1st Grade: Week 14 Highlights

I have lots of pictures this week. Let me start by posting pictures of our Ming bowl from last week. We finished it up this week and it came out pretty cool! I have a feeling this will be on display in our home for years to come. Here, "Rupert" is decorating it:

And here it is all finished!

History: This week we learned about ancient Africa. Not a lot is known about ancient Africa because, unlike Egypt, not many artifacts have been found there. We did learn that the Sahara Desert was not always a desert, though, and we read some old African folk tales. We finished up the week with an African feast! We had Grandma and Grandpa over for the feast and we tried some African dishes like Papaya stir-fried rice:

Fried plantains:

Date Chewies:

Chicken with figs:

And banana and date bars:

We also painted our faces with West African designs that I found here. We made instruments and had a little African concert as well. It was a fun time, and the food was great!

Science: This week we did an experiment to see what would happen to an egg if we left it in a jar of vinegar for three days. Here it is when we first poured the vinegar in. It seems to be sitting on the bottom of the jar and there are tiny bubbles forming all over the shell. The acid in the vinegar is reacting with the calcium carbonate in the shell and carbon dioxide is being released as little bubbles.

Here it is later, floating now. There is a collection of foam floating on the top of the vinegar.

Here the shell is completely gone! All that is left is the thin membranes that were just inside the shell.

And here is our egg compared with a regular one. It is bigger than the regular egg because it has absorbed some of the vinegar through osmosis.

Grammar: I found a song about pronouns that is sung to the tune of "When the Saints go Marching in". I may use it. We'll see how it goes over with the little man.

ASL: As long as we are talking highlights...We finally broke down and looked up the sign for "fart". Ahhh...the joys of parenting a boy. I know you're curious, and it really is a great sign, so here you go. Just click on the letter "F" at the top, and you'll find "fart" in the column on the left. Enjoy!

We're taking next week off for a Thanksgiving break! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!