Friday, November 12, 2010

Australia Unit Study

I had planned to study The Pumpkin Runner since our history this week is about Australia but it still hasn't become available from the library. So I just went ahead and focused on the geography, history, and animals of Australia. We learned about the different parts of Australia, the Aboriginal people, landmarks, words that are said differently than we say them, and a little about the coral. We discussed how their seasons are the opposite of what we're having.

We read lots of books. The ones the kids chose as the best were The Singing Snake, The Biggest Frog in Australia, Edward the Emu, Diary of a Wombat, Destination Australia, Look What Came From Australia, and Swim, Little Wombat, Swim.  The kids loved learning all about the fascinating animals in Australia. The girls both said the kangaroo was their favorite and Colin liked the koala best. They used Draw Write Now to draw a kangaroo, koala, echidna, and a platypus.

I had hoped to get in some crafts, but the week was just too busy and it didn't happen. We did make lamingtons though.



We also made some koala cookies. They looked good before baking, but then they spread too much and turned into this.



Caleigh's looked pretty good.


Molly had already taken a bite before I got the pic.


Colin had taken a few bites. He thought it would break if he tried to hold it up.

Notebook pages

2 comments:

Phyllis said...

Lamingtons are yummy, aren't they? I love your lapbook. It is beautiful.

Heather@Cultivated Lives said...

I've never even heard of a Lamington... :( Judging from the picture, I think we might need to remedy that!

We had so much fun learning about Australia. My boys also adored the Biggest Frog in Australia!

We blogged about our Australian adventures here:
http://cultivatedlives.blogspot.com/2010/09/of-kangaroos-and-icing.html

http://cultivatedlives.blogspot.com/2010/09/prehistoric-pointillism.html