Delightful Learning

Books Left to Row {FI♥AR}

2012-01-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

I don't have a plan yet for 2012, but I've been organizing the books that we have left to row. I've been referring to this list to help me plan, but I'm in a mid-winter slump! I don't feel like rowing at all!

I made my list of books by volume and highlighted seasons and themes/countries that repeat.

Winter (2 )
Spring (4)
Summer (13)
No Season (4)

Volume 1

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear, winter, Russia - Moscow, bears
Grandfather's Journey, USA-San Francisco, Japan, WWII, family timeline
A Pair of Red Clogs, summer, Japan, telling the truth, possessions, mother/daughter
Papa Piccolo, spring, Italy- Venice, Italian customs, cats/adoption, adventure

Volume 2

Wee Gillis, Scotland, bagpipes, decisions, family
They Were Strong and Good, USA, genealogy, travel, Civil War
Make Way for Ducklings, Spring, USA - Boston, ducks, cities, families
Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car, summer, England, car ride, animal friends, cooperation
All Those Secrets of the World, summer, USA, WWII, beach, family
Follow the Drinking Gourd, summer, USA, South, slavery, underground RR, hidden message

Volume 3

The Bee Tree, summer, USA - Michigan, bees, grandparents, reading
Paul Revere's Ride, spring, USA - Boston, bravery, Rev. War, horse ride
Henry the Castaway, summer, USA - Anytown, canoeing, boy and dog, adventure
The Finest Horse in Town, summer, USA - Maine, 4th of July, sisters, horses,
Truman's Aunt Farm, summer, USA - Anytown, aunts, presents, homophones
The Duchess Bakes a Cake, Europe, royalty, knights/castles baking, humor / The Red Carpet, (B4) duke, police,
Andy and the Lion, summer, USA - Andersonville, animal friends, circus, animals
Daniel's Duck, winter/spring, USA -TN, carving, cabin life, county fair
The Salamander Room, summer, USA, woods, pets, nature
Climbing Kansas Mountains, summer, USA - Kansas, farming, fathers and sons, Midwest towns
Amber on the Mountain, summer, USA - Appalachia, literacy, friends, mountain life
Little Nino's Pizzeria, USA - Anytown, restaurants, family, fathers and sons

I'm not sure how I will plan yet. We rowed Another Celebrated Dancing Bear already, but it doesn't seem blogable (that or I just don't feel like putting forth the effort to blog it!). I've done enough - it has been a very fulfilling row (I loved this book!) but most of it has been straight from the manual and I have very few photos. I'm afraid that I am feeling a tad bit BURNT out! I think I need a break from Five in a Row.

Malachi and Eliana both have winter birthdays so I usually try to wrap up the grade they are in by the end of winter and then start fresh in the spring. Right now, my focus is on Malachi finishing up 1st grade. I need him to finish his reading, spelling, Explode the Code 3, and handwriting book B. Eliana is ready for Kindergarten and I'd like to focus on her reading. So, I think we will focus on the basics for a while and just read a good chapter book for literature! (I'm hoping that if I publish this, and give myself permission to not row, that I will get a burst of energy and start rowing!)

If you want a peek into our life on a weekly basis, I am blogging Project 52 ~ our life, one week at a time, twenty-twevle. You can check it out on my family blog!

Very Last First Time {FI♥AR}

2012-01-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

We had a very relaxed time for our row of Very Last First Time. We explored the Inuit culture of Northern Canada, discovered the Arctic, studied mollusks, revisited warm and cool colors, had some fun with ice sculpting and made fry bread!

Social Studies: Canada, Inuit, Family Relationships, First Time Experiences

The story centers around Eva walking on the ocean floor alone for the very first time. The Inuit (Eskimos) dig a hole in the ice when the tide goes out and walk on the ocean floor to collect mussels. We watched a BBC video of natives collecting mussels under the ice and it is quite scary! You only have a short window while the tide is out and the video mentions stories of those who did not make it out in time. Throughout the story, there are shadows and pictures of people (Eva's imgaination) cast on the rock from the flame of the candle and it has a mysterious feel to it.

We read about the Inuit, traditions, snow houses and tent houses, modern arctic town (like Eva lived in), traveling in the Arctic, clothing, crafts, languages and games of the Inuit in First Peoples The Inuit of Canada.

We also talked about relationships and first time experiences and the kids were great at coming up with special memories that we have shared and many "firsts" in our lives.

Language Arts: Story Writing ~ Good Titles

"How can a first time be last? because there is only one first time. . ." ~ p. 83.

We discussed the importance of writing a good title and agreed that "Very Last First Time" was a good title for this story. I've been thinking about good titles, too, for blog posts. :)

In our regular studies, Malachi did his lessons for All About Reading Level 1 and Eliana finished up Level Pre-1.

Science: Mollusks - Bivalves - Mussels, Levers, Clean/Unclean, Tides, Frozen Seas

In the story, Eva collects mussels on the bottom of the ocean when the tide goes out. We read in Swimming Creatures ~ Lesson 9: Mollusks that mussels use tough fibers called byssal threads to attach themselves to any suitable surface - they are like a natural super glue. In fact, "they are so powerfully attached to the surface they choose that they are nearly impossible to remove unless you use a tool." Malachi picked up right away that that must be why Eva used her knife as a lever, as she "tugged and pried and scraped to pull mussels off the rocks." During high tide, it uses these threads to pull itself along scraping miscroscopic creatures off rocks and other surfaces (cleaning them) and when the tide goes back out, it returns to its spot and closes it's shell.

We read about how bivalves (mussels are a type), are an "elaborate system created by God to clean the water for us." They take in bacteria and other unhealthy, unclean products removing them from the water. We know that this makes them unclean. We talked about how the Bible says they are unclean and how God gave us GOOD instructions in his Word to take care of us and keep us healthy. Which led to a discussion on what we would eat if we were Inuit - caribou or musk oxen (both are cloven hoofed and chew the cud).

We read about the Arctic landscape, Arctic vegetation, animals on land and sea, in First Peoples The Inuit of Canada and watched The Blue Planet Ocean World Frozen Seas.

We also read Arctic Son, by Jean Craighead George. I think she writes wonderful living books about nature and this one paints a warm picture of Inupiat Eskimo life in the icy Arctic.

Art: Colors ~ Full Palette {Warm and Cool Colors}, Pointillism

I reminded Mali and Elli of when we studied warm colors and cool colors. Then I put out a full palette of colored paint, had them identify which were warm and cool (they remembered!), and then we used spike balls to paint with! It was fun to paint just to paint, but hard for the little ones to paint a picture.

