Preparing for A Geography and History Fair

The boys all eagerly got out some books to read and settled down to do some math today.  With freezing temps outside we decided to use today to start getting ready for our Geography and History Fair.



Each year our homeschool group gets together to host a geography and history fair.  Each of the kids pick a topic they want to learn about, they research the project, write up a display board and come up with some fun snacks and hands on treats for the other kids attending the fair to enjoy.

This year Ian picked the history of the bulldozer to report on. 

Ian read two more books today as a start to his history fair project.  He read Bulldozers and Bulldozers (no that's not a typo-- he read two books with the same title by different authors).   He asked if we could find a picture of a bulldozer so he could label all the parts.



We looked up on the computer and actually found three pictures of bulldozers for him to label; one old fashioned cable operated one, one really current new bulldozer, and one from somewhere in the middle.

We also talked about his hands on project and his snack.

I asked him to tell me about what he had read and asked if he had learned anything new about bulldozers from either of his books.  We stumbled upon a webpage all about the parts of a bulldozer and how they've changed through time; which he plans to read tomorrow.

We also learned about FactHound through one of his books; it's a safe way to look up non-fiction websites about topics for kids.  They can search by grade and subject to see what FactHound turns up.  It was great and we bookmarked a few more pages to read all about Bulldozers.

 It seemed like a great start to his project!
 
When Evan was done math  I asked him to pick a few books from his geography fair project for me to read to him.

Evan is going to learn about South Korea this year! 

We printed out a map and a flag for him to color.

While reading Halmoni and The Picnic and Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip, Evan came up with a snack idea.  We looked up a few "how to" ideas on Pinterest and even found a fun South Korean craft idea!



We talked about some of the differences between Korea and the United States-- their language, their food, and their customs.  Alec had sat with us to listen to Evan's stories and learned a bit more about Korea too.  He made further comparisons between China, Japan, and Korea.
 
Alec then went to read a book about his geography fair project-- Comparing the Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses.

Today he read The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War.  We talked about possible craft and snack ideas too.  He thought that kids might want to make the Trojan horse out of Popsicle sticks but soon realized that might be a bit much to try and do during the actual fair.  I encouraged him to try and make one to put on display that day.


He remembered reading a book that had a recipe for ambrosia and nectar in it and thought that might make a good snack.  Luckily between his description and my searching skills we were able to find and re-request the book so we can copy the recipes.

I was feeling great about all the work the boys had put into their projects today.

Usually once we can decide on a snack, a hands- on project, and we start our readings the rest of the report comes together quite nicely!
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Share Our Lives: 5 Items I Can't Live Without

Prime Purchases in February 2023

Let's Look At... Our Grocery haul