Be Refreshed. Find Faith and Courage: Five Days With Keep the Lights Burning Abbie These are activities and discussions that go along with one of our favorite books - Keep the Lights Burning Abbie Day 1: History Lighthouses, Safety at Sea, Morse Code, Titanic Day 2: Character Courage, Chivalry, Sanctity of Life Day 3: Art Blue and Brown Color Wheel Day 4: Practical Skills Nothing but eggs. Day 5: Science Weather and Wave Motion Funny story for Mom or Dad Part I: I entered Keep the Lights Burning Abbie to our early reading list on the day of our Church s trunk or treat. We made the story our theme and packed up our chicken into a dog kennel. First, my daughter and I laughed over which character our little red hen should portray from the book. Well she couldn t be charity, she is way too stingy with eggs. She can t be faith, she has tried to fly away to the neighbors. She went as hope. We are hoping for eggs! Read on, for funny feed the chicken story part II on a later day.
Day One History- Lighthouses and Safety at Sea-Morse Code and Titanic Light houses mark dangerous rocks, currents, shallow water, and inlets. In the dark, a ship can see the light and head for safety or avoid danger. Today lighthouses are automated so that families like Abbie s do not have to live in such remote areas. Light ships used to mark dangers that were not attached to land. Since automated buoys were invented, light ships have no longer been used. Before the days of radios and other wireless communications when a ship was in danger at sea there were few ways to call for help. Once radio became common-place things were considerably changed. When storm and danger struck sometimes a distress call could be communicated with a system of dots and dashes called morse code. Seaman could send their message over a radio or with lights. A dot is a short click or flash of light. A dash is a longer one. Use the chart above to spell S. O. S. in morse code and fill it in below. S.O.S stands for Save Our Ship or Save Our Souls. It is the easiest message to send and decode. S O S Now get a flashlight. Practice sending the SOS signal with long and short flashes of light made by turning the flashlight on and off or using a piece of cardboard to cover and uncover the lighted end. Once you get the hang of the signal, go into a room without windows and turn out the light. Send the S.O.S. message. It is believed that the Titanic, was the first vessel in distress to use S.O.S. The Titanic was a vessel that sunk 100 years ago after striking an iceberg. It had been an engineering wonder of its time. Its builders had claimed that Even God could not sink this ship. It went to the bottom of the sea on its maiden voyage between England and the United States. The people on board were very courageous.
Day 2: Character Courage, Chivalry, Sanctity of Life Abbie showed courage in the story. Define Courage in your own words. Someone can write the definition down for you. Courage: Chivalry is a special kind of courage. It is when someone strong is brave for someone who is weaker or scared. Abbie s father was chivalrous. He went out in the boat when he knew a storm could come up. (Did he watch the sunrise or sunset to predict the weather like you will learn about on day 5?). He was the Dad, and the strongest in the family. He faced the risk and dangers of being in a small boat during a storm at sea to get the things his family needed. When the Titanic sank it was believed that there were not enough seats in the life boats to save all the people on board. All the men and boys stayed on the sinking ship to give the life boat seats to women and children. This was chivalrous. Note: chivalrous is French origin word. That is why the ch sounds like sh. After the Titanic, ships never left port without enough life boats for every man, woman and child on board. This is because every life is precious. Build a life boat out of orange peels. Cut an orange into 8 pieces. Peel each piece and eat the orange. Now use toothpicks to connect the two end corners of the orange peels. Float them in a sink full of water or a bathtub.
Day Three: Art Blue and Brown on the Color Wheel. Blue and brown are two colors used on the cover of Keep the Lights Burning. The color wheel above helps to pick out colors that go well together. Brown and blue are pointed out on the wheel. They are opposite each other on the wheel and so contrast well. Red and green are similar. They are directly across for one another as well. Pick something to test the blue and brown color combination. Different shades of blue and brown can work. Your colors do not need to match those in the wheel exactly. Make a chocolate cake and dye white icing blue. Decorate the cake. Draw a house with windows and a door. Color the house brown and then make the trim around the windows and the door blue. Make brown clay mountains and set them on a piece of blue paper. Drop blue food dye into the sink or bowl. Float some pieces of brown wood or acorns on the water.
Day 4: Practical Skills Nothing but eggs. By the time Abbie s father got back to the lighthouse there was nothing to eat but eggs. Eggs make excellent food, but you would still get tired of them if that was all you had to eat! Chickens are amazing birds that turn bugs and crumbs into eggs! Actually they need to eat a little more than that to lay, but the idea is close. Try cooking eggs a few different ways (with adult help and permission: ) Microwave, soft boiled: Crack an egg into a ceramic cup. Put salt and pepper on top. Microwave it for 45 seconds or however long your microwave takes. Poke it with a fork while looking away. Then eat. (Don't look into the egg cup on the first poke of your egg with a fork. You could have egg on your face - literally. Occasionally an air bubble forms and causes the burst. Ouch! hot stuff :( Scrambled Eggs. Beat two eggs and a tsp of milk plus a dash of salt and pepper in a liquid measuring cup, or other small, non-breakable pitcher. Put a tbs. of butter or margarine in a small frying pan. Put the pan on a stove and set on high. When the butter starts to sizzle, pour in the egg and milk mixture. Stir gently. The eggs should form clumps. When there is no more liquid left, remove the pan from the stove and serve. Cover the pan with a lid while you get your plate. Scrambled eggs do not taste as good cold, and they cool off quickly. Fried Eggs: Set up the pan just like for scrambled eggs. Watch an adult break an egg into the pan. It takes a careful hand to flip the egg over without breaking it. Watch them flip the egg and cook it for a minute, or until the white is no longer clear. Serve and eat! Funny, feed the chicken story part II. We set a container of shredded lettuce on top of the chicken kennel (remember from part I, we took her to a Harvest event at our church) and let anyone who wanted to, feed the chicken. I was also giving out candy at the same time. I held out my basket of candy: Take something you like. and then offered You can feed the chicken if you want. Can you see 3 chickens?
Before long a little girl stepped up. She listened, chose a lolly pop, and thinking she was following my instructions tried to feed it to the chicken. No, no (I told her). Chickens don t like lolly pops, and most children do not like old lettuce. We got it straight so that child and chicken had appropriate treats. Day 5: Science Weather and Wave Motion There is a saying about sunset and sunrise that goes like this: Red in the morning, sailor take warning. Red at night sailor s delight. Look at this photo. Could you go out on a boat the day of this sunrise and expect good weather? The dangers of weather at sea are rain and wind. The rain blocks visibility and wind causes the waves at sea to get bigger. A storm far away can make the sea rough for miles and miles. Watch How Waves Travel Through Water: Fill your tub with water. Put something that floats in the tub at one end. Use your hand to make waves at the other end of the tub like this: make your hand flat and put the edge of your hand down towards the bottom of the tub. Move your hand back and forth a few inches in the water so that you are pushing water with each move. Do the waves move the floating object at the other end?