Thanks Tamara!

Math: Ordinal Numbers, Counting

I think we have these down pat by now. FIAR offers plenty of review. ;-)

Malachi finished his Singapore 1A book today. He is still working in his Life of Fred Butterflies (he's on chapter 15). He also passed the 1st grade level in Mathletics and started the 2nd grade level. Eliana is working on Lesson 9: Capacity in Earlybird A and will finish the book up soon.

Lap Journal:

Memory Making Fun:

Using salt to "stick" the ice blocks together.

Recipe: Fry Bread

This was suggested in the FIAR Cookbook and I am so glad - I had no idea what to prepare for this row!

My whole family loves fry bread, so I used my favorite recipe:

2 cups flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat)
1 T baking powder
1 ts. salt
1 cup milk (I use non-instant milk adding the powder to the flour and using 1 cup of water instead)

I put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the milk/water to that and mix with the paddle (cuz it's quicker). If I triple the batch I use the dough hook. Yum!

Very Last First Time is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 1.

We took our winter break last week and started our row of Another Celebrated Dancing Bear this week.

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}
Very Last First Time resources at Homeschool Share
BBC video of natives collecting mussels under the ice {found this on the FIAR forum - a helpful resource!}
Very Last First Time @ All of a Kind Family {inspiration and a link-up for individual posts!}

All About Reading Pre-1 and Level 1 Update {Eliana}

2012-01-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all your nice comments on my Level 1 review/giveaway. :) If you haven't had a chance to enter, here is that link: All About Reading Level 1 {Review and Giveaway!}

As I mentioned in my review of Level 1, Eliana has finished All About Reading Level Pre-1. Since we are done, here is an update and more pics of our learning time with Level Pre-1 so you can see what it has looked like in our home school.

Some of the pics below are from when I did my week long day-in-the-life series, but I am including them here so you can see her progress all in one place.

A hug from Ziggy. :)

Writing her name with Ziggy. We were working on forming lower case letters correctly.

The Milly Molly Mandy Story Book was by far her favorite chapter book during Level Pre-1. I read this in addition to our Five in a Row books. Here she had fallen asleep waiting for me to come read to her. :'-)

Capital E with fingerprint peanuts ~ so cute!

Cutting a's out of a magazine to encourage type-font recognition.

A nuzzle from Ziggy. :)

The teacher's manual and lesson ready to go.

Find a sounds.

Animal Cracker Merry-Go-Round for our Tasty Alphabet Time.

Brother joining us for animal crackers and cocoa to drink. :)

We sang the alphabet song each day and she found the letter of the day on the poster.

Then we colored a letter activity sheet.

And did some hands on activities to reinforce the letter. We fell into a routine of doing sand paper letters, salt tray writing, and using the quilted letters. Later, I added crayon rubbings.

Salt Tracing.

Reading the Zig Zag Zebra.

When we started lowercase, I combined the lessons for lowercase letters with the lessons for the sounds. It proved to work wonderfully for Eliana ~ she was ready for both and we did both lessons in one sitting.

I had to pull her away from her playtime to do reading (while baby Bo napped) so I had her bring toys that had the /k/ sound.

Feeding the cow "grass."

Finger tracing the letter c.

Finding objects that start with the /k/ sound.

Asking for the salt box again. :)

Frozen g-g-grapes for our "Tasty Alphabet Time."

Brother wanted to sit in for our lesson this day.

So, I let him be Ziggy and play too. :)

Ziggy says, "Hello."

Finding g's to cut out.

Packing for a trip and we can only take things that start with the sound of /l/.

Blasting off to reading when Malachi started Level 1.

Letter k. That may be my coffee or her "coffee" - a little decaf with milk. :)

Crayon rubbings are an easy activity to do along with the sandpaper letters.

Ha ha, looks like it was her coffee (that or she is having some of mine). :)

We did it!

As you can see, we were pretty routine with our reinforcement activities, but we fell into such a nice pattern that our lessons were easy and SIMPLE! With baby Bo in our lives this year, I needed that. I originally wanted to do extra fun letter crafts and activities, but this is all we needed and it felt very fulfilling - especially with all my creative efforts going into our Five in a Row.

I have some news. . .

I mentioned in my review that I was going to wait until Malachi finished Level 1 before we start, but I changed my mind! We started today!

I decided to start her when I pulled out the phonogram cards for review and gasp! she could only remember half of them!

I had her tell me the ones she knew, and make a pile of the ones she didn't know. Then I reviewed all the sounds with her. It was then and there that I decided that I did not want to lose all the precious learning we accomplished!

So, I started her on All About Reading Level 1. This first lesson covers 4 letters/sounds ~ m, s, p, and a, introduces the terms consonants and vowels, and has her reading her first word! I taught her how to blend and she read Sam, map, Pam, am, and sap and completed the whole lesson, including the activity page.

So, then I took her to Step 2 in All About Spelling Level 1. Now, this was familiar territory and she listened for the first sounds in words and then the last sounds in words and repeated them to me. We worked up to the part on segmenting. Segmenting is the opposite of blending - it is taking the word and breaking it into sounds and this is how they learn to start spelling. Tomorrow, she will segment words with 2 and 3 sounds and finish step 2. Then we will review Lesson 1 in AAR and move on to Lesson 2.

With Malachi, I used the plan to correlate AAR and AAS that I listed in my review, but we started with AAS first and he had all the phonogram sounds for the first 26 phonograms down pat and AAR lessons 1-4 were a review. I will do just the opposite with Eliana - I will do the first lessons in AAR as a review, and proceed with AAS while we review the phonogram sounds daily. So, if you have a young learner like Eliana, go ahead and start with AAR Lesson 1, teach/review the short sounds in Step 1 AAS, then jump to lesson 2 in AAS.

Eliana's only struggle so far is reading the word backwards. I've modeled left to right reading with her lots of times so I reminded her that we start at the left in English. Level 1 has tips to help a child remember this as Malachi had the same problem at first, too.

While Malachi didn't need the daily review of the phonogram cards, Eliana will - so we will be taking Level 1 at a much slower pace. But, I am excited to have started. :)

All About Reading Level 1

2012-01-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

We are plugging away so nicely in All About Reading Level 1 that we have finished half of the program! We have completed 25 lessons over the last 5 weeks and I am ready to share my review with you!

