Our Week: The Sun, Islam, and Autumn

I've been sick with a cold this whole week so everything hasn't gone as planned. When does it ever though? All things considered, we've had a good week.

Astronomy
We moved on to chapter 2 this week and started studying the sun. We talked about the sun's size, distance from the earth, revolving, and rotating.
We did a walk around the sun. The kids took turns being the sun, earth, and the moon. The earth revolved around the sun while the moon rotated around the earth. Then I had them each be the earth and spin as they went around the sun.

It was hard for the moon to get around the earth while it was moving to get around the sun, especially after I explained that the moon should always be facing the earth.

This quickly turned into giggling

and lots of silliness.

We also did an experiment to show how you can use a magnifying glass to focus heat from the sun to melt chocolate.

History
History this week was all about Islam. We learned about Muhammad, Mecca, the pillars of Islam, how Islam spread and became an empire, Ramadan, Baghdad, and Sinbad.

We made an oasis with brown sugar for the sand, M&Ms for water, and animal cracker camels. We used Legos to make our palm trees. Although the kids thought eating the brown sugar with a spoon would be a good idea, I didn't let them. They made do with a few M&Ms and animal crackers.

Unit Study
We started working on the Download N Go, Autumn Treasures. We spent time learning about seasons, signs of fall, how leaves change color, apples, pumpkins, migration, and hibernation. We did lots of fun crafts and some cooking. I posted the first two days here and will have the rest up soon.

Extra Stuff
Colin had his usual activities: First Lego League and roller hockey. He has baseball practice this afternoon and I'm trying to talk myself into going. This cold seems even worse today. I do have to get to the library today because I have some books on hold that expire. Since I have to get us all ready and go out, I guess I might as well go on to baseball.