Fairy Tales

We're studying the Middle Ages right now and we just finished a mini-unit on fairy tales. We read lots of fairy tales, of course, like these:


and Rapunzel; The White Witch; Jack and The Beanstalk; anything by the Grimm brothers...

The two oldest boys wrote their own fairy tales and words cannot express how proud I am of them. I bought some fairy tale-themed scrapbook paper that one of our sons used to make his into a beautiful 8x8 bound book.

We did the Evan-Moor Pocket Books for Fairy Tales:



Here's a picture of our oldest making his elf for The Elves & The Shoemakers:

Super cute project, by the way, for multiple ages (we had 2 2yr olds, a 4 yr old, a 7 yr old and a 9 yr old make the pocket books. it was a fun family activity daily for a week).

Don't forget to watch some movies, too!

Alice in Wonderland Unit Ideas

Disney has a new Alice movie coming out in March. Although it looks a bit scary for the under 10 crowd, it is still a fun theme.  The imaginative characters, chaotic storyline, and random impossibilities make the Alice story universally loved by children and there vivid imaginations.There are many versions of the Alice story out there in publication and film-any of them would serve as a great jumping off point for a fun Wonderland Unit.

Unit Resources to be updated as new items are found.

E Text of book -Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

View The ORIGINAL Alice written and illustrated by Lewis Carroll-it is one of the links on the bottom

About the author Lewis Carroll

 Project and Unit Ideas:

• Amazing Wonderland Expedition Kit- I'm thinking PROJECT!
• The Many Faces of Alice 4th grade unit example- I love the script idea!! 
• A Study Guide for Alice  
• Alice in Wonderland Unit for 3rd Grade PDF

Lapbook resources:

• Alice @ Homeschool Share
• Sample lapbook

Math

• Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Math 
• Time (White Rabbits Watch)
• Lots of fun clock resources here  
• Worksheets and activities from Handwriting for Kids 
• Time worksheet generator
• Online analogue interactive clock
• Another online clock both digital and analogue
• Math Games with deck of cards 

Social Studies

• Geography-Mapping Skills: Create a Map of Wonderland-include the tree, the hole, and all the places named in the book, a map key and compass rose

Life Skills and Character Topics

• Time management
• dawdling

Poetry

• Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll - read aloud on YouTube
• Jabberwocky text

Poetry: Cinquain

Niagara

by Adelaide Crapsey

Seen on a Night in November

How frail

Above the bulk

Of crashing water hangs,

Autumnal, evanescent, wan,

The moon.

Lesson Resources on Cinquain Poetry

• Lesson plan from Reading A-Z 
• great for multiple grades as you can use the modified version for younger children
• Another great lesson resource from In Our Write Minds

• Graphic Organizer in PDF from Read Write Think
• Sample Cinquin Poems (PDF) from Read Write Think
• PowerPoint Presentation files on Cinquain Poetry ( you will need to have Power Point)
• Interactive Instant Cinquain Poetry Maker
• Information on Adelaide Crapsey the creator of the Cinquain poetry form 

Our Work:

1st Grade boy 

 

3rd Grade boy

 

6th grade boy

Thanksgiving Unit

My computer may have been down the last couple of weeks but I wasn't! We've been busy with a Thanksgiving Unit Study. I love Kendra's 30 Days of Thanks and Giving. I always love Homeschool Share and here are some great Thanksgiving Lapbook plans by the infamous homeschooling mom Jimmie. We have a membership to ABCTeach and I got lots of good printables there.
So there's lots of ideas- now just make it work for your family! We made a big sign saying "30 Days of Thanks & Giving" and hung it up in our dining room; we do our traditional thankful journals every morning (well, the kids do, my mother-in-law correctly pointed out that Mom and Dad should, too... maybe next year!); we love hand-print crafts here (so far corn, the Mayflower and of course turkeys); we're reading Dora's Thanksgiving a bazillion times each day... enjoy the season!