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In the footsteps of Lewis and Clark

Last week we started a new unit study as part of our KONOS curriculum. We are learning about frontiersmen, specifically Lewis and Clark first of all. We've barely gotten our feet wet but it's already been so much fun following in the footsteps of these famous explorers.

We are reading through several books one of which I really love; it's entitled The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and is "a detailed biographical roster and a composite diary of the expedition that highlights the roles and actions of the expedition's members." It's so interesting reading the story from the viewpoint of the people who were there!


One of the first activities that Keeleigh completed was making moccasins. Turns out that even with a pre-cut kit that moccasin making is a little tough! 



Keeleigh figured it out, though, and pretty soon...



she had some comfy new shoes.



Later that week Keeleigh got to try the moccasins out on a little expedition of our own. Since we'd been reading others journals, we decided to get outdoors and journal about the things we saw in much the same way that Lewis and Clark did.



We went to Barataria Preserve--a place we've been to several times--but we were still walking incredibly slowly down the trails trying to take in as much as possible. I can't imagine what it would have been like for frontiersmen, how slowly they might have wanted to go in order to study all the new plants and animals they were coming upon!



I doubt that Lewis and Clark saw any of these (PLASTIC!) leaves, however!



We walked and examined and talked foot by foot.






It was great fun!



And, yes, we got to see an alligator--really close up! It swam right up to us so we suspect that people might have been feeding it.





Even Piper enjoyed her time out of doors especially since she had entertainment at every stop.











I totally love learning as a family! 






































The next day we took some of the leaves we'd found and did leaf rubbings to include in our journal.



Keeleigh brought a little fall color to New Orleans!



The next project that we started working on was a sort of topographical map made out of clay. When the clay hardens completely, Keeleigh is going to paint it. Then we're going to use it to trace Lewis and Clark's journey across the U.S.



Yesterday Keeleigh made a "possible" bag similar to one that frontiersmen would carry survival tools in. Of course, theirs would have been made from buckskin and ours was made from synthetic fabric from Hobby Lobby but, you know, they're pretty similar. = )



And seeing as how we just made up the pattern, I thought Keeleigh did a great job of putting it all together for herself!



Much like our walk through Barataria, we're going to make our way through this great unit slowly!

Comments

  1. Love the post. Looks like everyone had a great time. We love Barataria. I love the moccasins and the bag, too.

    ReplyDelete

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