Mississippi Unit
MS is one of the largest cotton producing states in the country. We decided to focus on cotton for this unit.
K's "C is for Cotton" art
I found this Puffy Paint recipe and the girls made cotton candy pictures.
I bought the Wilton Decorating Squeeze Bottles at JoAnn's for a little over $2.
They got a kick out of seeing how the paint puffs up after it's microwaved.
Baby bear had some fun too!
He usually doesn't get to paint but because this was made with all edible ingredients I let him go at it.
When the kids ask to buy cotton candy, I typically say no because it's just sugar. However, I thought it would be a fun way to end our unit with that special treat. I don't have pics to show; it was eaten up fast :-).
Missouri Unit
Cotton may be a fun crop to study; however, it caused lots of problems for Southern farmers in the late 1800s. Constant cotton planting ruined the soil and in some years entire crops were destroyed by bugs. Then along came a scientist/inventor who devoted his time to finding other crops to improve the lives of these farmers who were mostly African American sharecroppers.
For our Missouri Unit, we decided to study none other than George Washington Carver who was born in Diamond, MO. He developed the Crop Rotation Method which taught farmers to alternate soil-depleting cotton crops with soil-enriching crops such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He discovered 300 different products for peanuts and more than 100 useful products from sweet potatoes!
Carver did not patent or profit from most of his inventions. He freely gave them to society.
He said, "God gave them to me. How can I sell them to someone else?"
He said, "God gave them to me. How can I sell them to someone else?"
We started our unit by making the Best-Ever Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
The name says it all; they were DELICIOUS!
The name says it all; they were DELICIOUS!
They also did a peanut butter video project that involved their homeschool co-op friends and a few others.
The Introduction Video
Unfortunately the 2nd video wouldn't load, but you can see it here.
This is the finished pictograph. This project was so fun & cheap! We used left over poster board from our Rosa Parks project and printed the pics from online.
Other Activities - GWC Coloring Sheet, Peanut Observation Sheet, Peanut Life Cycle Activity
Books Read - Welcome to the USA: Missouri, A Picture Book of George Washington Carver, & George Washington Carver: Teacher, Scientist, Inventor
6 comments:
Your creativity never ceases to amaze me. PtL for your talents, treasures, and time. Love you!
Also, the videos were very well done. What a great idea having other kids email their uses for peanut butter. Kuddos to Carysse and Kalia! Love, Grandma
The girls are budding reporters, scientists, teachers, researchers and anything else they choose to be. They are so articulate and smart....and pretty. Excellent!! Thank you for sharing them with us. Mrs. Linda loving the Turner Girls.
Thanks, Ms. Linda! :-)
I love your activities for George Washington Carver! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be using some in my first grade classroom.
Thanks so much!😊
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