Chinese/Lunar New Year & Extreme Weather Unit: Earthquakes & Volcanoes

Chinese/Lunar New Year is coming soon!  We're getting ready by learning all about China and traditions there.

We're also studying extreme weather right now.  Currently we're focusing on earthquakes and volcanoes.

To keep life organized by weekly unit studies we've combined all of these activities into one post: Chinese/Lunar New Year & Extreme Weather Unit: Earthquakes and Volcanoes.  

Chinese/Lunar New Year and Extreme Weather Unit: Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Here's what's on our shelves this week!

Chinese Zodiac Nomenclature Cards

The kiddos will match up cards correctly, and then place animals on proper cards.

Source:  I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack II. This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Zodiac Signs First Vowel Sound Identification

I've noticed that Bulldozer and Princess are having a hard time identifying vowel sounds in words. It doesn't matter if the sounds are long sounds or short sounds.  I'm hoping this activity will help them improve those skills.

Source:  I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack II.  This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Zodiac Animal Spelling Words

We had a lot of fun with the intro to this activity today.  Each kiddo was given a plastic bag with a dragon head and tail to color.  Once complete, we pulled out all the letter cards in the Set 1 envelope.  The kiddos took turns making Dancing Dragons out of the letters of each word.

Dinomite's Dancing Dragon

Princess' Dancing Dragon

Bulldozer's Dancing Dragon

At the end of the week, we'll replace the letter cards with a real body for our dragons.

Source: I created the spelling list for this activity.  The free dragon head and tail printable can be found at Craft Jr.

Chinese Dragon Odd & Even Numbers

It's been a while since we reviewed odd and even numbers. To my surprise, everyone remembered! Hurray!  The cards can also be used for counting by 2's etc.

Source:   I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack.  This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Measuring Chinese Dragons

I wanted to practice measuring one more time before our unit is complete.  I still can't believe how quickly the kids caught on to this and loved it.  Once again this activity is a hit. The kiddos measure the dragons and match them up to their inch number cards.

Source:   I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack.  This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Greater Than/Less Than Clip Cards

Here's another review activity on our shelves this week.  The kiddos weren't as great at remembering how to do this one, but by the end of today they finally remembered.  Bulldozer surprised me, in that he caught on the quickest.

Source:   I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack.  This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Adding with Pandas

I couldn't resist using Pandas for our addition practice this week!  As I suspected, it's been a big hit!

Source:   I created the cards used for this activity as part of my China Printable Pack.  This is a subscriber's only freebie. See directions at the bottom of this post on how to access your free copy.

Asia, the Continent

The kiddos will cover the map of Asia with play dough, refreshing their memory of it's shape. 

I chose a physical map so they could notice the topography of the Continent and identify specific countries.  

The color yellow is used because it's the Montessori color associated with Asia.

Source: The idea for this activity came from To the Lesson!  The free map for this activity can be found at Theodora.com.

Flag of China

Even though the kiddos aren't crazy about flags, I still love to incorporate them when I can.  The kiddos will color the flag of China correctly.

Source: The free map for this activity can be found at Homeschool Creations.

Largest Cities or Towns of China

It's one thing to learn about the rich history of China, but another to realize what China is like today.  I wanted to make sure the kiddos understood the difference.

The kiddos will put the cities or towns in order from biggest to smallest.  If they so desire, they can find and mark them on the map.  (I had to write two of the cities/towns in that weren't already shown on the map.)

Source:  I created the printable for this activity. The Largest Cities or Towns in China Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Historic Places of China Nomenclature Cards

China is such a beautiful country with so much history.  I loved teaching the kiddos about the places on each of these cards.

Source: I created this printable. The China Cards are are Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Animals of Asia Nomenclature Cards

Here is our newest set of animal cards, made specifically for Dinomite.  I would not be surprised if he becomes some type of animal scientist when he grows up. He knows SO MUCH already.  

The kiddos will look at all the different animals on the cards, sorting them as they wish.  A special thanks to my husband for researching all of the animals and making the cards!

Source:  My husband created this printable. The Animals of Asia Printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, be sure to follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Layers of the Earth

As I was planning our study of earthquakes and volcanoes, I realized we couldn't learn about them without understanding a lot about the layers of the Earth.  This was our intro activity.  I was so surprised the kiddos understood it all so well.

Source: These free cards can be found at The Helpful Garden.

How the Earth's Tectonic Plates Move

After learning about the layers of the Earth, we focused on the layers of the Mantle, to better understand how earthquakes and volcano eruptions happen.  

I found this really cool visual activity that I couldn't resist using.  The kiddos loved it and completely understood the difficult concepts. I was super excited!

The kiddos create the different ways the plates shift using the Oreo cookies, matching the diagrams provided.  They loved taking it one step further, having the plates collide, etc. to create earthquakes.

Source: This activity can be found HERE.

What an Earthquake Looks Like on the Surface

It's one thing to understand what happens below the surface to cause an earthquake. It's another to understand how it affects the surface and what happens.  

The kiddos poured rice on the green paper, covering a metal cake pan.  They liked to say that the rice grains were people.  

Then, they took the spoon and banged it against the side of the pan, (the mantle movement & collision under the surface).  

It was quite entertaining to watch what happened to the rice.  We then tried the same thing with lentils.

To tie the activity into the history of China, I included picture cards of the earthquake that hit in 2008 causing tens of thousands of deaths, destruction and more.

Source: I found this fabulous idea at The-Science-Site.com.  

Parts of a Volcano

I loved these cards when I saw them.  I was so thankful I didn't have to make my own.  (That wouldn't have gone well.)  

The kiddos will match up pictures with words and hopefully learn all the parts by the end of the week. I told them if they all could do that, we'd make a volcano and have it erupt.

Source:  This free printable can be found at The Helpful Garden.

How to Draw a Horse

Since this new year is the year of the horse, I thought it quite fitting to learn how to draw one.

Transfer with Chopsticks

The kiddos will transfer pom poms from one bowl to the other using chopsticks.

Chinese Writing

The kiddos will paint Chinese Number signs or days of the week signs. They had a lot of fun with this today, especially Dinomite.

Source: The free printable used in this activity can be found at Luxury, Travel & Lifestyle.

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