Canada Week

This summer we're doing little formal schoolwork. What we're doing instead is learning all about a different country or U.S. state each week. Last week we learned about Canada. Here is a list of what we did to learn about Canada:

• Read/watch miscellaneous library books and DVDs about Canada
• Read aloud of an easy adaptation of Anne of Green Gables
• Go to the zoo and identify animals that live in Canada
• Color the Canadian flag and a map of Canada (easy to find these on the internet)
• Food: maple syrup, butter tarts, apple juice, currants, poutine 
• Culture: Invite a Canadian-American friend over and have her share a little about Canada with us
• Watch some shows that take place in Canada (Dudley Do Right, Red Green Show)
• "Reverse curling" on the garage floor (freeze disk of ice with a pipe cleaner handle in it, and use chalk to draw the skip)
• Go camping in the U.S. Rockies (they are fairly similar to Canadian Rockies as to vegetation, appearance, and wildlife)
• Craft: Make cheese curds for poutine (I ended up doing this one alone, my kids having shown no interest in it)
• Computer: free time to play on websites Poisson Rouge and UpToTen since they are bilingual French/English sites
• Listen to Inuit music, Canadian folk music, and Great Big Sea (a Canadian folk-rock band know for sea shanties) (Grooveshark was a good resource for finding much of this music)