Architecture~

There is a very cool front view of a house in the book Lentil which was probably built

 in the late 1800's in a French architectural style.

We talked about all the things we could see from the illustration

and compared to our own house.

I asked them how they thought a house was built...

lots of ideas and no one knew a plan was involved.

Just so happens we had a set of house plans and the kids LOVED looking at them.

After much discussion and boys deciding they were ready to build :)~

 I had each child take their journal and we all drew our house floorplan~

It was a fun time of new vocabulary 

and maybe new dreams of what they want to be when they grow up.

Might just have some architects and builders in our future.

More Copywork and a Discovery~

First of all, having a beach trip on the calendar 

sure makes it much more fun to run change it each day~

Today we reread our book and decided the first line was a good one for copywork.

The bitty girls just worked on their name 

and Evie wanted me to draw the boys at the beach... haha.

She did all the tracing and coloring~

 EK wanted to write an imaginary story about a panda

so I had her dictate and I wrote it down for her in cursive.

I also wrote her a word list to fill in the blanks then she read the whole thing to me.

Big practice writing in cursive and then reading it~

 SK copied the first line of Lentil and changed it to be about her~

 When it came to the boys, I wrote for them and they traced the words and THAT'S where the discovery came to light...

they didn't know their whole name~

ERKKKK... slam on the brakes...

we have some LEARNING to do!!!

{Evie knew HER whole name AND their whole name... little stinker!}

Time for an intervention I had read in Brave Writer and just shared with my SIL to do with her son (sight words).

{Hint: the coins on their desks}

More tomorrow!

Lentil~ {Week 2}

I spent a good bit of time reading my new Brave Writer book

and gleaned affirmation of what we are doing

plus the encouragement to add in things I know are important but haven't included such as... 

Copywork~

Julie Bogart writes, "Copywork is the practice of choosing a selection from literature or a historical document and copying it over in your own handwriting."'

Copywork counts for writing. 

Before your child can be expected to produce from scratch, it's fine if he or she copies a master."

For Bible today we read our story then watched the preschool and elementary videos from NewSpring.

The truths were I will tell the truth and I can be a hard worker.

THIS was our copywork for today~

Boys and bitties traced what I wrote for them then drew a picture.

SJ copied my words and EK copied from card given at church.

They all drew pictures of something they to help at home.

EK~ Make her bed

SJ~ Fold clothes

WP~ Pick up toys at the pool

PC~ Clean out the dishwasher

Evie~ Picking up sofa pillows

Holly~ Scribble:)

It was a great day of writing where everyone copied from the Master alright... GOD!

Next was our FIAR book~ Lentil.

We are rowing it again this week and today we watched a little video about Robert McCluskey.

I think it helps for them to know he was a real person and we are reading the very words he wrote.

We read the book again and I brought back our Mystery Box~

We finally guessed there was a lemon inside (Old Sneep in the book was slurping a lemon) 

which led to our anatomy lesson for the day... the tongue.

We researched it online and found there were 4 areas of taste.

They all wanted to taste the lemon (my fav~ sour!)!

We also tasted cocoa/bitter (they were tricked by the smell and it sent them running to get water:), salt/salty, and sugar cubes/sweet

Afterwards we made diagrams in our journals and labeled then wrote about our favorite taste.

A very fun experiment and they were begging for more sugar cubes. :)

Fun Friday: Lentil {My Five Senses}~

We began the day with a non fiction read Your Five Senses to give us an idea of what we were looking for while we listened to Lentil~

 I had torn faces out of magazines and as I read each book about the senses, they cut out that sense and added to their journal.

{To be honest I had pinned very cute activities on Pinterest that we were going to do today but decided... SIMPLE!!!}

What better teacher is there than Nature?

We took our journals and headed out to find one thing we could learn about with our senses and drew it.

Their favorite place was Ms. Margaret's muscadine bush where they tasted something SOUR!~

 We also shaded some texture from the bark of our big pecan trees!

With a little rest and just enjoying a wonderful breeze, we headed back in to color our drawings.

The boys and Evie were free to go play and I had EK find one cool fact from each book to record in her journal as well. 

She did very well reading them to me.

SJ kept it real when she said, "That really wasn't such a FUN Friday if you ask me." SO since she is such a big funny girl, I had her and EK make funny faces with senses they cut out themselves.

Guess what she said about that?

"Now THAT was FUNny!"

For lunch we had a tasting party of many things grown in nature!

I'd say it turned out to be a pretty Fun Friday after all!!!

Lentil {Social Studies}~

Today after reading our book we found Ohio on the map since this is the setting of the story and then began putting ourselves on that great big map as well~

 I printed the world, United States, Georgia, Hartwell, and our house for them to color, order, and make a little book for their journals. 

We are ALL important in this big ole world!!!

Lentil (An Introduction}~

Our FIAR row this week is Lentil about a little boy that really wants to sing but learns to play the harmonica instead.

At first glance of the book you might think it would be the most uninteresting book for young children

{Completely black and white}

 but oh to the contrary!

