we watched the Wild Kratt's: Alask - Hero's Journey and my boys have't stopped talking about all the predators the Salmon had to migrate past. Our Pacific Salmon Migration craft is based on this episode as well as our books. Simply color, cut out the predators and glue them into place. Hole punch two holes at the two corners of the paper (as shown below). Use a needle and thread and thread through the salmon and then through the two holes in the paper, making a loop. Tie the two ends of string together. If you pull the string, your salmon will be able to migrate past all the predators and move to the other end of the paper.





    We also made this amazing foil fish craft. My six especially loved this craft and made so many of them. You draw a Pacific Salmon on tinfoil (my six did this on his own and I helped my four), color it in with permanent markers and place the foil over a cheese grater. Gently rub the tinfoil, creating scales in your fish. Optional: Cut out the fish and glue onto card stock. 


    Draw a salmon. Color with permanent markers. 

    Place the foil over a cheese grater and gently rub to make scales.
    My boys finished salmon

    FRIDAY:
    • Book: Migration Books Review
    • Activity: Migration Map
    • Supplies: Migration PDF, scissors, markers, glue
    • Focus: Draw the migration routes of the whale, salmon and butterfly. 
    After reading "Monarch Butterflies" by Gail Gibbons again, we glued our butterfly onto our migration map. We marked the migration route and wrote how many miles the monarch's travel. Next, we read "Whales" by Gail Gibbons again and marked the migration route and then we read "Sockeye's Journey Home" by Barbara Gaines Winkelman again and found the migration route online. My boys really enjoyed this. 




    Other Ideas: The Magic School Goes Upstream


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