Saturday, January 8, 2011

Jump start to our Blue Diamonds study






So for Christmas, my son received the Smithsonian Rocks and Gems kit

and he couldn't wait to dig in, so he spent quite a bit of time chopping away (and don't cha know the area he started on had hardly any gems in it. He literally found all but 3 during the final section chop fest-but hey, he was diligent and worked and worked to unearth his little gem stones, so that is a good thing.

I used this opportunity to get him interested in the up coming unit we will start this week- The Curiosity Files: The Blue Diamond (the link is to my review of it).  This week, we will work on the going thru some of the info in the study guide, reading the books I have gathered up from the library (many are on the suggested list, and even though a couple are a bit below his age level-I wanted to read them so I can offer a better review of the suggested books) and we'll watch the DVD too. 



I will have him do a couple of the worksheets during the week, and we'll end by working on the mini-booklets in the Fact File part.  I am also going to take him on a mini-field trip to the local jewelers to allow him to see a variety of diamonds; and perhaps the jeweler will be friendly enough to discuss how they look for the 4 Cs of a diamond and such-

so that is our plans with that.  I will post updates after we are into it, and when we finish it too.  

**Oh and I purchased the kit for a great price at Micheal's using a coupon, so look for deals-it should be cheaper at a local store/craft store.  And I am saving all the tools to use with digging extensions (I have come across some recipes to create the goop to cement in treasures to dig up)-so we'll do that for our dinosaur study and just for fun digs this coming spring/summer.  

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