Ee Elephant

Today we finished our Ee Elephant unit--and boy was it fun!

We learned that elephants live on two continents: Asia and Africa. (Sneaky, huh, that we thought we were learning about elephants but My Father's World threw in some geography as a bonus!) We got out the globe to find these continents and even the specific countries where elephants live. We were very surprised to learn that you can tell the difference between an African elephant and an Asian elephant because African elephants have bigger ears. (Proud mom alert in 5...4...3...2...1) And I was so proud of Hannah for saying, "Hey, I know how we can remember that! Africa is a bigger word than Asia, and African elephants have bigger ears!" I love teaching this child!

We checked out a National Geographic video about elephants that was interesting. It did talk about poaching, which was a new concept for Hannah. It also talked about mating, which has been coming up a lot with all these animal studies, but so far she hasn't asked any questions. I guess she knows enough to satisfy her at this age, which is fine. with. me.

Some of the books we enjoyed this week were "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" (an old favorite!), The Elephant Who Couldn't Forget, Babar, The Ant and the Elephant, and a wonderful, wonderful allegory called The Great Elephant. Did I mention yet that the last one was wonderful? No? Well, go check it out because it's WONDERFUL!

The girls made elephant masks out of brown grocery bags, which was a lot of fun! It was a complete fluke, but we noticed when we finished that one of the elephants had noticeably smaller ears than the other. Hannah said, "Hey, I know! Millie can be the Asian elephant, and I'll be the African elephant!" I'll say it again: Pure joy teaching this child!


During her free time this week, she drew this picture of an elephant. Granted, it is missing the ever-so-essential ear and its nose does somewhat resemble a vacuum cleaner hose, but I think she did a really good job on the feet, tail, and body! And no matter what it may look like, I am quite certain that she was not trying to call herself an elephant's behind, but rather trying to let everyone know that she is the one who drew this masterpiece!


Our special words to remember this week were "I will remember what God has done for me."

One of Hannah's assignments was to list some things God has done for her that she wants to remember. Here's what she came up with (all notes in parentheses are mine):

• Made our earth that we can walk on
  
• Provided food for us
  
• Made pets like ducks (FYI, we have exactly ZERO pet ducks at our house.)
  
• Giving us a home that we can live in
  
• Giving us people who can help us
  
• Providing us a nice daddy and mommy (Awww!)
  
• Providing stores so we can buy more wood if we have a broken house (Spoken like a true hurricane victim!)
  
• Adjusters, adjusters, adjusters (See note above...)
  
• Giving us air that we can breathe
  
• Helping us make new friends
  
• Giving us our sisters and brothers
  
• Giving us a nice house to live in
  
• Made plants and animals
  
• Jesus
  
• Sending people to write down the Scriptures in the Bible
  
• Sending us people who wanted to make a church and teach us about God
  
• Gave me my friend Rachel
  
• Gave us nice hot sun to keep us warm when we play outside
  
• Gives us company who can entertain us
  
• Gave us the Holy Bible
  

Millie decided she wanted to join in, too. Here's her list:

• Gave us a hamburger
  
• Gave us candy
  
• Gave us green beans
  
• Gave us Hannah's kitty
  
• Gave us horses at Mrs. Jayne's house
  
• Gave us cows at Mrs. Jayne's house
  

This unit really made me take time to reflect on what God has done for me that I never want to forget, as well.

Thank you, God, for giving us the ability to remember all that you've done for us. Help us to take advantage of that gift!