FIAR Very Last First Time

We are back at ROWing! Until little mister arrives in a few weeks, that is. We truly missed it, and needed some "filler" school to slow down on our curriculum a little bit.

This week we rowed "Very Last First Time" by Jan Andrews. The book is about an Inuit child named Eva who walks alone on the ocean floor for the first time to collect mussels. There are many different approaches to take to this book - sea life, the arctic, etc. In my opinion we could've taken two weeks to row this, so maybe we will throw it in the mix again next year! Here are some of our favorite moments:

We always start a row by exploring some go-alongs.These stayed up all week for her to poke around in.

 Geography/Social Studies

We started by locating Canada, coloring the flag, placing our story disc on "Ungava Bay", and talking about the oceans that surround the bay (Arctic and Atlantic). The kids used this song to remember the oceans:

(Tune of Frere Jacques)

There are five, there are five,

O-Oceans, O-Oceans,

Pacific and Atlantic,

Indian and Arctic,

Southern, too, Southern, too.  

Then we made some Sweet Bannock, a treat loved by Inuit Children

 We talked about what it would be like to live where Eva lived - no roads or trees, very cold, etc.

We decided to have some fun with our winter sensory bin and enjoy some hot chocolate!

 Science

We learned about Tundras this week and that led to a science project with salt and ice. We also had some fun exploring the different types of plants and animals designed to survive in the cold.

 I happened to have already signed us up for a nighttime aquarium visit offered this week, so it was perfect to tie into the book (tides, ocean life, the ocean floor)

 It was a late night :)

 Art

The illustrations in the book use pointillism, so we tried our hand at it with toothpicks!

As far as math and phonics this week, we stuck to our main curriculum (Horizons and All About Reading), but there were some great ideas listed in the manual for her age. 

Here's a peek into our completed lapbook for this row:

 

Buzz enjoyed himself this week, too, working hard on some fall themes in his daily learning notebook...

  Or is it hardly working...

 

 And a moment I just have to share: along with our verse this week, we started our "Thank you God" tree, and BeeBop's answers are unguided and unsolicited. She may add a leaf any day and at any time. WELL, after a great day of learning and playing together, she asked for me to write "school" on a leaf. I asked her why she was thankful for school, and she replied

"I'm thankful that Jesus lets my mommy teach me school"

That's one to stick in my mind for a tough day. Maybe I should add a leaf to the tree, too.