From the archives: When we learned about Turkey (and what that had to do with popcorn)

First posted October 2007. Ponytails had just turned ten, and Lydia (Crayons) was six.

Popcorn recipes (and photo) found here

Last year one of our Squirrelings' favourite school days (the one they still talk about) was our Hundredth Day of School, when they were kept busy ALL DAY with a long list of things to do that related to the number one hundred. (The snack, as I recall, was something like a carrot stick and two round crackers or cookies on a plate to form 1 0 0.)

So this year we're having something similar about once a month, and I'm calling it Activity Fridays (one time it's going to be on a Thursday, but that doesn't matter). Each one will have a theme--or two themes mixed up, and each one will give us a chance to incorporate some of the fun or messy extras that just don't fit into a regular school day. This month's was a windup to our study of Turkey, and also a preparation day for Canadian Thanksgiving. So--Turkey and turkey.

These are my notes, with some comments afterwards in brackets.

A Day of Turkish Delights (and getting ready for Thanksgiving Monday)

9-9:30 Bible reading (Acts 20-13-38, Paul visits his friends from Ephesus and says farewell for the last time)
Prayer needs for Turkey (from A Child's Geography)
Turkish folk song

[This all went pretty smoothly. We ended up putting in some of our own words (in English) to the Turkish song which had a lot of "ay ay ay's" in it. Our version went something like this: "Ooh, I ate too much turkey, I ate too much stuffing, ay ay ay my stomach hu-u-urts." Apologies to those who do speak Turkish.]

Rakkas geldi meydane
(Rakkas came to the dance square)
Al bastý ak gerdane
(The white throat became red) [Our library book translates this differently]
Ay ay ay ay ay ay canlar
(Ay ay ay ay ay ay friends)
Böyle dilber gördün mü
(Have you ever seen this kind of beauty)
Ey meclis-i þahane
(Ey people)
Ay ay ay ay ay ay canlar

9:30-10 Look at weaving website
Draw designs and start weaving activity (yarn and fabric on foam-tray looms)

10-10:20 Make and eat Fruit Kebabs (short break)

[Cheese, pear cubes, and dried apricots on toothpicks]

10:20-10:50 Turkish Concentration Game

[This went over pretty well. I made up twelve pairs of index cards with things we had learned like "Ankara," "the capital city of Turkey," "kilim," "a Turkish carpet" and so on, and we played Concentration with them. Ponytails is VERY good at this game.]

10:50-11 Mix up popcorn (popped earlier) with molasses-spice syrup and put in to bake (a recipe we found in a fall newsletter)

Continue weaving (and stirring the popcorn mixture)

11:30-12—Outdoor Games: Hopscotch with Turkish numbers; Whirling Hula Hoops.

[They played hopscotch in the driveway (not sure what the neighbour lady thought of them yelling "Beer!" (what the Turkish number one sounds like), but anyway...)]

12-1 Lunch Break; Visit the "Library at Ephesus" (in the dining room)

[This meant all the library books we'd taken out about Turkey, including the books of folk tales, arranged on the dining room table.]

1-1:20 Put out Thanksgiving decorations

[We got out the box of little pumpkins and scarecrows to decorate the front hall]

1:20-1:40 Turkish Folk Tales [A library book]

1:40-2:10 Make paper cones from scrapbook paper and fill with popcorn and candy corn in sandwich bags

[We're going to use these as Thanksgiving favours]

2:10-2:40 Turkish Checkers and/or colouring tile printouts (a link from A Child's Geography)

[Ponytails and I had already been experimenting with Turkish Checkers; I figured Crayons would probably settle for colouring. Actually we never did get time for this--making and filling eleven paper cones took us most of the rest of the afternoon, especially when we decided to teach Crayons how to braid yarn handles.]

2:40-3 House cleanups for the weekend

3-3:20 Teatime—sitting on the floor with cushions.