Bedtime for Frances
Sticking with the same format, we are using a new curriculum, Valerie Bendt's Frances Study Guide. So, for the rest of this semester, barring holiday weeks, we will be reading through the Frances series written by Russell Hoban.
To start us off we read Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban. Valerie Bendt provides simple pintables, awesome study questions and suggestions, and we really enjoyed this story. My children were interested in Frances' precocious personality and got a kick out of her bedtime antics. As suggested by Bendt, I had Tristan and Ana both retell the story each day, and this revealed a lot to me about what they are hearing and retaining during our story times. This book lent itself to this type of analysis, because the text says more than the illustrations. The illustrations in this first story of the series were done by Garth Williams, (also the illustrator of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Little house series). It was he who originally sketched Frances a badger.
Our words for the week were: badge - badger and butter - butterfly. We are learning to read two and more consonant words and we talked about the importance of both the beginning and ending of words.
For science- we learned about badgers and moths/butterflies. There are over eight different species of badger, but we focused in on the American badger, found in the great plains region of North America, the European badger, living in the wooded areas all over England and the Honey badger found on the African Savannah. They all resemble each other and have similar ways of life, however, we decided Frances is not a honey badger. For moths/butterflies we read the Eyewitness book about Moths and Butterflies and some fun books about butterflies. Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek was Anastasia's favorite.
For Math, I worked with Tristan on telling time. The story begins with Father and Mother Badger telling Frances that the clock says it's time for bed. Reading the minute hand used the skills we've learned counting by fives and it was good for Tristan to apply what has up to now been rote.
For Language we learned about poetry and rhyming. We read a fun book of forest poems, A hint of Skunk, a whiff of Pine.
During our art time we made some fun crafts, butterflies and with some friends we made very seasonal candy corn banners with paper plates. We also looked at a board book of Picasso paintings. I enjoyed hearing the kids opinions about these works and trying to see what they see in the art. After discussing each piece together, I read the title of the work and an excerpt about it trying to see what the Picasso was saying with the piece. I also told the children where each painting is currently on display.
Bedtime for Frances places a big emphasis on the alphabet and we read a few alphabet books this week. My favorite, Quilt Alphabet by Lisa Cline-Ransome is so charming; I loved the riddles and beautiful illustrations.
For language we compared and contrasted Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Bedtime for Frances. The children are so insightful, and it is exciting to hear some of their observations. For example, Tristan pointed out that Frances thinks she sees a Tiger in her room, and the Green room actually has a tiger in it (a tiger skin rug). Goodnigt Moon, also has a companion alphabet book.
For a little geography we marked off the places around the globe where the different species of Badger live and we compared and contrasted the two chapter books we recently finished, White Fang, by Jack London and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Anastasia surprised me with the answers she gave about how both stories were about wolves, and how Mowgli never would have seen snow. This discussion took place while we looked at where Alaska and India are located on the map.
We continue to take every day as it comes, trying to do our best in every subject.
Gwendolyn is beginning to add a new dimension to our school-day, now that she is taking shorter naps. She loves to sing and dance and our days begin with singing a hymn and sometimes a praise song that ties in to the subject of our Bible reading for that day. I am loving the singing the great hymns resource from Charlotte Mason. Gwen also enjoys the Teach me Everyday French. I originally got this for the older kids when they mentioned that the Rush Hour French we listen to "doesn't have any kids!". They quickly bored of the nursery rhyme songs, and now Gwendolyn is able to enjoy them!
To start us off we read Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban. Valerie Bendt provides simple pintables, awesome study questions and suggestions, and we really enjoyed this story. My children were interested in Frances' precocious personality and got a kick out of her bedtime antics. As suggested by Bendt, I had Tristan and Ana both retell the story each day, and this revealed a lot to me about what they are hearing and retaining during our story times. This book lent itself to this type of analysis, because the text says more than the illustrations. The illustrations in this first story of the series were done by Garth Williams, (also the illustrator of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Little house series). It was he who originally sketched Frances a badger.
Our words for the week were: badge - badger and butter - butterfly. We are learning to read two and more consonant words and we talked about the importance of both the beginning and ending of words.
For science- we learned about badgers and moths/butterflies. There are over eight different species of badger, but we focused in on the American badger, found in the great plains region of North America, the European badger, living in the wooded areas all over England and the Honey badger found on the African Savannah. They all resemble each other and have similar ways of life, however, we decided Frances is not a honey badger. For moths/butterflies we read the Eyewitness book about Moths and Butterflies and some fun books about butterflies. Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek was Anastasia's favorite.
For Math, I worked with Tristan on telling time. The story begins with Father and Mother Badger telling Frances that the clock says it's time for bed. Reading the minute hand used the skills we've learned counting by fives and it was good for Tristan to apply what has up to now been rote.
For Language we learned about poetry and rhyming. We read a fun book of forest poems, A hint of Skunk, a whiff of Pine.
During our art time we made some fun crafts, butterflies and with some friends we made very seasonal candy corn banners with paper plates. We also looked at a board book of Picasso paintings. I enjoyed hearing the kids opinions about these works and trying to see what they see in the art. After discussing each piece together, I read the title of the work and an excerpt about it trying to see what the Picasso was saying with the piece. I also told the children where each painting is currently on display.
Bedtime for Frances places a big emphasis on the alphabet and we read a few alphabet books this week. My favorite, Quilt Alphabet by Lisa Cline-Ransome is so charming; I loved the riddles and beautiful illustrations.
For language we compared and contrasted Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and Bedtime for Frances. The children are so insightful, and it is exciting to hear some of their observations. For example, Tristan pointed out that Frances thinks she sees a Tiger in her room, and the Green room actually has a tiger in it (a tiger skin rug). Goodnigt Moon, also has a companion alphabet book.
For a little geography we marked off the places around the globe where the different species of Badger live and we compared and contrasted the two chapter books we recently finished, White Fang, by Jack London and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Anastasia surprised me with the answers she gave about how both stories were about wolves, and how Mowgli never would have seen snow. This discussion took place while we looked at where Alaska and India are located on the map.
We continue to take every day as it comes, trying to do our best in every subject.
Gwendolyn is beginning to add a new dimension to our school-day, now that she is taking shorter naps. She loves to sing and dance and our days begin with singing a hymn and sometimes a praise song that ties in to the subject of our Bible reading for that day. I am loving the singing the great hymns resource from Charlotte Mason. Gwen also enjoys the Teach me Everyday French. I originally got this for the older kids when they mentioned that the Rush Hour French we listen to "doesn't have any kids!". They quickly bored of the nursery rhyme songs, and now Gwendolyn is able to enjoy them!
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