The Middle of the East or Chapter 8 was all about the Persian puzzle and the Ottoman Turks. Needless to say, I have a great deal to add to the history lessons on the Ottoman Empire, as someone who grew up in Romania. Thanks to our proximity to the Black Sea area, Romanians were always being invaded or threatened to be invaded. For centuries, the Turks were our greatest enemies.
The craft we chose was to build a bridge of four arches. It was not that hard, but it was not easy either. Scotch tape helps but it can be unruly, as I just used scrap paper for the arches, and scrap paper is flimsy. By the way, let us talk about the supplies needed. Typing paper? I had to look that up.
Apparently, that is another name for A4 – the European size for what we call 8 1/2 x 11 or Letter size in America. A4 is slightly longer and wider than Letter size.
The good news is, what you need to cut out of a piece of “typing paper” also fits within a Letter size. So we used some scrap paper, Letter size, and cut out the strips required. This was a great exercise in measuring with a ruler, by the way. If your children need some practice with measuring and using a ruler, there’s your opportunity.
We put them together with tape and then tested them with plastic soldiers. One plastic soldier was OK on it, but two proved too heavy. The kids played with the soldiers as if they were having a battle around the bridge and did not place them on the bridge.
I had to laugh at the typing paper quandary. When I was young, before computers and printers, there was typing paper and copy paper. Typing paper was for typewriters. I don’t really know the difference though. I think typing paper was better quality than copy paper, maybe. They were the same size. I’m guessing that typing paper had to stand up to being beaten on by a typewriter. Anyway, I don’t think these books are old enough to be using that term, so not sure why it’s in there.
Funny, right? That is what I thought, too. These books are not that old… but then I think she was writing these books in the early 90s, when the internet was not what it is today, and most people (especially writers) still used typewriters.