Grand Canyon {in little words}

I have fallen very behind in posting our learning adventures. The following Grand Canyon pics are from our Arizona trip in March.

Awaiting.

Family.

Majesty.

Awe-inspiring.

Silhouettes.

Snow-dusted.

Together,

Brave.

High altitude giggles.

Meandering.

Snuggle.

Trail of Time.

Guide.

Heroes.

Daring duo.

Real world education.

Cliff.

Wisdom.

The History of Animation and Film Unit Study: Part Two

This unit study is inspired by Walt Disney World's park Disney's Hollywood Studio. We have never been to Disney World but are playing with the idea of a 2015 vacation there. Our unit studies are our fun and educational way to build excitement for that adventure.

We just recently returned from a whirlwind trip to San Marcos, Ca, for a wedding, a week at the Disneyland and California Adventure Park, and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon on Sunday. I am exhausted! Check back later for pictures of the trip and the race!

Before we left, Aidyn and I learned all about early film history from the 1820s to 1919. To see Part One where we watched early films and made a zoetrope, click here.

We watched some early silent films, including Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops and some very early Charlie Chaplin films while he worked with Mack Sennett.

Mack Sennett's An Interrupted Elopement (1912)

Mack Sennett's The Bangville Police (1914) First appearance of Keystone Kops

Mack Sennett's Making a Living (1914) First appearance by Charlie Chaplin

We read about Mack Sennett in his youth and how he dreamed of making movies with the book Mack Made Movies by Don Brown.

This is such a sweet book about his determination to realize his dream. It also echoed some terms we have been learning such as slapstick, Kinetoscope, nickelodeons, and other movie-related vocabulary.

Mack Made Movies inspired interest in Charlie Chaplin, so we watched snippets of the film Chaplin (1992 with Robert Downey Jr. as Chaplin). I would not recommend children watch this movie straight through as there are some scenes involving nudity that may be inappropriate to young viewers. I had seen the movie many times so I was careful which scene to choose.

Chaplin (1992) trailer

We watched scenes about his early childhood, vaudeville performances, unstable mother, and fascination with film. We also watched all scenes with Mack Sennett (played by Dan Aykroyd) and compared what we saw to the book.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Aidyn and I began reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a graphic-heavy dark novel about an orphaned clock keeper boy with secrets. Later in the book, we will meet Georges Melies, whom we have become familiar with in the last few weeks with his films The Vanishing Lady (1896), The Haunted Castle (1896) first horror film, our favorite A Trip to the Moon (1902), and Cinderella (1912).

While we were at Disneyland, we learned a bit more about animation and early film with a tour of the Disney Animation building inside Disney California Adventures.

Fun animator's desk at Off the Page

Inside the Animation building

We were fascinated by a Toy Story zoetrope inside and must have watched it for a solid ten minutes.

The zoetrope was a circular stand with Toy Story figurines in slightly different motions. As the zoetrope spins and the lights blink on and off, the figures appear to move.

Here is a video (not mine) of the Toy Story zoetrope:

After checking that out, we headed to the Animation Academy where we learned to draw Goofy from a real animator. At this point, we were so involved in the activity, I forgot to take pictures!

Here's a video (not mine) of the Animation Academy drawing Mickey Mouse.

Over on Main Street in Disneyland, completely by accident, we stumbled upon a few coin-operated mutoscopes.

Inside were flipbooks that turn as the viewer cranks the handle. We found one entitled "The Adventures of Charlie Chaplin." What luck!

"Forbidden Sweets" was aptly named for this mutoscope inside The Candy Palace.

We are still having a blast with this unit study, so check back soon for more. This week we're exploring cartoons and films from the 1920s including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Felix the Cat, Charlie Chaplin, and early Mickey Mouse shorts. 

First Day of Second Grade: Spelunking at the Moaning Caverns

Although we officially start today, we wanted to begin the school year with a field trip that included David. Yesterday, the whole family drove down to Vallecito, Ca. to go spelunking in the Moaning Caverns. We will be studying earth science for the first 18 weeks so a cavern tour was very fitting.

Highway signs have dotted our region for decades, but this was a first-time experience for all of us. We didn't really know what to expect but were willing to venture below the earth anyway.

Aidyn in the gift shop

Aidyn and me

The entrance to the Moaning Cavern sits inside the gift shop where narrow, steep stairs descend between craggy rocks. Soon enough, spelunkers reach a iron spiral staircase that reaches 165 feet into the cavern.

Aidyn, bravely descending the stairs

Aidyn and David, with Grandma trailing behind

My courageous boy

Aidyn and I, down the spiral staircase

Aidyn, me, and Grandma

Once we reached the bottom, it was astounding how far below the surface we were. There were interesting rock formations with funny names (like the Chocolate Waterfalls).

David snapped this picture while I was in awe of the depth

This is what I saw

Safe and sound at the bottom

This is the bottom of the cavern entrance where our tour guide explained that prehistoric people reached the bottom in only 7 seconds... (bones on display in a glass case by the gift shop)

Barely noticeable, this pool of water creates a moaning echo each time a drop of water falls in it

Aidyn is excited to return for zip-lining, which was closed while we were there. When he's 12, he wants to try rappelling into the cavern, but that looked terrifying from our side! 