It is rich with so much vocabulary and life experiences I can see it being a two week row for our family!

Today I began with the Mystery Box and as I explained yesterday,

I began giving them one clue and allowed them to ask questions... then another clue and more questions until EK and SJ both had a guess.

I gave all the clues we had gathered and counted to 3 then both girls shouted what the mystery was... Harmonicas for everyone. 

We immediately tore them open and experimented with making sound. 

PC wanted to hum into it but with a little practice they were wearing themselves out.

I introduced our book for the day {Lentil} and we took a picture walk noticing many things in the illustrations.

We checked the copyright and found out it is one year older than Memommy... published in 1940. :)

Next we began reading with interactive instructions to blow a note when they heard the words Lentil or harmonica... really worked on those listening skills.

When we came to a page with Lentil playing his harmonica in the bathtub, I jumped up and began marching/singing~

"We're going on a field trip, a field trip, a field trip,

We're going on a field trip to Mom and Dad's bathtub."

Hilarious giggles then all were nestled in the tub to discover how much better we sounded in that acoustic tub.

We marched back to school and finished the story.

Tons of ideas are bouncing around after this first reading and can't wait to do more tomorrow!

Today was a BIG day for Evie... she was able to say the letters in her name, traced all of them, and colored in her shapes... the FIRST time she ever finished her page~

I am also finding it is better to have one engaging activity for her each day instead of a few to choose from. Why? She pulls them all out to make a mess but doesn't do the activities.

One day while in Walmart I grabbed a few paint palettes and stashed them away for a bright idea day... today was that day.

I had her cut on the white separating line then glue in her journal.

We worked on recognizing the colors too.

She worked on 3 different colors... good interest with this activity!

A great Introduction Day!!!

 

Lentil (An Introduction}~

Our FIAR row this week is Lentil about a little boy that really wants to sing but learns to play the harmonica instead.

At first glance of the book you might think it would be the most uninteresting book for young children

{Completely black and white}

 but oh to the contrary!

It is rich with so much vocabulary and life experiences I can see it being a two week row for our family!

Today I began with the Mystery Box and as I explained yesterday,

I began giving them one clue and allowed them to ask questions... then another clue and more questions until EK and SJ both had a guess.

I gave all the clues we had gathered and counted to 3 then both girls shouted what the mystery was... Harmonicas for everyone. 

We immediately tore them open and experimented with making sound. 

PC wanted to hum into it but with a little practice they were wearing themselves out.

I introduced our book for the day {Lentil} and we took a picture walk noticing many things in the illustrations.

We checked the copyright and found out it is one year older than Memommy... published in 1940. :)

Next we began reading with interactive instructions to blow a note when they heard the words Lentil or harmonica... really worked on those listening skills.

When we came to a page with Lentil playing his harmonica in the bathtub, I jumped up and began marching/singing~

"We're going on a field trip, a field trip, a field trip,

We're going on a field trip to Mom and Dad's bathtub."

Hilarious giggles then all were nestled in the tub to discover how much better we sounded in that acoustic tub.

We marched back to school and finished the story.

Tons of ideas are bouncing around after this first reading and can't wait to do more tomorrow!

Today was a BIG day for Evie... she was able to say the letters in her name, traced all of them, and colored in her shapes... the FIRST time she ever finished her page~

I am also finding it is better to have one engaging activity for her each day instead of a few to choose from. Why? She pulls them all out to make a mess but doesn't do the activities.

One day while in Walmart I grabbed a few paint palettes and stashed them away for a bright idea day... today was that day.

I had her cut on the white separating line then glue in her journal.

We worked on recognizing the colors too.

She worked on 3 different colors... good interest with this activity!

A great Introduction Day!!!

 

Sunday Planning {Lentil}~

Breakfasts: cereal/muffins, eggs/bacon, sausage/egg casserole, waffles, baked oatmeal, and pancakes

Lunches: ham/biscuits/veg, ham/cheese/fruit/pretzels, nutella sandwiches/fruit, mac and cheese, noodles or rice

Dinner:

Monday~Spaghetti/Bread, Salad

Tuesday~ Enchilada Chicken Casserole/Chips

Wednesday~ Poppyseed Chicken/Rice/Limas

Thursday~ Hotdogs/french fries, Baked Beans

Friday~ Mexican out

Saturday~ BBQ Boston Butt, Pasta Salad,  Baked Beans

Sunday~ Roast/Potatoes/Carrots,Corn, Rolls

We will be rowing Lentil this week and I know they are going to LOVE their harmonicas that lay hiding in the Mystery Box for tomorrow morning!!! 

Mystery Box is a great activity in which the children can ask any questions they can think of without asking if it is a certain item... I also give them clues as we go.

When everyone thinks they know what it is, I let them come up and whisper what they think.

I count to three and we all shout the answer... so fun!

But tomorrow I think the fun will come when all 5 are making a joyful NOISE. :)

I'll let you know how it goes!

Psalm 100:1
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!