Chocolate Class #4 & #5

Due to illness traveling through our homeschool group, we canceled Chocolate Class #4 and did a double class today.

Day 4

February 26, 2010 (Canceled and moved to March 5)

Identify chocolate bars - What you see in the picture above is what I had on a table for the kids to look at when they walked in. They had to try to guess what each candy bar was.

Put Chocolate words in alphabetical order

Read Lesson 4 – How chocolate is made. Have students label the pictures taken from chocolate manufacturing.

Language Arts – Write a poem using words that are on the Sensory Chart that kids filled out in Class #3. Write the final draft of the poem on a Hershey Kiss shape cut out of brown consrtuction paper. Then use aluminum foil to but around the "kiss" and mount on a sheet of colored paper. (See my daughter above completing her page)
Reading Comprehension - Have students read independently (non readers pair up with readers), then give a narration (written or oral) about Milton Hershey.

Geography – Locate the town of Hershey on a map of Pa and mark it by drawing a Hershey Kiss shape in the appropriate location.

Day 5

March 5, 2010

1.Language Arts – Chocolate Similes

2.Art – Revisit picture study from Day 3. Using watercolors, create a picture similar to Tiebaud’s.

3.Hot Chocolate Testing – Do a blind taste test of three types of hot chocolate. Determine which the children like best then reveal the brand/type of hot chocolate.

4.Health – Compare and contrast the nutrition labels from three types of hot chocolate.

Language Arts – Is chocolate healthy?

Art – design a chocolate bar wrapper

2010 Chocolate Class #3

Chocolate Class #3

1. Observe pictures of cacao pods in books. Dicsuss the coloration of the pods. Color a cacao pod.
2. Science - Identify the four things a cacao tree needs (Hands of a Child project pack #1221; Sweet Chocolate)
3. Math - M&M Graphing. Chart from Homeschool Share; M&M chart
4. Art - Picture study; Wayne Tiebaud's "Cakes"
5. Language Arts - Hershey Kiss Sensory Chart from Homeschool Share
6. Game - Hide the Hershey Kiss - one child hides a Hershey Kiss somewhere in the room while the other children cover their eyes. The kiss must be someplace where everyone can see it from where they sit. Once hidden, the children uncover their eyes and look for the kiss while staying in their seat. The first person to find it gets to be "it" and is the next to hide the kiss.

2010 Chocolate Class #2

Chocolate Class #2

1. Language Arts - Chocolate bunny word bubbles. Fill in what you think the bunnies are saying to each other.
2. Review Day #1

• In what part of the world were the first cacao trees found?
• Who first used cacao beans?
• What were the beans used for?

3. History - The Story of Chocolate; DK Reader; pages 16-19; Columbus and Cortez; Write a narration about what these two explorers' experiences were with chocolate.

4. Make Indoor S'mores

5. Language Arts - The Story of Chocolate; DK Reader; pages 20-22; Read and narrate

6. Problem Solving - Build a chocolate tower bridge using Hershey Miniatures (Teacher Created Materials; Chocolate Thematic Unit; page 44)

2010 Chocolate Class #1

Chocolate Class #1

Activities

1. How many words can you make from the letters in the word "chocolate"?

2. History - The Story of Chocolate; DK Readers; pages 10-15; Read about the Mayans, Aztecs and the Olmecs. Have children narrate/discuss this history.

3. Geography - On a map of Central America, color code the areas where the Mayans, Aztecs and Olmecs inhabited.

4. Math / Science - Barge Building - Make a barge out of aluminum foil to hold the most M & M's without sinking in water. (Chocolate Thematic Unit; Teacher Created Materials; page 44)

5. Art - Collage; Make a collage using pictures found in magazines of chocolate and things with chocolate in them.

Chocolate Poetry and S'mores

One of the advantages to home education is that you are not bound to a curriculum. Education is a way of life and being able to adapt academics to your family is wonderful.

Right now we are doing activities based on chocolate. I was going to teach a class from my home for other homeschoolers to join us, but our schedule didn't work out. Since we have a flexible schedule within our own family, we can make it work for us.

