ON THE FARM

BOBCATHome Learning Digest

This month we’re taking a trip to the farm. A farm is land where food and other crops are grown. Farms often have barns and other buildings to hold equipment like tractors. Many farms also have animals that are grown for food, like cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, and goats. Farmers might have pets on their farm, too, like cats to keep the mice out of the barn and dogs to help herd animals. Farms can be small, with one or two families living and working to maintain the farm. Others are very, very large farms that span many plots of land, called commercial farms.

“Farmer”A Documentary on a 4-generation WV Farm

These are fun family activities. These are NOT homework or for a grade.Please take some time to complete our survey on November’s issue by December 4th for a chance at a special prize!

MATHBArnyard math

practice a variety of math skills with these barnyard activities.

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SCIENCEEGG-SPIRIMENT

What happens when you leave an egg in vinegar? Click Here

Grow food from scrapsdon’t let produce go to waste! you can regrow them!

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Englishon the farm

writing prompts

Practice creativity and writing skills with these writing prompts.

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World tour: THANKSGIVING7 Thanksgiving Traditions from around the world!

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ArtPaper plate sheep

Make a wooly sheep from paper!Click Here

celery stamp flowersStamp out a pretty bouquet!

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musicVegetable orchestradid you know you can make sounds

and music with vegetables?!Click Here

To Explore the Vegetable Orchestra Website

HealthDaily fitness challenge

Monday: inchwormskeeping your legs straight, place you hands on the ground, walk them forward to push-up position, and then walk your legs up.

tuesday: crawl like a seallie on your stomach, arms straight out front. Use your arms to pull your lower body along.

wednesday: rock-paper-scissors-tag!meet in the middle and shoot! The loser chases the winner back to the safe zone.

thursday: jump jumpjump side-to-side over an object or line for 1 minute straight. repeat, but jump front to back.

friday: play catchgrab any kind of ball and play catch with a family member.

MindfulnessStand like a tree

root yourself and reach for the sky with this tree meditation.Follow along with this video Mindfulness

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MATHFARM AMINAL ADDITIONSolve the problems below by adding the animals.

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MATHFARM AMINAL SUBTRACTIONSolve the problems below by subtracting the animals.

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MATHFARM AMINAL I SPYCan you find all the animals?

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SCIENCEEGG-SPIRIMENTWhat happens to an egg when submerged in vinegar?

Questionsto Ask

What happened to theeggshell in vinegar?

What did you see and feel?

Why do you think this happened?

MATERIALS: 2 raw eggs, vinegar, water, 2 glasses

RECOMMENDED AGES: 2nd - 8th Grade

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place 1 egg in a glass filled with water (the control) and another in a glass filled with vinegar. Bubbles should form all over the egg in the glass filled with vinegar, causing it to rise to the surface.

2. Leave the eggs for a few hours or overnight. Almost all of the shell will be eaten away and the top of the vinegar should be foamy.

3. Carefully rinse the eggs under a gentle stream of water. If there is still egg shell left, put the egg back in the glass with fresh vinegar and let the egg sit for a few more hours or another night until the shell is completely gone.

4. What do you see and feel? The egg should be rubbery, bouncy, translucent and bigger in size.

ENGLISH

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ON THE FARM WRITING PROMPTSUse the following prompts to encourage your child’s creative writing. If they are too young or if writing is difficult, they could share their creativity verbally with a family member.

It’s A Dog’s Life

Imagine you are a dog on the farm. Write about the most stressful thing in your day? Why is it stressful? How do you handle it?

A Home for Ducky

Imagine you are a duck who just moved from a pond to a farm. Which do you like better? What would you say to convince your other duck friends to stay at the pond or join you at the farm?

“The Chicken That Said ‘Moo!’”

Write a short story with the following title “The Chicken That Said ‘Moo!’”

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HISTORY

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GOBBLE UP THESE 7 THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Thanksgiving doesn’t always mean turkey, pilgrims, and endless football. The idea of bursting cornucopias and celebrating the bounty of Mother Nature transcends borders and cultures across the world. Although they spring from the same ideas, Thanksgiving traditions around the world bring unique ceremonies and stories that inspired the merrymaking to the table. Here are some Thanksgiving and harvest festivals around the world, each complete with their own way of showing and giving thanks!

The Kaamatan Festival // MALAYSIAMalaysians believe that “without rice there is no life.” The Kadazan Festival, celebrated in May, worships rice as an extension of the Creator, and thus, the source of thriving life and existence on Earth. Malaysians celebrate the Creator, Bambaazon, for his generosity in facilitating life on Earth. In the time of creation, the story states that their God sacrificed his daughter in order to save the people who would otherwise suffer from great famine. He buried parts of her across the land, and her body became the seed of the rice paddy. Still today, the people of Malaysia believe the grain hold the spirit of life and creation. With a rather dark origin to such a bright festival filled with rice wine, buffalo races, and agricultural shows, the Kadazan Festival is a beautiful day of giving thanks to the Creator who made the people’s most-prized staple of life.

Chuseok Harvest Festival // KOREAThe Chuseok Harvest Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, emphasizes respect and commemoration of elders and ancestral roots. Aside from the usual thanksgiving traditions (aka feasting with friends and family), families return to their ancestor’s hometowns and hold memorials at relative’s grave sites. Along with Songp’yon (traditional rice cakes), toran-t’ang (taro soup), and song-i (mushrooms), people celebrate with dishes made from the freshly harvested rice. Celebratory friend and family activities include archery, musical competitions, and singing folk music. While this is a holiday to honor family ancestors, Chuseok is a special time for spreading happiness and togetherness amongst those you love.

