Our 3-Week Arizona Study, outlined.

Week 1: Natural History

Mornings

1.       Book The Desert is Theirs (Baylor)

Tantalizing Topography (Arizona Wild and Wacky [AWW] )

Discussion: What is a Desert (Saguaro NP Curric)

Activity: Neighbors in the Desert (SNP)

2.       Book A Desert Scrapbook (Wright-Fierson)

Discussion: Ways animals and plants adapt to deserts

Activity: Desert Diorama (from One Small Square Desert)

3.       Book, chapters 1-4 Grand Canyon Journey (Anderson)

Discussion: evaporation and crystallization (BFSU A-9 part 3)

Activity: Erosion and Sedimentation (BFSU D-8 part 1)

4.       Book, chapters 5-8 Grand Canyon Journey

Discussion and activity: Limestone and Fossils (BFSU B-8 part 2)

Writing practice: Rock story

Afternoons

Tuesday Poetry theme—deserts, heat and dryness

Read alouds:

One Small Square Cactus Desert

One Small Square Cave

Activities:

TBD.  Likely usual routine.

Week 2: Human History

Mornings

5.       Chapter 1 National Geographic (NG) Ancient Pueblo

Activity: Trees of Time (Tuzigoot NM Curric)

6.       Chapter 2 NG Pueblo

Book  When Clay Sings (Baylor)

Activity: Say it With Pictures (Make N Learn Southwest Indians)

7.       Chapter 3 NG Pueblo

Activity: Dig that Pad! (Tuzigoot NM Curric)

8.       Chapters 4-5 NG Pueblo

Activity: Who Were the Prehistoric SW People? (Tuzigoot NP Curric)

 

Afternoons

Tuesday poetry free

Read-aloud Walker of Time

Activities:

 “What’s Hidden in the Midden?” (Investigating Artifacts Session #5)

“Putting Together Clues” (Investigating Artifacts Session #6)

 

Week 3: “Modern” History

Mornings

1.       Book Down the Colorado: John WesleyPowell (Kogan Ray) 

Activity: “Modern Cultures of the Verde Valley” (Tuzigoot NM curric)

2.       Book AWW pgs 48, 64, 68, 88, 104

Activity: “Sonoran Desert Time Line” (SNP curric)

3.       Book  TBD.  Flex day?

Activity: “Water in the Desert” (SNP curric)

4.       Book Survival!  Desert

Activity/Writing Practice: Planning Survival Pack vs. Day Pack

 

Afternoons

Read-aloud and discuss:

Eyewitness: Wild West

Continue Walker of Time.  Possibly re-read Brighty of the Grand Canyon if time allows.

Activities:

TBD.  Options:

Make and decorate pots and/or baskets

Dioramas from Make & Learn Southwest Indians

Supplemental books:

Earth Fire: A Hopi Legend of the Sunset Crater Eruption by Malotki
Exploring the Grand Canyon by Foster
Mary Colter: Builder Upon the Red Earth by Grattan
The Sonoran Desert by Day and Night (Dover Coloring Book)
A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert by Phillips and Comus
Grand Canyon Association Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology, Ecology, and Prehistory