Pumpkin Globes

Inspired by Pinterest (of course), we just completed a fun project of painting pumpkins to look like globes. It was a big undertaking, but well worth it. We made these globes during the first three weeks of our Friday co-op. We're doing an entire year of "Around the World" Geography and this was the perfect "kick-off" project. Here are some pictures and a step-by-step how-to guide. Enjoy!

 

My first completed sample. I had a great time experimenting with different techniques and templates. I ended up with two samples that looked pretty good. Then the challenge became figuring out how to make it do-able for 20 children in grades 1-6.

 

 

We were fortunate to get the pumpkins from one of the mom's sisters for only $1.20 each!
Hauling them down the stairs was a big chore... but we managed to get our own little mini-pumpkin-patch set up before the students arrived.

 

 

The task for day one --- paint those pumpkins blue. You need to use acrylic paint in order for it to adhere to the pumpkin.

 



We managed to keep the mess to a minimum!

 

At the second class session we helped the children paint the continents on their pumpkins.

 

First, we had them paint white on the bottom of their pumpkins for Antarctica.

 

 

 

Next, we had them draw the Equator by stretching a rubber band around the middle of their pumpkin and then tracing around the top of the rubber band with a dark colored Sharpie.

 

 

 

I made foam stencils for all of the continents except Antarctica.(We just had them paint the bottoms of the pumpkins white.) Making these stencils was challenging! It's difficult to get a very basic shape that will translate well onto a round ridged pumpkin.

 

 

 

I attached a duct tape tab to each stencil for gripping.

 

We had the students use brushes to paint a thin layer of paint on each stencil. Then we helped them press the stencils onto their pumpkins. The stamps worked "so-so." They did leave a general shape of the continents. The students had to do a lot of filling in with their brushes though. I was very impressed by how hard they worked. Fortunately, I had lots of moms helping me. Unfortunately, I did not get to take ANY pictures of this process. It was an "all hands on deck" experience.

We had them do Africa first, lining it up with the equator. It was important to have several sample pumpkins and globes available to help us place the continents in the right spots.





After stamping Africa and painting on the island of Madagascar, we moved on to Asia.

It was fairly easy to place the rest of the continents based on their locations relative to Africa, Asia, and the Equator. We tried to add as many of the islands as we could.

Before the third class session I went in and sprayed all the pumpkins with a glossy sealer. This made them shiny and hopefully kept the paint from peeling easily.

When I made my sample pumpkins, I labeled the continents and oceans with a Sharpie. I decided to make laminated tags for the children to use as labels for their pumpkins. At our third class session they used flat thumbtacks and/or straight pins to attach the labels.


 

The children worked very hard on these pumpkins and they are very proud of them. I think they turned out great!

 

Book Club Fun!

What can you make with these ingredients? 

 

 

Freckle Juice!

 

Our book club is up and running again and we had a super fun meeting this week based on the classic book Freckle Juice by Judy Blume.

 

 

We had a special guest at this meeting.... my nephew Carter! (He spent a few days with us while his school was closed for teacher inservice days.)

 

We always begin our meetings by sharing books we've been reading.

 

At this meeting we played a fun game to see how well the boys remembered the details of Freckle Juice. I asked questions and they wrote down their answers on white boards. For each correct answer, the boys received a blue "freckle" (sticker).

All of the boys LOVED this book... and they did really well with the questions!

We had a freckle epidemic!!!

Meanwhile, on the front porch.... the girls book club read about St. Francis and made pine cone bird feeders!

Our next Freckle Juice activity was a "secret juice tasting" game. Each boy got to choose two cups of "mystery juice" and try to guess which kinds of juice they were drinking.

 

Next, we followed the recipe in the book and made our own batch of freckle juice. (In the book, the main character really wants freckles. A precocious classmate sells him a secret recipe for freckle juice. The boy makes the juice, drinks it,  and gets really sick while not growing a single freckle.)

 

This is what our batch of freckle juice looked like.... Be GLAD you can't smell it. It was really repulsive!

 

Almost all of the boys actually tasted the stuff! I gave them each a tiny amount of freckle juice in one cup and some water in another cup. I made them go outside to drink it (in case they spit it out).

The consensus was ---- the stuff is yucky... and it does not make freckles grow.

Here's our newest book club friend..... Baby Bella! She was right in on all the action! (Congrats to our friends on their new bundle of joy!)

