Cahokia Mounds

2016-17 School Year–Week Twelve

This was a fairly normal week in the midst of the chaos that is November!

We’ve been learning about the means of grace in Lutheranism 101. So far we’ve covered how the Bible has been translated over the centuries, and how it’s organized. Today we discussed Holy Baptism. Next we’ll be learning about confession and the Lord’s Supper.

Turkey and Bunny finally finished what seemed like an endless string of math lessons on systems of equations. While the equations took some time to work through, both of them found the lessons to be pretty easy, which was nice. Ladybug worked on estimation when multiplying two and three digit numbers. She always wants to make it harder than it needs to be, by not rounding one of the numbers, but at least she understands the multiplication!

Ladybug started a new chapter in science this week, one that focuses on primeval reptiles. She’s in the middle of learning about the ancient “saurs.” Turkey and Bunny finished the study guide for the chapter they wrapped up two weeks ago, in preparation of the test they have on Monday.

The only really different thing we did in school this week was our study of the first Thanksgiving instead of our regular history lessons. I’m still using the same basic framework I came up with years ago, but our discussions of the pilgrims and Native Americans have become more complex. As we do most years, we also visited Cahokia Mounds, and learned about the people who first lived in our area, and who built an impressive network of mounds over a thousand years ago. And just to make things a little extra Thanksgiving-y, we even came across a flock of wild turkeys while we were walking one of the trails!

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We’re only going to have two days of school next week…I have to make sure we have plenty of time for all of the cooking, eating, and family fun I have planned!

Chickadee Thursday

This morning, we took a field trip to Cahokia Mounds, something we try to do around Thanksgiving most years. Chickadee enjoyed the climb to the top of Monk’s Mound, but she was a little reluctant to make the descent!

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A few years later, and Chickadee still gets excited when we see a “Cakeway to the West” installation when we’re out and about!

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Summer Fun 2015

Now that everyone is back in school, Labor Day has come and gone, all of our regular activities have started up again, and Ryan’s sabbatical is over, I guess summer has really ended. But what a summer it has been!

We kicked off our summer at the end of May by going to the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Turkey played in his sixth season of parks and rec baseball…or tried to. We had so much rain in the first half of the summer (including a tropical depression that made it to the St. Louis area), that almost half of his games were cancelled, which was a huge disappointment.

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We visited the St, Louis Zoo to see Kali, the zoo’s new polar bear. We were impressed not only with the bear, but with the new exhibit, Polar Bear Point.

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The four oldest children attended a week-long choir camp at one of our sister congregations in the city of St. Louis. They had a great time learning about music, got to go on a few field trips, and decided that they want to join the Kantorei at Hope. Chickadee had a fun time that week having me all to herself!

Tim Horton’s finally opened a store in St. Louis, and we were there on opening day! (This was also the week that Ryan’s sabbatical began!)

This summer in school, we learned about Illinois state history. We went to Cahokia Mounds on the first of our summer school field trips. We’ve been there several times, but there is always something new to learn!

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July was the busiest month of the summer. We started with our traditional, Markel family Fourth of July celebration, which is always lots of fun.

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Bunny went to Camp Wartburg for a week of theatre camp. We missed her at home, but she had a great time!

The week after she got home, Bunny celebrated her 11th birthday. The celebration included a trip to the spray park and a bunny cake, of course!

A few days after that, we left on our first-ever Markel family summer vacation/road trip. We visited Bowling Green, KY, Atlanta, GA, and our main destination of Charleston, SC. Even though there were a few bumps along the way, it was more fun than I could have imagined, and we covered all the vacation bases–family, food, baseball, history, architecture, and the beach!

Back home, the girls and I went with Grandma to American Girl Night at Busch Stadium.

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We also drove to Kaskaskia, IL, to see the location of the first Illinois state capital and the Liberty Bell of the West.

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August saw a bit more road-tripping. First, a drive to Vandalia, IL, to tour the oldest existing Capitol Building in Illinois.

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We also drove to Springfield, IL, to visit the Lincoln Home, the Old State Capitol, and the current Capitol Building, as well as a few other locations.

Moose went back to school…he’s in the fourth grade this year! Still not ready to say goodbye to summer, though…

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Turkey, Bunny, and Ladybug also went back to school. Since Ryan was still on sabbatical, though, I still wasn’t convinced that summer was done.

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We had a fun time taking Little Luther with us on all of our travels!

Ryan and I even found time to build not one, but two Lego modular buildings!

Moose got to miss a day of school for our field trip to The Magic House, where we learned what life is like in China, and did a lot of other fun things, too.

That same day (and the day after), we also drove down to Carbondale for a college women’s volleyball tournament.

And just last week, we celebrated the historic reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with a tea party!

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We traveled this summer…a lot. We visited not only spray parks, but pools and the beach, as well.

