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Cocoa Ice
|
Author:
Diana Karter Appelbaum
Illustrator:
Holly Meade
Summary: A parallel tale of two girls who both love to eat cocoa ice and the
trading process that makes it possible.
ISBN: 0531300404 |
Literature Based
Unit Study written
by Wende and Ami
Geography: Santo Domingo (and Maine)
Locate Santo Domingo on the map. It is an island in the Caribbean, colonized by Spain in 1844. Review with student Columbus’ “discovery” of this group of islands. Discuss the island’s resources - sugar cane, coffee, copper, bauxite, and of course, cacao.
Locate Maine on the map. Find a route the schooners may have taken to travel back and forth from Santo Domingo to Maine (or look at the example on the inside cover).
You may want to discuss the interdependence of people. Discuss both Santo Domingo and Maine, answering the following questions:
What is used to make their houses?
What basic materials do they need to survive?
What kinds of food do they eat, and where do they obtain the food?
How do they earn a living?
How are the lives of the people influenced by the natural resources?
Character Quality/Social Studies: Industry
The
families we find in this story are hard workers! Another word for this is
industrious. Ask your student to point out examples of their hard work
(papa splits the ripe cacao pods, when there is no work in the garden—they go
conching, paddling down the river, mama steams the conchs and picks out the meat
for chowder, mama roasts the cacao beans, papa hollowed a canoe, papa trades his
goods, etc. etc.! The people in Maine are just as industrious—mama bakes apple
pies, the little girl practices her stitching, Papa and Uncle Jacob work for the
ice company (and all that entails), etc., etc.
In Proverbs 6:6, the Bible admonishes us to “Go to the ant…consider her ways and be wise.” Industry is an important character trait to have. You may want to do a Bible study with your children (using the book of Proverbs) that will lead them to understand why hard work is important. How do they work hard throughout the day?
A tropical rain forest is a forest that receives up to 32 feet of rain each year. They are located within a narrow region near the equator in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia. Discuss why they are important to our earth –
- they support over half of the world’s plant and animal life
- about ¼ of the medicines we use come from plants of the tropical rainforests
- play an important role in the climate control of our planet by having an affect on the wind, rainfall, humidity, and temperature. Within the rain forest, water, oxygen, and carbon are recycled. This natural recycling helps to reduce flooding, soil erosion, and air pollution.
In most countries there is a noticeable difference in seasons. Close to the equator, however, there are no seasons. Here people have much of the same kind of weather day after day throughout the entire year. This is true of the rainforests. It is hot (“always summer”), and some rainforests get 200 days of rain per year! Compare a rain forest with the amount of rain you received in your region last year.
Science: Cacao Beans to (Hot) Chocolate
The book simply describes the process of turning the cacao plant into chocolate.
1. Plant a cacao
tree in the shade
2. It grows pink flowers
3. Papa splits the pods open with his machete
4. We spread slippery beans and sticky sweet pulp on a carpet of banana leaves
5. They sit in the sun for a few hot days and begin to change color
6. We pick beans out of the smelly pulp
7. We spread the beans in the sun until they turn dark brown
8. We turn the beans every day until they are dry
9. Mama roasts them over a hot fire
10. She puts them in a mortar and they are crushed
11. We add water and sugar and cook it in a pot
If you want to read more, The Adventures of Cody Cocoa Bean by Hershey may be a good go-along. Another suggestion is Beans to Chocolate (Welcome Books: How Things Are Made) by Inez Snyder.
In the Hands of a Child-- Chocolate Lapbook
Science: Tropical Fruit
The first few pages
of this story mention LOTS of tropical fruits: coconut, papaya, mango, orange,
banana, and guava among others. Which ones is your student familiar with? You
could take a trip to the grocery store to find as many as possible (of the above
mentioned) and make a fruit salad. If you don’t want to do that, you could
just get a coconut and let your student taste coconut milk. Is your student
familiar with any tropical fruits that weren’t mentioned in the story?
(Pineapple? Starfruit? Passion fruit? Kiwi?).
