This week we have been rowing Five in Row book, A Pair of Red Clogs: Mako's delight in her new pair of wooden clogs is almost contagious. The little Japanese girl is so proud of her new clogs which are painted with red lacquer that shone beautifully. Alas, she cracks her shoes playing the weather-telling…
Category: Around the World with FIAR
The Story about Ping {FIAR}
A Story about Ping is the very cute tale about an independently spirited little duck who lives on a 'wise-eyed boat' on the Yangtze River. One evening he fails to make it back to his boat on time and spends the night out on the river having his own brand of fun. He comes to…
Around the World with FIAR: Salamander Room
FIAR Work The Salamander Room is a delightful book about a young boy imagining all he would need to do to his bedroom to make it habitable for the salamander he found in the forest. Once I had read out this book for a few days I had A8 narrate the story back to me…
Around the World with FIAR: Henry the Castaway
Geographical Theme for Term: South America We read through this book again: Henry the Castaway is a story about a boy who imagines going for an adventure on the Orinoco River. This river runs through Venezuela and Colombia: As we had already covered Columbia in a past study, we focused primarily on Venezuela this week.…
Around the World with FIAR: The Gully Washer (South America)
Yes, I know this is a bit of a stretch, but gully washers do happen in Colombia, and Colombia happens to be one of the wettest countries in South America, and the next part of the Rainforest Journey is learning about the water cycle. See it all dove-tails...a bit. In all honesty the Gully Washer…
South America Unit Study: Summer Adventure Box
I have already outlined my plans for my youngest two for this summer, and you will know that I am having a lot of help from my mum, Sarah and Lorna (Aren't I blessed?). This Summer Adventure Box needed to be extra special for just that reason. There will be more people than just me…
Project Based Learning: South American Animals
Whilst the older children dig deep into Shakespeare and all he has to offer, the little ones will be focused on South America. It will be a primarily literature based study, with the exception of the project based learning the littles will do. They have attempted to do projects before with my help but they…
South America – Learning through Literature
Whilst the older ones are studying all things Shakespeare, the littles will be focusing their time on South America. The unit study will be two pronged using both literature and project based learning. This post will be about our literature based learning and tomorrow I will post about the projects they will be attempting.…
Arctic Circle Unit Study
Due to some pathological need I have to complete a subject before I feel I can fully move on to the next one, you may have noticed I have been posting madly all week about the Arctic unit we have been doing. I had been trying to school plan the littles' summer but was completely…
Around the World with FIAR: The Very Last First Time
We are currently studying the Arctic circle, using FIAR books as our core. Although we use the text from FIAR, I will only be posting the extra activities we do. The Very Last First Time chronicles a young Inuit girl's very first time mussel gathering under the ice of the oceans. I particularly like the…
Around the World with FIAR: Snowflake Bentley
We are currently studying the Arctic circle, using FIAR books as our core. Although we use the text from FIAR, I will only be posting the extra activities we do. This week we read Snowflake Bentley, which is a stunning and probably my favourite ever FIAR book. It has the most beautiful real photos of…
Around the World with FIAR: Katy and the Snow Plough
Katy is a tractor who pushes a bulldozer in the summer and a snowplow in the winter. One winter the snow is particularly bad and only Katy is strong and resilient enough to clear the snow and make it possible for the townspeople to do their jobs. Geographical Theme for the Term Katy is working…
Around the World with FIAR: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem by one of my very favourite poets, Robert Frost. This a simple poem which Frost claims he wrote in just one night. Simple it maybe, but it has a class that spans the ages. As it is short I have included it here: Whose…
Around the World with FIAR: Owl Moon and the Arctic Circle
Owl moon is a book about a father taking his child out one evening to hunt for owls. We slowly worked through the FIAR manual and Bible and Character manual produced by FIAR. However, my main goal for using these books was geographical, just to introduce the little ones to world geography. I would be…
Around the World with Five in a Row (FIAR)
We will be using Five in a Row curriculum with my two littlest up until the end of 2015. We don't have enough weeks to cover every book. As I am doing world geography with the older children along side their explorers unit I am also going to 'travel' around the world with my littles…