I will give you some information about the program, share how it is working for us and then I will give you a chance to WIN an All About Reading Level 1 Kit and a Deluxe Learning Kit from All About Learning Press! ~ a $156 value! {Giveaway has ended.}

The All About Reading program includes:

Level 1 Kit:

Teacher's Manual (sample)
Student Packet (includes Activity Book) (sample)
Run, Bug, Run! reader (sample)
The Runt Pig reader (sample)
Cobweb the Cat reader (sample)

Price: $107.70 ~ on sale now for $99.95.

Level 1 consists of the above plus your choice of one of the interactive reading kits shown below.

The Basic Reading Interactive Kit is $28.95 and contains:

Letter Tiles
Magnets for the letter tiles
The Basic Phonograms CD Rom
Reading Divider Cards

The Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit is $48.95 and contains all of the above plus:

Reading Review Box
Reading Tote Bag
Star stickers for the progress chart

The extras are nice, but you could easily get along well with the basic kit. You would just need an index card box to hold the cards that are a part of this program. If you are using All About Spelling, you already have the letter tiles, magnets and CD rom from the basic kit! You would just need the reading divider cards ($3.95) along with an index card box.

You will also need a magnetic whiteboard for the letter tiles.

Is it worth the price to try it out?

Yes.

All About Learning Press' products come with a Go Ahead and Use it One-Year Guarantee.

"That's right. You and your child have a full year to try out the programs! If you find that the curriculums do not meet your needs, simply return the materials at any time within one year of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price."

Wow.

All About Reading is worth the price, but if it seems a bit too much for you, remember that only the Student Activity Book is consumable and the program can be used again and again. I will teach at least three children to read with this program, so it is a bargain for me. But even if I had only one child left to teach, I would still invest in this program.

What makes All About Reading so special?

The program is clear. The lessons are scripted and you know exactly what to do every step of the way. It is easy to teach and easy to learn.

All About Reading is logical. Reading concepts are taught in a logical, understandable order and there are no gaps. The program includes all the necessary elements to teach and learn reading.

All About Reading is multisensory. The lessons engage the child using sight, sound and touch.

All About Reading has continual review. While the child learns new material, there is still continual review of previously-taught concepts.

Lessons elements include:

Review
New Teaching

New letter sounds
Practice Commonly Confused Letters
Blend Sounds with Letter Tiles
Play "Change the Word"
Practice Reading Words
Practice Fluency
Teach Key Concepts
Teach a Sight Word
Read a story from the Reader

Complete Activity Sheets
Read-Aloud Time
Track Your Progress

Be sure to see the samples linked above!

Here are some learning moments I captured along with more specific information about the lessons and our experience:

"Ice Cream Cones" from Lesson 2. Malachi put rhyming words together to form double scoop ice cream cones.

Our Reading and Spelling area ~including the magnetic whiteboard. Here we had just finished Letter h in Level Pre-1 and Lesson 2 in Level 1 - I sit in one desk and work with a child in the other. I leave their work out for the day so they can show their dad when he gets home. (Malachi's Word Match from Lesson 1 is still hanging on the board along with his Progress Chart).

Fluency Practice Sheet from Lesson 3. The Viewfinder Bookmark is a big help.

Malachi was more than ready for this level, and while he knew all the sounds and letters (from All About Spelling) and could blend some words and spell them, he was lacking in fluency. There is plenty of fluency practice and tips to help him succeed in this program and I have seen him grow so much in his reading in such a short amount of time!

Bingo from Lesson 4. I gave Malachi the option to do this because it was easy for him,
but he wanted to do it. :)

Fluency Practice Sheets from Lesson 4.

The Fluency Practice Sheets include "Phrases and Sentences." First he reads two short phrases, and then the phrases are combined into a sentence. According to the manual, this type of practice is called "phased reading" and is designed to improve phrasing.

"Phrasing is important for fluency; fluent readers are able to phrase, or break text into meaningful parts."

These sheets have been particularly helpful for Malachi in achieving fluency. They can be long for Malachi so I follow the suggestion to divide them into two sessions - we do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Towards the middle of the program, we had to divide some sheets into 3 sessions over 2 days.

The lessons are FULLY scripted and tell you exactly what to say making this program easy to teach. In addition to the script, you can find tips in light grey boxes in the margins of the teacher's manual. These are a MUST read!

One tip that has helped me as a teacher is to allow him to read a whole sentence and correct himself if he makes a mistake. Often, he will figure it out on his own.

Lesson 5 ~ Reading "Jam" and "The Tan Hat" from the Run Bug Run reader.
(Sight words on the board are from Lesson 3 and 4).

The program discusses how a student moves from decoding words to comprehending words. While Malachi lacked in fluency, he had no trouble comprehending what he was reading.

Word Flipper from Lesson 6.

"Word Flippers are used in several lessons and are a fun way to practice fluency."

Fluency Practice Sheets from Lesson 6.

Reading "The Sad Hog" from Lesson 13.

"Over Easy" from Lesson 16.
Malachi used a spatula to flip over the eggs, one at a time, and then read the word.

Playing "Change the Word" from Lesson 18.

Lesson 20 ~ The mouse sneaks up to the pile of cheese and takes a piece.
If the word is read correctly, the mouse keeps the cheese.
(The Word Flipper in the back is from Lesson 18).

My thoughts:

I LOVE it! I can't say enough good about this program and am excited to be using it.

Malachi has shown much progress in a short amount of time. In the beginning, he had some reversal problems and struggled with some commonly confused letters. His main trouble was distinguishing between b and d. The teacher's manual offered several solutions on how to handle reversal problems, including ways to prevent confusion (built into the program) and ways to resolve the confusion if it exists. The solutions presented are multisensory and help solve the problem in a fun way. It took several weeks to resolve this issue with Malachi, but we did it!

His confidence is growing and he feels good about reading. The program is just the right amount of challenge for him. But, as I mentioned, we have to divide up some of the lessons into several sessions so that it he does not get overwhelmed (thankfully that is a "Tip!" in the manual).

Eliana has completed All About Reading Level Pre-1 and is ready to start Level 1. I will start her as soon as Malachi finishes. While she is ready to decode and blend words, I am sure that she will move at a slower pace than Malachi. But, I know she is ready because while blending with Malachi one day, she beat him to the blending! She is excited to learn to read with Level 1. In fact, I already ordered the student book for her.

What about All About Spelling?

