Why is the moon orange tonight?

Moon over Tennessee

This was the beautiful sight that greeted my children and me tonight.  We were so excited to take binoculars out to the park and take a look at the spectacular harvest moon.

The harvest moon is what we call the full moon closest to the fall equinox.  Years ago, this moon was a signal that the fall harvest season was upon us and helped light the way for farmers working hard into the night.  The harvest moon also marks when many species of birds begin a long migration south.  It can be a beautiful sight to see these birds flying at night against the bright moon.  The orange/red color comes from the dust and clouds in our atmosphere filtering the light reflecting off the moon.

Times like these are great for hooking kids on astronomy!  ETC Montessori had some great three part cards and control chart for free here.  Montessori Printshop has them at a very reasonable price here.  Deb at Living Montessori Now blogged about an astronomy theme a while back and listed quite a few resources.  View that blog here.

Even if you can't fit in lessons on the moon, get out your binoculars and enjoy!

Little House Activities Part II

There are so many beautiful parts of our country that have connections to the past.  I currently live in Tennessee, which was never a part of the country where the Ingalls or Wilder families settled, but by doing a bit of research, I was able to find relics of the past in the Smoky Mountains that 1. gave my kids an idea of how people lived in those times, 2.  is within a day's drive, and 3. was free!

 We visited Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park.  This area of the park is home to many examples of log homes and buildings for exploring as well as a living history area.  Schools nearby to the mountains are able to go here for field trips but curriculum materials are provided on the national park website for free.  I found their lesson plans to be very helpful.

Elijah Oliver's Cabin

Pumpkin and Little Dude enjoyed exploring the home and buildings around Cades Cove. They were able to see how the buildings were constructed and imagine how a family would have lived.

log construction up close

springhouse

Little Dude loved exploring around the Springhouse, a building built as the family's "refrigerator." The cold running water cooled food to keep it fresh.

wood shingles of springhouse

 Pumpkin and Little Dude had a lesson from their Papa on how this log barn must have been constructed.  Everywhere we looked, it was clear how independent and hard-working these settlers were.

We moved on to explore a grist mill and were lucky enough to meet up with a musician playing the guitar, banjo, and dulcimer.  Also that day was a demonstration of making sorghum molasses.  The kids were able to watch the sorghum cane being crushed by a mill powered by a friendly mule and boiled down into sweet syrup.  We tasted the molasses and it was the best I've tasted.  We bought some home with us but you can get it here.

a buck we met walking on a trail in Cades Cove

Mr. Ross, a frequent performer in Cades Cove

mule-powered mill crushing sorghum cane

boiling down cane juice to make molasses

Sorghum Cane

molasses on fresh bread - yum!

Sorghum molasses passed the test!  Both Pumpkin and Little Dude asked for seconds!

Recycle Laminating Scraps

If you are like me, then your trash can mostly contains thousands of pieces of laminated paper.  Laminating materials to protect them is a great idea, but I hate the waste!  Below are some ideas for recycling them.  If you have other ideas, please leave a comment!

Trimming off edges of laminated materials  = waste.

Look familiar? Read on.

1. Trim into uniform sizes

2. Let the size determine the project!

If you have lots of long strips like the above, use them to write sentences for students to copy, or directions for them to follow.

Smaller pieces can be used to hold small pieces of yarn or string for projects.  Just cut four small slits a centimeter in length.  Put beginning of string through one slit, wrap the rest of string around and secure on another slit.

more durable than cardboard & perfect to organize string

Have students use scraps to create bookmarks.  Give them a hole punch, yarn, scissors and markers.  Have them illustrate something they are learning, or practice penmanship by writing.

scrap bookmarks