School Projects: The Eye Ball Donut Creation & Writing Assignment
A tray of “The Eye Ball” Donuts ready to take to school
The girls recently had a writing assignment that they had to do for school. Brina came up with The Eye Ball Donut creation. For extra credit they could make their creations and share them with their classmates and teachers at school. We came up with a cookie creation using all the ingredients she mentioned in her writing assignment and they turned out fairly well. Instead of using cookies for Brina’s we used a powdered doughnut or in this case a munchkin for Dunkin Donuts. The donuts were a perfect treat to share with her classmates instead of cupcakes on Halloween. Karlie also did a cookie creation and writing assignment called Inside Your Feet.
The Eye Ball was super easy to put together and a big hit with Brina’s classmates.
Her tray of eye balls ready to be wrapped and delivered to school.
The Eye Balls did exactly what we wanted them to do – overnight the blue frosting that we used to attach the pupil part of the eye spread a little giving The Eye Balls blue colored eyes!
The Eye Ball Items:
- White Powdered Donuts (Dunkin Donut sells white powdered munchkins which are perfect for this treat, but you can make homemade if you want)
- Blue Frosting (we used the blue writing frosting but you could use brown or green, etc…)
- Edible Eyes (you can pick these up at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc…)
- Red Sprinkles
Once you have your white powdered donuts add a small drop of blue frosting and attached the pupil of your eye to your eye ball. Dip the bottom of the donut into red sprinkles and place on a tray. Let set overnight so the blue frosting will spread a little bit giving you a blue eye color.
The donuts turned out well and were a big hit with Brina’s class. It was a lot of fun putting these together with her and they were super simple. These would be an easy Fall or Halloween treat to do for a party or for fun.
School Projects: Southwest Region Native American Pueblo House
Southwestern Region Native American Pueblo House Project
Karlie recently did a Social Studies project for school. She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions. Karlie picked the Southwest Region and the pueblo house for her project. She had to make a pueblo house and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them.
Even though the girls are both in the same grade and have similar projects they rarely chose do to the same thing with their projects! The great part about them being so different is we have more opportunities to learn while doing various school projects. For this particular Social Studies Project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.
Putting the final touches on the pueblo house!
Karlie‘s Southwest Region Pueblo Paragraph: Southwest Pueblo Native Americans used pueblo houses that were made of harden clay. They lived in a village and their houses resembled an apartment building on mesas. The pueblo housing was beneficial to their way of life because the mesas helped cool the houses and protect them from sand storms. You can fit a lot of families into a pueblo apartment building. It is easier to help each other out because they were all together during bad weather or other hard times. In their village they grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton to help feed their families. All the people in the village worked together hunting, farming, and raising their families.
Karlie putting her title and name on her project!
Jake and Karlie put together this neat Pueblo House with items we had in the garage!
Pueblo Construction:
- Flat Pieces of Scrap Wood
- Wood Glue
- Speckled Paint
- Wooden Dowels
- Cotton Balls
- Markers
They took flat pieces of scrap wood from various wood working projects and glued them together to create this Pueblo house. The house has three levels. Once all the pieces are glued together and the glue has dried they attached the house to a flat board with wood glue. After the structure was put together we sprayed the whole pueblo with speckled paint (you can get this at Home Depot or Lowe’s). It ended up taking two coats of spray paint in order to get it covered well. The ladders are made out of small wooden dowels. The top windows and doors are cut out, but the other ones are drawn on with marker. The cotton balls represent the cotton the Southwest Region Native Americans grew in their fields. Inside the house on the top level there is a fire and a mat for sleeping.
Pueblo house is finished and ready to go!
We didn’t paint the back of the Pueblo with two coats of paint, but this picture gives you a glimpse at the top inside which has the 3D fire and mat for sleeping. The little storage “cubby” (as Karlie called it) with the paper in it on the lower left is where Karlie stored her written paragraph and ladders during transport to and from school.
Karlie so proud of her project! It was a handful to carry into school!
School Projects: Great Plains Native American Tepee Home
Great Plains Tepee Project
Brina recently did a Social Studies project for school. She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions. Brina picked the Great Plains Region and the tepee for her project. She had to make a tepee and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them. On this Social Studies project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.
Making her designs on the tepee!
She finished the Native American designs on her tepee! Looks good!
Tepee Construction:
- Cereal Box
- Old White T-Shirt
- Elmer’s Glue
- Wooden Dowels
- Hot Glue & Hot Glue Gun
- Markers
Cut a cereal box into a semi-circle. Use Elmer’s Glue and attach the T-Shirt to the non-print side of the cardboard from the cereal box. Once the glue dries use the markers to create your own special Native American designs on your tepee. Cut out the door to your tepee. Hot glue the wooden dowels to the inside of the tepee. Once the glue dries stand the tepee up and hot glue it to the poster board. To help your tepee maintain its shape you can use rubber bands around it as it dries in place.
Brina’s Great Plains Paragraph: The Great Plains Native Americans used tepees because they were very transportable. They used the tepees so they could follow the buffalo and other animals while hunting them. Their main source of food was buffalo meat. The tepees were light weight, transportable, could be folded up, and carried to the next spot. they also used the tepee poles to carry buffalo meat. The tepees were shelter during the nights for the families and transportable when they were trying to find food. The tepees were a valuable tool used to help feed their families.
Brina’s social studies project ready to go!
She was so excited to hot glue her horse and a folded up tepee on her poster board!
Her tepee turned out well!
Brina was super excited about the fire because Jake used his 3D printer to make it for her project!
Awesome learning lesson about the Great Plains Native Americans and their transportable home – the tepee! It was a great project!
Native American Homes – Extra Credit School Project
Now that the girls are in third grade is seems like they have more “hands-on” projects coming up these past few weeks. They had the opportunity to earn extra credit for Social Studies by building a replica of a South Carolina Native American home. They spent a lot of time building their houses, writing out their facts, and presenting their project to the class. Thank goodness for a yard full of saplings, vines, monkey grass, and for Jake who is creative and patient when helping the girls.
The girls really LOVED the arrow heads (even though they did not come from SC). The arrow heads are actually ones that Jake and his Grandpa Hayes collected when he was a boy. Both girls did well and got a 100% on their extra credit projects. Even though they worked hours on this project they told us it was one of the most fun homework projects they had ever done and would love to do more! Glad they enjoyed it because it was a great way to learn even more about the Native Americans from South Carolina.
Brina building the structure out of saplings for her Longhouse
Brina’s House:
- Longhouse
- Cherokee Native American’s lived in Longhouses in the summer months
- The Cherokee’s live in the Blue Ridge Mountain Region of South Carolina
Karlie weaving vines to make the structure for her Wattle & Daub
Karlie’s House:
- Wattle & Daub House
- Cherokee’s from the Blue Ridge Mountain Region lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
- Yemassee’s from the Coastal Zone Region also lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
