Today, first day back from our mini holiday and I was raring to go. I had my priorities for the day; I had the direction we wanted to take in my mind. Overall I think today went really well!
We started off working on our family lapbook: Pooh Bear.
Josh did his first draft editing a piece on the character of the General in the Winnie story and his second piece was a story using the Pooh characters with his own story plot. He still has some editing to go. He also did a copy-draw and wrote a paragraph retelling the scenario.
Jessica also had some editing and correcting to work through. She finished her Acrostic poems.
Naomi wrote a very long story (3 pages, handwritten draft) also using the Pooh characters but her own story line.
I spent time putting the lapbook together still some holes so we will work on it again next week. I generally like the kids to put the mini books and the lapbook itself together but today I decided it was more important to give them time with their friends.
Early this morning Daniel saw a Rainbow and took a photo. This was the basis of his lessons for the day.
When I told Daniel we were going to make rainbows today he was thrilled. He also said, I know how to do that! When pressed to explain how, he talked about marbling on paper so I made a mental note to do that too!
Peter helped us make a rainbow with water, mirror and torch. Then Pete explained how a rainbow was made, what was happening to light etc. Later on Daniel gave a reasonable explanation himself (which I typed as he spoke to Peter, which was then the basis of his notebook page).
I then sat down with him and read the story Noah and the Ark which he knows very well but this time I focused on Gods promises, and how we can always believe them. He then made a notebook page of a rainbow (review of colours) and the photos we took in the morning. I wrote down his narration regarding Gods promises.
He then spent time with Jessica doing the marbling. By this time our friends, the A.family, had joined us and all the kids made some balloon faces balloons filled with flour and a little water, tied off, into palm sized balls of moveable clay. They drew faces on them and moulded the faces every which way!
After lunch Daniel felt inspired to write a story (this was after Jess read him a story). So I sat down and typed as he dictated a 550-word story! The story line is very much like story lines he has heard and even written himself before but the skills of retelling, holding information, sorting information etc are all coming out when he does this.
The late afternoon was spent with all the kids in the family room playing various games Blues Clues, Knucklebones & Jacks, Spit (which the A.family have renamed Speed which has taken hold of our childrens sense of correctness!)
I read your post today and another from a little while ago about your work on “Winnie the Pooh” I think that’s really interesting because just a few weeks ago we watched “A Bear Named Winnie” when it was on TV and I loved it too. I don’t know about you but I couldn’t help shedding a few tears, especially when they had to leave her at the zoo and when she was reunited with Harry after some time. My kids always tease me for crying in movies and this was no exception. “Come on Mum, this is a kid’s movie.”
What an interesting topic for unit studies. Let me know how your kids enjoy it and I might think about choosing something interesting like that for mine too.
In response to Appleleaf’s comments I thought I would share how we came about to do Pooh Bear
We are not doing a Unit study as such it is just some writing opportunities that have appeared (plus slightly created by me!) as we have gone through our days.
first off… we were reading and enjoying Pooh Bear as read alouds – our read alouds are not in connection with learning as much as family entertainment/relaxation.
Then… The kids watched the movie while I had some business to take care of
And the next thing I knew…. I was getting them to suggest various writing opportunities.
So in a sense it is a unit but it wasn’t planned that way – it has been grabbing the opportunity as it presented itself.
I wish I could do this more often!
Belinda