Plantains are best if baked or fried. Here are some recipes if you and your
student want to give plantains a whirl. http://chicken.allrecipes.com/az/Sncch.asp
,
http://appetizer.allrecipes.com/az/FridPlntins.asp
Science: Shells
If
you have some shells (or can get some), let your student examine them. If you
are feeling really ambitious, you could let them go “diving”/searching (in a
small pool or the tub) or digging (in sand) for some shells. Discuss with your
student that shells are houses for living things like crabs. If your student
seems interested, you may want to feed their curiosity by reading
What Lives in a Shell?
(Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1)
by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. If you have an old conch shell, let your
student “listen” …what do they hear?
Science: Ice
Your
student may wonder how the ice stays frozen from Maine to the tropical aisle.
It’s because the ice is insulated by the walls of the boat as well as the other
ice. If you want, do the following simple experiment. Try wrapping ice in
different substances to see which one works as the best insulator. Some ideas:
styrofoam, newspaper, plastic bubble wrap, and tin foil. Which one melts the
fastest? Which ice cube lasts the longest? What if you use larger pieces of
ice? What if you put many ice cubes together?
If you want this experiment to be simplified, you can get a cooler (and pack it full of ice) and get a similar size container (without a lid) and pack it full of the same amount of ice. How long does it take each to melt? The cooler will take longer because it is insulated. Ice will probably keep in a cooler for many days (depending on the size of the cooler).
harvest - to gather a crop
pulp - the soft part of certain fruits and vegetables
machete - a heavy knife used as a tool for cutting plants
trading - used for the purpose of exchanging one thing for another
schooner - a ship that has two or more masts with sails in the front and back
support - to hold the weight of
bargain - to talk about a trade in order to get a better deal
Language Arts: Process Writing (“How-to”)
After discussing the science of the cacao plant, ask your older student to
explain (in writing) the process of planting, harvesting, and cooking a fruit or
vegetable that you include in your garden. You can make it a simple assignment
such as a list, or you can make it more complex by having her write paragraphs.
If you can’t think of anything, you could also choose to let her make a list
(or paragraph) about the process of taking ice from Maine to the tropical
islands as described in the story.
Nursery Rhyme –
I
had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear,
But
a silver nutmeg and a golden pear;
The
King of Spain's daughter came to visit me,
And
all for the sake of my little nut tree.
Discuss the concept of trading and bartering. Have children play a game of applying a value to certain toys and let them trade.
Math: Distance
Using the scale on the map, have student determine how many miles from Maine
to Santo Domingo.
Math: Time Frames
Discuss time frames. How many years in a decade? Decades in a century? The
story took place in 1870’s. How many decades ago was that?
Art: Collage
(Paper Piece Picture)
Examine the pictures
in the story—a really good example is pgs. 3-4 (“We have every kind of tree
around our house.”). Make a paper piece picture. Let your students cut out
construction paper, wall paper (or paper they have painted on) and glue the
pieces down into a collage type of picture. Sometimes, some of the “pieces” of
the illustrations look torn. Point this out to your student as well and give
him the opportunity to tear some of the pieces. You may want to let your
student choose a page to replicate. If your student enjoys making this type of
illustration, go to the library and get some Eric Carle books. He paints on
paper and then pieces together his illustrations. Your student may want to try
to replicate some of Carle’s artwork, or just use his for extra inspiration. An
Eric Carle book that would tie into the shell science mentioned above would be
A House for Hermit Crab. Another illustrator who uses a similar art
form is Jack Ezra Keats.
Supplemental Books, etc.:
Just For Fun:
*Make some hot cocoa and or cocoa ice (chocolate ice cream).
*Craft-- sew together a simple balsam pillow, or use other potpourri
*P.E.--have crab races. Learn how to do the limbo.
Links
Have students investigate weather patterns by going to National Geographic''s Xpedition Hall, entering Room I, and choosing X3 (the World Viewer). They can see what their climate is like as well as what climates are like Santo Domingo. Note that all the “always hot” regions are close to the equator (as mentioned in the science lesson).
Make ice cream in a bag
See Homeschool Share's Chocolate Unit for more fun!