Alaska Unit Study ~ Day One

Ice built, ice bound, and ice bounded,

Such cold seas of silence! Such room!

Such show-light, such sea-light, confounded

with thunders that smite like a doom!

Such grandeur! Such glory! Such gloom!

Hear that boom! Hear that deep distant boom

of an avalanche hurled

down this unfinished world!

(From Alaska by Joaquin Miller)

We made our way from the warm waters of Hawaii to the frigid waters of Alaska today. We started with review of the states we have studied (WA, OR, CA, Hawaii) and then moved on to some interesting facts about Alaska.

• Is twice the size of Texas.
• Has the highest mountain in North America.
• Has the largest National park in the US.
• Has more shoreline than any other state.
• Is dark 20 hrs/day in winter, and light 20 hrs/day in summer.
• Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in the US.

We spent an hour this afternoon watching Ididarod: The Toughest Race on Earth just before our lessons. We mapped where the Ididarod runs on our rough map on the white board. Then we talked about Alaska's natural resources. We had a long discussion about fishing and the Alaskan fishing trade, and then we talked about the shoreline of Alaska and a few of their native peoples and traditions. We ended with some USA workbook work for Alaska and then went to make an Alaskan dinner. YUM!

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Some Alaska websites/printouts we used:

Where is Alaska? from HomeSchool Share

Alaskan flag, fish, and flower from Crayola Coloring Pages

The Alaskan Quarter from HIP pocket change

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An Alaskan Dinner

The kids were very proud to make an Alaskan meal of wild caught Alaskan fish and green beans from last years harvest at our own farm. I added in some baby carrots so Logan would eat some veggies and we all enjoyed the meal a lot! I am getting the book Eat Your Way Through the USA for the next few lessons and I am excited that some of these states are going to be a bit more mapped out for me... because some state dinners are going to be harder than the Pacific States... Do you know what to eat when we are studying North Dakota? Or Minnesota? Yeah... me either. ;)