I recommend that you use both All About Reading (AAR) and All About Spelling (AAS) concurrently. You will learn all the sounds of the first 26 phonograms in AAS step 1, but only the first sounds in AAR, initially. You pick up the additional sounds toward the end of the program, so you could just teach the first sounds initially in AAS and follow the scope and sequence in AAR to introduce the additional sounds. {Update: see how I started with Eliana here if your child has not mastered the phonograms.}

Here is what I recommend:

Teach Step 1 in AAS -The First 26 Phonograms focusing on the first sounds only.

Teach Step 2 in AAS - Segmenting Words. If your child has completed All About Reading Level Pre-1, he or she will be familiar with the exercises. In fact, I will be pulling Ziggy out during this lesson!

Teach Step 3 in AAS - The Letter Tiles. Your child will be introduced to the letter tiles as well as the key concepts of vowels and consonants.

Teach Step 4 in AAS - The Sound Cards. You dictate the sounds and have your child point to the letter tile that makes that sound. Once they can do that, they write the letter from dictation. Now you are ready to add in AAR and continue on with AAS!

Here's how:

Teach Lesson 1 in AAR. Letters m, s, p, and a.
Teach Lesson 2 in AAR. Letters n, t, b, and j.
Teach Lesson 3 in AAR. Letters g, d, c, and y.
Teach Lesson 4 in AAR. Letters h, k, and r.
Teach Lesson 5 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Step 6 in AAS. Short a.
Teach Lesson 6 in AAR. Letters i, v, f, and z.
Teach Lesson 7 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Step 7 in AAS. Short i.
Teach Lesson 8 in AAR. Letters o, l, and w.
Teach Step 8 in AAS. Short o.
Teach Lesson 9 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 10 in AAR. Letter u and the Second Sound of s.
Teach Step 9 in AAS. Short u.
Teach Lesson 11 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 12 in AAR. Letter e.
Teach Step 10 in AAS. Short e.
Teach Lesson 13 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 14 in AAR. Letters qu and x.
Teach Step 11 in AAS - s, x, and qu.
Teach Lesson 15 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 16 in AAR. Consonant Team th.
Teach Lesson 17 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 18 in AAR. Consonant Team sh.
Teach Lesson 19 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 20 in AAR. Consonant Team ch.
Teach Lesson 21 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Step 12 in AAS. th, sh and ch.
Teach Lesson 22 in AAR. Words with Final Blends.
Teach Step 13 in AAS. Segmenting Words with Blends.
Teach Step 14 in AAS. Final Blends.
Teach Lesson 23 in AAR. Read a story.
Teach Lesson 24 in AAR. Words with Initial Blends.
Teach Step 15 in AAS. Initial Blends.
Teach Lesson 25 in AAR. Read a story.

That is as far as we have gotten, but you can see how the lessons correlate and after you get started, the spelling lessons follow the reading lessons! I feel that both programs are an integral part to Malachi's education right now. He is learning to read, spell, write from dictation and more.

"Spell on Paper" from All About Spelling Step 15.

I had hoped for Level 1 to release at the beginning of this school year and was disappointed when it didn't. But, the wait was worth it. I'm excited about the potential of this program and anxiously await the release of Level 2!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received All About Reading Level Pre-1 in exchange for an honest review.

A New Coat for Anna {FI♥AR}

2011-12-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

December 19th ~ 23rd

"Winter had come and Anna needed a new coat. The fuzzy blue coat she had worn for so many winters was no longer fuzzy and it was very small. In the aftermath of World War II in Europe, Anna's mother decides she will trade the few valuables she has left for a coat." ~ from the back of A New Coat for Anna.

We learned a little about World War II, bartering, wool production, natural dyes, and more. We don't celebrate Christmas, so I reworded some of the text in the book as I read it. (We don't believe that our Savior was born on December 25th and recognize His birth during the Biblical holiday (holy day) of God in which we believe He was born ~ the Feast of Tabernacles.)

Social Studies: Post WWII, Pride in Our Work, Barter/Trade, Patience; Geography: Enemy/Allied Countries

Malachi worked on the lap book from Homeschool Share.

First we identified which countries were allies and which were enemies during WWII. Then we found the allied and enemy countries on our large world map and then Malachi colored them on the small map from the lap book. Then he did a mini book on army travel.

We also watched America: The Story of US: WWII. I have to laugh because I own this series on DVD and didn't know it until the other day when I found it sitting on my shelf unopened! We've watched them all on Netflix, but I think they are a good visual of American history so I'm happy I found it.

Malachi loves army and history, so he enjoyed learning about WWII.

Language Arts: Memory and Comprehension

We recalled what Anna's mother traded for what using the questions from the lesson in the manual and the mini books from the lapbook (see photo below).

Science: Lingonberries and Natural Dyes

We learned from the manual p. 48. that a lingonberry is a "small, dark, red, berry related to the cranberry." We learned where it can be found and the climate it grows in (cooler, mild climates). We were so excited to actually try some lingonberry preserves! (see photo below). They are tart like a cranberry and I've read that they are often called a wild cranberry.

So, we used cranberries to make a natural dye (since Anna and her mother dye the yarn to make her coat with lingonberries).

The manual mentions that a mordant is added to help set the color. We used vinegar and juice in one dish and plain juice in the other and they both came out the same - a light pink color and not the red I was hoping for!

Art: Weaving, Knitting, Yarn Block Prints - Patterns

We talked about what weaving is and I reminded that kids of the place mats that we weaved last month. I may make them a homemade loom someday. Eliana really wants to knit, so I focused my time on staring a pattern for her with some thick and quick yarn (which is really good for beginners because it is easy to use and you can see progress quickly). Here is what I started and I still need to sit and work with her.

I was inspired by these Yarn Block Prints to make our own prints to combine the math lesson with art. The math lesson was on patterns - dress maker patterns (of which they have seen me use), but we also learned that the actual word pattern means "either an artistic or decorative design." We used the yarn block to make repeating designs.

Math: Measuring, Patterns (as mentioned above)

We measured ourselves on our measuring board ("Look How I Have Grown" mini book) and measured our "dress size" using a retractable measuring tape. Eliana has been measuring in her Earlybird math - hand spans, foot spans, paces, and measuring with 1cm cubes. We also got the Inchimals out to measure with.

Lap Journal:

{click to enlarge}

Recipe: Bundt Cake

We made a bundt cake like the one in the book. :)

Thanks, Tamara!

I looked up the various ways to serve pound cake and thought that lingonberries would be good on top. :)

I liked the lingonberries, but I don't care for pound cake - too sweet. :-/

Sensory Play:

I was inspired by a toddler friendly sewing basket to made a sewing basket for Eliana for sensory play. I actually made it for Warm as Wool, but we didn't get to it and it ties in nicely with both books.

