Chapter 16- Moving Pictures

Parent Summary-

The Wild West Show is in Port Huron! Tom and his friend, James Clancy, are very excited! Before they leave for the show, however, Tom is hard at work on an experiment. By rubbing a glass jar with a piece of silk then laying cut paper dolls against the glass, Tom can make the dolls dance' from the static electricity. Tom tells James he wishes he could harness that electricity to their telegraph. Then they wouldn't need batteries!

The boys leave to go to the Wild West Show and when they arrive people are already milling about. The panorama show was great! Tom is amazed that some people scream and act frightened just from the drawings on the huge canvas.

After the show, Tom tells James he wants to invent an device that will show people actual moving pictures, instead of just a drawing. James doesn't understand how Tom plans accomplishing something so amazing, but by now he is used to his inventive friend, Tom Edison!

What we will cover in this chapter-
Science: Electricity
Fine Arts- Panorama


Science- Electricity
In this chapter Tom makes his dolls move, almost like magic. We talked about how Electricity is a form of energy. It is all around us and its made up of tiny particles called electrons. The kids opened their electric set to learn more about current electricity.They followed the guide book and made a light bulb and a fan work. They enjoyed this activity.

Fine Arts- Panorama,
Tom and James go to see a Panorama picture show. We talked about the evolution of entertainment. We started talking about jugglers, then we talked about hand drawn panoramas. The kids put their creativity to work drawing there own panorama on a long white piece of paper.

Thanks for Reading!

Chapter 14- Tom's Own Newspaper

Chapter Summary-

It is now the fall of 1861. The Civil War is underway and the people are hungry for the news. The papers Tom and James are selling on the train are more popular than ever! But Tom notices a problem. The telegraph operators get the latest news, but by the time the printers of The Detroit Free Press and other newspapers get the information and print it, the news is already old. Tom decides to solve the problem,. He finds an old second hand printing press for sale and buys it, along with some ink and metal type. Then he buys some paper from his friend at the Free Press office. Now he is ready to print his own newspaper!

Tom decides he can stop by the telegraph office in Port Huron each morning, gather the latest news reports on the war and prints news paper on the way to Detroit. Tom decides to call his paper The Weekly Herald and sell it for 3 cents a copy. Tom knows what people want to read. He includes the latest news on the war, names of the fathers and sons who have joined the Union Army, the market prices of things like eggs and chickens each week, and much more. Tom's Weekly Herald is a success! Some people even want to buy a year subscription.

One day, Tom is so busy selling his papers with the latest news of the battle of Shiloh, that he doesn't hear the train pulling out. The conductor reaches down to pull Tom up onto the train, and grabs Tom by the ears. Toms hears a popping sound but doesn't stop to notice. From then on, however, Tom Edison was partially deaf. The popping sound he'd heard was something being injured in his ear canal.

What we will cover in this chapter-
History and Geography:Gutenberg Press
Science- Human Anatomy: ear
Fine arts: Printing / handwriting


History and Geography: Gutenberg press
Tom buys an old printing press to use for his news paper(page 150). The press was antiqued but still functional. Lily and Aj learned that Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz, Germany invented the printing press previously.  When we went to Washington Dc last fall the children had the opportunity to see the first Bible that was printed on the Gutenberg Press at The Library of Congress.. We took this time to review what the children have learned about Gutenberg in the past by reading a book and having a discussion.

Fine Arts- Printing/ Handwriting
We learned that there was a short period during the introduction of printing where parchment and paper were used at the same time, parchment was the more expensive luxury option, preferred by rich and conservative customers. Although most copies of the Gutenberg Bible are on paper, some were printed on parchment; 12 of the 48 surviving copies, with most incomplete. Lily and Aj decides to write using a parchment Stationary set. The set included parchment paper that "looks and feels old" a quill pen, Ink bottle and dry ink. They enjoyed printing in this method but also found it difficult to control the ink in the quill pen

Thanks for Reading!

Chapter 15- An Exposion

Chapter Summary-

Tom's Weekly Herald is gaining popularity and notoriety. One day the conductor tells tom he has a visitor. Tom's Unexpected visitor is Mr. George Stephenson from England. Mr. Stephenson tells Tm that The Weekly Herald is one of the finest newspapers he has ever seen. He asks Tom if he can take back one thousand copies to sell in England. tom is pleased by his praise, and works all night long with James to get the papers ready.

Many Months later Mr. Stephenson writes to Tom from London and says people love Toms paper and that The London times has printed an article on Tom Edison. Along with the letter, Mr. Stephenson includes a copy of the article about Tom. Tom is very proud.

