Fossil Friday!

It's Fossil Friday in the school room and I wanted to share with you what we all did for our fossil lesson with our homeschool group. The kids got to dig for dinosaur bones from a plaster of paris brick with pick tools and a hammer.

These are real fossil specimens given to us by the Burpee Museum of Natural History. Educators have an awesome opportunity to borrow learning boxes from the museum for a small fee and they are an awesome way to get our group together learn.

Due to booking issues with our local library, I decided to host this event in our home. Knwing we had a fairly large group coming, I decided to create stations, so that the kids were not restricted to their tables and the activities could be spread about. I also raided our classroom library for as many books on Fossils, minerals and rocks we could find and used those to decorate the space.

I had 3 tables set up with a booklet we would all be making and I spread the fossils throughout the tables, to encourage them to move from table to table. Each table had a variety of craft supplies, so they would only have to share with their table and not the entire room.

Using the awesome TOOBs from Safari Ltd., I made up these awesome checklists that you can get HERE (Print and laminate them to use over and over again)and then I dumped the TOOBS in bins and covered them in rice. This alone makes a fantastic sensory bin, but when paired with a magnifying glass, brush and checklist, it becomes a hunt to learn. They were told to dig for one, match it to the list and read the name and then check it off. 

Using a Google search, I came across this Types of Rock sheet, but it was afrom a pay site for the entire activity and as I was doing this on my own dime with a small fee to pay for the box from the group, I decided to keep hunting. I used the cover sheet and shrunk it down to fit 4 per page, so that I would not waste that much ink and paper and then did the same for the definitions. Add them to paper for a longer backgroun and they were fun and easy to make! It was a great event after everything!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Toob Much Fun Around the World

Yay for Wednesday right?! It means we've made it through the hardest part of the week and from here it's all downhill, but in a good way! When we get busy with so much "stuff", I know it's time for a break from book learning and my kids always think these breaks are just us having fun, little do they realize that there is still a lot of learning going on!

If there is one thing that we love in this house, it is Safari Ltd! I've written about their other TOOBS HERE as well! I love coming up with games to their toys. The kids always love playing and never realize they are learning. Add to that the fact that my boys are tactile learners and they are absorbing this all through play! What mommy wouldn't enjoy that? We keep a majority of our figures in this IKEA bin with a lid that sores perfectly in our massive expedit shelf also from IKEA, in the playroom. There is a photo on the outside, so that the kids know where it belongs and what belongs in it. We've even used their TOOBs in creating a volcano that you can read about HERE!

For today's game, I tucked a brand new World Landmarks Toob in my purse, some index cards and we were ready to hit the library! First I laid out all the landmarks and let them hold them and check them out. We discussed what each was called and then they were told to research where they are located.

 

The kids took off for books, the computer and one even asked the librarian. They were told that as long as they followed the library rules of no running or being loud, they could find the answers in any way necessary, but they would be asked questions about each landmark as well so it was best to be prepared.

I set out the location cards on the table and had them match them up. Once matched, they had to tell me 3 facts about each landmark and ask any questions they may have. 

This game was so successful that I decided to combine the landmarks toob with the Around the World toob and create this game in a more permanent way. I also added the names of each landmark on green cards and then the locations on pink cards. The idea is to find the name of the monument first and place the landmark on that card and then find the location and add that card to the pile. Adding in checked-out books from the library, we can read about each one and make this game last for months! I teach everything to mastery, so it's great to be able to just take it easy learning everything about these locations and pieces.

Everything tucks away into this small container for portability and the ability to take it with us wherever we go!

Exactly! Enjoy every single minute my friends, it goes by all too fast!

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