Month: July 2012

Olympics School–Day Four

Today we got to be Olympic designers! This was a sub-venue that I created especially for our school. The children each got a chance to design their own Olympic emblem or logo, team uniform shirt, Olympic medal, Olympic mascot, and a bonus Royal Mail stamp showcasing the Olympics. They also had to explain why they chose their designs, and the meanings behind them. It was a lot of fun to see what they came up with…and I think their emblems may have been less criticized than the official London 2012 logo, (but pardon the spelling…we may need an Olympics spelling unit, too!)!

We also read another chapter out of Great Moments in the Summer Olympics. I chose women’s swimming this time, because this was my second-favorite event as a child. We’ll finish up the week with the chapter on men’s swimming as well as one on Michael Phelps tomorrow.

Today’s Passport Stamp: Olympic Designer

July 25–St. James the Elder, Apostle

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

St. James and his brother John, sons of Zebedee and Salome (see Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40), were fishermen in the Sea of Galilee who were called with Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22). In the Gospel lists of Jesus’ disciples, James is listed following Peter and preceding John. Together, these three appear as leaders of the Twelve. Because James precedes John, it is reasoned that James is the elder of the brothers. The Book of Acts records that James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I, probably between AD 42 and 44 (Acts 12:1-2). Thus James is the first of the Twelve to die a martyr.

Olympic Torches

I shared about our Olympic Torch craft in my last post, but they turned out so well, I thought some more detail was in order.

We started with a nine-inch square of white(ish) construction paper. Roll the square into a cone, and secure with tape. The fun thing here is that everyone can roll their cones differently. Some of the children wanted a narrow neck, while others preferred a really wide neck for a huge flame. It doesn’t matter how it turns out, as long as you like it!

Get a small stack of tissue paper. I had six sheets per torch, again about a nine-inch square. We used one sheet of red, two orange, and three yellow per torch, but the colors and combinations are, again, totally up to the designer.

Pinch the bottom center of the stack together, like you’re making a bunch of flowers. Fit into torch, and secure with craft glue.

You can also decorate the torch itself…Turkey added the London 2012 logo to his, while Bunny chose the Olympic Rings, and Ladybug doodled on hers. Moose preferred a clean, non-fussy look for his torch.

If you’re making more than one, you can make them in stages so that you can “light” one from another, as well!

Olympics School–Day Three

Today we finished our first Olympic “venue” by studying of the last of the Olympic traditions–the Olympic torch. After reading about the history of the torch and the relay, we turned to the London 2012 website to learn about this Olympics’ unique torch. We learned about the design of the torch and what it represents. We looked at a map of the relay route, and saw just how many places the torch has been. We also looked at a photo gallery of the relay, and were amazed at all the ways it has traveled, including by boat, train, and even jet pack! We’ll be very excited to see the torch arrive at Buckingham Palace (William and Kate are supposedly going to be welcoming it), and even more excited to see the big cauldron lit at the Opening Ceremonies!

Of course, we had to have a craft to go along with all we learned, so we made our own torches, and had a “relay” of sorts. We were going to do that outside, but due to extreme heat, we decided to go with the much cooler indoor torch relay, instead. It was definitely a short trip, but there’s something to be said for not getting overheated!

We also read a chapter from Great Moments in the Summer Olympics. This is one of our book basket selections, but I’ll be reading three (of my favorite) chapters out loud this week. Today I chose women’s gymnastics, which tied in to an NBC special we watched last night about great Olympic moments. Of course, the Magnificent Seven was showcased in each, and the girls, especially, liked learning about Kerri Strug’s courageous vault during the 1996 Atlanta games, I enjoyed sharing my memories of it with them!

Only two more days until the Olympic torch is brought into the Olympic Stadium!

 

Today’s Passport Stamps: Olympic Torch and Olympic Venue One–The Olympic History and Traditions

Olympics School–Day Two

Our primary Olympic focus today was learning about two things…the event pictograms and the London 2012 mascots.

We did a pictogram study four years ago, and it was a lot of fun, so I knew we needed to do it again. We talked about why pictograms are important (because there are so many languages spoken at the Olympics), and how a new set is created for each Olympic games. We then looked at the London pictograms, and tried to guess what each one was. Most of them were easy, but a few, like Judo, left the children puzzled. This was also a good opportunity to talk about which sports are unfamiliar to us in general, (like handball), so that we can be sure to watch for them during the Olympics.

