Marshall Islands Unit

I don’t know if this is true (I’m about to go look it up), but I have this vague memory the Marshall Islands has something to do with nuclear testing and definitely has something to do with the Pacific Theater in World War II. I’m actually rewatching the Geography Now video as I write this lesson because we started our Marshall Islands Unit over 2 months ago and I mainly remember being amazed at just how incredibly small it is, and how intriguing a nation of islands is. Geography lessons can be fascinating.

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Marshall Islands Unit Resources

The Oceania island nations fascinate me. They’re made up of a whole bunch of atolls, which frequently have trouble with staying afloat, AND lack water, because they usually don’t have water, so they survive on collected rainwater.

Like, the airport had to widen the island to exist. This fascinates me.

Here are the Marshall Islands facts I found:

• Marshall Islands facts from This Guy
• 7 facts
• 22 more facts– I also recommend clicking through so you can see the top picture

And my always favorite videos:

And because it’s later in the alphabet, there is a Flag Friday video.

And the ever so controversial, because I was remembering correctly Marshall Islands were used for nuclear testing after World War II, even giving name to the famous bikini, because the little fabric on a bikini is as controversial as the explosions on Bikini Island…

Also, the guy starts off looking a bit like the crazy conspiracy theorist, but it’s good information:

Marshall Islands Recipe: Macadamia Nut Pie Recipe Scones

I found a recipe for a dessert that looked delicious, Macadamia Nut Pie and then my schedule conspired to make sure I didn’t get to make it for almost two months. At which point making it seemed so incredibly overwhelming that I just did not want to do it, so I punted and found a white chocolate macadamia nut scones.

I made it a first time and didn’t have the white chocolate, which I thought I did, so the first batch was just macadamia nut scones. Then I made it again, an incredibly large amount of them because my family loves scones, and this too disappeared.

White chocolate macadamia nut scone ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (cold)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts chopped

Let’s make yummy scones

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, sugar).
3. Cut butter into chunks and drop it into the mixture then use a pastry cutter to blend it all together.
4. Next, add in the nuts and chips (I know the recipe officially says 1/2 cup of each, but I added probably double the official amount).
5. Measure out 1/2 cup milk then drop in the egg and the vanilla, then whisk the three together. Pour it into the dry mix and mix until incorporated.
6. If the dough is sticky add a little more flour until it’s not sticky, about a tablespoon at a time.
7. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten them into two circles on parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Cut each circle into 8 slices. Then bake for 15 minutes or so.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Scones

Print

These white chocolate and macadamia nut scones are delicious and great to serve to guests.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (cold)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, sugar).
3. Cut butter into chunks and drop it into the mixture then use a pastry cutter to blend it all together.
4. Next, add in the nuts and chips (I know the recipe officially says 1/2 cup of each, but I added probably double the official amount).
5. Measure out 1/2 cup milk then drop in the egg and the vanilla, then whisk the three together. Pour it into the dry mix and mix until incorporated.
6. If the dough is sticky add a little more flour until it’s not sticky, about a tablespoon at a time.
7. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten them into two circles on parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Cut each circle into 8 slices. Then bake for 15 minutes or so.

Marshall Islands Unit Notebooking pages

We used the Oceania notebooking pages and filled them out as we watched the videos. I also did a quick Wikipedia search to get a few facts not in any of the resources we used.

My interesting facts:

• Named after John Marshall
• They have nuclear tourism, like seriously people? That’s a thing?
• They had to widen the main island to be able to make an airport

More fun learning

I’m going to pick 5 random things, no real plan, but let’s see what I find…

• Raphael lesson
• Costa Rica Unit
• Venus lesson
• Cinderella Around the World booklist
• Printable Bible village

“NASA Mission to Study Atmospheric Disturbances from Marshall Islands” by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

“NASA EVEX Experiment Launches from the Marshall Islands” by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0.