Week 2 - "Lentil"

For our second week of  "Five in a Row", we studied "Lentil" by Robert McCloskey.  Once again the kids and I were not disappointed with our story for the week!  It was a wonderful book, with so many neat activities to go along with it!

Lentil is the story of a little boy who lives in a very small town in Ohio called Alto.  He wants very badly to be able to sing, but he can't.  When he tries, only dreadful sounds come out.  He isn't able to whistle either because he can't pucker. He is determined to make music though, so he saves his pennies, buys a harmonica, and decides to become an expert. He plays as often as he can, wherever he can. Everyone loves Lentil's harmonica playing, except for Old Sneep, a grumpy old man that didn't like much of anyone.  Word gets around town that Colonel Carter, the town's most important citizen is coming for a visit! The whole town begins to prepare for his arrival by hanging flags and decorations.  The mayor prepared a speech, and the band prepared a song.  The whole town went to the train station on the day of Colonel Carter's arrival  to welcome him home.  As the train pulls into the station, and the band is preparing to play their big song, all of sudden,  everyone hears a slurping sound.   It is Old Sneep sucking on a lemon.  He knew that if he could make everyone in the band pucker, they would be unable to play their instruments, and the grand welcome ceremony for Colonel Carter would be ruined. And that is exactly what happened.  All of the musicians could not even play one note.  Of course Lentil's lips weren't puckered, so he pulls out his harmonica and saves the day by playing a welcome song for Colonel Carter! Colonel Carter loved it and began to sing along!  Colonel Carter is so happy with the welcome he receives, that he tells everyone he is going to have a new hospital built for Alto!  Lentil's harmonica playing ends up saving the day!!


Day 1&2- Social Studies

Patriotism-

We started off our study by reading through the book, and then playing some patriotic music, dancing around, and waving our American flags!!

Geography-

Jackson did a puzzle of the United States, and found Ohio on it.  Then we talked about what direction we would have to travel to get to Ohio from our home in Tennessee.  

Life in a Small Town-  

We discussed the differences between city life and small town life.  Jackson drew a map of Alto, which is the fictional small town in which the story takes place.  Unfortunately I have no pics of this, but did place the map in his lapbook, which I will post pics of eventually! : )

History-

In the story, Lentil walks past the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Carter Memorial Park everyday on his way to school.  We talked about what monuments are, and why they are built.  We also talked about holidays like Memorial day and Veteran's day and there significance.  Later on in the week we took a field trip to see several historical monuments right here in Knoxville.  There are more pics of that posted below.

Day 3- Art

Draw, Write, Now-

Jackson worked in his Draw Write Now book again for art!  This week he learned how to draw a boy, and it just so happened it was a boy playing baseball, which is right up Jackson's alley!  He loves baseball!  Here is a little video of Jackson drawing and  telling us some random facts about Lentil.... and other things! ; )

Medium-

We talked about how Lentil was illustrated using charcoal.  Jackson experimented with using charcoal to draw, and we learned how VERY messy it is!! :)

Day 4- Field Trip Day

As I said above, we took a field trip on Thursday to see a monument here in Knoxville.  

Here are the kids standing by the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial, in Market Square.

Here is Jackson at the entrance to Krutch Park.

And here are the kiddos with some of the art displays in Krutch Park.

Jackson with the William Sergeant statue. 

The kids and I in front of another monument in Market Square, but I honestly can't remember what it was called. : )

 After the kids got done looking at all of the monuments and art displays in Krutch Park, Grammy and I let them play in the fountains for a bit!  They LOVED it!

LOVE them!!

We ate some pizza at Tomato head after they played, and then got some oh so yummy Rita's Italian Ice!!

So thankful for the opportunity to get to do fun things like this with my kiddos, and  also for my mom , a.k.a.- Grammy who is always willing to go along with us and help me out! : )

Day 5- Science

Tastebuds-

I gave Jackson several different types of food to taste.  Some were bitter, some sweet, some sour, and some salty.  We recorded how each one tasted in a mini book that will go into his lapbook.

I gave each of the kids a half of a lemon to taste. 

 Here is the before  picture...

and here is the after.....

Jack also did a little experiment to see if he could tell the difference between two different flavors of soda with a blind fold on and his nose held.

He came to the conclusion that without using his sense of smell while tasting them,  he could tell that they both were sweet, but could not tell the difference in the flavors.  When he let go of his nose and could smell again he could tell the difference.  

We also did an experiment that we found in the Usborne book of science activities, called the cabbage test. We boiled some purple cabbage for a few minutes,and then drained the cabbage out and used the juice to test for acids in different items.

The cabbage juice, in glasses, before we started.

The items that we tested.  

Usborne book...

Jackson adding an item to the cabbage juice to see if it is an acid.  If the item was an acid, the cabbage juice would turn bright pink. Jackson had already learned that sour things are usually acids.

The cabbage juice after adding some lemon juice to it.

The grapefruit, lemon, vinegar, and diet soda were all acids.

The yogurt, milk, water, and sugar were not.

Cooking-

Not really science, but Jack and I also made some lemon bars, lemon chicken, and lemonade for supper!  They all turned out surprisingly well, considering my cooking skills! ; )

Our First Homeschooling Week- The Story about Ping

Here are my cuties eating cinnamon rolls right before we started our first day of school!!  

And here is a silly one, just for kicks! ; )

The first storybook that we studied in a our Five in a Row curriculum was " The Story about Ping" by Marjorie Flack.

It was such a great little story! The kids and I both loved it!

We would start each day off by reading through the story, and then we would try to tie in some Bible that related to things that were going on in the story.  