Most of all, though, we spent a ton of time together as a family, creating memories that I hope will last several lifetimes! It was a more amazing summer than I could have imagined, and I’ll never forget it!

Summer School 2015–Wrap-Up

Summer school this year, in which we learned all about our home state of Illinois, was very busy!

We had a great reading list, which helped us learn about the people, history, and regions and resources of our state. Turkey and Bunny were able to use these resources to write pretty detailed reports about our state.

In addition to reading and map work, we took a lot of field trips this summer. We visited Cahokia Mounds, which is the site of the largest ancient population north of Mexico. I gathered up all my courage for the drive to Kaskaskia, the home of the first state capital (even though it’s now on the “wrong” side of the Mississippi River), and current home of the “Liberty Bell of the West.” We also drove to Vandalia to visit the oldest capitol building still in existence in the state (even if was only the Capitol for a few years). Of course, we also had to visit Springfield, the current capital of our state, and home of the Old State Capitol, as well as the current Capitol building. It was very interesting to tour all three of those buildings, and see what was the same and what was different from one to the other (for example, the Vandalia State House had no space for an office for the governor!). The Illinois State Museum is also part of the Capitol Complex, and we walked through it, as well. It was fun to learn about the history of the natural resources and animals in our state! While we were in Springfield, we also visited Lincoln’s Home (and surrounding neighborhood), his Law Office just across from the Old State Capitol, and Lincoln’s Tomb. (We also stopped for dinner at the Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield, which is reportedly the home of the original corn dog!)

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We learned a lot about Chicago this summer, as well. Partly because it’s the largest (and most famous!), city in Illinois, and partly because I grew up in one of its suburbs. So, to end our lessons, I made one of our family favorites, Chicago style pizza! (Made the Giordano’s way, for those of you in the know!)

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I’m not going to lie…it wasn’t quite as much fun as last year’s baseball-themed summer school. But it was close, and definitely involved the most field trips we’ve ever taken in one summer!

A Summer School Field Trip to Cahokia Mounds

Since we’re learning about the history of Illinois in summer school this year, and since we hadn’t visited in longer than I care to admit, we spent yesterday morning at Cahokia Mounds, the place in Illinois with basically the oldest known history.

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It’s an amazing place to visit, because when you see it in person, you really get the magnitude of a 100-foot high, man-made, earthen mound. When you just look a pictures, you don’t really get the scale of it.

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We walked around outside, visiting Monks Mound (the tallest of the over 100 mounds), Woodhenge (a prehistoric solar calendar), a “borrow pit,” and the reproduction stockade:

We also spent time in the interpretive center, where we watched a short movie about the history of the settlement, and then walked around the various exhibits, which are really well done.

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Because we’re not on the East Coast, where all of the colonial and Revolutionary War memorials are, it can be easy to think that there’s nothing really old here. A quick trip to Cahokia Mounds, however, you will remind you that the opposite is true!

Third Grade: Week Four Wrap-Up

I’m a day late in posting this, because I wanted to include today’s field trip, which was the conclusion to this week’s history lessons.

We’ve spent this week, (and part of last), learning about Native Americans with Adventures in My Father’s World. It’s been a very fun and informative week, and included some great read-alouds, interesting book basket choices, fun crafts, and the aforementioned field trip. I’m really loving My Father’s World, because not only are there great books as part of the curriculum, they’ve also planned out the crafts for me, which I’m not too good at on my own. It’s easy to just add in field trips where applicable, and really run with the program!

First, our read-aloud books. One of them was new to us–Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims. I think I read this book as a child–it has certainly been around forever! I had a difficult time with the beginning of the book, because it seemed to contradict everything I’ve learned about Squanto. As it turns out, it appears, at least according to this biography, that Squanto traveled to Europe once before he was kidnapped, and that’s the part of the story that confused me. We did get into his kidnapping late this week though, so I felt a little better about the quality of the book we’re reading.

Our second read-aloud was not new to us–North American Indians. I’ve used this book the last two years, for Thanksgiving School. It’s a great overview in the differences between the different groups of Indians in this country, divided by geography. It can’t go too in-depth with any one group, but it really gives a feel for the way different tribes lived, from the homes they lived in to the food they ate.

Our book basket books were also old Thanksgiving School selections, but it was the first time Turkey and Bunny read them on their own, so they were able to glean different information from them this time around. The overwhelming favorite was Native Homes, which shows, as the title suggests, the different dwellings of different Indian tribes. They really enjoyed comparing different homes, (a lot of them are very similar to wigwams), and each had a favorite home style.

They also read If You Lived With the Iroquois. I’m a big fan of this series–we have several titles. It’s written in a Q&A format, and answers all of the down-to-earth questions children have about what it would be like to be a member of this particular nation. It covers everything from how they would bathe, to religious beliefs, to medicine, to holidays and festivals. As an adult, I always learn something from these titles!

