After reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder we became interested in how things were made or come by in 'the Olden Days', before we could just pop into a shop or order online. We brainstormed a list of things we were keen to find out more about, including toys, clothes, soap, bread, pizza, ice cream, material, houses, furniture.
We will spend the term exploring how some of these things are made from scratch, including taking a sheep's fleece from it's raw state, cleaning, carding, spinning and weaving the wool we create through weeks 2-5.
We will also explore how some foods are made from scratch, and explore sewing our own toys.
There will be lots of opportunities to explore science in this, (for instance, our very first exploration was to make butter and this involved learning the science behind how cream is fat suspended in liquid and butter is liquid suspended). there will also be a large Social Studies component as we explore and identify how things have changed over time and the implications of these changes on people, resources and the environment.