Homonyms, homographs, and homophones: the craziness of the English language! Miners and Minors. Wail, Wale, and Whale. Watch (look) and Watch (timepiece). Bark (dog talk) and Bark (on the tree). Homonyms are the life of the party at our language arts gatherings. My son and I had a great time going through a long list of these words last night, and it all started with “miners”.
The 49ers were miners: a few nights ago we completed our second book about the California Gold Rush of 1849. We are still thinking about –
- how would we have traveled to California from the east coast; all choices were dreadful. Would we have taken a ship around the tip of South America (hideous seasickness/horrible food)? Would we have taken a ship, disembarked (vocab) in Panama, hiked the 60 miles through the jungle (bugs and disease) and hoped we were able to find a ship to take us the rest of the way? Would we have traveled over land in a covered wagon (we learned that the most dangerous part of covered wagon travel was the CROSSING OF RIVERS. We would not have guessed that.)?
- PAY DIRT – this is what happy prospector’s called finding gold dust in their pan of dirt.
- those who profited the most for the gold rush: the store owners who sold supplies to the miners, Levi Strauss and his jeans, the Wells and Fargo mail delivery service, and women who cooked, washed, and mended the miners’ clothing.
Hangtown Fry on the menu at Le Fictitious Local Diner (story problem): One of the diner’s cook’s kids was studying about the California Gold Rush, so the cook put a traditional 49er feast on the menu: Hangtown Fry, which he decided to serve with a side of sourdough bread. Hangtown Fry is an omelette (vocab) made of eggs, oysters, and bacon. The meal has been so popular that the chef has had to bake 10 loaves of sourdough every day. If one loaf provides 12 slices of bread, and each Hangtown Fry order comes with 2 slices of bread, how many orders does the diner sell in a week? (answer at bottom of post)
Rounding out our homonym theme, in music: After learning about the gold rush MINERS, we listened to three classical compositions in MINOR keys (in this case, each in the key of B minor). We talked about the difference in sound between a major and minor key, we talked about why each of the chosen pieces needed to be written in a minor key, and then we sat back and enjoyed:
- The Hebrides Overture, composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830 – the minor key essential for evoking the mystery and might of nature. Wonderfully conducted by the etherial Nathalie Stutzman in this video:
- In the Hall of the Mountain King, from the incidental music Edvard Grieg composed in 1876 for Henrik Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt. Furtive (vocab), stealthy (vocab), secretive and aggressive – brought to us only by the minor key:
- Ride of the Valkyries, from Richard Wagner’s opera, The Valkyrie, which premiered in 1870. The minor key brands the women warriors as fierce and relentless in their duties:
Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answer: 420 orders)