Good vibrations earthquake experiment

We did maths first this this morning and then I went off to do my volunteer work for an hour and Mike and James played War Hammer, Orcs v Dwarfs.

After lunch James and I went for our daily walk and then when we got back we started on an Earthquake experiment.

We needed a brownie, thankfully we had made some earlier

We also needed cocktail sticks and and Jelly Tots (I could NOT find a packet of jelly tots anywhere in my area, so I phoned my local sweet shop Candimama and found that she had a similar sweet to jelly tots 

Then James built this

We tested the  tower on it’s own and then in the jelly and brownie by counting the number of shakes needed to make it fall over and recorded our observations.

We finished off the afternoon by watching a documentary on earthquakes, which included information on the Mega Quake strike zone and subduction earthquakes.

Plate Choctonics

As well as the usual math, English and science workbooks and worksheets, we have been continuing with our USA unit study - going really well I have to say  (it always helps when you yourself have an interest in the subject).


American states - used this printable -

We looked at the climate in the US compared to the UK  and the various extreme weather areas of the USA, which included Earthquakes.

From this we looked at Power Points about tectonic plates and earthquakes.

Later we used a mars bar to observe converging and diverging tectonic plates (when two tectonic plates are pushed together or pulled apart).

Then we ate it of course.

Using a creme egg to show the earths structure - the crust, the mantle and the core

The egg-sternal and internal structure of the Earth 😀

We also, of course, ate this too.

(there are a few more chocolate geology examples I know of, which will follow soon)

Back to the USA

• 1492 Christopher Columbus -  Looking at the USA timeline of when he "discovered" America  (he did not discover the Americas, there were already millions of people living there). (also found a great book about him in the charity shop for 25p with some great images).
• 1500 Europeans bought disease to the native people and a lot of them died from yellow fever, typhoid, small pox, measles and influenza
• 1524 the first native child was kidnapped and taken to France
• 1540 Tiguex War
• 1539 Napituca massacre
• 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh establishes the Roanoke Colony

Back to Britain

We then looked at Great Britain's timeline for the same year (or thereabouts) and what was going on over here:

1485 to 1603

The Tudors - starting with King Henry VII.  He sent John Cabot, an Italian navigator, to find a route to Asia.  He set sail from Bristol in 1497 and ended up in North America.

Henry VIII follows next with all of his shenanigans and he wasn't so keen on sending men out to find new land as he did not want to upset the Spanish by interfering with their overseas exploration because his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was a Spanish princess.

When Elizabeth I reigned, English merchants were keen to trade their goods around the world and they needed money from the Queen to fund their trips.

Sir John Hawkins,  Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh (all Devon boys) were all Elizabethan privateers (lawful pirates) around this time.

After we had looked at the timelines, James then completed a compass activity worksheet, this led on to discussing the magnetic poles.

Next we will look at the rest of the timelines, and also continue studying a bit more about earthquakes (which involves an experiment using sweets).

New Year New Term

First day back today, having had a lengthy break because of Christmas and also because of  most of our family having the flu over the holidays - and still trying to get back to normal even now! 😩

This term we are looking at USA!!!

We are starting with Native Americans and their various tribes.   

Today, we looked at Aztecs:

What they ate:

Maize -  the staple grain of the Aztec empire. Maize has been domesticated for thousands of years, and it likely first came into common use in Mexico, spreading to the rest of the world from there. Mexico is still one of the world's top maize growing countries. Corn could be ground into flour and used to make tortillas 

Maize farming -      Aztec farmer used a chinampas systems ( a type of Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds) 

Aztec food also included beans and squash as well as chillies, tomatoes, limes, cashews, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and of course chocolate.  They also domesticated bees for honey, and turkeys for meat and eggs, also dogs and duck.  They hunted and fished as well, and used animals such as deer, rabbits, iguana, fish and shrimp for food.  Even insects, such as grasshoppers and worms were harvested.  😦

We were a bit more civilized and had enchiladas for our lunch (not dog or grasshoppers).

Aztec gods - Printed out the gods to colour in and decorate using twinkl resources.

Other plans, which will also include historical events in the UK around the same time:

• We will be studying the Maya - also in the mesoamerica region and looking at their numerical system.
• Columbus
• States
• USA and UK comparison, including language and climate
• USA time zones
• USA extreme weather and natural disasters
• The Tudors
• The Plague
• The Great Fire of London
• Georgians

Resources

Also James wanted to include The Wild West - of course - so will include that in all of the above.  Started by watching a western movie which starred John Wayne!