Festival of the Yams // GHANA

Homowo is an African festival dedicated to the hopefulness that the crops will be plentiful for the coming year and no one will experience famine. Celebrated in August or September, the Festival of the Yams is centered around the new yam harvest. Families are brought together, thrilled and hopeful (and slightly competitive!) to be the group with the largest crop. Everyone in the village comes together and shares their bounty, and yams are the prized dish out of all the harvested vegetables! During this harvest festival, the villages rejoice by dancing and singing with animal masks, acknowledging the end of the rainy season and desiring a fruitful harvest to last well into the new year.

Erntedankfest // GERMANYErntedankfest, the “Thanksgiving Day” in Germany, is a religiously dominated celebration where the churches run the show! Both Catholics and Protestants celebrate and attend church services during this thanksgiving celebration, which falls on the first Sunday in October. Like most thanksgiving traditions, Erntedankfest is centered on giving thanks for the year’s harvest and grain. In one of the multiple church services throughout the day, giant woven baskets filled with fruits, grains, and vegetables are carried to the church, blessed, and then distributed to the poor. After more church services in the middle of the day, there are laternenumzüge (lantern parades), primarily for the children, hosted in the evenings. The celebratory food is much the same as Thanksgiving Day food consumed in America; however, the Germans have mohnstriezel, sweet bread sprinkled with poppy seed, for a delicious Erntedankfest treat!

Harvest Moon Festival &Mid-Autumn Festival // CHINA

When the moon is the brightest and the fullest, this three-day celebration takes place in the middle of the autumn season. Also known as the Moon Festival, this celebration is a descendant from the original Chinese customs of moon-sacrificial ceremonies, where a series of prayers, poems, and offerings were burned as offerings. Nowadays, the people of modern China are much more accustomed to “appreciating the moon,” which is the practice of gathering around a table, talking, and eating the offerings from the sacrificial ceremony. Reflecting on the importance of togetherness, families eat moon cakes (round, semi-sweet pastries) and the children dance and play with festival lanterns.

Sukkot // ISREALThis biblical holiday, celebrated on the 15th day of Tishrei (between late September and late October), is a time where Jewish people reflect on the struggle of Israelites during their 40-year travel through the desert after the exodus from slavery in Egypt. Seven days long, Sukkot in Israel is packed full with joyous celebrations, and is referred to in Jewish literature as the “Season of our Rejoicing.” The word sukkot means “booths,” which refers to the name of the temporary dwellings celebrators live in to remember the “period of wandering.” However, the holiday also holds agricultural meaning and celebrates the annual harvest that provides sustenance for all the people.

Pongal // INDIAA time for giving thanks to nature, Pongal, the Indian Harvest festival, is a four-day long celebration held in mid-January in Southern India, and it contains plenty of rice, sugarcane, and turmeric! When you break it down, the first day is the time for paying homage to Lord Indra, the ruler of clouds who provides the rain. People celebrate his generosity in providing water for their crops and bringing prosperity to all. The second day is the performance of puja (the ceremonial act of worship), where rice is boiled in milk and then symbolically offered to the Sun God. Sugarcane, coconut, and bananas are offered in a small dish, and all participants are clothed in traditional dress.

The third day, noted as Mattu Pongal, is the day for cows. In representation of the legend of Shiva and Basava, his bull, the cows are adorned in decorations, beads, corn, and flowers and paraded around the town. The jingling bells signal the time for celebrating, and the entire scene turns into one giant party! The fourth and final day of Pongal requires the women of the house to wash a turmeric leaf, lay it on the ground, and place Pongal rice around it, asking that the house and their brothers always prosper.

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ART

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PAPER PLATE SHEEPMake a wooly sheep from paper!

DID YOU KNOW?

Sheep can recognize up to 50 other sheep faces and remember them for two years!

MATERIALS: Paper Plate, Write shredded paper,Googly eyes, black construction paper,glue

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start by covering your work surface with plastic or newspaper.

2. Squish glue all over the paper plate.

3. Once the plate is covered in glue, press handfuls of shredded paper onto the plate.

4. Repeat the layers of glue and shredded paper until the plate is looking “wooly”.

5. Cut out the following shapes from the black paper: a circle (around 2-3 inches in diameter) for the face, two tear drop shapes for the ears, and 4 long rectangles for the legs.

6. Glue the legs on the back to the bottom of the plate. Glue the circle to the center of the plate. Add the googly eyes. Then add the ears to the circle.

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ART

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CELERY STAMP FLOWERSUse celery to create a pretty bouquet!

Questions to Ask?

How is the pattern of celery stalks similar to rose petals?

What other vegetables could you use as stamps?

MATERIALS: White paper, 1-2 celery head bottoms, bright colored paints, green pipe cleaners, ribbon, white glue

DIRECTIONS:1. First, cut the bottoms (about 2 in. long) off the celery. Try to cut as straight across as possible.

2. Dip the cut end of the celery into your paint, covering the celery completely. You may need to stamp off some of the extra paint before stamping your art paper.

3. Stamp 3 roses near each other. You may need to press firmly. You may need to roll the celery stamp a bit to touch all parts of the celery on the paper.

4. Take your green pipe cleaners and measure them for size on your paper. You may need to trim a little bit off before gluing down.

5. Glue your pipe cleaners down as stems for your flowers.

6. Make a bow and glue it on top of your flower stems.