Our most recent read-aloud was Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. It was a long read, but a welcome distraction to the dreary weather outside. We all enjoyed the two intertwined story lines, but would have preferred a little less Dutch history. We especially liked the characters of Hans Brinker, Peter Van Mounen, and Jacob Poot. This book is full of heroic values as Hans is faced with many difficult decisions of moral magnitude.
Jared gave a presentation on one of the chapters from the book at our Book Group on Friday. For his persentation he researched three different items from the chapter. The first item was a foot stove. He drew a picture of the foot stove and explained that it was a wooden box that would have hot coals placed inside and warm air would come out of holes in the top. The next item was a Meerschaum smoking pipe that he carved out of soap. Meerschaum is a mineral that is skimmed off the top of some seas (like sea foam) and was used to make pipes because it doesn't burn or give off a flavor. So many Dutchmen smoked pipes that the distance a boat could travel was measured by how many pipes it would take the captain to smoke. The last item Jared presented was an ice boat. The picture above is the ice boat that he made from Legos. The ice boat had a sail to catch the wind and had runners under the boat with two triangles on either side, with runners, for balance. Jared did a great job with his presentation!
After a short activity about Dutch words and how many of our English words are of Dutch origin, we made some ice boats out of cardstock and paper clips and raced them on ice. Jared and his friend provide the wind for their boats.
While the boys were racing their ice boats, the girls made pinwheels to remind them of the Dutch windmills.
We finished the day off by making (and eating) wafels and windmill-shaped cookies. The Dutch were the first ones to introduce wafels to America. We also learned that the word easel is of Dutch origin and means donkey. Therefore an art easel is literally a painters donkey, which makes sense being that it carries the supplies just as a donkey would carry a person's baggage. So, with our minds full of ice skating, windmills, tulips, painters, guilders, and gold watches - we bid goodbye to the world of Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel...until the next looong, cold winter?
Jared gave a presentation on one of the chapters from the book at our Book Group on Friday. For his persentation he researched three different items from the chapter. The first item was a foot stove. He drew a picture of the foot stove and explained that it was a wooden box that would have hot coals placed inside and warm air would come out of holes in the top. The next item was a Meerschaum smoking pipe that he carved out of soap. Meerschaum is a mineral that is skimmed off the top of some seas (like sea foam) and was used to make pipes because it doesn't burn or give off a flavor. So many Dutchmen smoked pipes that the distance a boat could travel was measured by how many pipes it would take the captain to smoke. The last item Jared presented was an ice boat. The picture above is the ice boat that he made from Legos. The ice boat had a sail to catch the wind and had runners under the boat with two triangles on either side, with runners, for balance. Jared did a great job with his presentation!
After a short activity about Dutch words and how many of our English words are of Dutch origin, we made some ice boats out of cardstock and paper clips and raced them on ice. Jared and his friend provide the wind for their boats.
While the boys were racing their ice boats, the girls made pinwheels to remind them of the Dutch windmills. 
We finished the day off by making (and eating) wafels and windmill-shaped cookies. The Dutch were the first ones to introduce wafels to America. We also learned that the word easel is of Dutch origin and means donkey. Therefore an art easel is literally a painters donkey, which makes sense being that it carries the supplies just as a donkey would carry a person's baggage. So, with our minds full of ice skating, windmills, tulips, painters, guilders, and gold watches - we bid goodbye to the world of Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel...until the next looong, cold winter? 
2 comments:
Holy cow! The picture of Jared giving his presentation looks like a little Jason!
So much fun. You are always having incredible adventures
Post a Comment