All in all, not a bad first day of school although atypical. : )

How to Create a Fun Disneyland Unit Study

When there is fun to be had, learning happens spontaneously. Some would even say magically. We've done unit studies on the "serious stuff," but our most engaging learning adventures are born from fun unit studies, i.e, anything that has anything to do with Disneyland.

But how could Disneyland be transformed into a unit study? How do you divert attention away from the squees of "are we going? are we going?" to authentic learning?

How do you take a mammoth concept and widdle it down to something manageable?

I've written before about how to make a vacation to Disneyland a learning experience, using New Orleans Square as a theme. Here I will break it down again and focus, specifically, on Tomorrowland.

Depending on how much time you have to play with a unit study, start by:

1. Planning out possible units.

The Park is divided into 8 lands/areas:

a) Main Street U.S.A
b) Adventureland
c) New Orleans Square
d) Critter Country
e) Frontierland
f) Fantasyland
g) Tomorrowland
h) Toontown

Depending on your time, you can plot out one land per month, one land per week, or let them all blend in together seamlessly.


Once you have an idea of what overhead units to cover, you can start:

2. Rounding-up sub-topics to cover.

My preliminary list is mostly scribbles of ideas about little topics within a land that we could cover. If your children have visited Disneyland previously, you can ask their help.

Let's think about Tomorrowland.

Rides and attractions in Tomorrowland include:

• Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters
• Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
• Space Mountain
• Innoventions
• Captain EO
• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
• Astro Orbitor
• Autopia

There's certainly the HUGE theme of space to cover, but what few visitors know about Tomorrowland is its commitment to the agrifuture.

What?

Walt Disney predicted that an escalating population and growing commercial and industrial properties would leave little room for the farmlands of yesteryear. He decided that the people of the future would landscape commercial properties with practical and edible plants such as fruit trees, herb gardens and vegetable rows. Most of these plants are so aesthetically placed that most guests do not realize that the landscape is edible, a comparable secret garden.

You could, then, also cover topics such as:

• the agrifuture
• space travel
• inventions
• technology
• automobiles
• ocean life (via Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage)

That list is still so general and SO HUGE. You certainly don't have to cover everything, and if you try to, it will probably feel comparable to riding the Tea Cups too fast. Therefore, take your time, plot out the most interesting topics for your family and allow yourself to venture down a side trail in learning.

The next step is:

3. Paring down and finding your resources.

As an example, here is my list of Tomorrowland topics:

• space (the serious: planets, asteroids and comets, moons and space travel; the fun: aliens)
• ocean life (fish, marine mammals, coral, jellyfish, shellfish)

Keep it simple.

Since these are child-friendly topics, resources abound on the internet, through the library and on Youtube.

a)Visit the library to find appropriate books
b) Round-up appropriate videos (they don't all have to be educational so long as you're talking about them.)
c) Make Youtube playlists of appropriate videos
d) Visit craft sites or consult craft books for themed projects
e) Think about relevent science topics and experiments to cover
f) Brainstorm any fun food to enjoy with this unit
g) Collect (from the library, Youtube, Pandora, etc.) music fitting your theme.

Rounding-up resources may lead you to new ideas. Embrace them! Once you've got everything collected:

4. Make a tentative plan.

Sample Plan for Tomorrowland:

Reading:

Space Boy by Leo Landry
There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library)
Here Come the Aliens! by Colin McNaughton
Non-fiction books on planets, astronauts and space travel

Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz
Other library books on ocean life

Videos/Movies:

The Universe: The Mega Collection
The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor
Library videos about space
More library videos about ocean life
Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
Finding Nemo

Crafts/Art Projects:

-Make a spaceship out of tubes
-Create an alien from random art supplies (foam, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, paint, stickers)
-Splash paint stars on a black poster board. Paint planets, asteroids, and comets.

Science:

-Create a Saturn planet from a foam ball and learn about buoyancy by placing "Saturn" in a sink full of water.
-Chart the phases of the moon together
-Make a wave bottle.

Fun Food:

- Make a Mars cake (or an Earth, Saturn, or Jupiter cake!)

- Make sun and planet cookies (of differing sizes) and line them up according to position relative to the sun
- Make tuna and seaweed (spinach leaves) sandwiches

Memory making/Field trips:

- Go star-gazing at night
- Visit a space center
- Visit an aquarium (even if it's only the one at the local pet store!)

Character:

- Make "just keep swimming" your motto for the month! Talk about what determination and progress means. Model what it means to "push through" and award your children for their efforts.


And most of all: Have Fun!

A wealth of information, fun topics, and exciting moments awaits in every unit study. This is only a sample of what your unit study could look like. Imagine how much your children will absorb and remember through exploring space and ocean life in fun, enjoyable ways! Not only that, but when they stroll through Tomorrowland, the rockets swirling on the Astro Orbitor will fascinate, the space journey on Star Tours will excite, and shooting evil aliens on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters will remind them on their own goofy alien creations. Submerging below the sea on Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage will delight them as they spy familiar ocean creatures.

If planning unit studies around Disneyland still seems too mammoth a task, wait and check back often for my e-book on Disneyland Unit Studies!