Sewing Basket

Sewing basket contains:

jar of buttons (cap is hot glued on)
fabric marker
fabric squares for patches
embroidery hoop, mesh, and yarn needle for "embroidering"
yarn
extra packet of needles (I hot glued the package closed)
spools of thread
big buttons for sewing
thimble
retractable measuring tape

FI♥AR Quilt:

I've been keeping my eye out for material for each row. I liked this one for A New Coat for Anna because it has a dressmaking pattern, a measuring tape and other sewing notions and has an old fashioned feel to it.

A New Coat for Anna is a Five in a Row Selection from Volume 2.

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}

Resources at HSS

Warm As Wool {FI♥AR}

2011-12-23T21:30:00.001-07:00

December 12th ~ 16th

"Betsy Ward's three children are cold. It is 1803, and they have traveled by covered wagon to the dark woods of Ohio. After the family shivers through the icy first winter in a drafty log cabin, Betsy is determined to get wool to make warm clothing for the children. She seizes upon a chance to buy eight bedraggled sheep. But it's harder than she expected to raise sheep on the frontier. Will Betsy be able to keep her sheep alive? Scott Russell Sanders tells the dramatic story of a pioneer mother's struggle to provide for her family." ~ from the back of the book, Warm as Wool.

Social Studies: CT to OH Geography, Covered Wagons, Log Cabin Life, Perseverance, Suffering

The Ward family travel from CT to Ohio in a covered wagon.

We used the FIAR Fold&Learn for this lesson.

We traveled across Lake Erie to get there.

We learned what pioneers typically carried with them in their wagons, built a replica covered wagon and read the book Covered Wagons, Bumpy Trails.

We did the log cabin life lesson from the manual and noticed all the aspects of cabin life in the illustrations. In one of the illustrations, the oldest son is using a yoke to carry 2 buckets of water. We noticed another type of yoke used on the oxen in Covered Wagons, Bumpy Trails.

Malachi said he remembers the longest trip we have ever made - to Kentucky (he was only 3 1/2, so I'm not sure how much of it he remembers - but probably remembers the stories we've told). We put about 3,000 miles on our minivan in 10 days. We traveled for 17 hours our first day - about 1200 miles (compare that to 12 to 15 miles a day in a covered wagon!). Luke and I took turns sleeping and driving. It was a LONG trip for us all (with 5 kids), but we did it. We actually made the trip to look for land to homestead on.

Later that week we took a trip to Montana and compared our travels. It took us a little less than 2 hours to get there, but would have taken us 8 days just to to get there in a covered wagon. This trip really helped the little ones' perspective.

We built a log cabin and used a "deer skin hide" (a piece of leather) for the door and oiled paper for the windows (a brown bag brushed with oil). I put a light in the cabin to show the kids that the oiled paper windows let light in, but you can't see much through them.

We imaged how cold it would be in the winter with such window coverings. We currently have a broken window (from boys playing soccer in the house) that is covered with cardboard and believe me, I thought of putting oiled paper on the window. Ha ha! We put up the storm window, for now, until we can get it fixed. It is not near as drafty as the front door, though. I can relate to the shivers in the story because we have a very old house with very tall ceilings and it is drafty. We couldn't imagine having dirt floors with frost on them though.

We also watched Disney's Little House on the Prairie - a good movie reflecting life traveling in a covered wagon and cabin life.

Our virtue from We Choose Virtues is perseverance.

Penny Jenny

"I am NOT going to give up or complain and I don't say "I can't" or "it's too hard."

Our character has a special collection of pennies and that reminded me of the sock full of coins in the story. We talked about how perseverance is a special virtue because you can only use it when things are tough. We talked about doing things that are a challenge. . . and how hard it can be.

We also covered the topic of suffering. "Suffering is part of the truth of the American frontier," according to the author. He says that he hopes "that children will shiver when they hear this story. . ." I did - I'm always cold. But, my children didn't. They do well in the cold and are always "warm as wool." It will be harder for them to understand suffering - but I did share some personal stories of times that I have suffered.

Language Arts: Descriptive Language, Remembering What You've Read, Simile

I keep forgetting to do copywork, narration and an illustration for each book. Will have to remember to do that!

We are plugging along nicely with All About Reading - Malachi has finished 22 lessons in Level 1 and Eliana has only 2 lessons left in Pre-1. I will update soon (with lots of photos!).

Science: Sheep, Wool Production

We learned basic facts about sheep and watched a video on Netflix from How It's Made on wool production (see link below). I need to look for some videos on YouTube for hand wool production for more authenticity. . . but this week got away from me!

I did bring out some raw wool for the kids to look at, smell and feel.

It has not been washed so still feels and smells like a sheep.

I had Malachi rub it in his hands and feel the oil on his skin and smell the wool. I think it smells good, but he didn't.

Art: Banjo

Lesson from the manual.

Math: Addition/Subtraction Story Problems

We did the Sheep Math from the Warm as Wool lapbook and plugged along in our Fred and Singapore Math {Malachi} and Singapore K math {Eliana}. I'd like Malachi to finish Butterflies and SM 1A by the end of this month. Eliana will finish Earlybird A for sure.

Bag Book:

The pioneer feel of this book just begged for a simple brown bag book. :-)

{click to enlarge}

Crafting and Memory Making: Finger Knitting and Knitting Basket

I taught Eliana how to finger knit with one finger.

"Wrap it around, pull it over. . ."

"Push it down."

"Wrap it around, pull it over, push it down". . . until she got it.

And I made her a "knitting basket" for play.

Play knitting basket

Knitting basket contains:

red knitted washcloth
a partially knitted washcloth on a knitting needle (I hot glued a cork on the end) {It's partially knitted because I lost the other needle}
a partially knitted washcloth on a set of circular needles (more pretend play)
balls of yarn
wool roving

It wasn't long before we had balls of yarn unwinding around the room and tangled between two little feet as he kicked the balls. ;-) It was just as well - since teaching her to finger knit she wanted to learn how to knit for real.

We used the wool roving to make a wool scrub bar - she "felted" the wool around a small bar of soap.

Felting the bar of soap.

And I told her I would teach her to knit during our next row ~ A New Coat for Anna.

Recipe: "Betsy Ward's Shepherd's Pie"

Shepherd's Pie ready for the oven.

Now, this is comfort food to warm you up. :-)

I didn't mash the carrots and I added peas to our pie. And I've heard it said that it would be a "Cottage Pie" if if were made with beef and a "Shepherd's Pie" if it were made with lamb or mutton. But, I've always known them both as Shepherd's Pie.