The final book basket choice for the week was Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. Turkey and Bunny actually read this last week, too, as that’s when we started our Squanto read-aloud, but I wanted to make sure they were really familiar with the story. This book gives a good, short summary of the native’s life, with an admittedly strongly Christian slant.

Turkey and Bunny had two crafts this week as well. First, they made construction paper wigwams. This is actually more difficult than it sounds, because of the amount of glue involved. I really think they gained an appreciation for how difficult actually putting together a real wigwam would have been!

They also made a paper teepee. We’ve done this project before, but this time, they really enjoyed decorating their miniature homes. They had a much better understanding of how Indians actually would have decorated their teepees, and included things like pictures of buffalo and other animals.

Finally, we had a field trip to Cahokia Mounds, the largest old Indian settlement north of Mexico. We walked through the Interpretive Center, which has a great display that depicts every aspect of the Mississippian Indians lived, from food preparation to children playing, and everything else you can think of. They were also having a special event, with demonstrations of many different activities, including Atlatl throwing, story telling, and hoop dancing. It was a great day to visit–we all learned a lot!

Pictures don’t really give an adequate idea of just how tall Monk’s Mound is, so you’ll have to take my word for it–it’s enormous! Being afraid of heights, it was a bit of a challenge for me to climb it, especially once I realized just how high up I was! But the view is amazing–you can see the St. Louis skyline, and all of the surrounding area.

Learning About Native Americans

For the last week, we’ve been learning all about Native Americans. I think that this has been one the most fun (and informative!) special units we’ve done so far!

We kept up with our regular L.A. program, and we also kept using our Horizons math worksheets, but everything else, from history and geography to read-alouds was all part of a unit that I put together to help us learn more about the people who lived in America first, before we learn about the pilgrims next week.

I found a really cool book called More Than Moccasins, which is full of crafts, games, projects and recipes, to help children learn more about Native American life in a really fun way. We used something from this book every day this week, and we were able to learn about their homes, games, food, and clothing in doing so.

On Monday, we began our week by reading North American Indians. This was a good overview, to help us get familiar with the different Indian tribes that used to inhabit our country, what their homes were like, and whether they depended more on hunting or farming. We also played a game of chance called Hubbub, which has some similarities to Pass the Pigs, and some to Yahtzee, and was used in different variations by many Indian tribes.

On Tuesday, we continued learning about the different types of houses Native Americans built and lived in with Native Homes. This book did a great job of explaining why the different types of houses were built (either because of geography or lifestyle), and what similarities and differences there were in housing. We made a small tee-pee village, complete with door flaps and “people” inside!

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On Wednesday, we grew more specific in our quest to learn about Native American life when we read If You Lived With the Iroquois. I love the Scholastic If You… series, and this was a fun book to read to get an idea of what it would be like to be part of a particular Indian group. We also learned a lot about the Iroquois Nation, which was new even for me. I would have liked to have picked a book about Indians more local to the St. Louis area, but since the If You… series doesn’t make one, I settled for the Great Lakes region, which isn’t too far away, and was where Ryan and I grew up.

We also tried to make Wampum out of dyed macaroni, but this was our one project that completely failed–the macaroni were too bendy to get the string through, so we just played with them for a little while, but never got to make any beaded chains out of them.

On Thursday, we learned about two specific Indians–Squanto and Pocahontas. I found Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving to be an especially interesting and touching book–I particularly enjoyed the way the pilgrims viewed him as their “Joseph.”) Turkey and Bunny practiced their reading skills by taking turns reading The True Story of Pocahontas, and they both did really well–Powhatan was really the only word that tripped them up! To cap off Thursday, Turkey and Bunny helped me make Indian fry bread (don’t worry, I did all the actual frying!), which was enjoyed by everyone in the family, and made a nice addition to the soup we had for dinner. We agreed that it would be much more difficult to cook it over a fire, though!

On Friday, we read a fictional story about what it would have been like to have been a Wampanoag Indian boy. Tapenum’s Day is the third in a series of books about what it was like to be a child at the time Europeans began living in America. We read the first two books last year, and really enjoyed them, so we added this one as well, and we’ll be reading the first two again next week.

We also made Indian “vests” out of paper bags. Turkey and Bunny loved this craft, because they got to color, and because they can “wear” them. Definitely a fun way to end the school week!

ry=400-1Today, to finish off our Native American experience, we took a field trip to Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. It was quite impressive. When you look at the mounds there (especially the 100 foot tall Monk’s Mound), and realize that thousands of people spent 300 years carrying 50 pound baskets of dirt around to construct them, it’s rather mind-boggling. We made the climb to the top of Monk’s Mound (even Ladybug, with her short little toddler legs, and me, with my fear of heights!), and the view from the top was quite impressive.

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It was a great week of school!