I am pulling out all the stops today or is that corks? Ha ha corny I know. But I have set aside a few things for Tiny in doing our ocean unit study for language arts and one of them is preparing a message in a bottle
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Too, I want to be sure I use up some of the “treasures” I keep in what I call my “Mary Poppins Bag”. They are usually games, fun hands-on items, books or some other manipulative that I buy or collect, keep in my “reserve” or stash and don’t let the boys know about. Then I bring them out to add a twist to our day, ramp up a lesson plan or to use with a unit study.
In this case, I wanted to give Tiny a writing assignment outside of the box and well inside the bottle and I can’t think of anything more fun than writing a message in a bottle. So we used this message in a bottle kit I had purchased.
I probably could have found a bottle around here, made some cool map and writing page, but I had this nifty little purchase already in my house. Keeping hands-on activities easy for me him, why not use up what I have already.
Since my house is emptying out nicely, craft items are getting harder to find too. But I knew that and I planned ahead a bit by stocking up my “Mary Poppins Bag”.
Actually this kit had a cool ocean current map so he can predict where his bottle may go. He made some predictions from where we will be dropping it off. It also came with a box or container so he can store his bottle in the container until we get ready to fly out of here.
Since we will be flying out of Florida when we move, we can drop it in the ocean there. That’s the plan anyway.
I can tell you this morning he is not having any trouble composing his first draft. Ideas are overflowing. Give kids a purpose to write, include a few hands-on items and they’ll be inspired to communicate.
Hugs and love ya,
Also See: Oceans Unit Study
Tina, I have had so much frustration teaching my dysgraphic dgd how to do cursive. The small sample of your 2nd grade son’s cursive looked like it might be a fit for us, but now I can’t find it. Could you kindly repost it one more time? Thanks you so much for all you do for all of us floundering homeschoolers!
Hey Anna,
So glad to have you following and I can just imagine the frustration. But, too I agree that it’s easier to teach cursive than print because our kids don’t have to pick up their pencils and try to remember the placement of every letter. The trick to making it easier though for sure is which cursive you choose to teach.
It took me a day or two to think about the post you were thinking of and I think it’s this one where I talk about and show the simplified cursive by Calvert.
https://tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/2013/05/25/cursive-copywork-free-greece-poetry-printable/
You are so welcome and just to give you a heads up, I do plan during the summer to blog more about penmanship and composition.
Thanks for being here!
How totally fun! My kids would love this activity!
Susan Evans recently posted…Alien Spaceship Cake
Hey Susan,
You know how much I love easy, no fuss..lol..plus most of us have this stuff just laying around the house.
That looks like fun! Keep in mind it may be many years before the bottle is found, so if you want to be contacted when it is found you may want to use an address you know will be good for awhile (a family member might work if you are moving).
Here is my message in a bottle story. Maybe your kids will find it interesting. My great-great grandfather was the captain of a ship that would travel between Gloucester, MA and Newfoundland carrying herring. He was lost at sea in 1897. A bottle with a message for his wife was supposedly found 4 years later on a beach in Gloucester. You can read the brief bit about it if you go to the book called Fast and Able by Gordon Thomas on amazon. Page down to the bottom of the editorial review and read about the Final Voyage.
Good luck with your message!
Sarah
OH MY GOODNESS Sara! What a beautiful story!! Yes, yes Tiny was worried about that too. We did include a good address, but Tiny wanted to add email.. lol I thought that was a good idea. That never changes. Thanks for sharing the personal story about your great-great grandfather. Wondered what the message said? You can just imagine!