Monday June 2nd
Pilot is reading The Resistors series and finished book two today. He was talking about how the characters, who live in a post apocalyptic-type world, have a base underground and I told him I just watched an episode of America's Book of Secrets that described underground community shelters built by a private group called VIVO in case of the event of a global disaster. So, we watched that part of the episode together. A shelter can hold 5,000 people and as of the time of taping of the show, there are over 25,000 applicants. A spot in the shelter goes anywhere from $7,000-$50,000 per person!
Pilot thought this was interesting but nothing really came of it. So, I continue to search for activities to keep him occupied with his interest in flight. I came across what looks to be a great site for young learners.
The TV episode happened to mention a list of different types of disasters and this caught Storm Chaser's attention. He just had to know more about the items on the list
Here's what the list said:
Tsunami
Nuclear
Asteroid
Planet X
Biological
Terrorism
Economic Collapse
Super Volcano
Electromagnetic Pulse
Solar Flare
This gave me the opportunity to talk about the theory that a huge meteor strike killed off the dinosaurs 65-70 million years ago, The Great Depression, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Katrina. We watched an Asteroid Impact Simulation and saw before and after pictures of Hiroshima. These were taken at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. We saw video taken of the 2011 Japanese tsunami (Definitely recommend checking out these videos before showing them).
All of this gave me the idea of having Storm Chaser put together a sort of History Repeats Itself exhibit showing how history has repeated itself and what we can do to prepare for some of these events or what technology he would invent to help before, in, or after times of disaster.
Tuesday
I need to find some activities for Pilot. It's good to get information but that information has to be synthesized in a meaningful way.
I am also compiling a list of resources for Storm Chaser.
Little One had her first day of summer gymnastics. She also worked on a seek and find alphabet activity.
We went to the library. Pilot borrowed Operation Inferno, the third installment of The Resistors series by Eric Nylund, Storm Chaser borrowed Tiny World Terrariums by Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow. Little One played a painting game on the computer.
There was a special section out with all kinds of Oklahoma information. I grabbed an agritourism map and oh my goodness! We have got to plan some daycations! The kids and I had a good time finding where our favorite activities were located on the map. It was a great moment to explain the legend and how the map works. All over the map are little pictures with numbers under them. The picture is a symbol of a particular activity and the number is a key to finding more information about that particular place on the back of the map. Very cool. If you live in Oklahoma or ever plan on visiting, you will want to add OklahomaAgritourism.com to your favorites.
Wednesday
We spent all morning and early afternoon getting Pilot his state ID card so he can get on the plane to Ohio soon. Storm Chaser went to the grandparent's house to mow. He is getting pretty good at this. Did I mention he is now riding the motorcycle! He's all about facing some fears this year.
Friday
Little One and I read Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. What a cool story about tangrams. The author provides fun information and activities on the front and back inside covers, even a square of tangrams to trace and cutout to make your own shapes.
Little One was not very interested in working with the tans until later when she surprised me with her creation of a pig. She will do that. After we've had our learning moment and have each moved on to other things, she will decided to go back and work with whatever we learned about.
