Japan

As soon as we heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I wanted to take the opportunity to teach my children about the country and teach them about what had happened there.
We had so much fun learning about Japan!
We started off by dating our passports.

  
We then located Japan on our globe. We learned the population of Japan, the official language, and capital and the ocean that surrounds it.


My oldest is teaching the youngest about earthquakes. In this picture he is describing how the plates shift. Hmmm….surprised that my 5 year old can explain that! Smart kid!!  The kids thought it was amazing that Japan is actually made up of many earthquakes!!

We also prayed for the people and the devastation of Japan. We host international students and were able to get a hold of all the ones who stayed in our home. We were extremely happy when we found out all 15 of them and their families are okay!!

My youngest did not really enjoy the Japanese snack we had!
   

We learned about the most famous and important shrine in Japan: Itsukushima Shrine. My plan was to try and get the kids to make it out of play-dough….here is their creations! (We’ll  have to try again!!)
 
We also learned about the meaning of the Japanese flag. My oldest thought it was so amazing that the red circle symbolizes the sun rising! He now thinks that Japan is REALLY hot since their sun is red!!
 
Here the kids are trying to write their names in Japanese. I went to Google and got a translator that translated the kids names. This was quite fun! My three year old even loved it!!

We made Carp necklaces and learned how important these fish are to the people in Japan. These fish are considered to be very strong because they swim upstream. On Children's day in Japan, many children will make these necklaces and hang a kite-like banner of Carp to symbolize the strength.
  
My oldest completed a lap book activity about Japan.

We learned about the animals from Japan and graphed them accordingly onto our graph. Here the kids are pointing to their favorite one!!


Origami is a very popular craft in Japan! We made these that I found at Michaels.
 



Other things we learned this week was about the seven continents, the five oceans, how to say hello and thank you in Japanese, sand a Japanese song,   and then we ended our Japan experience going for SUSHI!! My oldest could eat sushi every day of his life!! So….then next day for lunch we went out for SUSHI again!!!

** All ideas taken from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/. Erica has an incredible website and we used her geography curriculum.