We are quickly approaching the end of the school year and that means we are starting to wrap up curriculum. In Social Studies, I have saved the best for last. This week kicked off our first of ten countries. We will be learning about and studying one country every week for the rest of the school year.
My plans for these lessons will be to:
Learn to find the country on the map
Learn the countries capital
Learn the countries capital
Learn to say Hello in that countries native language
Color a picture of the countries flag
Google search pictures of that country
Look at the language in a simple way (colors or numbers
Listen to that countries national anthem
Prepare a traditional meal and/or dessert
Make a craft that represents the country
We started our journey in Mexico.
She is trying to locate Mexico. She was pretty far off at this point. So I tried reminding her that the U.S. and Mexico are neighbors
That did the trick! She found it!
Coloring Sombreros and we worked on colors in Spanish
For our craft this week, we made Mexican tissue paper flowers. It was inexpensive, cheap and pretty mess free. Definitely a winner in my books.
To start we took 6 pieces of tissue paper, stacked them and then fan folded them
Next we cut them in half and used floral wire to secure them closed.
Last step was to gently fluff them up
Our finish product turned out great!
To celebrate our final day studying Mexico we decided to have a fiesta!
We made burritos with my homemade tortillas (the recipe for those is deserving of it's own blog post). While cooking we listened and danced to some mariachi music. And when daddy got home we greeted him with a big hola!
Weighing the tortilla balls served as a great math lesson.
We had a great time and it was definitely the highlight of the week and a great way to start our "trip"around the world. I found myself thinking later that not every week will be this easy. Planning a Mexican fiesta wasn't exactly outside of my comfort zone. But, incorporating food from Kenya may be a little trickier. But, we will give it our best shot and a few searches on Pinterest will hopefully help out some!
And what party is complete without dessert!
That, that is a homemade Sopapilla. I never realized they would be so easy and fun to make. Probably not something that I would make on a regular basis. But, when one is having a fiesta they should go all out right? I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com
4 C. flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
4 T shortening
1 1/2 c. water
plenty of oil for frying
Directions
1. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Mix in shortening either with a fork or I used my Kitchen-aid mixer. Mix in warm water and knead or stir until the dough is smooth. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.
2. Roll dough on floured board until it is 1/4" to 1/8" thick. Cut into 3" squares. Heat oil to 375. Fry until golden brown on both side. Drain on paper towels and serve hot!
Enjoy
After devouring our sweet treat it was time for these girls to head off to bed!
With our passport stamped that we have "been" to Mexico we head off to our next destination... Peru!
We hope you will join us.
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