Love Life Laugh Learn: Box Car Children- Chapter 5: The Explorers Find Treasure

Chapter 5

Chapter Summary-
Jessie wakes up and finds the new "refrigerator" by the waterfall works well. The children drink milk for their breakfast and Henry sets off for town to find odd jobs. When Henry leaves, the children set out to find "treasure" at a nearby dump. Dishes, cups, spoons and wheels (Benny especially wants wheels) are what they find, and together they bring their loot back to camp. After carefully scrubbing the rust off things with sand, they eagerly await Henry's return. What a wonderful surprise for Henry! Henry finally returns with many interesting-looking bundles. He builds a fire to sterilize the new dishes and the children prepare to eat.

What we will cover in this chapter:
Science: Recycling
Science: Louis Pasteur
Math: Addition
Art: Dried Flowers, Pictures of Trees
Language Arts: Review Questions

Science: Louis Pasteur
Jessie kept the milk behind the waterfall to keep it cold in the story. I took the opportunity to introduce the famous scientist Louis Pasteur and his discovers. Pasteur made many contributions in chemistry, medicine and industry. Lily and Aj watched a movie on you-tube about him. They also read a book and completed worksheets.

Mathematics:

Both children completed an addition worksheet based on Louis Pasture.

Science: Recycling
We discussed what it means to recycle. I explained that recycling turns old things into new things. We also talked about how it saves natural resources like trees and reduces waste in landfills (dumps). I set up a recycling game for the kids where they sorted pictures of items into bins.

Art:
We went on a nature walk and collected flowers and leafs for pressing. We assembled the flower press layering the petals between tissue paper and cardboard. We are checking the flowers every 3 days or so to see if they are dried. Lily and Aj also used stamps, crayons and construction paper to make their own landscape scenes.