We finished up our studies of the state of Oregon by reading B is for Beaver, An Oregon Alphabet by Marie and Roland Smith. I love this series of books. For C and R, I stick to the simpler text that goes through the alphabet and points out something about the state for each letter. Occasionally, if they find something interesting, we will read the more detailed text about that alphabet fact.
Oregon is the Beaver State because Oregon was the main source of beaver furs when beaver fur hats were popular. The animal was almost trapped to extinction until a law was passed in the early 1900s to save the beaver.
We learned a little about beavers including the fact that they live in dome-shaped homes on the water made out of branches, sticks, and mud. Their homes are called lodges. Originally, I was going to make some kind of beaver cookie or cupcake, but I decided that beaver lodges would make a much better snack! So easy, and yet so memorable! C and R won't forget where beavers live!
C and R made their own lodges by putting a dollop of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread (mud) on a plate and then piling on some pretzel sticks (branches and sticks). The hazelnut in the Nutella is especially significant because 98 percent of the hazelnuts grown in the United States are grown in Oregon. Since I also had some hazelnuts in the cabinet, I decided to add a few to the "lodges".
C and R also drew their own beavers. I looked for a good "how to draw a beaver" site, but nothing was working for us, so they both just looked at the pictures we had and drew them freehand.
This is C's beaver drawing:
Here is R's beaver:
I am linking this to the geography linky at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.