Warm as Wool is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 3. This is one of those books that I checked out from the library and then bought because I loved it. :-)

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}
Warm as Wool Fold&Learn
Warm as Wool lapbook
Volume 3 Rowing an Illustration and Copywork @ All of a Kind Family

Covered Wagon Craft {Thanks for the inspiration, Valerie!}

How It's Made: Wool ~ Season 2 Episode 26 {starts about 15:40)
FIAR Archives {oiled paper windows idea}

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel {FI♥AR}

2011-12-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

December 4th ~ 9th

A modern classic that no child should miss. Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers -- the very symbol of industrial America. But with progress come new machines, and soon the inseparable duo are out of work. Mike believes that Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as one hundred men can dig in a week, and the two have one last chance to prove it and save Mary Anne from the scrap heap. What happens next in the small town of Popperville is a testament to their friendship, and to old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity. ~ Amazon

As popular as it seems, I was never read this book as a child (that I or I don't remember it). One neat thing about reading a book to a child five days in a row and doing activities around the book, is that they are sure to at least remember the book itself. I hope that my children grow up with fond memories around the books we row.

We listened to Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel on CD while we read the book each day - having the book on CD is such a nice break for me and the kids enjoy the independence of turning the pages themselves while they listen.

Social Studies: History ~ Age of Steam Power; Character Traits ~ Diligence and Perseverance

Luke started reading Munford Meets Robert Fulton to Malachi for an introduction to the age of steam power for this row (and steamboats for our last row).

I introduced both virtues, but we focused mainly on diligence. We will focus on perseverance in our next row.

Language Arts: Language ~ Elements of a Good Story; Story Writing ~ Characters; Personification

Elements of a Good Story as narrated by Malachi:

Setting: "Popperville"
Conflict: "No one wanted them to do a job" (because?) "the power shovels and the gas shovels and the diesel shovels are faster."
Rising Action: "Mary Anne digs a little bit faster and a little bit better when someone is watching."
Climax: "They dig the cellar in one day - more than a hundred men could dig in a week." (Now they know they can dig as much as a hundred men could dig in a week!)
2nd Conflict: "How are they going to get out?"
2nd Climax: "The little boy had an idea. He said we could build the town hall over Mary Anne" (and?) "and she could be the furnace."
Denouement: "Mike and Mary Anne both have new jobs."

We filled out a "library card" for the book and stamped the dates that we read the book. Malachi also designed a character for a story using characteristics from each of his family members (in lapbook below).

We just covered personification in Little Red Lighthouse, so we just talked about this again (Malachi has a pretty good understanding of it).

Science: Steam Power

Fron the lesson in the manual on page 47 (pinwheel pattern from manual).

Art: Drawing Trees, Motion

Malachi's branched tree.

Eliana's branched tree.

From our drawing motion lesson.

Math: Construction Math ~ "Neat and Square;" Fixing Fractions

Mike and Mary Anne dig the cellar "neat and square."

Malachi drew a square, cut out something square from a magazine to glue in the book, and then wrote the definition of a square.

Eliana made a square on the geo-board, along with a few other "shapes." She just finished the section on shapes in her Singapore K math (Book A).

Since finding fractions is important in construction, Mali and I played "Fixing Fractions."

We were not able to finish the game because one of the answers was missing and we didn't understand how to get the answers for the fractions. ?? He used the cones as manipulative to solve division problems, such as: 20 hard hats to share equally with 5 friends, or 16 shovels to share equally with 4 friends.

Lapbooking:

Lapjournal Pages:

Memory Making:

We did a "digger" craft from Kid's Craft Weekly.

Something Eliana said to me had me looking through bins of photographs looking for just the right photo. . .

Malachi's Digger

Let's just say that I am easily amused because I looked hard for the perfect photo, tried several possibilities and cracked myself up when I imagined the kids seeing how funny the baby photos were. :D

I also found some more recent photos. . .

Eliana's Digger

My Digger

FIAR Recipe: Mike and Mary Anne's 'Neat and Square' Chocolate Cake

I'll be honest. This cake is my favorite and just might possibly be why I wanted to row this book. That and well, it is winter here in Wyoming and I had hoped to take the kids down to the basement to show them what a steam furnace looks like. It is no longer coal powered, but at one time was.

It is a vegan chocolate cake. I think it came from my old Joy of Cooking cookbook originally, but you can find the recipe easy enough online. (I use raw sugar in mine).

It's a "Neat and Square" chocolate cake, so we used square cake pans.

The frosting is my version of a Chocolate Buttercream ~ butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and a little bit of milk to thin. (I used the refined, processed stuff for the frosting). ;-)

Freeze the cake before cutting and frost while frozen. . . and make it as neat and square as you can. Um. . . my cake decorating days are years behind me. But, I found a red square plate for the cake.

I used mini chocolate chips for the dirt piles on top, but then we couldn't find the "steam shovel" to put in the cake. We decorated the table and sent out scouts to find the digger. . .

We did eventually find it, but guess where the cake went?

Right back into the fridge for 2 more days! Mali and Elli wanted to save it for company we were having over for dinner on Sunday. So sweet of them! There was a moment where I thought Eliana would cave, because she asked me the next day if they could come over this day instead (ha ha). I told her to be strong and stick to her conviction and she did. =) Oh, the boys were in agony! They kept saying, you know this means that you won't get as much cake? (LOL) She didn't care. =)

And when the day came to share. . .

She was so happy to get the last piece. =)

We still had a nice dinner that night.

"Neat and Square" Casserole baked in the square cakes pans.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is a Five in a Row selection from volume 1.

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}
Resources at HSS
Mike and MaryAnne Lapbook

Bo had some digger fun with us too. =)

Bo playing with his digger.

He loves this truck. I got a video of him this day while playing - he was making motor noises. So cute. I can't believe he will be one year old this month.

Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge {FI♥AR}

2011-12-09T03:24:00.000-07:00

Nov. 28th ~ Dec. 2nd

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

"Built in 1880 of cast iron and steel, the 'fat and red and jolly' little lighthouse sits on the bank of the Hudson River in New York City. When the great, gray, and powerful George Washington Bridge is built overhead, the little lighthouse feels very, very small. But he soon comes t understand that he is still needed to guide boats through the dark and stormy weather." ~ The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.