Tom continues to work in his laboratory on the train, but one day a horrible accident occurs. The train hits rough track and bounces back and forth. Tom's Chemicals are knocked down to the floor and the Phosphorous bursts into flames. Tom and the Conductor put on the flames , but the conductor is furious with Tom. He throws Tom of the train along with his printing press and the rest of his laboratory bottles. He tells Tom he never wants to see him again. Tom is heartsick. Eventually, however, he is offered his old job back as long as he doesn't bring his laboratory on board.

Later in the summer, Tom does a brave deed and saves Mr. Mackenzie's. (the telegraph operator) little boy from being hit by a train. To repay him, Mr.Mackenzie offers to teach Tom all he knows about telegraphy. Tom is thrilled and soon he has a job working in the telegraph office.

What we will cover in this chapter-
Language arts: Writing, Journalism


Language Arts- Writing
Lily and Aj are interested in newspapers, advertising, journalism and writing. In this chapter Tom Started writing his own newspaper and the kids thought that was exciting. Because of this they started working on writing an article for their own newspaper. We also read a book on how to make a newspaper.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 13- The Laboratory on Wheels

Chapter Summary-
Tom know has a business partner! James Clancy, Tom's good friend, rides with Tom helping see newspapers on the train. Recently, the grand funk railway has added two new cars on Toms train- a new coach and a baggage/mail car. Tom decides, since there is never much mail and because he doesn't have enough time to work on his experiments at home,  to ask permission to move his laboratory into the second new car. Tom and James quickly move the laboratory onto the train. Now Tom will have more time to work on his experiments and a friend to help pass time in Detroit. Tom shows James the library and the Detroit Locomotive Works, and they eat lunch at Finney's Hotel. Tom is happy about all of it.

What we will cover in this Chapter-
Science: A New Element- Phosphorus

Science: A new Element- Phosphorus
Tom's laboratory is getting huge! Tom has to be particularly careful with a  chemical called phosphorus. We read a book and watched two you-tube videos to learn about the element Phosphorus.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 12- The Underground Railroad

Chapter Summary-

The spring of 1860 is passing quickly. Tom gets up early every morning and eats a good breakfast before setting out for his job on the train. After a hurried time of selling newspapers, candy and ham sandwiches, Tom arrives in Detroit at ten o'clock. The train that brings him back to port Huron doesn't leave until four-thirty in the afternoon, so Tom has a lot of spear time in Detroit. He decides to read all the books in the Detroit Library-Twelve inches of books off the shelf each week. Then he spends time watching the men at the Detroit Locomotive works. Tom is always interested in how things are made!

For Lunch, Tom finds a great hotel. There Tom meets many interesting men. The men seem to like tom too, even though he is young. They like Tom's intelligent, mature attitude and how he is always learning. During the lunch period at Finney's Tom eats his lunch and watches the people around him. He notices there are many Negros (African Americans) eating in a back room. Tom knows about the Underground Railroad from listening to conversations and reading the newspaper. He guesses that most of these people are runaway slaves and Finney's is a stop on the Underground Railroad. Tom is glad that the slaves are finding a way out. The day passes quickly and Tom invests more earnings into his laboratory- he know has 200 bottles of chemicals.

What we will cover in this chapter-
History and Geography: Canada
History and Geography: The Underground Railroad

History and Geography: Canada
Every morning at six-fifteen, Toms train blows its whistle on he Canadian side of the river. I decided that the Children should learn about our fascinating neighbor of the United States, Canada. The children learned Many interesting facts about Canada's  population, animals, agriculture and provinces. They colored a map and flag and completed copy work about facts of Canada.  They also created a poster board about all the information they learned. They learned a great deal of information from two books about Canada  and one book about North America.

History and Geography: The Underground Railroad
On page 139, Tom is thinking about the Underground Railroad and slavery. We read a book about the Underground Railroad and talked about it thoroughly.  The kids also went and explored a website called Pathways to freedom. http://pathways.thinkport.org/following/.

Thanks for Reading!

May in Review

Dancing!

Dance- Lily

Out door time-

Dinner-

Dance-

Birthday Sienna

Tennis

Playground-

Lego club-

Canada project

Playground fun-

Bike ridding-

Pen and ink craft-

Hiking in Atlantic Ceder Swamp-

Family Time-

Animal adventure- 

Board games-

Playground-

Ice cream-

Skate boarding-

Little house on the prairie class-

Lily's dance solo

Cousin love

Uncle Michael's Birthday-

Putting together models-

Cleaning-

Mothers day -

Lily feeding squirrels-

Reading to friends-

Investigating nature-

Legos-

Plymouth Plantation-

Plymouth Grist Mill-

Cape Cod Canal Museum-

Sandwich Glass Museum-

Ice Cream-