Unit Study: Puerto Rico

 In preparation for our trip to Puerto Rico, we spent the month of January studying the language, culture, habitats, and wildlife. 

Here are the books we read:

Rafi and Rosi, by Lulu Delacre
Rafi and Rosi: Pirates, by Lulu Delacre
What's Great about Puerto Rico? by Anita Yasuda
Coqui in the City, by Nomar Perez
Over and Under the Rainforest, by Kate Messner
In the Rainforest, by Kate Duke
Parrots Over Puerto Rico, by Cindy Trumbore
It's My State: Puerto Rico, by Ruth Bjorklund
Mother of Sharks, by Melissa Cristina Marquez
Going on an Airplane, by Harold T. Rober
My First Trip on an Airplane, by Katie Kawa
The Airport Book, by Lisa Brown
Shake it Morena, by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
When Julia Danced Bomba, by Raquel M. Ortiz
Our Roof is Blue, by Sara E. Echenique

During our first week, we tried to get a basic introduction to Puerto Rico, using the Rafi and Rosi books. These are fun stories about brother and sister coquis, and give a great overview of some of the things we might see and experience in Puerto Rico. We also researched what kinds of food and drink we might find in Puerto Rico, and made limbers using a recipe from Shake it Morena. We learned a few simple phrases to help us order food in Spanish, and practiced them while playing restaurant.

During our second week, we studied various habitats and wildlife found in Puerto Rico. We knew we'd be visiting El Yunque National Forest, so we made it a point to study rainforests. We created a diorama, including the different layers of the rainforest. We studied tropical marine life and made playdough coral reefs. Finally, we also studied mangrove forests, and Pumpkin was determined to be able to tell the difference between the different types of mangroves. She was, in fact, able to identify red mangroves during our trip. During this week, we also practiced various Spanish greetings.

During our third week, we learned about traveling on airplanes, and about Puerto Rican music and culture. We read several books and watched quite a few youtube videos to prepare for airplane travel. We also created a pretend airport, and we all took turns pretending to be TSA officers, flight attendants, pilots, and passengers. During this week, we also studied culture, with a focus on music and dance. Sweet Pea spent quite a bit of time on the trip trying to dance Bomba. We also discovered the PBS show, Alma's Way, and watched the movie about her trip to Puerto Rico.

Week four was our actual trip! You can read about it here on the blog. When we returned, we had a lot of questions, so we spent a week studying and researching those questions. 

Here are the questions we had:
Can we identify the animals we saw?
What are hurricanes?
What is a cloud forest?
Are coconuts seeds?
What is the biggest seed?
Why do N's have "eyebrows" in Spanish?

Many of these questions were easily answered with some Google searches and library books. But I wanted to take some special care to talk about hurricanes, as we heard a lot of talk about hurricanes while we were there, and some areas are still experiencing damage after Hurricane Maria. We read "Our Roof is Blue," which is a beautiful story about trauma and resilience after hurricane damage. We watched a few videos to learn about the science behind hurricanes. We did a few STEM experiments, including making a hurricane in a bowl, and building houses out of Duplos and preparing them for a hurricane (mom with a leaf blower). While these activities were really fun, I think the girls were also able to appreciate the gravity of natural disasters in an age appropriate manner.