Social Studies & Science: New York, Hudson River Valley History, Rivers, Bridges, Lighthouses, Types of Boats

River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River, by Hudson Talbott proved to be a wonderful introduction to the economic and cultural significance of the Hudson River, as well as an introduction to the history of New York.

We read the book in one sitting, but Malachi was fading towards the end.

Topics we covered from this book:

early American explorers and American history
New York City's beginning as a Dutch outpost to growing to the business capital of the world
types of boats that were seen on the river ~ sloop (workhorse of the Hudson River), bark, schooner, and Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont (1807)
building of the Erie Canal
Wall Street
ice harvesting and ice boating
industrial revolution
the first bridge on the Hudson at Poughkeepsie for trains built in 1888
Statue of Liberty (1886) / Ellis Island / Immigrants to America
The importance of the Hudson River as America's first superhighway, the inspiration for the first American art movement, and the birthplace of environmental activism.
fish of the river (shad, striped bass, Atlantic sturgeon) and the environmental changes that saved them.

Luke started reading Munford Meets Robert Fulton (history of steam boats and steam power) to tie into this row and the next.

We also watched a video on YouTube on The Little Red Lighthouse.

Since it is the little red lighthouse, we made miniature versions of this lighthouse craft for some memory making fun.

They wanted them to look like TLRL, so they didn't want to decorate them. I saw Elli's on the ladder to her bunk bed, leading her safely to bed. =)

Language Arts: Compound Words, Personification

Compound Words

Personification

We used our Pick and Draw game and some lighthouse die cuts that I found at the Dollar Tree for this lesson. . . and of course, the manual and the book!

Art: Contrast in Size

We talked about how the Little Red Lighthouse is small compared to the Great Grey Bridge, but if we were to stand next to it, we would be little and the Little Red Lighthouse would be big! Then we did the lesson in the manual on page 137.

Math:

We didn't do a hands on math. Malachi worked in his Singapore 1A book because I couldn't find his Fred on this day. He did 14 pages (7 lessons) in one day - I think it was too easy for him, but he enjoyed the independence of his lessons.

Recipe: Recipes from New York City ~ an Italian dinner: 'NYC Baked Lasagna' and Focaccia Bread

Our dinner was inspired by the Five in a Row Cookbook. "For many people, the Italian food in New York City rivals that of Italy."

Inspired by this Classic Lasagna I made a vegetarian lasagna with lentils, but I didn't care for the lentils in the lasagna. Next time, I will make my regular meatless lasagna and add more cheese to the focaccia, which was inspired by the Red Onion and Garlic Focaccia. We ended up adding pizza sauce and mozzarella to make a pizza with the leftovers.

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 2.

In other homeschool news, Malachi is plugging along in Beginning Geography. When we came to "Where in the World Do You Live?" - a lesson on page 94 and I thought this would be a perfect time to do this Me on the Map activity from Finally in First.

I personalized it by adding Malachi's photo on top and used the labels (Earth, North America, United States, Wyoming, etc.) inside as a chance to work on handwriting.

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}

Morphology {A Timberdoodle Review}

2011-12-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

"The hilarious guessing game where creativity wins!"

Morphology is Timberdoodle's 2011 Game of the Year and when offered a chance to review it, I was game to find out why!

"Morphology is the perfect balance of competition and collaboration. Using wooden pawns, glass beads, small colorful wooden blocks, a bit of string, popsicle sticks, and more, Morphology asks players to create an image for their teammates to identify."

We were able to play as a family, while baby was sleeping. The game has a lot of small pieces that could be a choking hazard or easily get lost!

And while it is designed for ages 13 and up, it is fun for younger ages, especially when more time is given. Wish I would have read that on the website before we played! Our youngest player (age 4) had the same time limit as the older {and, ahem, more competitive} players. It would have been more fun to double the time for the little ones. They still had fun, though!

We divided into two teams and took turns creating and guessing.

At first the game is easy. Then it gets harder. You have to roll to determine how you play.

Roll a:

1 - everybody plays

2 - play with your eyes closed

3 - play with your weak hand only

4 - play with string only (The string was the most coveted piece! Although, I think it would be more fun with a wired string to make shapes easier).

5 - you pick 5 objects to play with

6 - interception (guess the word if the other team fails to guess)

Playing with his eyes closed!

Create pictures of the word using the components.

There are 600 cards with 60 building components. The cards have both an easy and a hard option. You are not given a category and that was on my mind the whole time - what sort of word am I trying to guess? Most of the words are nouns, but some are action words. It is similar to Pictionary, and not at all like Charades, although you can "puppeteer" the components. And you cannot spell out the word.

Almost to the finish.

Even though I was on the winning team (with Jordan and Eliana), I stopped enjoying this game towards the end. The "Pick 3" rule was hard and made this game ultra competitive - too much for me. Everyone else gave Morphology two thumbs up and said they thought the game was great. . . I think the game would be GREAT if next time they play without me! (LOL)

Do you get Timberdoodle's free homeschool catalog? Check it out for more award winning gifts and homeschool supplies.

Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received this game in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Cranberry Thanksgiving {FI♥AR}

2011-11-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

November 14th - 15th & 21st - 25th

Social Studies: Family Traditions; Geography ~ New England; History ~ Thanksgiving

In Cranberry Thanksgiving, Grandmother's cranberry bread is known for miles around. She keeps her secret recipe "carefully hid" behind a brick in the fire place. "It was so famous that bakers all over the countryside had offered great sums of money for the recipe." Grandmother "scoffed at the idea, but she still thought it was something special to leave Maggie."

I've been thinking about this a lot, and hope to have some special recipes to leave my daughter (or granddaughter) someday. So I opened this Recipe Traditions binder with the hopes of creating some special recipes of our own as a keepsake to pass on to Eliana.

Grandmother and Maggie lived "at the edge of a cranberry bog in New England" so we found the New England states on a map.

For history, we read about the history of the first American thanksgiving and watched America: The Story of US ~ Episode 1: Rebels (from Jamestown to Plymouth) on Netflix (Malachi watched all the way to Episode 5: The Civil War, on his own).

My favorite go-along book for Cranberry Thanksgiving is A Pioneer Thanksgiving. It is a dramatic story that follows the Robertson family as they prepare for Thanksgiving in the year 1841. It includes information about the pioneer period and how Thanksgiving was celebrated in the past. It also has hands on activities such as making a corn dolly or learning to play conkers.

We played a "Sail on the Mayflower" game.

Eliana pasted together a Mayflower ship.

And we completed a history theme pocket from Evan Moor on The First Thanksgiving.

