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! ; )
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