The girls refused to miss out on trying the freckle juice!

 

For their final activity, the boys worked in pairs to create their own recipes for potions that would have magical results. They had to write the purpose of the recipe, the ingredients and amounts, and the directions for how to make it and how much to drink. They took it so seriously and worked together really well.

 

Notice our little monkey with the armpit stitches.
Why must he be standing on the chair during this activity?????

My friend Becky was without a doubt the most brave and adventurous person of the day. She actually tasted the freckle juice AND each of the potions. She was our judge. She chose one potion that was the least disgusting. They used the strategy of only using sweet ingredients. One participant was actually upset that his concoction did not taste delicious. ;) I was just happy that nobody got sick (as far as I know... haven't heard from Becky though).

 

This was actually our third book club meeting of this school year. We are putting an emphasis on poetry this year.... reading and writing a variety of forms of poems. We are planning to compile poetry books for the boys with all of their projects from the year.

 

We read and recited poems from this fun book ----

 

We read this end-of-summer story and wrote acrostic poems about summer ---

 

We've also written cinquain poems about each other and "all about me" poems about ourselves. We've got so many fun books and projects planned for the rest of the year. I just love seeing these friends have fun learning together.

Adam and Ray have finally reached the point where they are truly enjoying reading. Adam actually read Freckle Juice all by himself -- his first chapter book. If I can instill the love of reading in these boys, I'll consider my schooling efforts a success!
 

Monkey Business

As you may know, Adam really thinks he's a monkey.... or at least he behaves like one. He's always climbing.

 

 

We have a magnolia tree in front of our house that has low branches that are easy to climb. Adam climbs this tree every day.

 

Yesterday it got the better of him.

 

After a rainy night and morning, the sun finally came out. We broke from schoolwork and I began to prepare lunch. The boys went outside. Two minutes later Adam came inside crying. He had "slipped" in the tree and scratched his side. I took him upstairs, took his shirt off, laid him on my bed, and took a look.

 

Then I called Jon immediately. I knew we needed to head to Urgent Care. In addition to a big scrape all the way up his side, he had a very deep gaping wound in his armpit. I honestly thought he had ripped a big piece of flesh out. It wasn't bleeding much. I gave him a damp washcloth and he clutched it under his arm.

 

I am so glad Jon's office is so close to home. He rushed home. We all got in the car (including my nephew Carter who was staying with us) and headed to Urgent Care. It was closed. So we had to head downtown to Children's Hospital. Fortunately, Adam stayed pretty calm. Ray and Carter were very well-behaved. And we got in and out of the ER pretty quickly.

 

Side note ---- The newly renovated ER at Children's is BEAUTIFUL. I just hope to never see it again.

 

We really got great care. The doctor came in with a whole group of medical students. Adam seemed so small and so shy as they worked with him. When they asked to see his wound he told them they could see it, but they COULD NOT touch it.

 

The doctor explained that he had not actually lost a chunk of skin. It was a deep cut that could be stitched. Fortunately, there was no muscle damage or anything more serious.

 

When we explained that he would have stitches, Adam's lip trembled and he looked at me and said, "Not TODAY Mommy!" He couldn't believe they were going to do the stitches right away. He was very scared and sad. I was SO glad Jon was there to hold him while they did the numbing injections and stitches. (I took the other boys out to the lobby.)

Imagine having injections... and stitches... in your armpit. Yikes!

 

 

 

He did very well and was quite happy to go home with a popsicle and a Gatorade.

 

 

He was happy to hear that he can't get a shower for three days (!) but sad that for two weeks he can't play soccer or climb or do the monkey bars (at least his callused hands may heal a bit).

 

We have to clean the wound three times a day and he hates that. And I don't know how to keep him from climbing and jumping around so much. I might have to restrain him!

 

(This picture was taken a year ago when we left for our Niagara Falls anniversary trip. My dad, Mary, and the boys are waving farewell. I just wanted to find a picture of the tree.)

So, the monkey is "on the bench" and "out of the tree" for a while. We are VERY thankful that his injury was not more serious. Anytime you visit the children's hospital, you have to remember and pray for the families who are there fighting HUGE battles with horrible injuries and diseases. I can handle armpit stitches and happily take my little monkey home.

 

 So that's how we spent our Monday! Hope yours was lots more fun. Have you ever prayed for someone's armpit? Please pray for Adam's! ;)