Today we wrote chocolate poetry. After they wrote their draft and I checked for any spelling mistakes (grammar is a little more difficult with poetry since there really are no rules), they copy them onto a brown paper cut out in the shape of a Herhsey Kiss. Then we use aluminum foil to make a wrapper. Here are my daughters works:




DD10
Haiku

I love chocolate
Chocolate is very sweet
And it's good for you!



DD11

Lost in dreamy world of thought,
I look at the candy bar I have bought.
Dark and tarry wrapped so slenderly,
Unworthy I hold it ever so tenderly.
Hearts in my eyes, they bulge ecstatically;
For it just sits there so erratically.
But I close my eyes to the health benefits
I must eat it beore the apocalypse!
I look down and try to comprehend its power
I look down and it's been devoured.




After the poetry, we made S'mores in the microwave. I also made a notebook page to go with it.


The notebook page contains the recipe, two places in which you can place photographs or the child can draw a picture and lines for notes at the bottom. I told them the notes could be anything they want relating to making the s'mores in the microwave. Besides eating the s'mores, I think their favorite part was watching the marshmallow expand in the microwave.

I love this job!

Chocolate!!

For some reason, this time of year, I just get a craving to teach about chocolate. It's a very interesting topic and there are many resources availble out there. Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to do activities and lessons based on this irresistable treat.

Pennsylvania home school law requires us to cover certain subject areas. I think they can all be covered under our chocolate topic.

English to include spelling, reading and writing

• I feel that spelling and writing can be covered with copywork. Have the child copy an excerpt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
  
• Your child could also write poetry about chocolate. I've had my kids write a poem. When they had it perfect, they copied it on a Hershey Kiss cut out.
  
• This topic is rich with vocabulary.
• Your local library probably has both fiction and nonfiction books on chocolate.
  

Arithmetic

• Use a Hershey Bar to work on fractions.
• Find out the price of a Hershey bar at the local grocery store and have the child figure out how much 3 candy bars would cost. If they paid with a $10.00 how much change should they get back? Did you figure sales tax?
• Make a recipe using chocolate.
• Buy a small bag of M & M's and make a bar graph showing how many of each color are in the bag.
• Think of 3 (or possibly more) chocolate bars and ask everyone you know, which is his or her favorite. Use tally marks to keep track and make a bar graph to organize the results.
  
  Science
• Lay out the process of taking a cacao bean and making it into sweet chocolate.
• Find out what kind of environment a cacao tree needs to grow.
  
  Geography
• On a map of Pennsylvania, locate Hershey, Pa.
• On a world map, mark where cocoa beans are grown.
• On a world map (or on a map of Central America), color the areas where the first tribes lived who discovered the cacao bean.
  
  History of the US and Pennsylvania
• When did chocolate first come to the United States?
• Where did Milton Hershey make his chocolate? Why did he choose that area? What else did Milton Hersehy do?
  
  Civics
• Milton Hershey was a philanthropist. Research the school he built and other ways he was a good citizen.
  
  
  Safety Ed
• Discuss what to do when you get a bag of candy wrapper is off of a piece.
• Discuss why pets should not have chocolate.
  
  Health and Physiology
• Compare and contrast the nutritional values of different types of chocolate (eg hot chocolate, candy bars, raw cacao beans, etc.)
  
  PE
  This one has me stumped, too.
  
  Music
• Write a song about your favorite form of chocolate.
• Listen to music from the Mayan and Aztec people.
• Listen to jingles from advertisements for chocolate.
  
  Art
• Create your own chocolate bar. Design a wrapper for the bar.

Field trip

• Hershey's Chocolate World - this trip is free and you get to take a ride through the chocolate making process. Hershey now has a new museum with classes for school students. The Chocolate World tour is free, but the classes at the museum come with a fee.

The following resources contain many more ideas.
Homeschool Share Free Unit on Chocolate
Currclick resources
Chocolate Theme Page
Exploratorium Magazine: Chocolate

Information on the Hershey Company

Feel free to post any additional ideas in my comments.