Volcanoes

Ethan chose an Eyewitness: Volcano video for Anna Kate at the library last week. It was connected to her love of Hawaii. To be more specific all of my kids love something to do with Hawaii. For Anna Kate it's really dancing the hula; for Ethan, volcanoes; for Rosie Lilo and Stitch (she calls them both "Stitch") - and all of them are in love with the beach.

Brian and I are going away to a yet-undisclosed location of his planning on Thursday and Friday, so I decided to save the video for their school day with Gran, and then, as often happens, I got on a roll and put together a volcano unit. I'll send some to Gran's and we'll do some next week and some we'll save for another time, but there's some really cool stuff out there! Use discretion, of course, because these are secular science sources.

Make a volcano:

1. Classic version
2. Easier artistic version
3. Another easier version
4. Easiest version - this is the one I'm sending to Gran's, but I'm writing a note on it to add the red food coloring to the vinegar, because I know that my kids won't buy that's it's a volcanic eruption if the "lava" is white
5. Cheater's version

Worksheets, etc. :

1. Crayola Volcano Mini Book
2. Time for Kids map worksheets here and here.
3. Label a volcano diagram
4. Volcano writing paper
5. Fill in the blank

Online articles:

1. Science News for Kids - enter "volcanoes" in the search box if nothing comes up. There are several articles
2. "Exploring Volcanoes" - I also found a juvenile book by this researcher, Donna O'Meara, at our library
3. "Explore Volcanoes"
4. "Volcano! Mountain of Fire" - this online stroy at National Geographic Kids has video clips as well.

Online activities:

1. VolcanoWorld's Games & Fun Stuff - has a neat dot to dot among other things
2. For older kids (looks like preteen and up): a strategy game in which you are a disaster manager handling a volcanic eruption and evacuating a town

And last, but not least -

Home Ec (otherwise known as Snack Time):

• Volcano Cake

I also did a juvenile volcano search on the library's database. I chose several more books and videos. I'll try to let you know later which one's were favorites.

"Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org".