Pocket #1

We used the 3 Rules poster from We Choose Virtues for our Class Compact:

I love the idea of this poster.

"Every classroom or home instruction you already use can find its place under one of these three rules. They are based on the three most important Virtues that a young student needs to know. All 12 Virtues fall under these categories as well!"

My boys are always asking me what they can do to turn their negative behavior around and I respond with these three rules. =)

What Will You Take?

Eliana's list: "food, dolly, wool to make a coat, books to read, and a flashlight." =)

Pocket #2

The front side of each page includes information about the pilgrims during their first year in America, including housing, clothing, jobs and chores, and transportation. . .and the back of each page is a drawing of all these things in Malachi's life. If anything in our life resembled the pilgrims, he drew that. For example, pilgrims had to mend their clothes instead of making more right away, so Malachi drew me sewing clothes (although I buy most of his clothes). He wouldn't budge and draw us shopping for clothes. =)

Pocket #3

I used this spot to have Malachi narrate what he had learned and then he drew an illustration (instead of writing facts on turkey feathers).

And we made a Thanksgiving placemat that compared the first Thanksgiving feast in America to our Thanksgiving dinner today.

We also discussed the moral theme of the story ~ not judging someone by their appearance (or smell).

Language Arts: Aliteration, Consonance, Onomatopoeia

While we were cooking our cranberry sauce, I reviewed onomatopoeia with Malachi. We tried to think of some Thanksgiving onomatopoeia and we came up with gobble, gobble and a few others. Well, the cranberry recipe said to cook the cranberries until they "pop" so that tied in nicely with our lesson. The sauce had to be stirred for 10 minutes, so I covered alliteration and consonance with him while waiting, as well. We tried to do a cranberry alliteration and came up with something silly like "cranberries crying in the crock, cooking in the kitchen. . ." (something like that). This is how I imagine Five in a Row was meant to be taught and . . . I enjoyed it very much. We do this often, but I fight the temptation to pull out a lapbook piece (I had them printed, cut and ready to go!) because I love having our lap journals to look back on. But, really Five in a Row is very easy to implement if you do it this way!

Science: Leavening/Chemical Reactions - Baking Soda Bombs, Cranberry Science

Vinegar and baking soda reaction to blow up and "pop" the bag.

We watched How It's Made ~ Cranberries (Season 2, Episode 1 on Netflix). (I've seen the same video on YouTube.)

Math: Measuring Skills, Popcorn Estimation and Counting

We reviewed measuring dry weights using cranberries and liquid measuring using the orange juice in the cranberry bread (below).

The Pilgrims learned how to make popcorn from the first native Americans, so we did a Popcorn Estimation activity.

Popcorn Estimation

Malachi did not want to count all the popcorn kernels. So, I divided them in half and then helped him by making piles of five (hoping he would count by 5's). Well, he put two piles together and counted by 10. He was only 3 off! (His 9's are backwards).

I made a special "corn" treat, since the pilgrims grew corn.

FIAR Recipe: Cranberry Potpourri, "Cranberry Bog" Bread

The potpourri made the house smell so good. I only used a half an orange (ate the other half), but it still smelled wonderful! I stuck in the fridge and used it again the next day.

Cranberries, whole orange, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and nutmeg.

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread is in the back of the book, but would you believe I couldn't find the book when we went to make the cranberry bread?! I used Pamela's recipe, but instead of using golden raisins, I added milk chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Hence, we named it "Cranberry Bog" bread. The Five in a Row Cookbook suggests you give a special name to the recipes you make, so since Grandmother and Maggie live on the edge of a cranberry bog, we thought that would be a good name.

We made bread and muffins. I took Pamela's advice to put the cranberries at the bottom of the mix (instead of stirring them in) - so glad I did. This keeps all the cranberries from floating to the top. For the bread, we put some on the bottom on and folded some in.

I had Eliana use Easy Grip Tweezers to transfer the cranberries to each muffin cup for a practical life skill (they are kind of hard to squeeze).

She also wanted to add the batter to each cup. I gave her a second spoon to push the batter off the first spoon (she didn't want to use her finger like I do, lol). I was so proud of her for being diligent to fill all of the muffin cups by herself. Malachi wanted to help too, so I had him put the cranberries in the bread pans and help me scoop the batter in.

Cranberry Bread ~ with cranberries, milk chocolate chips and pecans

The bread was so good! I love how the tart of the cranberry meets the sweet milk chocolate, the undertone of orange was perfect and the pecans give it a nutty flavor and texture.

We also made two types of cranberry sauce - a fresh relish and a cooked sauce.

Fresh Cranberry Relish:

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 whole orange, the ends cut off

1 cup sugar

Elli made the fresh cranberry relish (I remember first making this in the 4th grade during a Brownie meeting) and Mali made the cooked cranberry sauce. We served them both with our dinner. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! I made an herb and citrus turkey that was the best turkey I've ever made. You can see a peak into our home during our first week of this row here (including a road trip to Montana and a shopping trip to Costco), and our Thanksgiving week here (including a link to the Herb and Citrus Turkey recipe that I used!).

"Thanksgiving" Memory Making

We have our Thanksgiving dinner for our Erev Shabbat meal (on Friday evening), so on Thanksgiving day I made a special "turkey dinner."

Cranberry Popcorn Trail Mix

Popcorn Turkey!

Apple Turkey Sandwich

When we sat down to pray, Malachi prayed this prayer. . .

"Dear Heavenly Father, please let us do more things like this more often. Please wash our bodies clean and bring us back to your path and make us follow your ways forever. In the name of Yeshua, Amen."

LOL!

Art: Silhouettes

I was determined to find an easy way to do this, and I love how it came out . . .

To make the silhouette, I first took a portrait photo of Eliana from the side. Then, I made it black and white (to save on ink) then printed it onto printer paper. I used a little rubber cement (because it peels off easily) and glued it to a piece of black card-stock. Then, I cut it out and then peeled off the photo and mounted it on white card-stock. (The hardest part was trying to decide which photo to use!)

Cranberry Thanksgiving is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 1.

Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Becky, for sending me this out of print book! She's also the one who got me into Five in a Row. =)

Delightful Links:

Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}
CT Resources @ HSS

Sail on the Mayflower Game
Popcorn Estimation

Paper Bag Turkey
Apple Turkey

Bubble Bomb
Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Cranberry Potpourri
Thanksgiving Ideas on Pinterest {If I forgot to link it, it is here!}
Watercolor Silhouette, DIY Silhouette, Canvas Silhouette {Inspiration}