Well let me tell you, this Lewis and Clark unit, is certainly taking us on a bazillion different rabbit trails! I intended for this unit to be over with by now. But, the story is so interesting and there are so many different areas to explore. Fauna. Flora. Geology. Earth Science. Geography. and lots of History. Not to mention Indian studies. I've decided instead of rushing it...we'd just relax and see what unfolds?

Today, it was all about rivers. I had purchased the two books above...sometime ago..at Goodwill. Both are full of easy, understandable information. Drainage basins, underground rivers, caves and dams. Which, I might add...Tommie thoroughly enjoyed saying, "dam" over and over. And, over again. The first picture he's building a dam, in the bathtub. Which led to a deep conversation about hydro-electric power... actually, this was discussed at Cub Scouts last night... he had a lot of questions... Brad was able to explain things to him...I'm just not into turbines and generators.

Well, would you look below? That's the poster I was telling you about in the previous post! That's the posterboard! Those are the colored pencils! smile, wink, nod.
About Language Arts. What makes the most sense to me is using real facts about whatever unit we're on. Yes, it does take a little extra time on my part. But, it reinforces the unit as well as applying LA to living literature.

We're doing the notebook method...Tommie works out of one 3 ring notebook for each unit. I made two pages full of true sentences. He is required to dissect them...noun, proper, personal nouns, verb, adverb, adjectives, modifying predicates, articles, etc.

"Meriwether Lewis was suffering from severe carbuncles."

"The Shoshone Indians made canoes by covering a wooden frame with bear skin."

"Lewis and Clark brought Thomas Jefferson a black bear back from their expedition and Jefferson kept it in a cage at the White House."

It really makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something when we "cross-curriculum!" Plus, I'm really enjoying learning right along with him!