We also learned the story behind this year’s mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville. I couldn’t get the book about them here, but we did watch the videos on the London 2012 mascots website! It’s actually a pretty cute story, and we all enjoyed it, (even Chickadee, who had fun trying to drool on the computer!). Here’s the first installment; the rest are available on the website:

We also divvied up the pages from the colouring and activity books I ordered (conveniently, each child got five sheets). These also focus on the mascots, and the children had fun picking which pages and activities they wanted, and did so without too much quarreling. Too bad there weren’t any pages left over for me…I might not have minded coloring the mascots, myself!

Our book for today was The 2012 London Olympics. There’s not a lot of depth to this book, but it does have some interesting facts, and descriptions of some of the venues, including how spread out they are across London, and even across the country. There is actually a full list of the venues, including where they are, and what events they are hosting, in the back of the book. We compared that list to the venue list on the London 2012 website, where we were also able to learn a little bit more about each venue, and look at pictures.

Today’s Passport Stamps: Cycling Pictogram and Wenlock/Mandeville.

Tasty Tuesday–Baklava

The baklava I made last week for VBS was a huge hit, so I’ll share the recipe for anyone interested in an impressive-looking Mediterranean dessert. A word to the wise: I’ve never actually used all 16 ounces of phyllo dough in the package. Maybe I spread too many walnuts on each layer, but I’ve always run out of filling before I’ve run out of dough. I haven’t heard any complaints, though, so I don’t think it really matters!

  • 1 16-ounce package phyllo dough
  • 1 pound chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
Toss chopped walnuts with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cover with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Olympics School–Day One

Today we kicked off our two-week-long Olympics unit!

First things first…we prepared our “passports.” All of the pertinent information needed to be filled in: Name; Nationality; Date of Birth; Place of Birth; Date of Issue; Height; Weight; Eye Color; and Hair Color. The children had fun measuring each other and taking turns hopping on the scale. They also colored the venue “stamps” for their passports, but they had to give them back to me when they were done, as I’m in charge of “immigration.”

We discussed a bit of Olympics history…where they were first held, where the name “Olympics” comes from, and when the modern Olympics began. We also learned about the creation of the Olympic rings, and what they can mean. And since we were discussing the Olympic rings, we also made our paper plate rings, which have been added to our “Olympic wall.”

Today’s read-aloud was G is for Gold Medal, which was helpful to Turkey and Bunny, because their assignment in their workbooks was playing the “alphabet game,” with the Olympics as the theme. They breezed through most of the game, but Q and Y gave them some pause. Z was unusually easy though…being big fans of Greek myths, they both wrote Zeus!

We did a bit of map work, too. We spent some time talking about the different parts of the United Kingdom, and locating them on the map. We also talked a bit about the Commonwealth, and some of the member nations. Finally, we found all of the countries on our medal chart on the map. Even I needed a little help to locate Kenya!

We won’t have a big craft each day, but we’ll have pictures to color, worksheets to do, stories to read, and more Olympic facts to learn. And every day, the children will earn at least one new “stamp” for their passports. It’s going to be a fun two weeks!

Today’s Passport Stamps: “Official” Passport Stamp and Olympic Rings

July 22–St. Mary Magdalene

From the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

Whenever the New Testament Gospels name the women who were with Jesus, St. Mary Magdalene is listed first (John 19:25 is the only exception), perhaps because she was the first one to see the risen Savior alive. Luke 8:2 reports that Jesus had cured her of being possessed by seven demons. Through the centuries, she has often been identified with the repentant “woman of the city” who anointed Jesus’ feet as He sat at the table in the Pharisee’s home (Luke 7:36-50). But there is no biblical basis for this identification of her with a penitent prostitute. Nor is she to be identified with Mary, the sister of Martha, in Bethany. According to the Gospels, Mary Magdalene saw Jesus die; she witnessed His burial; and, most important, she was the first to see Him alive again after His resurrection (John 20:11-18). It is for good reason that Bernard of Clairvaux calls her “the apostle to the apostles.”

A Comedy of Errors

I was listening to a conversation my children were having at dinner, and they made me laugh out loud.

Ladybug was looking at some coins she brought home from Sunday School (no, she didn’t steal from the offering basket…it was part of the lesson about the Temple in Jerusalem), and suddenly, she shouted in a very excited voice: “I have a coin with the Temple on it!”

I heard Bunny sigh, look at the coin, and say in an equally exasperated voice: “That’s not the Temple, that’s the White House.”

That would have been funny enough on its own, except that Bunny ‘s response was also incorrect. It’s not the White House on the Jefferson nickel, it’s Monticello. They were both so confident in their observations, and yet both so very wrong!