A New Path to Follow: The Glorious Flight {FIAR}

Sunday, August 24, 2014

This week we rowed The Glorious Flight: Across the English Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice & Martin Provensen. This Caldecott winner about the first man who flew across the English Channel. The story takes place in the early 1900's and is a great story about perseverance.

History

We started out by looking through the book at the pictures and noticing all the things that looked different from today. The boys pointed out the clothing, the cars, and how everyone walked around with an umbrella(although, that is not something different from Thailand!) We watched a video about Louis Bleriot's flight across the English Channel.

Human Relations

In our story, Louis gets in an accident and both parties get upset. We talked about how we need to say we are sorry if we make a mistake or hurt someone. It went along great with our virtue from last week, forgiving. I also found a great pin laying out the 5 steps you should take to have a sincere apology. I loved how it said you need to have the "right heart". It brought up a good discussion about having an authentic apology and not just saying it because you have too.

Geography

We read a book about France and learned what it would be like to visit there. We also read one of my favorite books, Children Just Like Me by Barnabas & Anabel Kindersley. We have looked at this book so many times that when I flipped to France's page, the boys said "Oh, that is Rachel, she lives in a castle." I love how this book gives you a glimpse into life for children in other countries. We also did part of our lapbook page from Homeschool Share. We talked about the flag and why it is called the Tricolor.

Inventors

We were really impressed how long it took Louis to build his first real airplane. Six Years! We talked about perseverance and how we should keep on trying even when we want to give up. We read a couple great books on inventors. The boys also had to draw an invention and tell us about it. They loved this. They invented Minecraft Land, a floating soccer field, & real Minecraft robots. Minecraft is a huge thing in our house! Now they are trying to figure out how to be great inventors.

Airplanes

We talked a little about airplanes and the other great airplane inventors, The Wright Brothers. They did a plane coloring page. I also borrowed a great activity book from a friend all about the Wright Brothers and made copies of the word searches and cross word puzzles about the Wrights Brothers. The boys then made paper airplanes from this awesome book that Lincoln got as a birthday gift. They had a great time flying airplanes all over the house and made targets to hit.

Roman Numerals
All of the planes that Louis Bleriot builds are labeled with Roman numerals. We read a fun book explaining Roman Numerals and then the boys practiced making Roman Numerals with gummy worms. They loved this activity.

Art
The boys colored a sky scene in pastels on black paper. Then, they painted painted Popsicle sticks and a clothes pin, assembled into a plane, and glued the airplane onto the sky scene. I love how these turned out.