We are working on our very last New England state – Maine! I decided since it is our finale and goodbye to that region, that we would spend two weeks working on it. Last week was all about the sea and coastal areas, and it was seriously so much fun.
In addition to general Maine facts, I focused on lighthouses and on whales with Wyatt. I need to get this kid to the ocean and to an aquarium! I really believe in hands on learning and I see Wyatt light up when we can experience what we are learning about as opposed to just, well learning about it at home. However, since we can’t visit everywhere all at once, or really just everywhere we do our best and travel through books and music and food and whatever else I can think of.
The lighthouse study was pretty neat. He really enjoyed learning more about lighthouse keepers and seeing diagrams and pictures of the insides of lighthouses, than in what the purpose of lighthouses were and how they worked. We watched a few videos, read a few books, and together made this rendition of a lighthouse on an island. I thought it turned out pretty cute!
As for whales, we did a proper whale study, learning all the facts about them. We also listened to whale songs which are so otherworldly – they actually sort of creeped Wyatt out. I think it is pretty, he is not a fan but he is 8. He much more enjoyed all the sea shanties we listened to, and I get it, they are much livelier.
Our poet of the week was Mary Oliver! As the teacher I get to pick all my favorites so I am. Lol. The book we read, My Poet, was about a little girl who is friends (fictionally) with Mary Oliver and together they collect words. It was really well done. We also read a few different poems by Oliver which are sort of eh, not quite for kids but we read them anyway, and zoomed in on the poem “Children, It’s Spring” for our painting inspiration. As an additional painting project that correlated with the book My Poet, I had Wyatt describe four things – a pine cone, sand dollar, agate slice, and Freddy our frog. Lol. Then I had him pick one and paint it, and we surrounded it with his words.
What We Used:
This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.
L is for Lobster || Welcome to Maine || Hello Lighthouse || One Morning in Maine || My Poet
We will be continuing on with Maine this week, and turning our gaze from the coast to the more inland areas.
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
What a cool way to study poetry! I love that you had Wyatt describe his favorite things and turn it into art as well as poetry. Have you ever heard of the Voyage of the Mimi? Two of my kids (if not all three) studied it, and I think it was about whales. I hope you’ll visit for a couple of link parties this week (Monday, Thursday, and Friday)!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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I have not! I will look it up! And thank you Marsha!
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I used to live in Massachusetts and we used to go on vacation in Maine. It’s so beautiful!
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We went there only once as a kid and I loved it. I have always wanted to go back!
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I love his light house and drawings. How fun! Maybe a “real” lighthouse this summer!
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I would love to take him to a real one this year! He has seen the Mission Point one but only from outside. I think there is one in Detroit that we can go at least view. We never got around to that floating post office, maybe we will make a day of it!
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Another state I love! I went on and on about your Alaska studies. I’ll just mention Atlantic puffins. They have a colony off the coast of Maine! I can’t remember the whole story but scientists were trying to get them to colonize this one island for some reason so they built wooden puffins, set them up on the island, and real puffins saw them, thought, “Hey, that must be a good place to live,” and moved in! We took a boat tour out to see them. They are so stinking cute! And much smaller than we expected. Our guide described them as footballs with wings! Have you seen pictures of how many little fish they can hold in their beaks? I think we read that the known record was something like 60 fish at one time!
That was the first time I had been to a rocky beach. All our beaches in the south are sandy, at least the ones I know. I love how smooth the rocks in Maine are from the constant motion of the waves. As the water comes in and out, you can hear them clicking together if you listen closely. I love that sound. It’s so soothing.
I love Wyatt’s artwork!
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Lol!!! Chat away!! I love hearing stories about the states we are learning about!! My experience in Maine was so brief and I was like 14 so I remember only bits and pieces.
Oh the puffins!!! I would love to see them! And I didn’t know they could fit that many in their beaks!
Michigan beaches are pretty rocky but not like in New England. That image of sitting quietly listening to the rocks click together in the waves – beautiful. Thank you for sharing that!
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