"The Story About Ping" is obviously the story about a little duck named Ping. : )  He lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China with his very large family.   Each day he and his family would swim around looking for things to eat, and in the evening the boat master would call them back to the boat with a special duck call.  They would all hurry to the boat trying their best not to be last, because the last duck to arrive to the boat receives a spanking.  One day Ping isn't paying attention and misses the master's call.  He realizes he is going to be last to board the boat.  Instead of taking his spanking, he decides he will just hide in the bushes to avoid the punishment.  The boat leaves Ping, and he is left all alone on the Yangtze River.  He comes upon some rice cake crumbs floating in the water as he is wandering around looking for his family and their boat. The crumbs end up being a trap set by a little boy.  The little boy catches him, and when the boy shows his family what he has caught, his family wants to eat Ping for dinner.  Luckily the little boy loves Ping too much to let him get eaten, and secretly lets him go just in time for Ping to hear the boat master calling out his special call.  He hurries to get back to the boat and his family, hoping he won't be last to get onto the boat.  Ping ends up being last to arrive to the boat, but decides he would much rather take the spanking if it meant he would get to be with his family again!

Bible- 

Discernment- knowing the difference between good and evil

 We discussed discernment for a couple of days for Bible.  We read I Kings 3:9 and talked about how just because something looks good does not necessarily mean that it is.  Ping learns this the hard way by following the "yummy" rice cake crumbs, and then getting caught and almost eaten.  

Honoring Authority and Responsibility

We also talked briefly about obeying the rules and honoring those in authority over us!  We also touched on responsibility too!

Social Studies-

China- Geography and Culture

We found China and the Yangtze River on the map, and talked about a few more details of each of them, like how long the Yangtze River is,  and how many people live on or near the Yangtze. 

 Also for each story that we study for Five in a Row we have what they call a "story disk".  It is basically a small   round piece of paper with a picture on it that reminds the child of each story we have studied.  Jackson colors it and then I laminate it and put velcro on the back of it.  Then Jackson puts it on the map in the country/ state where the story takes place. He really loves learning about the maps and flags!

Jackson working on a picture of the Chinese flag!

We got the printables for all of our lessons from 

Homeschool Share  

This is such a great resource for Five in a Row matierials, and the best part is that all the printable are FREE! 

We are trying to finish a lapbook every week to go along with our story, so we can look back and review what we have learned later in the year or in years to come.  Most all of these printable worksheets will be made into little books that will fit into his big lapbook.

Language Arts-

What is a Classic Story?

A "classic" is a book that generations of children have enjoyed.

Here is Jackson working on

a mini book about "classic" stories.

And here is a video of Jack telling us a little bit about a "classic" story!

Fiction and Repetition-

We touched on these two things as well, but unfortunately I don't have any pics of it. : (

Art-

Medium-

We noticed that Kurt Wiese used either colored pencil or crayon to illustrate "The Story About Ping".

Jackson did some drawing of his own with colored pencils, and also tried his hand at lightly combining several colors, to make new tones, like Wiese did in the story.

Drawing, drawing!

Experimenting with combining colors to make new tones!

And the masterpiece is almost complete!

I think he did a really great job!

We also made some cute little ducks out of paper plates!  Alexis decided to join in for this activity and really loved it too!

Painting the paper plates!

Alexis with her adorable finished duck!

And Jackson and Mario with his duck!

Jackson also has been working out of a series of books called " Draw, Write, Now".  It is a drawing and handwriting course rolled into one!  As I searched around on Homeschool Share I found a list of Draw, Write, Now lessons to go along with each Five in a Row storybook!  For "The story about Ping"  Jack learned how to draw the cutest little duck and did some duck themed sentences for handwriting.

Jackson getting ready to do some beautiful handwriting! ; )

A pic of the inside of these awesome books!  Love them!!

Field Trip Day-

A trip to the duck pond.... and Mcdonald's ; )

I am hoping to be able to tie in some type of field trip once a week to go along with our story.  So since we live so close to a duck pond and our story was about Ping.... a duck, we headed out to the Fountain City duck pond, making sure to bring Grammy and some bread with us! ; )

Here are pics of our big duck pond adventure with Grammy!

What a GREAT day!!

Science-

Buoyancy- What Floats?

Jackson did an experiment to see whether or not some random items from around the house float or not.  He recorded his answers on a printable that I got from HSS.

 Here are his results!

And here is a pic of Lex just standing around looking pretty! : )

Preening- Ducks Don't Get Wet

We also did one more experiment to demonstrate how ducks preen themselves.

We read a book entitled "Ducks Don't Get Wet" and learned that ducks cover themselves with a special oil through a process called preening.  Having this oil all over their feathers and bodies keeps them from getting wet.  In the back of the book it gave a suggestion on how to demonstrate this with your student, so we did!

I used a template that I found online, and cut 2 duck shapes out of a brown paper bag.  I then let jackson cover one of the ducks in oil.  The other we left without oil.  Then I gave jackson a medicine dropper and he dropped water onto both of the ducks.  By doing this he was able to see that the water just rolled off of the duck with the oil on it.  The duck that we left without oil became quickly soaked with water.

Covering the duck with oil

Dropping the water on the oil covered ducks

Dropping the water on the ducks w/o oil

And that is it!  Our first week with Five in a Row!!

We also did lots of reading, math, and grammar this week, but I have no interesting pics of us doing those things!  It was harder than I thought to get into the habit of taking pictures of everything we do.    I'm hoping I will get better with time at picture taking and remembering to take pics! : )