O.K., first I should probably back up and explain a little. For some of you, you have no idea what Five in a Row or Before Five in a Row even is. The concept is this. You take a book, usually a classic Newberry Honor or Caldecott Medal winner, and you read it every day for five days. Each day, after reading this great book, you do some fun activities that go along with the story. Each activity is a wealth of learning fun! Before Five in a Row is for children ages 2-4, Five in a Row would be for older children, and they even have Beyond Five in a Row for much older children. So really, this way of teaching your kids could carry you far into their schooling. And it covers so much information, you will be amazed at what they learn just from one book. We don't do this way of schooling all the time, but it is a fun way that I like to use from time to time in our eclectic learning style. My older kids always enjoy it. And with Little Sister, it was no different.
So I pulled a book off her bookshelf the other day, and we sat down to read. We began reading the book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McClosky. The first time we read it, Little Sister was nothing but squirmy! But after we finished, we headed to the kitchen to pull out some hands on learning - my big bag of frozen blueberries.
In the book, Sal, the little girl, is putting blueberries in her "small tin pail" and listening to the sounds it makes - kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. So I let Little Sister experiment with making those same sounds. I didn't have a tin pail, but a glass bowl worked just as well making the same sound.
We talked about different things you can make with blueberries, and decided to experiment with blueberries with Whipped Topping on top! She loved making it, and it was DELICIOUS!
On another day, Little Sister and I decided to try our hand at blueberry pancakes. Usually, I make the pancakes for breakfast without letting her help much. There just isn't time for helping first thing in the morning. But about 11:00 was a good time for us to get started on these, and it was a time that she was able to help. So this was what we ate for lunch that day! And they were soooo good!
First, I let Little Sister help measure out the 1 cup of blueberries. However, her hand got really cold, because they were still frozen, so I poured in the rest. Then we defrosted them in the microwave, and she got to help push the buttons.
I added the other ingredients, and she had the job of stirring it all together.
We poured them into the cast iron skillet, and then, after they were all cooked, we started eating!
In order to make our lapbook, I looked to one of my favorite web sites for purchasing curriculum online - In the Hands of a Child - and I purchased the lesson plans and printables for Blueberries for Sal. It was about $15 (roughly), and I was able to immediately download all the information right after check-out through Pay Pal. It is a very simple thing to buy from these people, and it is a wealth of good "stuff" already put together. It kept me from having to make each printable myself.
We worked on each topic a little each day for the week, as we were still reading the book once a day, and finally our book was ready to be assembled. Here is our finished lapbook. Little Sister did each of the activities with me, she did all the coloring and painting, and she helped glue each piece into the book. It is great fun for her to permission to use the glue stick!! But all the scissor jobs I took care of myself!
So there you have it - Little Sister's school work for the week. It was a fun way to learn with this little ball of energy! She wants to be big like her brother and sister, and she wants to do school just like them. But since she's just too little to do the same things as they do, this is a great way to start her off on her learning journey. The main goal with a preschooler is to teach them to love learning! If you can do that, the road is much easier!!
In another week or so, Little Sister and I will be starting our next Before Five in a Row book. Look for more of our fun times soon!!
Yea, she is cute! Blueberries just make it even better. :)
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