Canada Study: Newfoundland and Labrador

Creative Fridays includes our day to study our beloved land of Canada... and to have fun while doing so.  :)    We read, we watch, we create.   It's all good.  :) 

The  flower of Newfoundland & Labrador is the pitcher plant.
This amazing plant eats insects -- they become trapped and rot inside the pitchers.  The plant then soaks up the nutrients.  There are tiny downward facing hairs inside the pitcher that prevent the insect from climbing back out when they fall in. 

We watched this video below, me cheering for the plant, my son cheering for the flies.

The Atlantic Puffin is the provincial bird of  Newfoundland and Labrador.  This sea bird lives in the cold ocean waters feeding on small fish such as herring.

They usually mate for life.  The female lays one egg each year in an underground burrow.
Puffins are hilarious to watch!  They would eat fish (such as sand eels, herring, hake and capelin), until they were so full they couldn't fly anymore.  Then they'd have to float on the water for awhile, resting after their big meal.  Every so often, one would try to take off again -- sometimes they'd make it and sometimes they'd just skip over the waves in a rather ungraceful attempt before deciding to take another break.  So, yes, puffins can fly.

Puffins have colourful bills during breeding season, take off from cliffs and water but not land.     We discovered the need for puffin patrol.  Banding, rescuing, researching .. they do it all, and it helps promote pride in ones community when you efforts also bring in tourists to learn more about your little bird.  :)

We learned that Newfoundland and Labrador has it own provincial song.
Ode to Newfoundland

1. When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills,
And summer spreads her hand,
When silvern voices tune thy rills,
We love thee, smiling land.
We love thee, we love thee,
We love thee, smiling land.
2. When spreads thy cloak of shimmering white,
At winter's stern command,
Thro' shortened day, and starlit night,
We love thee, frozen land.
We love thee, we love thee
We love thee, frozen land.
3. When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
And wild waves lash thy strand,
Thro' spindrift swirl, and tempest roar,
We love thee windswept land.
We love thee, we love thee
We love thee windswept land.
4. As loved our fathers, so we love,
Where once they stood, we stand;
Their prayer we raise to Heaven above,
God guard thee, Newfoundland
God guard thee, God guard thee,
God guard thee, Newfoundland.

A while back I found this kit called "treasure of Canada" which is a gem digging kit for the provinces of Canada.

Today, my lad dug out fool's gold and labradorite.    I thought he might find it a neat way to get to the gems and I was right.   He did get frustrated with the provided digging tools, but fought through.

We combined our Friday art study with our Canada day study.   We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and how he would spread his paint on thickly and draw swirling lines through it.  Since neither of us wanted to do a self portrait that the book we are using called us to do, we did a Puffin instead.   This was a lot of fun, though we learned our acrylic paints desperately need replacing.  :(   Guess I know what I will be shopping for these coming weeks.  :)

Mom's Version

The Lad's Version

Part of our Friday Studies to exercise our creativity as we work.   To that end, as we study our provinces the villagers find they like to be involved.   So we have the flag of "the Rock" and the flag of the villagers.  :)

Resources Used?
Ode to Newfoundland. 
Nations Encyclopedia.
Blank Map of Canada.
Free Colouring Pages.
HCS Learning Commons.
Kidzone.
Google Maps.
And various other internet resources just to learn more about specifics of puffins, labradorite, etc.   More Youtube videos as well.  :)