Expedition Earth: Argentina

As it turns out my local library is not as well stocked as I would like so we ended up doing a lot of on line research for this week in Argentina.  :)

First we stamped our passport and entered our first country in South America.

 What we learned:

• Howler monkeys are incredibly loud monkeys and sleep for 15 hours a day. We watched Howler Monkeys by National Geographic
• The worlds smallest true deer is called a Pudu and watched a video of a one day old baby and it's mother.
• We met a Chacoan Pecary whose name means a pig from green hell (Sir N thought this was very funny indeed) one interesting fact is that it was first discovered as a fossil and considered extinct until around 1975 when they were 'rediscovered' alive and well.  (Sure hope Tyrannosaurus Rex is still extinct....)
• Tuco-Tuco are little rodents whose skin does not fit them, have large heads and small ears with strong back legs for digging and bristles on their hind feet to groom themselves.  We watched a short YouTube of one digging a burrow.
• Banana spiders got their name from hiding in banana boxes and are the worlds most venomous spider.
• Humpback Whales have two blow holes! We watched a few on line clips and two of interest were: They use a net of bubbles to hunt and saw just how small a person is in comparison to a humpback.
• Sir N decided he doesn't want to go to Argentina because he can't use Australian money there so we had a lesson in exchanging money.
• We watched a 9 min video of the Iguassu Falls.  Well worth the time to see the different aspects of this magnificent creation.  
• We watched Jungle Girl - Florencio Varela Zoo in Argentina 
• We watched a 2 min video on Ostrich as a food in Argentina.
• On my search for food in Argentina I discovered Victor's Food Channel and enjoyed watching A Taste of South America (Brazil and Argentina. We enjoyed seeing a bit of the country side, tastes and sounds.  
• While watching this video I saw a lady making pies and though ah we can make those for dinner.(post on this tomorrow)

All in all an interesting place and Sir N and I would really like to go and see the Iguassu Falls.

Here are our worksheets:

No books to share as our library had none that were relevant for younger audiences.

Next stop: Venezuela

Blessings

Kumara Soup (NZ recipe)

 Ingredients:   

• 2 small onions (1 large)
• 3 medium kumara (Sweet potato)
• 1 teaspoon butter (or margarine)
• 1 Litre chicken Stock (I like my soup thick so used 500 ml)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 medium leek
• 250 ml cream (optional)

Method

Finely chop leek & onion

Fry onion & leek with butter till tender. Add curry and fry for two min.

Peel and chop sweet potato and add to crock pot

Add fried leek and onion and stock to potato

• Cook till sweet potato is tender.
• Purée using a stick blender till your soup is a smooth consistency.
• Serve warm with bread or a dash of cream for a creamy taste.

I like my soup quite thick so if you want your soup to be of a runny consistency add in extra stock or cream for a creamy taste.  Kumara is the Maori word for sweet potato. We made this soup as part of our Expedition Earth journey to New Zealand.

Thank you Mrs C in Christchurch New Zealand for this lovely soup recipe.

Blessings

Expedition Earth: New Zealand

We started by stamping Sir N's passport.







We learned all sorts of interesting things:

• We watched Ancient Tuatara Fathers Young
• Tuatara New Zealands Living Fossil (recent mainland release information)
• Henry the Tuatara's Blog (Henry is 110 years old and lives at Invercargill Museum)
• We made poi and watched Maori Poi Dance - Melville Intermediate School  
• Maori Poi Dance ~ Takitimu Performing Arts School 
• Watched a great video about Wetta by Answers in Genesis. (scroll down the page to find it)
• Researched Population statistics
• Looked at National Geographic Kids all about New Zealand. 
• Kotane Maori information and photographs. 
• Youtube video of Ko Tane and Willowbank
• Kiwi in Nocturnal House

Rose N with North Island Brown Kiwi

 Here are our worksheets

New Zealand flag and Coat of Arms

NZ map, information and Note Book page

• Sir N's favourite piece of information was that there are more sheep than people in New Zealand! Currently 7 sheep to every 1 person.
• We made a sheep from a pattern, cotton wool and wriggly eyes 
• Kiwi eat worms.

 Discovered some great books at the Library  

• National Geographic Countries of the world: New Zealand (my favourite)
• First peoples of Oceania (Trisha Sertori)
• Our Neighbours: New Zealand (Michael and Jane Pelussey)
• Ask about Oceania: New Zealand
• Kiwi: New Zealand's remarkable bird (Neville Peat)

Borrowed some true stories from a Kiwi friend   

• Kahu the cautious Kiwi (Brian Birchall)
• Penny and Pocket (Gwenda Turner)
• The Builder's Cat (Gwenda Turner)

We made some great Kumara soup
(step by step coming soon)

All in all it was a great week and we both had fun

Blessings

Today we made a: Passport

I am so excited.  I have decided to do Expidition Earth: A Journey through God's World with Sir N over the next year. I will be doing this alongside Sonlight A with K readers 5 day program, We will officially be starting on Monday. New Zealand will be our first port of entry!



Free expansion packs and Samples

• Expediton Earth Discovering God's Animals
• Expedition Earth Discovering God's Animals Blank line version
• All about Expedition Earth Discovering God's Animals
• Continental Hop Scotch Game from Spell Out Loud
• SAMPLE of Expedition Earth: Brazil Week

  

Passport to travel Expedition Earth!

Cover of Expedition Earth passport and real passport

Today we made a passport.  We took out our real New Zealand passports (Uruwhenuwa)  and had a look at them and talked about what we need when we travel from one country to another.

Next I went to 'quickly' make a cover, front page and second page on the pc ....  (Quickly turned into a two hour marathon, I'm out of practice with publisher) lesson learned don't attempt to do complex things when you only have a few min rather reschedule for the evening once little people are in bed..Erica does provide a page for you to make into your own by printing off bits and pieces but I wanted to make an all in one page to print and Nathaniel enjoyed finding the different letters on keyboard to type in his name and details

I have made a New Zealand Passport and an Australian Passport and Erica has given me permission to file share them here.  These  are in pdf. format and you can download and print them from my Google drive.

  

Click here to download the New Zealand Passport

Click here to download the Australian Passport

Our flag stamps and the ID page of N' passport

I am quite pleased with the end result :) What do you think ?