North American Arctic, First Nations Of The Arctic, Montessori Geography At Home

This Study of the Arctic Inuit People was such an incredible experience. When contrasting with North West Coastal People to the Arctic a comment that Xander made was, "WOW! They were rich with resources!" 

He was really struck with how difficult life was/is in the arctic, and their incredible use of the resources they had available to them.  This study really left him with a great appreciation for the hard work, and incredible skills of this amazing culture.

Xander's Inuit Oil Lamp "Kudlik" Lesson.

Museums are such an incredible way to explore culture and during the time of this study we were lucky to be able to visit the Research and Collections Facility - Canadian Museum of Nature.

Narwhal Tusks

The kids had a chance to visit with Beluga Whales at the Vancouver Aquarium.

On with our Arctic Environment!

Houses of snow, skin and bones (Native Dwellings)

This project was made with sugar cubes, but you could use white mini marshmallows. He prepared the card board surface and started building.

This is Xander's little seal skin canoe. Above he is using paper towel for the skin, and willow twigs for the frame.

Lego is never far away in any project Xander puts together.

Below this figure is preparing a summer dwelling.

Winter travel sled

Traveling by canoe

Xander set up the interior of the igloo, with all of the things he thought a typical family would have.

This is an incredible book about the different cultures living around the Arctic Circle.

The Arctic World

Xander has been using this book to learn some early writing skills. I posted about it here. We used the "Writing a Research Report" for this project.

I created a set of cue cards from the book for Xander to refer to while writing.  This is a format you can find anywhere, but the book has such an incredible way of presenting this work, I would highly recommend it!

Researching and writing out his information on post-its (later we used lined index cards).

This is the site I mentioned earlier.

 Writing his report. This was a really fun process for Xander. We worked on many of the steps to writing a research report on a white board. We have been using white boards a lot this year during all subjects. I am loving them because they and so portable and easy to clean! Below are the boards we use.                                                 This one is a really nice size.

Quartet Plastic Frame Magnetic Whiteboard, 17 x 23 Inches, White (MHOW1723)

We also have this smaller one that is super handy

Quartet Plastic Frame Magnetic Whiteboard, 11 x 14 Inches, Frame Color May Vary (MHOW1114)

These are our favorite markers. I love that they have a felt eraser on the caps.

Quartet ReWritables Mini Dry-Erase Markers, Magnetic, Assorted Classic Colors, 6 Pack (51-659312Q)

You can download your free copy of our cue cards here! 

Hole punch your cards in the upper right corner and thread with anything you like. I used a butterfly clip to connect the cards, and it worked well for us. A key ring would be great as well.

 I found this really fun Arctic Animal Set. It includes a great fact book, a set of animal figures and a board game with trivia questions in the back of the book.

Groovy Tube Books: Arctic Chill! (Fact Book, Game Board and Collectible Figurines

In case you missed it...
Part 1 Native North American
Part 2 North West Coastal 

Thanks for visiting with us!

This post is linked up at Living Montessori Now!!